working outside of canada does it count as physical absence

[absolute_zer0o]

according to CIC, the PR obligation could be fulfil if you are hired by a canadian company outside of canada, and working on full time basis.
My question is, if you work outside of canada for a canadian company (let say they have relocated you to somewhere outside canada) , after 2 years being PR, and I have lived in canada for 6 years before I got my PR. would I be eligible for citizenship application?

 

[scylla]

No - unfortunately you would not be eligible for citizenship.

To qualify for citizenship, you need three years of physical presence in Canada (in the last four years). Working for a Canadian company outside of Canada does not qualify as physical presence for citizenship purposes.

 

[absolute_zer0o]

thanks for the reply.
I am about to get my PR. but my mother is getting very ill and I would like to go back to HK and take care of her.
I just want to know . is there any way to live in a country outside of canada but still count as 'physical presence'

 

[scylla]

I would forget about trying to qualify for citizenship if you plan to be outside of Canada a lot for the next few years.

To retain PR status, you must live in Canada two out of every five rolling years. You can count time outside of Canada towards PR residency requirement if you are being accompanied by your Canadian citizen spouse/partner. You can also count time outside of Canada towards PR if you were hired in Canada by a Canadian company and then transferred to a job outside of the country at a later date.

 

[ZYXWVU98]

very bad, it won't count for citizenship purpose. even for retaining PR purpose, you need to be very cautious. there was a PR from china working and living in beijing for Montreal municipality to promote tourism of montreal in china. her days of working in beijing eventually was not even counted for her PR purpose. she was initially denied by CIC for renewing her PR, eventually lost appeal in federal court. the reason is her job was only a chinese function, should she be in canada, this job wouldn't be available for her. so PR working outside of canada must be very careful to consider whether his/her job out of canada was truly a canadian function relating to canadian business. if not, you could be in trouble. don't just read the text of the law and take things for granted. your interpretation could be very different from CIC's. it is better just fulfill 2 out of 5 years physical presence so no matter what you do, nobody from CIC could ever challenge you on any ground.

 

[ajslp]

thanks for the reply.
I am about to get my PR. but my mother is getting very ill and I would like to go back to HK and take care of her.
I just want to know . is there any way to live in a country outside of canada but still count as 'physical presence'

In short, the answer is No.

Sorry to hear about your situation. But the clause of exceptional circumstance is applied only in exceptional situation when you are employed by Canadian government like army and posted overseas. And it depends on approval of Citizenship Judge. CJ will also consider how irreplaceable you were in that role and how strong connection you have in Canada like rest of your family.

Any personal situation no matter how serious or genuine is not generally considered for citizenship application. You might have a genuine situation. But there might be 10 other people who can easily fake it or come up with other exceptional situation. You can try. But CJ will give a decision to apply again once you have met the physical residence requirement.

The rules for PR is however relaxed so that people with emergencies and exceptional situation can maintain their PR status and be able to apply for citizenship once they are able to fulfill residence requirements.