residency requirements and accompanying a Canadian citizen abroad

[basketballfan]

So yesterday a hiring manager at an NGO that I formerly applied to, was shortlisted for (1 of 2) and was unsuccessful securing messaged me that the same position has re-opened and they'd like me to be aware of and apply for the position by the deadline (today) if still interested. This NGO is located in my husband's country of residence. I feel pretty set on my husband immigrating to Canada; however, I would greatly regret not applying for this job if our immigration application were rejected as it is so difficult to get a good job in Zambia and moving to Zambia would be my recourse.

If I were to accept a job in Zambia and my husband were to get his PR in future, could he meet his residency requirements due to the fact that he would be 'accompanying me as a Canadian citizen'. Alternatively (and more likely) if I were to withdraw my application would there by any repercussions if I were to reapply in future? I'm also not too concerned about being able to show proof of intent/ability to support ourselves upon return of Canada as one of my parents' business would be willing to provide an offer whenever we'd be ready to return.

 

[basketballfan]

This is just crazy - they've asked for an interview in the next few days.

 

[Rob_TO]

For Canadian citizens, time spent living together anywhere in the world will count towards the 2 years out of 5 PR obligations. So you shouldn't need to worry.

When he's approved for PR, he will still need to "land" as PR in Canada, but then can live in another country with you. Note that if you move outside Canada during the application process and CIC becomes aware of this, you may be asked to prove intent to return to Canada once he gets PR. If you can't prove this (as you would have a permanent job outside Canada you have no intention of leaving) then the application would simply be rejected based on this.

You would then re-apply closer to the time you intend to move back to Canada. The previous rejected or withdrawn app, would have no consequences for any new app in the future.

 

[basketballfan]

That's really great information to have going into this tough decision as I feel strongly that I will be given an offer this time. The best I can do to show intent then would be having the family business write a letter for an open job offer with competitive salary upon him receiving his PR. We've talked about me joining the family business for a year for sometime now as we have ideas about expansion projects and I have over 10 years experience there.

If offered and taken I would want to tell CIC about the Zambian job as I would also be paying taxes on income incurred while abroad - I think another indication of ties/commitment to Canada. As it still seems you are suggesting that it would be difficult to prove intent with a full-time job and that an open offer for another full-time job in Canada could be questioned for its legitimacy because that offer is coming from my family's business with obvious close personal ties - and like you said rejection is still at the VO's discretion - maybe our lawyer should get involved in explaining this intent and open offer letter.

Thanks so much for the information. I feel a little better but still fear potential change!

 

[truesmile]

The CIC won't be made aware of your tax situation. The CRA doesn't share information with anyone, even other Canadian government agencies. If you have SA already you don't have to say anything, and if your Canadian address remains valid ie. parents or whatever, then your husband would just come to Canada with you and "land".

 

[basketballfan]

The CIC won't be made aware of your tax situation. The CRA doesn't share information with anyone, even other Canadian government agencies. If you have SA already you don't have to say anything, and if your Canadian address remains valid ie. parents or whatever, then your husband would just come to Canada with you and "land".

I'm not familiar at all with what happens if and when my husband would want to apply for Canadian citizenship down the road. I'm assuming though that CIC links information from your PR application to your citizenship application. So in his citizen application we note that we've been abroad when exactly would we say that his accompaniment started (before PR was awarded or after he landed in Canada)? And what proof do they require - letter from accompanied spouses' employer, option C from accompanied spouse - I see that tax information from CRA cannot be shared but could it still be requested? Thanks for feedback.

 

[Rob_TO]

I'm not familiar at all with what happens if and when my husband would want to apply for Canadian citizenship down the road. I'm assuming though that CIC links information from your PR application to your citizenship application. So in his citizen application we note that we've been abroad when exactly would we say that his accompaniment started (before PR was awarded or after he landed in Canada)? And what proof do they require - letter from accompanied spouses' employer, option C from accompanied spouse - I see that tax information from CRA cannot be shared but could it still be requested? Thanks for feedback.

Time spent abroad does not count towards Canadian citizenship. It only counts to PR obligations if applicant is living with Canadian sponsor.

For citizenship, you MUST meet requirements for living inside Canada. Based on upcoming rule changes, your husband will most likely need to live inside Canada for 4 years out of 6 as a PR, before he could apply for citizenship.

And regarding his PR app, depending how far along in the process you are, if you do move outside Canada to take a job there's a chance CIC will not even realize it and won't ask you for proof of intent to return.

 

[basketballfan]

Time spent abroad does not count towards Canadian citizenship. It only counts to PR obligations if applicant is living with Canadian sponsor.

For citizenship, you MUST meet requirements for living inside Canada. Based on upcoming rule changes, your husband will most likely need to live inside Canada for 4 years out of 6 as a PR, before he could apply for citizenship.

And regarding his PR app, depending how far along in the process you are, if you do move outside Canada to take a job there's a chance CIC will not even realize it and won't ask you for proof of intent to return.

Ok that makes sense - I have to separate PR requirements from citizenship requirements. I'm at stage 2 - have been approved as a sponsor. That's great so he could maintain PR status until we return for good and then we would start counting for CC.....thanks for clarifying.

 

[basketballfan]

So I received an offer but my counter offer wasn't accepted - or at least I haven't heard from them in a week so I will assume that's the case. So the difference between our offers was $10,000 gross. The thought of earning $38,000 less than I currently earn and giving up $17,000 annually in employer pension contributions and $15,000 in other benefits wasn't the sticking point; it's that I wouldn't be able to afford to send my son to private school - I wasn't willing to risk his future by sending him to a subpar government school in my husbands home country–although there are diamonds in the rough.

My parents kept telling me to just be patient. We haven't waited too long yet for our CIC immigration application to process (6 months) but I'm still skeptical of the whole process. We've experienced an immigration application rejection in the UK and a TRV rejection in Canada when we were dating – those were the days when I was optimistic. So I think I will start to re-explore our options, including starting our own business in his country - exploring life in Zambia is something I stopped doing after I applied for this immigration application but having this company reach out to me after 1.5 years has me remembering the 'other' option and how disappointing it was when we received those previous rejections - I may want to plan for the worst.

 

[Cheeseburger]

Not to hijack the thread, but rule changes to 4 of 6 years? When does that take affect? My Canadian wife is sponsoring me, a US citizen, and we just began stage 2 of the process. I was under the impression the requirement was 3 years out of 4 to apply for citizenship. When does that change?

Time spent abroad does not count towards Canadian citizenship. It only counts to PR obligations if applicant is living with Canadian sponsor.

For citizenship, you MUST meet requirements for living inside Canada. Based on upcoming rule changes, your husband will most likely need to live inside Canada for 4 years out of 6 as a PR, before he could apply for citizenship.

And regarding his PR app, depending how far along in the process you are, if you do move outside Canada to take a job there's a chance CIC will not even realize it and won't ask you for proof of intent to return.

 

[scylla]

Not to hijack the thread, but rule changes to 4 of 6 years? When does that take affect? My Canadian wife is sponsoring me, a US citizen, and we just began stage 2 of the process. I was under the impression the requirement was 3 years out of 4 to apply for citizenship. When does that change?

We don't know how soon this rule will change but it looks imminent. It's possible it could change to 4 years out of 6 years as early as next week. But at this point it's impossible to say for sure (this bill is going through the 2nd Senate reading today). If you want to discuss this subject further please join the Citizenship section of the forum.

 

[scylla]

To add to the above, join this discussion in the Citizenship section for the latest updates on Bill C24:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/bill-c24-second-reading-on-february-27th-t186303.2025.html