Outland App, timeframe question (USA)

[canadianmeghan]

Hello All,

I have a question regarding the time needed to be spent in Canada.. My husband is a USC and I am Canadian Citizen. We are currently in the USA, and I have applied for a green card and am waiting on my approval but we do not plan to live in the US forever. We would like to be able to travel back and forth as his family is here, and mine is of course in Canada. He works online so we have wonderful freedom in that sense..

I am just curious about the residency obligation .. it states:

If you have been a permanent resident for less than five (5) years

you must show that you will be able to meet the minimum of 730 days of physical presence in Canada within five (5) years of the date you became a permanent resident.

Also working in our favor I found this:

OPTION 1. Accompanying a Canadian citizen outside Canada

You may count each day that you accompanied a Canadian citizen outside Canada provided that the person you accompanied is your spouse, common-law partner or parent (if you are a child under 19 years of age).

And it goes on to ask for evidence of us living together, which I think is great for our situation but I just want to make sure I am not mistaken. We have evidence of us living together and all of that jazz (also living in Mexico last year for 6 months) so as long as we are together the time he has spent with me can go towards his residency obligation? I can start the process now while we are in the US and then we will be able to travel freely back and forth until we can apply for dual citizenship? Which is 3 years correct?

Sorry for the long post .. just don't want to count my chickens before my eggs hatch!

Thanks SO much!

 

[MilesAway]

One of the requirements for being approved as a sponsor, is proving that you will move to Canada once the application is complete.

If he is already a PR, then yes, time spent with his Canadian citizen spouse counts toward his residency obligation. It does NOT count towards citizenship though, which will soon change to 4 out of 6 years.

 

[rhcohen2014]

as stated above, if CIC doesn't think you and your spouse will move to Canada IMMEDIATELY upon approval for PR, the application will most likely be rejected. CIC will require you to "prove" intentions as part of your application process. Canadian pr is not given out just for status purposes and for "convenience" of couples, it is given because the couple wants to and intends to settle PERMANENTLY in canada IMMEDIATELY after approval. if those are not your intentions, then it will be a waste of time applying, and even though technically any time spent with you outside of canada counts towards pr, it doesn't mean his application will be approved. we've actually seen a case on this forum of a couple who provided a plan to return to canada, and since the dates were too far in the future, CIC rejected the application and i believe told them to reapply when they are ready to settle in canada.

your husband can travel to canada as a visitor without issue, and potentially stay in canada for long periods of time as a visitor, so there's no reason to apply for pr unless you have current plans to move there.

 

[canadianmeghan]

what kind of information is required to "prove" we will be living in Canada? We plan to live in Canada, but also live in the US.. How are we supposed to accomplish this?

 

[rhcohen2014]

what kind of information is required to "prove" we will be living in Canada? We plan to live in Canada, but also live in the US.. How are we supposed to accomplish this?

when you are ready to live in canada, then you will want to apply for pr. generally, cic will want to see a "plan" for settlement. it does not need to be concrete. generally, people will submit a letter with a written out plan, letters from family members who agree to help out with housing/finances until you are on your feet, emails about moving to canada, showing communication with real estate agents/landlords about plans, registering with employment agencies/headhunters, submitting applications for jobs or research on industries/professional licensing/neighborhoods/children's schooling, etc. basically anything that shows you are taking the steps to re-settle in canada as soon as the app is approved. I would not recommend writing in the application you plan to split time between us and canada if approved. i would think that would either lead to a) an interview (most us applicants are waived interviews) and/or b)rejection of application.

 

[BeShoo]

The "minimum of 730 days of physical presence in Canada within five (5) years of the date you became a permanent resident" requirement is what you need to renew your PR card, so far as I know. You can't get a new PR card until you meet that requirement in the 5 years before the date of the renewal application. I've heard of people who were able to wait in Canada after their PR card expired until they met the requirement and they successfully apply for a new card, but I've also read that people sometimes get removal orders issued when they haven't been in the country for 2 years out of the 5.

That's for keeping PR status and not for applying for citizenship. As MilesAway says, the citizenship requirements are changing. The date of those changes will be fixed to a date that has yet to be announced, though the legislation was passed. The requirement is changing from 3 out of 4 years (1095 days) to 4 out of 6 years (1460 days) and you must be physically present in Canada for 183 days minimum in 4 of the 6 years. You will no longer be able to count part of your time in Canada as a non-PR, either, and you now have to prove that you "intend to reside" in Canada.

All the changes are here: http://citizenshipcounts.ca/citizenship-act-changes