Renouncing PR Status

[cjanssen]

I am a Canadian living with my Danish wife in Denmark. Due to the issues of PR renewal from outside Canada and timings with our next visit we decided to renounce her PR status when we apply for her eta.

However, I heard there was still a fairly long processing time to renounce a PR status. So my question is this - if she applies to renounce her status would we still be able to travel on an eta when it is in the process?

Thanks!

 

[PMM]

Hi

I am a Canadian living with my Danish wife in Denmark. Due to the issues of PR renewal from outside Canada and timings with our next visit we decided to renounce her PR status when we apply for her eta.

However, I heard there was still a fairly long processing time to renounce a PR status. So my question is this - if she applies to renounce her status would we still be able to travel on an eta when it is in the process?

Thanks!

1. Why would you bother to renounce? If your spouse is living with you, a citizen, then she maintains her PR status. Just have her apply for a PRTD.

 

[armoured]

Why would you bother to renounce? If your spouse is living with you, a citizen, then she maintains her PR status. Just have her apply for a PRTD.

And if a PRTD is inconvenient, fly to Buffalo or Detroit or wherever and cross at a land border.

 

[Tubsmagee]

1. Why would you bother to renounce? If your spouse is living with you, a citizen, then she maintains her PR status. Just have her apply for a PRTD.

And if a PRTD is inconvenient, fly to Buffalo or Detroit or wherever and cross at a land border.

I appreciate the positive responses to a question about a PR accompanying their Canadian citizen spouse abroad. Often it seems a common response is declaring that the accompanying provision doesn’t apply.

 

[armoured]

I appreciate the positive responses to a question about a PR accompanying their Canadian citizen spouse abroad. Often it seems a common response is declaring that the accompanying provision doesn’t apply.

I agree, there is possibly too much skepticism at times about cases with the accompanying provision. I think all we can say is that there is some risk that issues may come up - possibly not much, but who knows?

Personal opinion, I think there's a misapprehension at times about how to approach. In cases where somebody is already abroad with citizen-spouse and have accompanied, I don't see there's much downside to attempting to maintain the status - like here.

There are surely cases where the facts are less clear, timing complete different or eg where the couples are planning on this 'credit' without realising it's possibly not so straightforward.

 

[dpenabill]

I am a Canadian living with my Danish wife in Denmark. Due to the issues of PR renewal from outside Canada and timings with our next visit we decided to renounce her PR status when we apply for her eta.

However, I heard there was still a fairly long processing time to renounce a PR status. So my question is this - if she applies to renounce her status would we still be able to travel on an eta when it is in the process?

I concur in both the response by @PMM and by @armoured.

I would note that we have been seeing more reports of multiple-entry PR TDs being issued.

And while there has not been a lot of anecdotal reporting in the last two to three years regarding situations involving a PR-living-with-Canadian-citizen-spouse-abroad, which may be due to covid as much as any other factor, before that we were seeing an increasing number of such PRs being issued a multiple-use PR TD valid for as long as the PR's current passport, up to five years . . . virtually equivalent to having a PR card, at least for purposes of traveling to Canada using commercial transportation.

I appreciate the positive responses to a question about a PR accompanying their Canadian citizen spouse abroad. Often it seems a common response is declaring that the accompanying provision doesn’t apply.

There was no hint here (unless a post has been deleted that I did not see) of any so-called who-accompanied-whom issue or other reason to reject RO compliance credit for the PR living with a Canadian citizen spouse abroad, but I think I know where you are coming from in that the forum has seen quite a number of responses to queries involving a PR-living-with-Canadian-citizen-spouse-abroad with posts more or less cautioning that the time abroad together will NOT count toward RO compliance.

Your comment helped me realize this was probably underlying an exchange I recently had with @canuck78 here:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/re-entering-canada-by-us-land-border-without-pr-card.597203/page-4#post-10068290
even though there was nothing in the scenario subject of the query there to suggest any Residency Obligation compliance issues whatsoever (the PR there became a PR within this last year).

So, as I am wont to do, I just spent hours (yeah, literally hours, research is something I enjoy . . . often late into the night and early morning) revisiting and trying to update research in regards to the who-accompanied-whom issue. Only found one additional, somewhat recent case, that I have not already cited and linked, and even that is a two year old decision. It is Wu v Canada, 2020 CanLII 68406 (CA IRB), https://canlii.ca/t/j9q9x which offers little new, but is notable in that regard.

Bottom-line: visa officer's decision failing to give RO credit for time the PR was ordinarily residing with citizen spouse rendered that decision NOT VALID in law.

As I am also wont to do, I elaborate some . . . see https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/who-accompanied-whom-can-matter-for-prs-living-with-citizen-spouse-abroad-update.579860/page-6

 

[Tubsmagee]

There was no hint here (unless a post has been deleted that I did not see) of any so-called who-accompanied-whom issue

Thank you for the detailed response, @dpenabill.

 

[cjanssen]

Thanks, everyone for the helpful responses.

Do we not need to provide a valid (not expired) PR card when entering by ground through the US? Perhaps we consider redirecting our first flight to Detroit.

Our issue with applying for the PRTD is that we are 2.5 months away from travelling and feel uncomfortable mailing her passport to Canada IMM in hopes we will get it back on time. I wish we could just do it at an embassy here in Europe.

 

[Tubsmagee]

Thanks, everyone for the helpful responses.

Do we not need to provide a valid (not expired) PR card when entering by ground through the US? Perhaps we consider redirecting our first flight to Detroit.

Our issue with applying for the PRTD is that we are 2.5 months away from travelling and feel uncomfortable mailing her passport to Canada IMM in hopes we will get it back on time. I wish we could just do it at an embassy here in Europe.

You don’t need a PR card when crossing by land.

 

[armoured]

Thanks, everyone for the helpful responses.

Do we not need to provide a valid (not expired) PR card when entering by ground through the US? Perhaps we consider redirecting our first flight to Detroit.

Our issue with applying for the PRTD is that we are 2.5 months away from travelling and feel uncomfortable mailing her passport to Canada IMM in hopes we will get it back on time. I wish we could just do it at an embassy here in Europe.

You can enter at a land border (by private vehicle or foot) with old documents, anything that identifies sufficiently as PR. Valid PR card or PRTD needed to get on the plane.

I don't know but thought you could apply for PRTD online, and the passport would be sent only when requested by the visa office.

 

[cjanssen]

You don’t need a PR card when crossing by land.

Don't need an eta either?

 

[cjanssen]

You can enter at a land border (by private vehicle or foot) with old documents, anything that identifies sufficiently as PR. Valid PR card or PRTD needed to get on the plane.

I don't know but thought you could apply for PRTD online, and the passport would be sent only when requested by the visa office.

Ideally would just do it online but have not found a link to do it anywhere...

 

[meyakanor]

Don't need an eta either?

Citizens of visa-exempt countries do NOT need eTA to cross the border by land. They only need it in order to board a flight to Canada.

Also, a PR or a citizen has the right to enter Canada, so when they show up at the port of entry, once it is established that they are PRs/citizens, CBSA would have to let them in.

You may get stern talking to, you may spend hours in secondary while they're trying to verify your identity, you may get reported (if you have some issues with inadmissibility), they may arrest you (if you are a dangerous criminal), but what they cannot do is refuse you entry.

 

[cjanssen]

Looks like the initial application can be done online, but if approved you need to still send your passport? Not sure if this site is legit.

https://visa.vfsglobal.com/mng/en/can/news/prtd-applications

 

[asaeed100]

Citizens of visa-exempt countries do NOT need eTA to cross the border by land. They only need it in order to board a flight to Canada.

Also, a PR or a citizen has the right to enter Canada, so when they show up at the port of entry, once it is established that they are PRs/citizens, CBSA would have to let them in.

You may get stern talking to, you may spend hours in secondary while they're trying to verify your identity, you may get reported (if you have some issues with inadmissibility), they may arrest you (if you are a dangerous criminal), but what they cannot do is refuse you entry.

your words are like music to ears