Urgent PR RENEWAL

[spymaster]

ello All,
Just wanted to share my ride to renewal of PR card !!

became PR in march 2007

out of country almost 4 years and 5 months
came back to canada in august 7, 2011

since than i stayed in canada only 32 days out of canada which i have solid proof with exit and entry stamp :


PR expired in april 2011

completed 741 days and planning to apply for PR renewal


People around me here in canada tell me i might get a letter from cic " TO LEAVE CANADA WITHIN 30 DAYS " since my PR expired a year and half ago.

PLease i need your help because i am really confused in what to do " i wanna leave canada in november to my home country for emergency " i am planning to attach my flight ticket with my PR papers" MY QUESTION AM I ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR PR RENEWAL OR NOT?

 

[zardoz]

If you have more than 730 days in the 5 years immediately preceding the date of the application, you should be OK. Ignore the doom merchants. Your PR card expired, not your PR status.

 

[Leon]

The people around you do not know what they are talking about. There is no law that says you must have a valid PR card to live in Canada. Your PR status does not go bye bye just because your card expires.

If immigration had caught you and reported you when you came back after 4 years outside, you probably would have lost your PR. However, since they didn't, they can not go back in time and do it now that you have stayed long enough to meet the residency obligation for the past 5 years.

This is clearly stated on the CIC website here:

For persons who have been permanent residents of Canada for more than five years, the only
five-year period that can be considered in calculating whether an applicant has met the residency
obligation is the one immediately before the application is received in the visa office. A28(2)(b)(ii)
precludes a visa officer from examining any period other than the most recent five-year period
immediately before the date of receipt of the application.

Even if a person had resided away from Canada for many years, but returned to Canada and
resided there for a minimum of 730 days during the last five years, that person would comply with
the residency obligation and remain a permanent resident. An officer is not permitted to consider
just any five-year period in the applicant’s past, but must always assess the most recent five-year
period preceding the receipt of the application.