Dear Admin,
I applied for my pr card renewal with my expired pr card after completing 740 days in canada in the last five years in February 2017. In April 2017 I got a mail from CIC that they have received my application and sent it for secondary review.
My question is that if I travel to India in the mean time, will I get my PRTD to come back since I will have completed much more days than the required 730 days in last five years. Thanks
I am
NOT Admin.
I can offer this:
If the visa office decision maker determines you have met the PR Residency Obligation, by one day more than 730, or by a hundred or more, does not matter, you should be issued a PR TD.
The issue is whether the visa office will be persuaded you were in fact in Canada as much as you calculate. That's the issue. The problem is the burden of proof. Passport stamps, for example, are not proof enough, not proof that the PR was in Canada between reported last date of entry into Canada and next reported date of exit, not if IRCC questions the PR's actual presence.
You appear to be a classic
cutting-it-close case. There are inherent
risks in
cutting-it-close . Including the risk that IRCC is not persuaded you were actually in Canada all the days you calculate you were. The burden of proof is on the PR. And one of the problems with
cutting-it-close is that the reasonable inference is that the PR was outside Canada any days the PR does not have affirmative proof of being in Canada . . . this is because in
cutting-it-close the PR was outside Canada much more than in Canada, and for any days there is any question, the natural, reasonable inference is that the person was where he or she was most of the time, so the PR who was outside Canada most of the time, obviously it is likely the PR was outside Canada any days not directly shown to have been in Canada.
So, going abroad and hoping to obtain a PR Travel Document for the return to Canada really depends on how strong you will be able to make the case about how many days you have been in Canada within the preceding five years (as of the date the PR TD application is made).
Remember, PRs abroad without a valid PR card are
presumed to not have valid PR status.
Note, by way of observation, it is unclear why you are saying you will "have completed much more days than the required 730 days in last five years." Adding a hundred or so days to the 740 days you had in February is still way less than spending half your time in Canada. (And that is without calculating if any of the 740 days as of February drop out of the calculation for being more than five years ago.)
Overall, how much risk you will face going abroad now depends on a lot of particular factors in your situation. Too many to offer any definitive guidance. But, some of the key factors include how long you are abroad, how well settled you have been in Canada during the last two years or so, the extent to which you have established Canada as your permanent home, your overall ties to Canada, your ties abroad, your residential and work history in Canada compared to your residential and work history abroad. Among others.
Bottom-line, for most PRs with a PR card application in Secondary Review it is
not a good idea to go abroad pending the outcome of the PRC application. Thus, absent a compelling, virtually unavoidable need to go abroad, simply best to stay in Canada until the PRC application process is complete.
But, for the PR who is confident about submitting a PR TD application which sufficiently proves 730+ days in Canada within the preceding five years, a PR TD should be issued.
Whether to risk an adverse determination is a very personal decision to be made by the individual for himself or herself.
