Hello Friends, I have a very peculiar question.
We got PR in 2016. We came here for short landing in 2016 stayed here for 3 months and went back to complete my PhD and my wife's PhD. We came moved to Canada permanently in 2019 and since then we're here. My PR card expires in May 2021. As of today, I do not meet residency obligation since I am here for about 1.5 years (+ 3 months 2016), but I will complete my PR - RO in May 2021.
Presently PR processing time is about 140 days, looking at COVID situation I want to file my renewal of PR, so in case if I have to travel out of Canada, I do not have any black out period.
Can I file for my PR renewal?
If you are quite sure you are NOT now in compliance with the Residency Obligation, it appears you will NOT be in compliance until you have stayed a full two years since returning in 2019. It is RISKY to make a PR card application before getting back into full compliance with the RO.
The closer the PR gets to being in compliance, the lower the risk. But for the PR
cutting-it-that-close, there is nonetheless a high risk of non-routine processing and delays, so there is no counting on getting a new PR card within the routine processing timelines, and actually not anywhere near that.
So, if you are quite sure you currently do NOT MEET the RO, the best practical approach will be to WAIT to you have been here two full years before applying for a new PR card, AND even then anticipate the likelihood of some delays getting a new PR card.
REMEMBER, you lose credit for any days you were here when they fall outside the relevant five years . . . so if you are currently NOT in compliance with the RO, those days here shortly after landing will not help at all . . . as soon as you reach the fifth year anniversary of landing and start to get additional credits for days in Canada, those first days in Canada fall out of the calculation. That is, for each new day IN Canada, you LOSE a day from five years past, for at least three months.
Thus, because less than five years have passed since the date you landed, and you stayed three months upon landing, if you are NOT currently in compliance with the RO, there is no way to get back into compliance until you start adding days
present-in-Canada and that will not even BEGIN to happen until at least three months past the fifth year anniversary of the date you landed.
All that said, it is possible to apply for a new PR card even though the PR is not currently in compliance with the RO. How it goes can vary. H&C factors can be considered. For the PR who is actually, now, well settled in Canada and is close to being in compliance, it is not likely an application for a new PR card will trigger a negative RO examination resulting in a decision terminating PR status . . . but there is the RISK of that, and the odds are against getting a PR card sooner doing this, since non-routine processing is very likely.
SOME FURTHER OBSERVATIONS:
There is some indication that you might, actually, currently meet the Residency Obligation.
REMEMBER, the PR Residency Obligation is calculated day-to-day. Each day is a new calculation.
REMEMBER, during the first five years after landing there is no way to "add" days calculated as present in Canada. This is because the PR is already credited with the full five years as days present. During the first five years, a PR can only lose credits, losing a day credit for each day totally outside Canada (thus, even though each day is a new calculation, while the PR is IN Canada the calculated number of credits remains the same, but in contrast goes down while the PR is outside Canada).
HOWEVER . . . Extrapolating some from your accounting,
I am GUESSING that you might actually be in compliance with the RO. That is, that
you might NOW MEET the RO.
What matters is whether or not you have been OUTSIDE Canada for more than 1096 days since the date you landed.
If the number of days you have been outside Canada since landing is less than 1096, you currently meet the RO. And you are eligible, as such, for a new PR card. And this will remain CONSTANT right up to the fifth year anniversary of the day you landed SO LONG AS YOU STAY IN CANADA.
If you have been outside Canada for more than 1096 days since the date you landed, you will not be able to get into compliance until at least three months AFTER the fifth year anniversary of the date you landed. It appears, again if you have been outside Canada for more than 1096 days since the date you landed, that you will need to be here a FULL TWO YEARS since the date you arrived back here in 2019, in order to get into compliance with the RO.
Thus, if to date you were outside Canada LESS THAN 1096 days since the date of your landing, AS LONG AS YOU STAY in Canada you remain in compliance with the RO and you can safely apply for a new PR card anytime. That said, given
cutting-it-close, the RISK of non-routine processing and delays is probably quite high.
