PR Renewal - Residency Proof

[princessofdiamonds]

Hi all,

long time member, PR since 2008. can anyone help clarify the following information - and if I have made a mistake, how do I rectify quickly - going on vacation in 5 months!

renewed application sent yesterday
Days out of Canada in last 5 years : 28

I just submitted my PR application and then realized I didn’t submit any proof other than the timeline on the application of how many days I have been outside of Canada. Reading old through threads on here it says they changed the process last year and now everyone has to submit proof regardless of how much time they spent outside of Canada in the last 5 years.

However. I read the Appendix A slightly differently and it looks like it was updated in December or November 2024, and I’m wondering if this was a new update saying not everyone had to do it again - the wording is confusing which is why I didn’t attach and now I’m in a panic ;

The wording for us who have been residents for more than 5 years seems to me that we just must have been present - with the timeline on the application being sufficient, whereas the wording for those with less than 5 years as a PR must show.

Minimum residency obligations
You must meet the residency obligation to get a PR card.
If you have been a permanent resident for five (5) years or more

• you must have been physically present in Canada for a minimum of 730 days within the past five (5) years.

If you have been a permanent resident for less than five (5) years

• you must show that you will be able to meet the minimum of 730 days of physical presence in Canada within five (5) years of the date you became a permanent resident.

 

[scylla]

Hi all,

long time member, PR since 2008. can anyone help clarify the following information - and if I have made a mistake, how do I rectify quickly - going on vacation in 5 months!

renewed application sent yesterday
Days out of Canada in last 5 years : 28

I just submitted my PR application and then realized I didn’t submit any proof other than the timeline on the application of how many days I have been outside of Canada. Reading old through threads on here it says they changed the process last year and now everyone has to submit proof regardless of how much time they spent outside of Canada in the last 5 years.

However. I read the Appendix A slightly differently and it looks like it was updated in December or November 2024, and I’m wondering if this was a new update saying not everyone had to do it again - the wording is confusing which is why I didn’t attach and now I’m in a panic ;

The wording for us who have been residents for more than 5 years seems to me that we just must have been present - with the timeline on the application being sufficient, whereas the wording for those with less than 5 years as a PR must show.

Minimum residency obligations
You must meet the residency obligation to get a PR card.
If you have been a permanent resident for five (5) years or more

• you must have been physically present in Canada for a minimum of 730 days within the past five (5) years.

If you have been a permanent resident for less than five (5) years

• you must show that you will be able to meet the minimum of 730 days of physical presence in Canada within five (5) years of the date you became a permanent resident.

I would withdraw and reapply. Your application is incomplete.

 

[dpenabill]

Hi all,

long time member, PR since 2008. can anyone help clarify the following information - and if I have made a mistake, how do I rectify quickly - going on vacation in 5 months!

renewed application sent yesterday
Days out of Canada in last 5 years : 28

I just submitted my PR application and then realized I didn’t submit any proof other than the timeline on the application of how many days I have been outside of Canada. Reading old through threads on here it says they changed the process last year and now everyone has to submit proof regardless of how much time they spent outside of Canada in the last 5 years.

However. I read the Appendix A slightly differently and it looks like it was updated in December or November 2024, and I’m wondering if this was a new update saying not everyone had to do it again - the wording is confusing which is why I didn’t attach and now I’m in a panic ;

The wording for us who have been residents for more than 5 years seems to me that we just must have been present - with the timeline on the application being sufficient, whereas the wording for those with less than 5 years as a PR must show.

Minimum residency obligations
You must meet the residency obligation to get a PR card.
If you have been a permanent resident for five (5) years or more

• you must have been physically present in Canada for a minimum of 730 days within the past five (5) years.

If you have been a permanent resident for less than five (5) years

• you must show that you will be able to meet the minimum of 730 days of physical presence in Canada within five (5) years of the date you became a permanent resident.

Some of the formatting in Appendix A has changed. However, in regards to the basic instructions regarding supporting documents to submit with a PR card application, for a PR who is in compliance with the RO based on presence in Canada (a PR who has not ben outside Canada more than 1095 days within the relevant five years) there are no substantive changes.

Right below the language you quote, under the subheading Supporting documents showing that you meet the residency obligation it states:

You must provide copies of 2 pieces of evidence that can show you have met the residency in Canada in the five (5) years immediately before the application, or since becoming a PR if it has been less than 5 years.​

What you quote, by the way, is how the appendix states what the Residency Obligation is, what is required to comply with the RO.

What must be submitted as supporting documents showing the RO is met is separate. For those who have been in Canada more than 730 days within the relevant five years it is very simple, a minimal requirement, just two pieces of evidence showing residency in Canada. Not much at all. (The appendix goes on to give instructions for submitting more supporting documents, quite a lot more, for those PRs who meet the RO relying on credit for days outside Canada.)

As @scylla said, failing to include supporting documents makes the application incomplete. I am not certain that IRCC will return the application rather than process it, but that is the likely outcome.

Even if IRCC processes it, does not return it as incomplete, the odds are high this will knock the application out of the automated processing stream and delay issuance of a new PR card. How much longer it will take is difficult to forecast.

Whether you proceed to withdraw and reapply, or wait to see if the application is returned as incomplete, is your choice.

 

[princessofdiamonds]

Thanks guys. I will withdraw and reapply.

I have my 2020-2023 notice of assessments.

any ideas what to provide for 2024?

i only have a contract from work for contract work with dates and just the invoices I have sent as I switched to self employed - will that work?

 

[dpenabill]

Thanks guys. I will withdraw and reapply.

I have my 2020-2023 notice of assessments.

any ideas what to provide for 2024?

i only have a contract from work for contract work with dates and just the invoices I have sent as I switched to self employed - will that work?

You only need to submit two pieces of evidence. Not much at all. NoA from any two different years should easily suffice. But just about any document in formal transactions that show your address in Canada, at some point during the last five years, will suffice. For someone who has spent barely a month total outside Canada in the last five years, it should be easy to find two documents from this period of time that show your address.

Your initial instinct was largely correct, for a PR well settled and living here, easily meeting the RO based on being here, their address, work, and travel history should be enough to establish they are meeting the RO . . . but IRCC wants just a little extra, just a couple pieces of evidence as supporting documents, something that is tangible showing you were living here.