Note: a significant part of my previous post was intended to alert the participants I referenced, and the others who are similarly affected, including the OP, to the possibility that the fact they were scheduled for a PRC in-person pick-up may (not always, but sometimes) signal that IRCC still has some questions, some concerns, despite the decision-made and issuance of a new PRC. Those who are, as @canuck78 referenced, well settled in Canada and in RO compliance, generally should have NO reason to worry about this, and any counter-interview should be perfunctory, no big deal.
This is particularly true in regards to IRCC priorities, which typically are not articulated let alone clearly stated, and may not be an overt element in policies or practices.
I doubt, for example, the distinction I made in regards to necessity versus convenience can be found in any IRCC sources or any formal adjudication of PR obligations or PR rights and privileges, even if one is reading between the lines.
Which brings this back to the "assumption" referenced by @canuck78, which is an important one, and *explaining* (which always comes with the caveat "as best we can") its significance. The explanation I offered (and I probably should have referenced the other forum participants who are affected, those posting in this topic alone, among others in other topics, who are running into this issue and dealing with the long wait to be scheduled for an in-person PRC pick-up) was in no way intended to express any justification, implied or otherwise, but rather to illuminate the underlying scheme of things thereby illustrating the extent to which the options are indeed limited.
That is, unfortunately for those affected, the nature and extent of inconvenience imposed on PRs due to this delay in actually delivering a new status card, as best we can discern, is of relatively low priority for IRCC.
As usual, the overriding objective of my observations regarding this is to provide information those affected can use in assessing their own situation and making personal decisions. Here, in particular, there is no promise that IRCC will be scheduling the in-person PRC pick-up any time soon for those selected for in-person PRC pick-up.
This, in turn, brings this to the type of situation you mention, a PR apprehending elevated difficulty obtaining a PR TD or other reason to anticipate a level of inconvenience that makes the delay excessively burdensome and, as most of those affected are complaining, unfair. And in regards to this, I absolutely concur that the failure of IRCC to effectively implement ways to carry out its statutory duties in the wake of the global pandemic, to do what the law mandates, has been more than disappointing, and definitely has resulted in excessive detriment to many, unfairly, and in more than a few instances resulting in overt injustice. It is indeed a problem. There is indeed much unfairness.
Remedies, however, are not so easily identified. And that looms especially large in regards to this matter. Which is why I brought up the distinction in the Charter between the protected travel rights of Canadian citizens versus the explicit exclusion of protection of international travel rights for PRs. Rarely referenced in any of the sources we generally turn to for information about IRCC policies, practices, and actual application of the law and rules, but its import and influence should not be underestimated. While not stated as such, it is what underlies a significant part of the law and rules governing PRs, with the Residency Obligation itself looming very large, and especially in regards to certain provisions like the presumption that a PR abroad without a valid PR card does not have valid PR status.
As we have discussed in another topic, among the *inconvenient* effects from these delays in issuing and delivering new PRCs, in some provinces this poses a major hurdle to obtaining the health care coverage the PR is entitled to have. And other than waiting, the most likely recourse or remedy, to the extent one is available, will be at the provincial level challenging the provincial authority to deny coverage.
And then there is a kind of Catch-22 lurking in the potentially Outside-Canada aspect:
Frankly, this is where things are really murky given the global pandemic, travel limitations including some outright travel restrictions, IRCC's lack of transparency about why an in-person pick-up is required, and IRCC's failure to adequately adapt to the current situation despite it now approaching two years of NOT-NORMAL procedures. For the PR who is actually outside Canada, that is one thing. But to hold up delivering the PRC to a PR who is actually IN Canada because the PR might not be in Canada, rather than engage in processing which will otherwise verify the PR's location, as in or outside Canada, should be readily seen as a denial of fair procedure. The caveat: we really do not know the reasons underlying why in-person pick-up is required for a particular PR. As much as this appeared to be a factor in NORMAL times, it is not certain this is a factor currently, in the current dealing-with-a-global-pandemic situation, let alone any of those affected and posting here.
All of which is the long way around to acknowledging the validity of the concerns you express. Bureaucratic delay is a problem in the best of times. When things are askew norms, and especially so when it is on the scale we have been experiencing for a year and a half now, the problems tend to be worse, and more than a few will undoubtedly bear the brunt of the more unfair, indeed sometimes outright unjust consequences.
It is not always easy to separate explanation versus justification. In a sense, an explanation can be seen to be more or less justification, the answer "why" implicitly suggesting the reason is valid.
This is particularly true in regards to IRCC priorities, which typically are not articulated let alone clearly stated, and may not be an overt element in policies or practices.
I doubt, for example, the distinction I made in regards to necessity versus convenience can be found in any IRCC sources or any formal adjudication of PR obligations or PR rights and privileges, even if one is reading between the lines.
Which brings this back to the "assumption" referenced by @canuck78, which is an important one, and *explaining* (which always comes with the caveat "as best we can") its significance. The explanation I offered (and I probably should have referenced the other forum participants who are affected, those posting in this topic alone, among others in other topics, who are running into this issue and dealing with the long wait to be scheduled for an in-person PRC pick-up) was in no way intended to express any justification, implied or otherwise, but rather to illuminate the underlying scheme of things thereby illustrating the extent to which the options are indeed limited.
That is, unfortunately for those affected, the nature and extent of inconvenience imposed on PRs due to this delay in actually delivering a new status card, as best we can discern, is of relatively low priority for IRCC.
As usual, the overriding objective of my observations regarding this is to provide information those affected can use in assessing their own situation and making personal decisions. Here, in particular, there is no promise that IRCC will be scheduling the in-person PRC pick-up any time soon for those selected for in-person PRC pick-up.
This, in turn, brings this to the type of situation you mention, a PR apprehending elevated difficulty obtaining a PR TD or other reason to anticipate a level of inconvenience that makes the delay excessively burdensome and, as most of those affected are complaining, unfair. And in regards to this, I absolutely concur that the failure of IRCC to effectively implement ways to carry out its statutory duties in the wake of the global pandemic, to do what the law mandates, has been more than disappointing, and definitely has resulted in excessive detriment to many, unfairly, and in more than a few instances resulting in overt injustice. It is indeed a problem. There is indeed much unfairness.
Remedies, however, are not so easily identified. And that looms especially large in regards to this matter. Which is why I brought up the distinction in the Charter between the protected travel rights of Canadian citizens versus the explicit exclusion of protection of international travel rights for PRs. Rarely referenced in any of the sources we generally turn to for information about IRCC policies, practices, and actual application of the law and rules, but its import and influence should not be underestimated. While not stated as such, it is what underlies a significant part of the law and rules governing PRs, with the Residency Obligation itself looming very large, and especially in regards to certain provisions like the presumption that a PR abroad without a valid PR card does not have valid PR status.
As we have discussed in another topic, among the *inconvenient* effects from these delays in issuing and delivering new PRCs, in some provinces this poses a major hurdle to obtaining the health care coverage the PR is entitled to have. And other than waiting, the most likely recourse or remedy, to the extent one is available, will be at the provincial level challenging the provincial authority to deny coverage.
And then there is a kind of Catch-22 lurking in the potentially Outside-Canada aspect:
Frankly, this is where things are really murky given the global pandemic, travel limitations including some outright travel restrictions, IRCC's lack of transparency about why an in-person pick-up is required, and IRCC's failure to adequately adapt to the current situation despite it now approaching two years of NOT-NORMAL procedures. For the PR who is actually outside Canada, that is one thing. But to hold up delivering the PRC to a PR who is actually IN Canada because the PR might not be in Canada, rather than engage in processing which will otherwise verify the PR's location, as in or outside Canada, should be readily seen as a denial of fair procedure. The caveat: we really do not know the reasons underlying why in-person pick-up is required for a particular PR. As much as this appeared to be a factor in NORMAL times, it is not certain this is a factor currently, in the current dealing-with-a-global-pandemic situation, let alone any of those affected and posting here.
All of which is the long way around to acknowledging the validity of the concerns you express. Bureaucratic delay is a problem in the best of times. When things are askew norms, and especially so when it is on the scale we have been experiencing for a year and a half now, the problems tend to be worse, and more than a few will undoubtedly bear the brunt of the more unfair, indeed sometimes outright unjust consequences.
