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PRTD for Common-law partner Need guidance!

Freddycyr

Full Member
Dec 4, 2018
20
0
Hello, I would like to firstly thank you all for your time and input in this matter

I am a Canadian citizen (from birth) and sponsor. My common-law partner (from the Netherlands) recently received her permanent residency status here in Canada through our spousal sponsorship but has yet to receive her permanent residency card.

This being said, we have waited more than 14 weeks now to receive this initial PR card (which they advised us would take 6-8 weeks to process after receiving her permanent status). We called immigration a few weeks earlier until this day multiple times. They advised that it was an error in the system and it should have been sent out already. Basically stating that it was an error on their part and that a note was left in her file to send it. Still to this day, we have yet to receive confirmation of it actually being sent. Unfortunately, there was a lot of discrepancies with their answers which led us very scrambled, disappointed and frustrated. Thus why I'm seeking guidance from you all for these questions that I have listed below.

Now here is the twist. We have previously booked tickets (roughly 10 weeks ago) to go to and to come back from the Netherlands non-refundable assuming that we had more than enough time to receive that PR card. At this moment, we are expecting to go tomorrow and hopefully both of us returning in 2 weeks. We came to the conclusion that since she comes from the Netherlands and we don't have her PR card, that we will have to apply for a PRTD at the Visa office in Vienna, Austria once outside of Canada to be able to return. And that this visa office center is the closest to the Netherlands for us to apply.

All of this into consideration, I was informed of 2 documents; imm5627e (the checklist) and imm5524e (the actual form) to apply for this PRTD. There are a few things about these forms that lead me to confusion.

1. In section 14 of imm5524e, do we actually have to fill this out if we only intend to stay for 2 weeks? Because if we have to fill this up I assume that I will have to dig deep to provide information about my citizenship, my residency in the past 5 years etc, etc. The way I see it is that it's only an optional choice for if you want to count the days in relations to the residency obligation whilst outside of Canada (the 730 days minimum requirement to keep PR status) but I might be wrong.

2. If I need to fill this section (section 14 of imm5524e) and have to provide further information about our common-law relationship, would it be good to make a new imm5409 (The Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union) and notarize it again? I, unfortunately, sent the old one for the spousal sponsorship app. and didn't make a photocopy.

3. Also, just to make sure; is an "eTA" considered a travel document? Just a yes or no answer is fine.

4. Lastly, is it best to go to the Visa center in Vienna directly (if Vienna is the best option)? Will it expedite the application and/or facilitate the process? Because we do have return tickets to Canada that are non-refundable, an apartment to pay and both have full-time jobs. So, the pressure is on!

Again, Thank you so much for your time, efforts and consideration.
 
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