Important : PR card renewal

[sho78]

hi,

My PR card is expiring next year October(2011), and I stayed in canada for 4 months only in the last 4 years since I got PRC, I want to renew my PRC, please advice me is there any way to renew it and at the same I want to apply for my husband and daughter's sposorship. please guide me what should I do in this situation.

[sho78]

Anbody who could share their experience related to this matter?

[kunal203]

Keeping your permanent resident status
Your permanent resident status allows you to live in Canada, but there is also a time limit on how long you can live outside the country. To keep your status as a permanent resident, you must live in Canada for at least two years within a five-year period.

For further information on residency obligations, please see Appendix A of Applying for a Permanent Resident Card.

Losing your permanent resident status
There are several ways you could lose your permanent resident status:

•A permanent resident who does not meet their residency obligations could lose permanent resident status.
•If convicted of a serious crime, a permanent resident may be deported from Canada.
When you become a Canadian citizen, you are no longer a permanent resident.

[Leon]

As a PR, you must live in Canada at least 2 years during your first 5 years as a PR.  You can count time as lived in Canada if you were accompanying a Canadian citizen or PR spouse or if you were transferred to another country by a Canadian employer. 

If you have no such reasons for being outside Canada, you have actually lost your PR status.  You can appeal this if you had humane and compassionate reasons for being unable to live in Canada.