Applying for citizenship better than renewing PR card?

[NNN123]

Leon,

I have a PR card valid until feb 2014. I landed in canada in feb 2009, stayed for 2 days and returned to US.
so complete 730 days, I would have to move to canada before feb 2012.
Due to my current projects in US, I will be able to travel only by Aug 2012.
And I can stay for 4 continous years after Aug 2012, but PR would have expired by then,
So I want to know instead of renewing my PR after completing 730 days and collecting humanatarian and compassionate documents, can I directly apply for citizenship after staying for 1095 days?

I saw your previous post where you mentioned unless PR status is under investigation/ letter to leave from canada we can apply for citizenship. So does CIC automatically ask us to leave after feb 2015 if I dont apply for renewing PR?
Thanks

[Leon]

Nobody will ask you to leave if you don't renew your PR card.  If you don't meet the residency requirements, it is best that you don't apply to renew until you do.  Say you come back in Aug 2012, then you should stay in Canada without leaving and only apply to renew in Aug 2014 or later.  There is no law that states that you must have a PR card to be a PR.  The PR card expiring does nothing to hurt your PR status.  If you apply to renew your PR card, they will look at the previous 5 years, they are not allowed to go further back.  That is why you should wait to renew.

As for applying for citizenship, you would need 1095 days for that so you could apply in Aug 2015 or later.  The processing time can easily be a year so by applying to renew your PR card in 2014, it means you can still travel outside Canada and come back without a problem while you wait to apply for citizenship and while you wait for your citizenship to get processed but if you don't want to travel anyway and want to save the $50, you don't have to renew your PR card, it is ok not to.

[NNN123]

Thank you leon for your help. I really appreciate your quick reply.