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'Parent' definition for child meeting RO outside Canada

Mogscat

Member
Oct 10, 2016
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If a child with PR is outside Canada with a Canadian Citizen 'parent', those days count towards 730-day residency obligation.
Who counts as 'parent' in this scenario? In our case, our sponsor is my Canadian partner, who is child's step father. We were all in UK together. I am a PR but not a citizen.
 

Mogscat

Member
Oct 10, 2016
12
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I don’t know. We all returned to uk after soft landing in April, to sell house and for daughter to take A levels that summer.
 

armoured

VIP Member
Feb 1, 2015
17,124
8,781
I don’t know. We all returned to uk after soft landing in April, to sell house and for daughter to take A levels that summer.
I believe you should not count on this but rather consider that it's likely neither of you would qualify under this, on the grounds that you were not settled in Canada and then left together, but rather just spent a short time in Canada on the formality of becoming PRs.

That said, you have plenty of time to meet the RO - as long as you spend less than 1095 days abroad from April (this year?) to the April five years later.

That said: it may be that you would (or perhaps your daughter), but the problem is, there is no way to get 'approval' of this in advance. So in my view best to plan on basis this time will not qualify.
 

Mogscat

Member
Oct 10, 2016
12
0
We did our soft landing in April 2018, then moved here permanently in August 2019. Oldest daughter moved here permanently in 2021 and has just realised she is short of days to make up the 730 in five years since PR started. She's about 50 days short. If those couple of months when we were all together in the UK, before she turned 19, count, then she would be OK. If not she is in trouble because she's currently in the UK for her graduation. Even if she comes back immediately and misses graduation, she will still be short.
She has been working in Canada for almost a year and is in the process of applying for grad school here. The reason she did not come to Canada in 2019 is that she had to finish university in UK.
 

armoured

VIP Member
Feb 1, 2015
17,124
8,781
We did our soft landing in April 2018, then moved here permanently in August 2019. Oldest daughter moved here permanently in 2021 and has just realised she is short of days to make up the 730 in five years since PR started. She's about 50 days short. If those couple of months when we were all together in the UK, before she turned 19, count, then she would be OK. If not she is in trouble because she's currently in the UK for her graduation. Even if she comes back immediately and misses graduation, she will still be short.
She has been working in Canada for almost a year and is in the process of applying for grad school here. The reason she did not come to Canada in 2019 is that she had to finish university in UK.
So, I don't understand the dates etc for her or when exactly she is returning to Canada or even exactly where she is now.

But:
1) As I mentioned above, the difficult bit above is getting a formal adjudication of whether her time with parents qualifies or not. The usual places where this might get done are when applying to renew a PR card, applying for a PRTD (because no PR card), or on appeal if reported at a border entry.

2) This does not mean all is lost. If anything, she can enter Canada on her existing PR card. Violating the residency obligation does not result in losing the PR status automatically.

In practice, when she enters, if they ask, she should just tell the truth - responding as briefly as possible. Most of the time for small amounts in excess outside of canada will just be ignored. Normal reasons like 'my studies' and 'covid' would probably be enough if it did come up.

If they ask lots of questions, she should mention that some of the time abroad was with Canadian parents (one PR, one citizen).

Worst case (in my guess, rather unlikely, but not impossible): she'd get reported for being out of compliance and have to appeal.

Down the road, the biggest issue will be that period when she is out of compliance and the card has not been renewed - it would make travel by air difficult. In all other respects she can live in Canada as a PR while waiting to get back in compliance/receive a new Pr card. But for a UK passport holder (I presume), she'd be able to enter USA and cross a land border, so even the travel thing is maybe less severe than for some.

Note - I'm assuming here that going forward she'll be primarily residing in Canada, at least until back in compliance. And if she ever gets warned at border, she may have to be a bit more careful.
 
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soheilhs

Hero Member
Sep 16, 2016
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We did our soft landing in April 2018, then moved here permanently in August 2019. Oldest daughter moved here permanently in 2021 and has just realised she is short of days to make up the 730 in five years since PR started. She's about 50 days short. If those couple of months when we were all together in the UK, before she turned 19, count, then she would be OK. If not she is in trouble because she's currently in the UK for her graduation. Even if she comes back immediately and misses graduation, she will still be short.
She has been working in Canada for almost a year and is in the process of applying for grad school here. The reason she did not come to Canada in 2019 is that she had to finish university in UK.
as armoured mentioned, these things trigger when you apply for PRTD, PR renewal, POE or appeal.

I'd like to add the degree of non-compliance in these cases is not severe. Just my two cents that you may include the time she spent as a dependent with a Canadian parent. ( though much more details and evidence have to be established).

It is up to you to decide to return to Canada before the PR card expires(and miss the graduation ceremony), or stay where you are and then apply for PRTD.
 

Mogscat

Member
Oct 10, 2016
12
0
She's coming back to Canada immediately and missing graduation. She will still be a few days short so we will see what happens at the border.