Urgent - Missing PR Card, need to travel. Help??

[dominokitty]

Alright. I'm starting to get stressed out.

My husband landed as a permanent resident in Calgary back in June, but we haven't received a PR card in the mail yet. Back in August, we got a letter asking for new photos for the card - they changed the requirements on us and we needed new photos with my husband's name handwritten on the back.
The letter said if we didn't send the photos within a set amount of time, they would treat it as though he never applied for the card, and we'd have to pay again. This is extremely annoying. We all know Canada Post is notoriously unreliable and frankly we've already spent so much money on this already and we're ready for it to be over.

So, we got photos taken the very next day and sent them out to Nova Scotia, like the letter told us to. Kinda weird that they do the PR cards in Nova Scotia but our application was processed in Mississauga. Oh well. The tracking code on the Canada Post website said it was delivered on August 12, but we have heard absolutely nothing since then. Not even a confirmation that they received it.

Normally, I'd be willing to just sit and wait patiently, since the PR process is over, and it doesn't affect our lives at all really. Except now it is causing a lot of stress. We booked a trip months ago to visit his family in Austria over the holidays this year. At the time, it was perfectly reasonable to assume that the card would take less than 6 months to arrive. The website says 41 days after all. Plus, my husband is from a visa-exempt country anyway.

His grandmother's health has been failing for a while and he hasn't seen his mom or brother in nearly 2 years since we went the inland route with our application. So obviously, this trip needs to happen. It's also very expensive for two transcontinental flights at the same time, which means we purchased cheaper flights that cannot be easily changed. We're flying directly from Canada to Europe and back again with no stopover in the States. Changing the flights to drive through the States isn't an option.

My hubby is an Austrian-French dual citizen. Originally, I thought that either my husband's Austrian or French passports would be fine to board the plane to come back to Canada. Both of his citizenships are in visa-exempt countries, after all. But now I've learned that they are changing the eTA system to require it even for citizens of visa exempt countries.

Apparently, my husband can't get an eTA, because he's a permanent resident... so what are we supposed to do? I've found some info about a one-time use permanent resident travel authorization, but that seems to be intended for people who have left Canada for an extended amount of time and need to have their PR re-approved before coming back. We're only going for 2 weeks.

If the PR card doesn't come soon, we won't have it in time to use it as a travel document when we leave.

Who do I call about this? Should I send a case specific inquiry? Should I be trying to get in touch with CIC in Vienna? What are our next steps?

Thanks!!

 

[CDNPR2014]

hi,

- CIC Vienna will be of no help to you, as they do not process the pr cards, so don't bother.
- call the main number for CIC. there is a way to get connected to the pr card processing centre in NS, and i found those agents actually helpful
- print out and send a "solemn declaration form" and submit it to cic since his pr card is technically missing. more than likely that will help get a response from CIC. when my PR card was missing, it took only 2 weeks to get it after sending in the solemn declaration form.

If he needs to travel and doesn't have a pr card, then the appropriate action would be to apply for the PR Travel Document. this is not just for people who have been out of canada for a certain period of time. it is for PRs who are traveling and don't have a pr card. i'd recommend doing this ASAP.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Who do I call about this? Should I send a case specific inquiry? Should I be trying to get in touch with CIC in Vienna? What are our next steps?

As said above, contact IRCC to inquire about the card.

You can also contact Vienna and ask them about for applying a PRTD. PRTD processing times aren't listed by IRCC because they can vary quite a bit. Some VOs issue a PRTD within a few days, while some take many weeks. Some allow in-person submission, some don't.

If he needs to travel and doesn't have a pr card, then the appropriate action would be to apply for the PR Travel Document. this is not just for people who have been out of canada for a certain period of time. it is for PRs who are traveling and don't have a pr card. i'd recommend doing this ASAP.

They can't apply for a PRTD while in Canada. They would need to wait until they are actually in Austria to submit the app to the Vienna office.

 

[dominokitty]

Thanks!

I've had awful experiences with the call centre so far. Hopefully the people in NS are able to help us! I'll try calling them today.

I hadn't seen the Solemn Declaration Form yet. That's really helpful! 2 weeks is crazy fast for CIC. I'm impressed. Hopefully, that will help us out too. We're basically 6 weeks away from our flight - I wish I had realized this sooner! Since getting the PR approved I haven't been following the regulations as much as I used to.

I've heard the PR travel document can take weeks to process! Have you heard anything about that?

 

[CDNPR2014]

They can't apply for a PRTD while in Canada. They would need to wait until they are actually in Austria to submit the app to the Vienna office.

ah! that makes sense! thanks for the clarification

Thanks!

I've had awful experiences with the call centre so far. Hopefully the people in NS are able to help us! I'll try calling them today.

I hadn't seen the Solemn Declaration Form yet. That's really helpful! 2 weeks is crazy fast for CIC. I'm impressed. Hopefully, that will help us out too. We're basically 6 weeks away from our flight - I wish I had realized this sooner! Since getting the PR approved I haven't been following the regulations as much as I used to.

I've heard the PR travel document can take weeks to process! Have you heard anything about that?

yeah, when you get transferred to the office in NS, they are actually a bit more helpful. they will walk you through the solemn declaration process. it can be found by googling, i'm sure. it certainly doesn't hurt to send one.

for my pr card, i'm pretty sure it got sent back to CIC in the mail, and it was just sitting there waiting for me to ask them about it. i can't say this is normal behavior for them.