I am American, married to a Canadian citizen. I have a current PR card, expiring in 3 weeks. I am seeking to renew it and I would love clarification. We have lived in the US before and ever since I got my PR status in 2017. We have been together the entire time and it is our understanding this does NOT count towards citizen residency requirements but it DOES qualify us for a PR renewal. Are we missing something in this situation or is it pretty straight forward? On the renewal form, IMM 5444, section D #22, what is the best way of filing this out knowing we have been outside of Canada but together the entire time? I have the application printed out and ready to go, we just want to figure out a few things first. Thank you!
I generally steer wide of offering advice, but unless there is a plan to move to Canada soon
it is probably better to
not apply for a new PR card anytime soon. This will not affect your PR status. You will remain a PR. At this juncture, and as long as you are living outside Canada, you do not need a currently valid PR card.
Your situation, as you describe it, tends to raise some amber if not outright red flags. Which I will address in Longer Explanation and Further Observations below.
In any event, despite my reluctance to offer advice (I am no expert and I am not qualified to offer personal advice), the better approach here is rather obvious,
better to not apply for a new PR card for now. To wait, probably wait until you actually move to Canada. I say this recognizing that moving here would go a lot easier if you have a valid PR card when you actually arrive and settle here (you will need one to enroll in a Canadian health insurance plan, get a drivers' license, for example), but you have kind of painted yourselves into a corner. Leading to the Longer Explanation and Further Observations . . .
Longer Explanation and Further Observations
You should note that the guideline for the IMM 5444 specifically states "
To be eligible for a PR card, you must . . . be physically present in Canada" and in other online information about applying for a PR card it states ". . .
to be eligible for a PR card, you need to . . . submit your application in Canada," and "
in Canada" is in bold. Technically you can visit and submit the application while temporarily "
in Canada" but to some extent that is
playing games . . . which is typically no big deal (unless there is some substantive issue lurking or some overt deception involved), but it can be a factor influencing how things go, especially if there are potential issues.
Which leads to recognizing, again, yeah, your situation as you describe it tends to raise some amber if not red flags. That is, there are indeed potential issues. This is not about some for-sure bad outcome, but more about the RISK you could run into problems. It is very difficult to quantify the risk, but there is a real risk and it is multifaceted.
Part of that is what others have cautioned above. It is obvious that you did not accompany your Canadian citizen spouse abroad, since you were not in Canada to begin with. And the total stranger bureaucrats handling the PR card application will need to look no further than your travel history, address history, and your immigration history to readily see that. It is all there in your GCMS record. No need for an investigation to sort it out.
To my view it is the immigration history that poses the potentially more serious pitfall than the prospect of IRCC challenging your entitlement to credit toward RO compliance based on
who-accompanied-whom, which involves what
@canuck78 discusses just above, regarding whatever plan there was to relocate to Canada when you going through the process of becoming a PR.
However, the two are interconnected.
While it remains unclear to what extent the
who-accompanied-whom issue comes up for a PR living abroad with a Canadian citizen spouse, it appears that generally it is NOT an issue, and indeed the current guide for the PR card application asks for no evidence to show
who-accompanied-whom . . . it simply states that if "
you were accompanying" a Canadian citizen spouse, you provide "
proof that your Canadian citizen spouse . . . was outside Canada with you." And, indeed, the way the latter part is phrased might suggest the credit is fully applicable to a PR abroad as long as the citizen was "
with" the PR.
And generally, usually, that is indeed how it ordinarily works. Previous versions of the guide and checklist referred to living together abroad. The Operational Manual ENF 23 "Loss of permanent resident status" still states:
In the case of a permanent resident outside Canada accompanying a Canadian citizen, it is not necessary to determine who is accompanying whom, nor is it necessary to determine for what purpose.
But as
@Tubsmagee stated, and
@canuck78 elaborated, that is, well, not the whole story. Sometimes, in some cases,
who-accompanied-whom is considered and matters.
@Tubsmagee referenced and linked the discussion where I reference, cite, and link numerous actual cases, as officially reported in IAD decisions, where the accompanying a citizen spouse credit was denied despite evidence the PR and citizen spouse were together abroad.
If something like that happens, if in evaluating your case, be that in a PR card application, or a Port-of-Entry examination addressing Residency Obligation compliance, the decision-maker involved considers whether you actually accompanied your citizen spouse abroad, if that happens, the fact you never lived in Canada can and likely will loom large. As
@canuck78 noted, if you were not living in Canada it is more or less physically impossible for you to have "
accompanied" (as in "
go with") your spouse abroad.
What is more complicated and difficult to figure out is when or why CBSA (in a PoE examination) or IRCC (in processing a PR card application) will consider
who-accompanied-whom. It is not the usual approach. Probably not even a common approach. And I do not know, but I'd guess that American-Canadian couples are less likely than others to encounter this sort of challenge (warrants emphasizing that the latter is just a guess).
But that leads to your immigration history itself.
@canuck78 referenced changes in policy and practice pursuant to which PR applications sponsored by a Canadian citizen spouse outside Canada have recently have been scrutinized more thoroughly in regards to the sponsor's plan to relocate to Canada after the spouse is granted PR. But the rule itself, which allows a Canadian citizen not residing in Canada to sponsor a spouse on the condition that "
the sponsor will reside in Canada when the foreign national becomes a permanent resident," has been the rule since at least 2006. Thus, as part of your PR application, your spouse and you necessarily had to assert, in the application, a concrete plan to move to Canada when you became a PR. Since intention is one thing, and what happens later can change, the fact that you and your spouse did not follow through with whatever plan there was does not necessarily mean your application was made based on a misrepresentation. But never having moved here can easily invite a total stranger bureaucrat to wonder and ask and look into the question.
It warrants further noting that your application itself was necessarily predicated on an intent to come to Canada to establish permanent residence in Canada (actual residence, not merely status) if and when you became a PR. Not a whole lot of attention is focused on this eligibility requirement, but it is a requirement and it has been a requirement for a long time. Here too, the fact you did not follow through and actually establish a permanent residence in Canada does not necessarily mean you engaged in misrepresentation, but if and when an officer is taking a closer look into your immigration history, again it tends to invite some concerns.
Question is whether an application for a new PR card now will bring attention to that history, and whether this will trigger the total stranger bureaucrat that who sees this (readily apparent if not glaringly obvious in your address and travel history) to engage in a closer, stricter assessment of your case, potentially raising the who-accompanied-whom question.
Cannot say it will trigger that. But we can say there is a real risk it might. Moreover, if you are not actually living in Canada when you make an application for a new PR card, that significantly increases the risk of elevated scrutiny and a stricter approach to assessing eligibility for an exception to the 2/5 years in Canada Residency Obligation, including the exception based on credit for accompanying a citizen spouse abroad.
Since there is no compelling reason to apply for a new PR card any time soon, as for now you do not need one, it is easy to avoid that risk by simply waiting to apply only after you have actually moved to Canada.
