How long does it take for my wife to apply for residency for me if I lose it

[anandheeraman]

Good day all,

My wife, three children and I landed in Toronto on July 3rd.  We came back to Qatar on July 18th.  I am contemplating sending the wife and children after 2 1/2 years from now and I would work in Qatar, visit them for 1 week each in mid Feb, mid-May, they would come up to Qatar for July/Aug, I would visit for 1 week again in mid-Oct and they would spend Dec in Qatar.

Questions:

1. At around July 2012 I would not have spent enough time in Canada to retain my residency and therefore would lose it.  My wife and three children would be living in Canada by end of Dec 2011.  After July 2012, would I still be able to enter Canada to see them and if not will my wife be able to reapply back for me to become a permanent resident again? 

2. If she can reapply for me, how long will it take before I can visit my wife and children?

3. If I lose the residency will I be able to obtain a visa to visit them during the times I'd like to?

Any information is much appreciated.

Regards,
Anand.

[Maaties]

if you spend say 3.5 years outside (except for a few weeks), and there is no way that you could make up 2 years before your 5 years is up, then you loose your PR at that point (that is my understanding from this forum).
So in your first 5 years of PR, if there is a point that you cannot make 2 years even if you spend the rest of the 5 years in Canada, then you loose it.

If she reapplies for you, then once you get your PR, you can visit her or through visitors visa.

3) i think you can but not 100% sure.

Also, i am not sure about this. if she gets her citizenship and then she comes back to Quatar, i think you can keep your PR because you are married to a citizen living outside. But i dont know this rule so well, so you might want to check it out. perhaps it requires her to be working.

[Leon]

If the immigration officers catch you coming in, that is they realize when you are coming to Canada that you have lost your PR due to not living in Canada, they can request that you prove that you meet your residency requirements.  I have heard that in such cases, they let you in for a month but after that month is up and you fail to prove your time in Canada, you would lose your PR.  Getting a visit visa to go to Canada when your wife is a PR might be hard because they might consider you a risk of overstaying.  Your wife can sponsor you again which would probably take several months, up to a year and then you could have PR again but if you keep doing the same thing, you will lose it again.

You also have to be careful that your wife and kids don't lose their PR's while visiting you for so long.  They have to meet the residency requirements of 730 days in Canada in their first 5 years as well as any 5 year period after the first 5.  Since they may be tight on meeting the requirements, they should keep ticket stubs or bording cards as proof of their travels.

[anandheeraman]

Thanks a lot for the guidance. 

I think it is best to cut all ties with Qatar, move to Canada and maintain the residency requirements and then apply for Citizenship.

Regards,
Anand.