Hi everyone,
I am a Canadian citizen and my wife is Taiwanese with a Canadian PR that expired in 2014 while we were living in Taiwan (we've been here since 2009). We flew back to Canada in December of 2015 without a valid PR card, PRTD, or an eTA. The immigration guy said we should apply for a new PR card, but that was it, and we were allowed in with our two children (they are Canadian citizens.) We applied for a new PR card but left Canada two weeks later, and our application was rejected. I think it was rejected because we had left. My question is, can we travel to Canada again like we did before, or did we just get lucky last time?
As
@k.h.p. suggests, there are other factors.
I do not recall for sure when the stricter enforcement of boarding requirements for PRs was fully implemented, but I suspect that was after your previous trip. So it is not likely she can fly directly to Canada UNLESS:
-- she obtains a PR Travel Document if she is still a Canadian PR (PR status does NOT expire), or,
-- if she is now a Foreign National
-- -- with eTA if she has a visa-exempt passport, or
-- -- if her passport is not visa-exempt, a visitor's visa
A looming question is whether or not the transaction in 2015/2016 resulted in the termination of her PR status. That is, it is not clear whether she is still a Canadian PR (again, PR status does NOT expire) or there was a decision attendant the PR card application resulting in termination of PR status, in which event she would be a Foreign National the same as she was before getting PR status.
If she can travel via the U.S., and her passport is visa-exempt, you can travel to the U.S. and then to Canada by private land transportation. That gets her to Canada, and probably into Canada, but that does not clarify what her status will be . . . a Foreign National visitor or a returning PR.
If her current status is not clear, and she has a visa-exempt passport, she can apply for eTA and see if that is denied on the basis she is a PR. Or issued, which would indicate that the process in 2015 terminated her PR status.
Alternatively, she can apply for a PR Travel Document, and be sure to include the information necessary to get credit toward RO compliance for time abroad accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse; if she still has PR status, a PR TD should be issued. If the transactions in 2015 resulted in the loss of her PR status, she is a Foreign National, a PR TD will be denied, and she would need to obtain authorization to enter Canada the same as any other Foreign National carrying a passport from the same country. If her passport is visa-exempt the application for eTA is faster and cheaper, at least for the purpose of learning what her current status is.
CAVEAT: your query suggests the possibility you were abroad when she obtained PR status, and that was spousal sponsored, and that rather than actually relocating to Canada you continued to live abroad. No idea if this is your situation, but if it is that could be a somewhat more complicated situation.
