Few Questions

[aili]

Hi all

I have few questions:

1-Where an applicant receives PR card? in the country of application or in Canada?

2- When an immigrant gets 5-years PR card, in how much time she or he should move to Canada? I mean, when does 5-years time period starts and is there any obligations to move first time to Canada within certain time period?

3- Is it required for principal applicant to land / leave Canada every time with accompanying members? or is it only the case for first time?

4- After obtaining PR card, is it ralso equired to get visa for Canada?

Thanks in advance

aili

PS: my appologise if posted in wrong section and been answered before.

[Leon]

1. First you get your PR visa in your passport.  Then you can "land" in Canada, that is come to Canada, do some paperwork as you enter and apply for your PR card which will be mailed to you 4-6 weeks later.

2. When you get your PR visa, there is a time limit for how long it is valid.  Usually 1 year since you got the medical done so depending on how long after medicals you got the visa, you might have several months before you have to go to Canada and "land".
You become PR when you "land".  Your card is valid for something like 5 years but in order to keep your PR, you need to make sure that you are never outside Canada for more than 1095 days (3 years) in any rolling 5 year period.

3. When you "land" the principal applicant has to land before or at the same time as other applicants.  After that, there is no primary applicant anymore and each persons PR is equally valid as for another.

4. When you are a PR, you do not need any visa.  You need your PR card with you when you travel because you need to show it to come back

[aili]

Thanks Leon for quick and to-the-point answers

Thus, 5-years time limit starts from the issue date of PR-card in Canada. I got it right ?

If PR-visa validity expires, then the applicant has to re-apply for immigration or ?

In order to keep PR status, the stay duration is two years out of five? or 3 out of 5? I am confused because I read that it is 3 years for applying citizenship and 2 years to renew your PR-Card for next 5 years?

Thanks again


PS: i got it, rather than using the word "land", probably, i should have used the word "enter" but "land" gives a smiling look, isn't it?

[Leon]

The PR card is probably valid 5 years from the day it is issued but you have to meet the residency requirements every day to keep your PR.  For the first 5 years counting from the day you arrived in Canada with your PR visa, you can not be away more than 3 years (1095 days) and after that, every day counting the previous 5 years, you can not have been outside Canada more than 1095 days so it's not like you can stay for 2 years, leave for 3 and then stay gone and say that the next 3 belong to the 2nd 5 year period.  It's a rolling 5 year period.

If you lose your PR status because of residency requirements, you can appeal it if you feel you had good humanitarian and compassionate grounds to be gone so long and otherwise you can apply again. It is possible if you are going back and forth that they will let you in without realizing you have been away too long.  If that happens, you should not try to renew your PR card until you know for sure that you meet the residency requirements in the previous 5 years even if you let your PR card expire.  There is no law that says you have to have a valid PR card.  You only need it to travel.  Of course it is better to avoid problems like that completely by simply not being away too long. 

For PR, you must not be outside Canada more than 3 out of 5 years or you must live in Canada at least 2 out of every 5 however you want to calculate that.  For PR, if you have a Canadian citizen spouse and you are with your spouse in another country, those days do not count towards your quota or if you have been working for a Canadian company and they transfer you to another country, same thing.

To apply for citizenship is a different thing.  For that you need to have been in Canada for 3 out of the last 4 years, no excuses allowed.

The reason they call it "land" has something do do with "landed" immigrant.  I don't really know the history of that.