Hi All , My PR card expired in June 2023, I have now lived straight 730 days in Canada as of today and planning to apply for PR card renewal next week. The buffer is only going to be of 7 days but I am confident of the calculation as I didn't travel outside Canada in the last 2 years. I need to visit family in the month of June. What do you think I should do in my case?
"What do you think I should do in my case?"
Even if you shared many, many more facts about yourself, your immigration history, details about your work and address history, NO ONE in a forum like this can offer anything close to reliable
personal advice about what YOU should do. An immigration professional, or well-informed and trusted family member or close friend, might be able to provide some personal advice about what YOU should do
IF, and ONLY IF, they had a great deal more detailed information about you and your immigration history, including at least general details about your work and address history.
Note, for example, what passport you carry can make a huge difference in what your options are and what risks might be involved. That's just one detail among scores of details that can have a major influence in what a PR's options are in regards to traveling outside Canada.
Current status in regards to compliance with PR obligations, the residency obligation in particular, is of course one of the biggest factors to consider. And this information can have a big impact on the range of what are feasible options. So, the information that you now meet the RO. but are somewhat
cutting-it-close, is an important detail, among the most important, which will be a big help in guiding your decision-making. But even if there were experts here to offer advice that still falls way short of being enough to actually offer
personal advice, that is any advice beyond general observations and recommendations.
Note, for example, that those with pending travel plans should be aware that leaving Canada while a PR card application is in process can result in non-routine processing of the application and a significantly longer processing timeline.
Moreover, PRs should be aware that a PR outside Canada who does not have a valid PR card is presumed to NOT have valid PR status. This presumption is relatively easy to overcome for a PR who can document compliance with the RO, but for many it can have an impact on how long it takes to get a PR TD. And even if this presumption is not what increases the risk of non-routine processing for a PR card application, again there are clear indications that leaving Canada while a PR card application is pending increases the risk of non-routine processing.
Guidance versus Advice:
Some good guidance here might be framed as personal advice, a recommendation specific to a PR's personal situation, but if it is reliable it is mostly reliable as a general recommendation, a general statement based on conventional wisdom. Example: if you carry a passport or other travel authorization that would allow you to return to Canada through the U.S., to make the return to Canada you can fly to the U.S. and then use ground transportation to get to the Canadian border and then enter Canada. A PR does not need either a valid PR card or a PR Travel Document to enter Canada at a Port-of-Entry on the U.S. border.
Beyond that, it can and often will get complicated. There are, for example, plenty of anecdotal reports that applying for a PR Travel Document in Pakistan might not go so easily, and not so quickly, as it might in the UK.
Urgent Processing and PR card Applications:
As far as we can figure out how it works . . .
When a PR card application is marked "
urgent," what that means is it gets opened and examined by an IRCC official sooner than applications are routinely opened, and then an assessment is made whether to give that application expedited processing. It warrants recognizing that
it appears IRCC does not commonly expedite PR card applications, at least not often and not by much. In particular, it appears that most requests for urgent processing of a PR card application do NOT result in expedited processing. When opened, most of these applications will be returned to a queue to be opened for processing in the same processing stream, same timeline to when processing is started as most mailed-in applications. Currently that means around eight weeks after the application is made.
Big difference between online applications and mailed in applications is that the online applications are immediately screened
electronically, and this can result in the application being processed and approved almost immediately if the application meets the criteria for automated decision-making AND is triaged (electronically) low-complex.
Thus, because
online PR card applications are processed and can be approved more or less immediately when submitted
IF they meet the criteria for automated decision-making, those PRs who are confident there are no reasons for IRCC to have concerns, and who can submit a complete and accurate travel history (accurate to the day for every trip), should have very good odds their PR card application will be processed and a PR card delivered as fast as the system can possibly do that. NO need to request urgent processing.
In fact, for solid-case PR card applications, an online application NOT marked as urgent probably has the best odds of getting the fastest possible processing, fastest approval and delivery of a new PR card.
In particular, it is possible (and it seems likely, although I am not at all sure of this) that an online application requesting "
urgent" processing could be a factor which knocks the application out of the automated decision-making process, inherently guaranteeing it will actually take longer. How much longer will depend on whether the application meets the criteria for expedited processing. So for an online application, for example, that could mean just a little longer than those benefitting from automated decision-making, if it meets the urgent processing criteria (most will not), but otherwise will take as long as that same application would if made by mail.
Online applications which do not benefit from automated decision-making, and not otherwise given expedited processing, go into the queue to be opened for processing in the same processing stream, same timeline to when processing is started as most mailed-in applications. Again, currently that means around eight weeks after the application is made.
Reminder: what might be called "
straight-forward" PR card applications (as in applications with no significant issue) are fully processed almost immediately. Again, for an online application meeting the criteria for automated decision-making, that can result in getting a new PR card as quickly as one can possibly be obtained. Asking for urgent processing cannot possibly mean getting a new card any sooner.
There are almost certainly SOME situations in which IRCC will expedite processing a PR card application. So, apart from relying on an online application to benefit from automated decision-making (again, this is the fastest possible processing), requesting urgent processing can be the right way to go for some PRs. Hard to forecast who is likely to benefit from expedited processing. The thing about pending travel outside Canada is that it is in itself about going outside Canada. That's a factor that can have some influence. Variable influence. Widely variable influence. Especially for a PR whose circumstances might be perceived as not reflecting someone PERMANENTLY settled in Canada for whom it appears there will be an extended period of time outside Canada. With lots and lots of complicating factors at play. Far too many to attempt offering personal what-to-do advice.
