Period of living outside Canada after PR landing

[ggottawa]

Hi. I am Canadian living in Korea (with my Korean wife & Canadian daughter)

My wife has applied for the PR status under my sponsorship.

She will send the IMM5669 & police certificate to the Immigration Office in a few days & she will probably receive Confirmation of Permanent residence (CoPR) in a few weeks / months.

Once she receives the CoPR, she will probably have a time-frame of one month for landing

My question is the following.

1. For now, we (my family) are planning for a temporary visit (~2 weeks) to Canada for her landing. Then, we will come back to Korea for now (because of her career). Is It OK to come back to Korea as I mentioned above? If it so, how long can she stay in Korea (outside Canada) after completing the landing? The PR requirements state that Permanent Resident needs to live in Canada for minimum 2 years in every 5 year-period. Does it mean that she can live in Korea for 2 or 3 years for now and move to Canada for the remaining 3 or 2 years to meet the time-frame (5 years) requirement? Thank you.

 

[ashpash22]

Hi. I am Canadian living in Korea (with my Korean wife & Canadian daughter)

My wife has applied for the PR status under my sponsorship.

She will send the IMM5669 & police certificate to the Immigration Office in a few days & she will probably receive Confirmation of Permanent residence (CoPR) in a few weeks / months.

Once she receives the CoPR, she will probably have a time-frame of one month for landing

My question is the following.

1. For now, we (my family) are planning for a temporary visit (~2 weeks) to Canada for her landing. Then, we will come back to Korea for now (because of her career). Is It OK to come back to Korea as I mentioned above? If it so, how long can she stay in Korea (outside Canada) after completing the landing? The PR requirements state that Permanent Resident needs to live in Canada for minimum 2 years in every 5 year-period. Does it mean that she can live in Korea for 2 or 3 years for now and move to Canada for the remaining 3 or 2 years to meet the time-frame (5 years) requirement? Thank you.

Yes, that's all fine. As long as you complete your landing before the expiry, she can simply do a "soft landing" as what you are referring to and return to Korea after a few days. She can stay for as long as she wants, keeping in mind the PR residency requirements which you mentioned.

 

[evdm]

Hi. I am Canadian living in Korea (with my Korean wife & Canadian daughter)

My wife has applied for the PR status under my sponsorship.

She will send the IMM5669 & police certificate to the Immigration Office in a few days & she will probably receive Confirmation of Permanent residence (CoPR) in a few weeks / months.

Once she receives the CoPR, she will probably have a time-frame of one month for landing

My question is the following.

1. For now, we (my family) are planning for a temporary visit (~2 weeks) to Canada for her landing. Then, we will come back to Korea for now (because of her career). Is It OK to come back to Korea as I mentioned above? If it so, how long can she stay in Korea (outside Canada) after completing the landing? The PR requirements state that Permanent Resident needs to live in Canada for minimum 2 years in every 5 year-period. Does it mean that she can live in Korea for 2 or 3 years for now and move to Canada for the remaining 3 or 2 years to meet the time-frame (5 years) requirement? Thank you.

Firstly; the time frame for landing is usually tied to the Medical exam and is set one year from this date. In all likelihood you will have more than 1 month to complete landing after receiving a CoPR.

It is entirely possible to do what is called a 'soft landing,' i.e. travel to Canada to complete landing formalities and then leave Canada shortly thereafter. A PR Card cannot be sent outside of Canada, however, so you must provide an address in Canada to which the PR Card will be sent. Your wife cannot travel by commercial carrier to Canada without this card, or a Permanent Resident Travel Document PRTD, which must be applied for at a Visa Office outside of Canada.

The time your wife spends with you in Korea counts towards her residency days. That is to say that she does not have to be physically present in Canada for 730 days in a rolling 5-year period as long as she is together with you outside of Canada.

However, as part of your sponsorship application, you will have had to indicate that you intend to return to Canada and you will have shown evidence as such. That is a condition for you to be able to sponsor her for the visa which would grant her PR on landing. Without this intent to return, your sponsorship should be considered invalid.

There are signs that IRCC are taking a stricter interpretation of the rules regarding accompanying a Canadian spouse as they apply for residency days. From what you are describing here, if you don't really have the intention of settling in Canada, you are not acting within the spirit of the laws, and this may work against you. However, this may not be an issue for you at all.

 

[Monika06]

We sent our application for sponsorship from uk in August 2017 , has my medical in November and just received my COPR 2 days ago so it took 10 months . Shell need to arrive before a year passes from her medical , in my case it’s November this year and we’re planning to do the same as you’ve described , just go for a few days and go back to uk but the other respondent is right saying it might affect the sponsorship if you wait too long to actually move

 

[Monika06]

The time for landing is counted from the date of a medical and its 1 year so the sooner you get the COPR the better , I got 6 months from now to get my things in order to move

 

[ggottawa]

Yes, that's all fine. As long as you complete your landing before the expiry, she can simply do a "soft landing" as what you are referring to and return to Korea after a few days. She can stay for as long as she wants, keeping in mind the PR residency requirements which you mentioned.

Thank you for your clear answer.

 

[ggottawa]

Firstly; the time frame for landing is usually tied to the Medical exam and is set one year from this date. In all likelihood you will have more than 1 month to complete landing after receiving a CoPR.

It is entirely possible to do what is called a 'soft landing,' i.e. travel to Canada to complete landing formalities and then leave Canada shortly thereafter. A PR Card cannot be sent outside of Canada, however, so you must provide an address in Canada to which the PR Card will be sent. Your wife cannot travel by commercial carrier to Canada without this card, or a Permanent Resident Travel Document PRTD, which must be applied for at a Visa Office outside of Canada.

The time your wife spends with you in Korea counts towards her residency days. That is to say that she does not have to be physically present in Canada for 730 days in a rolling 5-year period as long as she is together with you outside of Canada.

However, as part of your sponsorship application, you will have had to indicate that you intend to return to Canada and you will have shown evidence as such. That is a condition for you to be able to sponsor her for the visa which would grant her PR on landing. Without this intent to return, your sponsorship should be considered invalid.

There are signs that IRCC are taking a stricter interpretation of the rules regarding accompanying a Canadian spouse as they apply for residency days. From what you are describing here, if you don't really have the intention of settling in Canada, you are not acting within the spirit of the laws, and this may work against you. However, this may not be an issue for you at all.

Thank you for the details. It is very helpful.

 

[canuck78]

Agree that your lack of intent to settle in Canada after receiving PR will be an issue. Why did you apply for sponsorship when you had no plans on returning to Canada?

 

[mikeymyke]

There's a good chance you might be refused if you don't demonstrate you plan to live here long term. I agree that if you guys don't plan on making Canada your permanent home, you shouldn't be applying for PR.

 

[ggottawa]

There's a good chance you might be refused if you don't demonstrate you plan to live here long term. I agree that if you guys don't plan on making Canada your permanent home, you shouldn't be applying for PR.

Of course, we will move to Canada & find a permanent home in Canada.
I simply want to know how the immigration law works & how much time we have before our "permanent-landing".
Thank you.

 

[evdm]

Of course, we will move to Canada & find a permanent home in Canada.
I simply want to know how the immigration law works & how much time we have before our "permanent-landing".
Thank you.

In essence, because you are a Canadian citizen, as long as your wife accompanies you outside of Canada there is no concern for the residency obligation.

From accounts on this forum, it would appear that many people do a soft landing and then return to Canada at a later date. It's also advised to get your wife's SIN number right away as you can only use the CoPR to do this for the first year after landing. Any application after that time requires a valid PR card.

Be mindful of the residency obligation and the notion that PR is granted to allow for permanent settlement in Canada and to allow your wife to join you there so that you may both contribute to Canadian society. What you propose may very well be possible under the laws, but not acting within the spirit of the regulations may also create complications if any future application (such as for a PRTD or renewal of a PR Card) is subject to additional scrutiny. Planning now, and taking the appropriate steps to settle in Canada sooner rather than later could prevent headaches for you in the future. Granted, to me it would seem currently that any risk is minimal but policies regarding immigration can, and do change.