quasar81 said:
My wife's PR card expires September 2nd 2016, and she meets her residency obligations on July 15th 2016. We plan to apply for her new PR card around August 1st.
She needs to travel out of Canada for 10 days in August 2nd week, and shall be back before September 2nd(before her PR card expires).
Is there any concerns doing such travel? Any guidance is appreciated.
quasar81 said:
As mentioned, she will be meeting RO on July 15th and even when she comes back in August i.e. 730+days out of 5 years.
I thought they cannot deny entry as long as PR card is valid(until September 2nd). They can only 'flag' if they 'think' RO not met. Isn't that true?
While the PR Residency Obligation is met by being in Canada 730+ days within the previous five years, whether or not CBSA or IRCC determines a particular PR was in fact present in Canada for at least 730 days within the preceding five years depends on the officer's assessment of the evidence showing the PR was present.
The burden of proof is on the PR.
And cutting it close is cutting it close, with what should be rather obvious implications.
Beyond that: stuff happens.
So sure, there could be
"concerns." The CBSA officer who screens her upon arrival in Canada might perceive she has not met the PR Residency Obligation, or at least that there is cause to conduct a residency examination. If the CBSA officer conducting the examination believes she has not met the PR RO, she might be
flagged, so to say, or she might actually be reported for inadmissibility, issued a Removal Order. If this happens she will have to appeal and win the appeal. Otherwise PR status will be lost.
Remember, the CBSA officer might conclude she has not met the PR RO if she fails to actually prove that she has met it.
It is not what you know. It is what you can prove. (To steal an all-too-true line from a Denzel Washington cop movie.) This is particularly so for any PR cutting it real close. After all, it appears her total time in Canada will be less than 800 days out of the last 1825 days: if there is any doubt about some of those 800 days, the reasonable inference is that during those days she was where she was most of the time. And most of the time she was outside Canada, by a lot.
As
zardoz suggests, in the vein of
stuff happens, she could lose the PR card itself. Or, this or that could happen to delay the return flight beyond the date her PR card expires.
If she ends up abroad without a valid PR card, the law
presumes she does not have valid PR status. Again, the burden would be on her to prove status and prove admissibility. If she needs to obtain a PR Travel Document while abroad, cutting the PR RO so close could indeed, at the least, be a
concern.
So yes, there are reasons for concern. Yes, as a PR she is entitled to re-enter Canada, but the "concerns" question is not adequately answered by that.
So long as she returns while her PR card is still valid and she carries in her hands (not in checked baggage) sufficient documents to affirmatively prove she has been in Canada for at least 730 days within the preceding five years, she should be allowed into Canada
without being reported, no problem. She may be simply waived through, but as long as she can prove her presence, even if she is not waived through, but examined, she should still be OK.
If it is apparent she is cutting the PR RO close, odds are a FOSS entry will go into her record, which could affect how long it takes for her application for a new PR card to take. But as long as the examining officer or officers do not think she is in breach of the PR RO, at least she should not be reported.
