omqtcad said:
Hi,
I have been in and out of Canada since my landing in 2013. So far I have spent 134 days in Canada out of which 86 have been during the last 6 months (on & off). My family has been permanently living in Canada for the last 8 months.
Now I am about to resign for my job and planning to move permanently with my family but I will not be able to make 730 days from my first day of landing. In fact if they let me in I will be 66 days short.
So I wanted to ask, what usually happens in such scenarios? Will they let me enter the country without any questions asked since my family is already residing there for the last 8 months? Or they will report me and revoke my status? Whats options do I have then and how can I prepare for this situation ?
I really appreciate the help and advice you guys are offering to immigrants and look forward to support and guidance on this. Thanks alot.
Note: some important details are at least incongruous, if not outright inconsistent with some of your past posts. The actual details matter; they matter relative to making any guess about how things might go (this is impossible to predict, so at best all anyone here can offer is a guess), and they matter relative to how things will go.
Main detail in this regard is that you have previously posted you landed in October 2014, whereas here you say you landed in 2013. This is a critical detail.
First, however, more generally . . .
Some upfront observations:
(1) Your query asks for a prediction in your individual case, which would be difficult enough for a lawyer to make after being thoroughly briefed on all the relevant facts, and otherwise, based on your slight sketch of isolated facts, any prediction would be little more than a guess.
(2) Not only are you personally familiar with almost all the relevant facts and circumstances, you suggest you have entered Canada multiple times in just the last six months, so you are specifically aware of how you personally have been recently treated upon arrival at a PoE, which should offer some big clues about how you will be treated the next time you arrive at a PoE to enter Canada, assuming that next time is soon. Which is to say you personally should have a far better idea about how this is likely to go (no guarantees obviously) than anyone here, based on how it has gone for you in particular (and that is what matters, how this goes for you in particular).
(3.1) CBSA PoE screening of returning PRs tends to be perfunctory, not problematic, unless there is some more or less readily apparent indicator of a cause for concern, such as something which on its face indicates a potential or likely breach of the PR Residency Obligation (can also be a note in FOSS alerting officers about a previously identified cause for concern). If it is fairly clear or obvious the PR is likely to be in breach of the PR RO, that is probably problematic, but how problematic can depend on many personal factors specific to the individual. (A small breach by a PR now settled or in the processing of settling in Canada, the PR still within the first five years after landing, has good odds of being admonished rather than reported; the bigger the breach, the bigger the risk of being reported.)
(3.2) Despite an apparent
possibility that the PR is in breach of the PR Residency Obligation, it still appears that CBSA tends to be liberal, if not generous, so long as all the following apply to the PR --
-- the PR has a valid PR card, particularly one which is still valid beyond the current calendar year.
-- the PR had previously entered Canada relatively recently, meaning the last absence prior to the arrival was not lengthy (and multiple relatively recent entries is better).
-- it is not obvious or otherwise patently apparent the PR is in breach of the PR RO; for example, if it is apparent the PR has been abroad for over two years since last being in Canada, and particularly if it has been nearly three years, and the fifth year anniversary of the date of landing is less than two years away, the border officers are far more likely to have concerns about the PR's compliance with the PR RO and to then pursue questions in this regard. A PR who has been abroad three years or more since last in Canada is obviously in breach of the PR RO.
-- it appears the PR has substantial ties in Canada, is either now settled in Canada or is engaged in making a real, concrete effort to get settled in Canada.
-- the smaller the breach the better (again, a small breach by a PR now settled or in the processing of settling in Canada, the PR still within the first five years after landing, has good odds of being admonished rather than reported; the bigger the breach, the bigger the risk of being reported).
A guess:
Assuming you have no flags in your records:
If your recent entries into Canada were routine, no questions about compliance with the PR RO, no admonitions about making sure to comply with the PR RO, and you arrive in Canada soon with a PR card still valid for well over another year, it is easy to
guess the odds are good you will not even be examined about compliance with the PR RO, let alone reported.
Even if examined, if you cannot on the spot recall all the dates you have been in Canada, and cannot then and there present documents showing all the time you were in Canada, but you can
truthfully say you have been coming and going in the process of getting settled in Canada, your family has fully settled in Canada, and you have left employment abroad as part of the process of fully settling in Canada, the odds are good the worst case scenario is that you will be
admonished about compliance with the PR RO,
not reported.
There is a bit of a delicate balance in how you approach providing information at the PoE. It is imperative you
NOT make any misrepresentations and not be evasive, which can be difficult if you can indeed detail every day present and absent and that adds up to having already been outside Canada 1095 or more days since the date you landed. That would mean you are in breach, and CBSA has a mandate to enforce the law, so if it is clear to the examining officer you are in breach of the PR RO, that officer essentially has a duty to make the Report, and then leave it up to the next officer (acting in the capacity of a Minister's delegate) to determine if there are sufficient H&C reasons to allow you to retain PR status.
Again, no one here can predict how your actual encounter at the PoE will go. There are clues of course. Again, some of the biggest clues you personally know: how it went the last two or three times you went through the PoE entering Canada.
My sense is that, in the circumstances you describe, if you encounter a more or less thorough examination about compliance with the PR RO, that will be because CBSA already recognizes indications of a breach and is inclined to enforce the rules more or less strictly. This is not to say, however, the officer who acts in the capacity of a Minister's delegate cannot be persuaded that you have been making a diligent effort to make the move to settle in Canada permanently, that in effect you are returning to live in Canada at your first reasonable opportunity to do so, and thus not issue a Departure Order. In this scenario, best to be totally upfront about time in and time out of Canada, to be as precise as you can be even though that may, in effect, establish the breach. This is because your best case is essentially you deserve to keep PR status because you are truly trying and in the process of accomplishing the move to settle in Canada permanently. And because by making the best case you can in this respect, you are establishing a stronger case on appeal, recognizing that an appeal can take a very long time (over a year, maybe even long over a year) and if during the time the appeal is pending you remain in Canada, are in fact settled in Canada, you should have a fair chance of winning the appeal (even though generally few PRs win these appeals . . . but that appears to be because of the facts, the nature and extent of the breach leading to the Departure Order in the first place and typically followed by extensive absences while the appeal is pending).
In contrast, if there is
some questioning about PR RO compliance, but it is not thorough or aggressive, you should be able to refer to previous times in Canada in general terms rather than precise dates, and to generally admit that you have run into some problems being able to make the move to settle in Canada, but you have mostly overcome those difficulties now and in addition to your family already being settled in Canada you have left employment abroad and are now fully settling in Canada. If this is how the encounter goes, the odds should be very good that the worst you experience is a suggestion, or perhaps an admonishment, about being sure to comply with the PR RO. No report. No Departure Order.
An overriding observation:
If a PR is in breach of the PR Residency Obligation, any time that PR engages in a transaction with IRCC or CBSA there is a
risk it will involve an examination into compliance with the PR RO which could result in the PR being issued a 44(1) Inadmissibility Report, promptly followed by the issuance of a Departure Order. If this occurs at a PoE, attendant an interview pursuant to the PR's application to enter Canada (just the act of arriving at a PoE constitutes making an application to enter Canada), the Departure Order would typically be issued during that entering-Canada-examination
but the PR should still be allowed to enter Canada. PR would then need to make an appeal and win that appeal in order to avoid losing PR status; PR retains PR status pending the appeal.
Again, this is in reference to the
risk of being questioned about compliance with the PR RO, and then the further
risk of being reported for being in breach of the PR RO depending on the particular circumstances of the individual case.
Older posts:
omqtcad said:
Me and my family got Canadian PR about 3 years back. Since then we only spent initial couple of months there and came back. Now since the max we could stay outside Canada is 3 years, my wife and kids have moved to Canada permanently. I do plan to join them but its hugely dependent of whether I can get a similar job.
Now since I'm into my last 2 years, and have stayed only 60 days in Canada . . .
This one, posted January 9, is mentioned because if your time in Canada was 60 days as of January 9, and as of today it is 134 days, that indicates you have been in Canada the whole time since January 9, not coming and going (not on and off). While obviously one of the biggest factors is the actual calculation, the fewer total days outside Canada the better (even if they add up to 1095 or more), as I have indicated, multiple recent experiences at the PoE would offer you a huge clue about how it is likely to go the next time.
omqtcad said:
Dear All,
I got my permanent residency back on 02nd OCT 2014, the day I landed in Canada for the first time. I stayed there for a week (7 days) and returned back. My PR cards states 27 Oct 2019 as an expiry date.
Initially at the time of getting my PR card I planned to return back to Canada by 01-JULY-2017 to complete more than 730 days towards my residency obligation (848 days) for PR card renewal and face no problem. But now it seems like I wont be able to return until 15th JAN 2018 when my employment contract with my company ends and will only 624 days until my PR card expires. I'm working for a non-Canadian company outside Canada and the only way I can meet my residency obligation is by living there.
My questions is if I spend (20 days) in 2016 and 2 months (60 days) in 2017 in Canada and then eventually return back on 15th JAN 2018, will the days I spent in 2016 and 2017 be counted toward be 730 residency obligation days? By doing so I will complete full 730 required days. Secondly would there be any questions why did I come in and out of the country multiple times ?
Thirdly while returning on 15th JAN 2018, can I face any issues while entering ?
Thanks a lot for your guidance.
Timeline in this post, which was in April last year, April 12, 2016, is dramatically different than the one here. Indeed, if the April 2016 timeline is accurate, there is no problem yet. I am guessing today's post is the accurate one, landing in 2013 rather than 2014.
That noted, I am also guessing that the landing was in October (as indicated in last year's post). In which case, if you have indeed currently been in Canada for 134 days since landing, and you have come and gone and returned at least a couple times in the last five or six months, at least once this year, the extent of the breach currently is not much and if you return to Canada soon my guess is you should be able to go through the PoE without even being questioned about PR RO compliance . . . subject, of course, to whether CBSA otherwise may identify a concern leading to more thorough questions.
Note: actually frequent travel in and out of Canada tends to help. This tends to indicate, at the least, substantial ongoing ties
IN Canada, which will tend to assure examining officers there is no need to suspect a breach of the PR RO, especially for a PR still well within the first five years after landing.
