Spousal sponsorship - can I travel out of country

[Alicat1980]

Hello,

I have a couple of questions:

1) I am a PR card holder. I applied for my spouse's sponsorship (out of country) in January. My question is can I travel out of country and be with him until he gets his application approved? We have 2 daughters who are both Canadian citizens.

2) I am about to apply for my Canadian citizenship myself.
a) Can I leave the country right after I have sent my application in?
b) Do I have to count back exactly 4 years from date (eg: 1 May 2013 - 1 May- 2009) or can I just count back four years (eg 1 May 2013 - 1 Jan 2009)

Thank you in advance.

 

[scylla]

Since you are a PR you must continue living in Canada while your spouse's sponsorship application is being processed. This is a requirement.

You can certainly take an occassional short (2-3 week) trip out of the country. However if you leave for longer than that, then you risk having the sponsorship application refused due to your non-residency in Canada.

So the answers to your questions are:

1) No - you can't.
2a) Yes - you can leave. But only for a short vacation
2b) You count back exactly four years from the day you apply for citizenship (e.g. May 1, 2013 - May 1, 2009).

 

[Alicat1980]

Ok because I've only read that I had to be in country at the time the application was "submitted".

Hence the uncertainty.

PS - does anyone know if a PR card can and has been renewed a 3rd time provided 2 years were done in the 5 year period?

 

[scylla]

You have to be living in Canada from the time the application is submitted to the time the processing of the application is 100% complete and your spouse has been issued a visa. We have seen several cases here where people have been refused because they left Canada to live elsewhere either after the application was submitted or after they were approved as the sponsor.

You can renew your PR card as many times as you like. There is no limit.