PR card renewal - Questions reg. out of status, need expert opinion.

[Maplehunt]

Hi All,

I am outside Canada right now and my PR card is about to expire on Jan 20. I am planning to travel and get back to Canada on Jan 10th.

In the last 5 years, I have stayed in Canada only for 1 year and 8 months (605 days). Hence, by the end of January 2025 (soon after I land), I will become out of status and will also have an expired PR card.

I thought of waiting for a few more months, say till June, and apply for a PR Renewal (once I have stayed for 730 days).

My Question: When I apply for PR renewal, I would have been out of status for a few months right before my application. Is it a problem ?
Do they check out of statuses during renewal ? What are the chances that I will get my PR successfully renewed if I apply in June?

Can you please advise. Thanks !

 

[canuck78]

Hi All,

I am outside Canada right now and my PR card is about to expire on Jan 20. I am planning to travel and get back to Canada on Jan 10th.

In the last 5 years, I have stayed in Canada only for 1 year and 8 months (605 days). Hence, by the end of January 2025 (soon after I land), I will become out of status and will also have an expired PR card.

I thought of waiting for a few more months, say till June, and apply for a PR Renewal (once I have stayed for 730 days).

My Question: When I apply for PR renewal, I would have been out of status for a few months right before my application. Is it a problem ?
Do they check out of statuses during renewal ? What are the chances that I will get my PR successfully renewed if I apply in June?

Can you please advise. Thanks !

Your PR card will be expired not your PR status. PR card is essentially a travel document so as long as you remain in Canada you don’t really need a valid PR card. It can be difficult to secure provincial health card and sometimes a driver’s license without a valid PR card so you should reapply for both as soon as you arrive. If you have not met the residency requirement to receive healthcare in your province you must reapply even if your current card is still valid.

 

[Maplehunt]

Thanks for the answer. I will be out of status as I didn't satisfy the 730 day rule. Hence, I thought there will be some issue. Can you please confirm whether it's okay to still apply for PR renewal after say 4 months ?

 

[armoured]

Thanks for the answer. I will be out of status as I didn't satisfy the 730 day rule. Hence, I thought there will be some issue. Can you please confirm whether it's okay to still apply for PR renewal after say 4 months ?

You will not be 'out of status' and you will be perfectly fine to stay without renewing your card, either until you're eligible to or, well, forever if you want.

Yes, you can apply when you have more than 730 days. Be sure to check the dates, remembering that any days in Canada more than five years ago (as of the date you apply) are no longer included in the calc.

You can calculate, if you prefer, based on days OUTSIDE of Canada. As long as days outside Canada in last five years are less than 1095 as of the day you apply, you are good to submit your renewal.

Conventional wisdom here is that it's a good idea to have, say, a couple extra weeks. That may be as much about ensuring you haven't made any math errors or flubbed some dates or missed a trip as anything - but it certainly won't hurt to have a bit more than the minimum.

 

[Maplehunt]

Thanks for the detailed answer armoured. I understand the days calculation part while I'm still uncomfortable with the 'out of status' thing. I have read in IRCC that if you don't maintain 730 days, you will become out of status. Hence I'm still worried what to do after January gets over when I will miss my 730 day rule.

 

[scylla]

Thanks for the detailed answer armoured. I understand the days calculation part while I'm still uncomfortable with the 'out of status' thing. I have read in IRCC that if you don't maintain 730 days, you will become out of status. Hence I'm still worried what to do after January gets over when I will miss my 730 day rule.

As already said, you won't be out of status. Nowhere on the IRCC website does it say you will be out of status if you don't maintain the 730 days.

 

[Maplehunt]

I will be happy if you guys are right. I was mentioning IRCC with reference to the link found below

https://ircc.canada.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1468&top=10

Please advise.

 

[armoured]

I will be happy if you guys are right. I was mentioning IRCC with reference to the link found below

https://ircc.canada.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1468&top=10

Please advise.

Simple short form: this is not a risk while you are in Canada.

Some caveats like "avoid interacting with IRCC until you are back in compliance."

If you read carefully on that page: "Even if you don't meet the residency obligation, you will stay a PR until an official decision is made on your status."

And: "You will only lose your PR status if -an officer determines you are no longer a PR after an inquiry or PRTD appeal following a refusal."

There will be no 'inquiry' if you don't interact with them, by crossing a border back into Canada or applying to renew your PR card prematurely or submitting certain other types of applications.

[Note - apart from there not being such an inquiry if you do these things, it is not a guarantee that such an inquiry will happen even ifyou do these things, or that any inquiry would proceed to revocation. I'm saying no risk if you refrain from doing those things.]

 

[Ponga]

I will be happy if you guys are right. I was mentioning IRCC with reference to the link found below

https://ircc.canada.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1468&top=10

Please advise.

A person that is not in Canada, holding an expired PR Card is `assumed' to be out of compliance in terms of the Residency Obligation. That is not to say that any action would be taken by a CBSA officer once the PR returns to Canada.

Waiting until you have returned to Canada and accrued more than 730 days (next June) to apply for the renewed card would be the only logical option.