Help - What is residency review?, what to expect?

[dican]

To all the experienced members in the forum,

I have been waiting for my PR card renewal for the last 9 months. My MP did an inquiry to IRCC on my behalf and IRCC reply is as follows
-The application was received at the Case Processing Centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on August X, 2015.
-The file was referred to another department on January XX, 2016 for further assessment on your constituent’s residency obligation,
therefore it is not considered as a routine application and the current processing times no longer apply.
there is no processing times associated with the residency review. If the responsible office requires more documentation, they will contact the constituent.

My questions are:
- Is this Secondary Review?
- What does a residency review entails?

Thank you.

 

[Ponga]

It will determine whether or not you have been in Canada for at least 730 days within the last 5 years. If you have NOT...it could lead to having your PR revoked for failing to meet the Residency Obligation.

If you have been in Canada for at least 730 days, you probably have nothing to worry about.

Good luck!

 

[dican]

Thank you Ponga. I have been in Canada for more than 1,000 days within the last five years.
How long will this "review" take?

 

[dpenabill]

To all the experienced members in the forum,

I have been waiting for my PR card renewal for the last 9 months. My MP did an inquiry to IRCC on my behalf and IRCC reply is as follows
-The application was received at the Case Processing Centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on August X, 2015.
-The file was referred to another department on January XX, 2016 for further assessment on your constituent’s residency obligation,
therefore it is not considered as a routine application and the current processing times no longer apply.
there is no processing times associated with the residency review. If the responsible office requires more documentation, they will contact the constituent.

My questions are:
- Is this Secondary Review?
- What does a residency review entails?

Thank you.

There are multiple topics here discussing residency determinations and secondary review. You may want to peruse some of those dicussions.

See, for example, discussions in the topic titled: "Email from CIC that PR card renewal needs secondary review"

Other topics with related discussions include:

Renewal of nearly expired PR cards without meeting residency obligations

PR RENEWAL STILL PROCESSING AFTER A YEAR

PR Card Renewal - Processing Time

Questions on renewing a PR Card whilst living outside

urgent request during the 2ndary review (PR renew)

New PR card

PR CARD RENEWAL - application returned - new photo specifications

Urgent - PR Renewal on humanitarian and compassionate grounds - need advise!

There are others as well, especially if you look at topics in use last year.


Otherwise: wait and watch for correspondence/

Obviously, follow the instructions in any communications you receive from IRCC. Be sure to regularly check eCas. Be sure IRCC has your correct, current residential address in addition to mailing address (if you have given a separate mailing address).

You do not break down the extent to which you were in Canada as of the date you made the application for a renewed card, but if you have been in Canada just over 1000 days in the last five years, that suggests you may have made the application with just over the PR Residency Obligation minimum. Obviously this is a scenario inviting more scrutiny and further examination (and indeed, any scenario in which the PR had been outside Canada more than in Canada is likely to invite some degree of extra checking). So some delay in processing the card application is not surprising.

But as long as you met the PR RO, eventually all should go well. Worst case scenario is that you are requested to submit additional documents and information, and so long as you can indeed actually prove when you were in Canada, there should be no problem beyond the inconvenience of a delay in processing.

 

[vop]

To all the experienced members in the forum,

I have been waiting for my PR card renewal for the last 9 months. My MP did an inquiry to IRCC on my behalf and IRCC reply is as follows
-The application was received at the Case Processing Centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on August X, 2015.
-The file was referred to another department on January XX, 2016 for further assessment on your constituent’s residency obligation,
therefore it is not considered as a routine application and the current processing times no longer apply.
there is no processing times associated with the residency review. If the responsible office requires more documentation, they will contact the constituent.

My questions are:
- Is this Secondary Review?
- What does a residency review entails?

Thank you.

Firstly, nothing to worry about if you firmly believe you have met the 730 days obligation, this is the boiler plate answer IRCC is giving if the MP is inquiring which in itself shows that they have no idea what is happening on the application.

Whether its 730, or 1000 days, you have met the PR residency obligation and if you are 100% confident, reply to the MP that you can bring your documents to the MP's office and prove your stay and continued stay here in Canada. This is the age old excuse to blame the victim for the supposed indiscretion by casting doubt on the victim's story and when its someone in authority making the supposition, it doesnt necessarily make it any truer.

You have to realize that this reply has come from an organization that is unable to change its domain name from CIC to IRCC(And its been 6 months and I emailed them more than 3 months back about this too). So especially if you are on the right, please respond firmly to the MP that you are more than willing to come to the office to prove that you have met the residency obligation and if an IRCC officer wants to determine residency obligation, that you would gladly go to a local IRCC office with your documents to prove your case. It is just that you cant have this hanging over your head like a sword of damocles unable to move on with your life.

This department was able to get 25,000 people here with 15,000 of them not even having proper documents and if you have proper CRA documents and everything like entry/exit stamps to prove your stay here in Canada through paystubs, credit card statements, DL, its just not right on their part to hold onto applications forever. This new administration came to power promising transparency, timelines by when applications are to processed or return of fees to the applicant etc. You have to also realize that the IRCC processes student visas, work visas within weeks if not days for people who arent even in this country. But when it comes to PR card renewals or citizenship grants, they seem to take forever. They like to compare with their counterparts in the Five eyes. The Five eyes countries process citizenships and PR card renewals in months and in fact, they are encouraging more and more eligible people to apply. Out here, we have an auditor general that doesnt even bother to look into if the processes that leads to backlogs is what caused the officers to make mistakes but instead only looks at the few who try to game the system. What about the thousands who do it the right way ? So much for that. Please reply to your MP especially if you believe your case is iron clad. I have no idea why PR people feel themselves as victims especially if you have met the requirements. For goodness sake, refugees who just got here demand more from their MP. So dont allow anyone to cast aspersions on your integrity just because someone 'thinks so'.

 

[dpenabill]

Whether its 730, or 1000 days, you have met the PR residency obligation and if you are 100% confident, reply to the MP that you can bring your documents to the MP's office and prove your stay and continued stay here in Canada.

The role of a MP in these matters is limited. A MP's office (difficult to get the MP personally involved) may facilitate obtaining information from IRCC, and in some instances may encourage or advocate IRCC to promptly address the application. Ultimately, however, a MP has no direct influence in the outcome of an application.

In particular, taking proof of PR RO compliance to the MP will not make a difference. If the MP's office requests it, sure, but otherwise it will have no impact on how things go.

Secondary review is common. As previously noted, this forum has numerous discussions about this, precisely because there are so many affected. There is even a topic here devoted to advocating systemic reforms, given the inordinately long time lines for processing.

While we do not know the numbers, for PRs who are in compliance with the PR RO, ultimately it appears that the vast majority are eventually issued a new PR card. Some are called for a Residency Determination interview, but if they have proof of the time they have been in Canada, the outcome should easily be favourable.

But for now the timeline is excessively long. This is distinguishable, however, from questions about who is subject to secondary review and why. There is no apparent abuse in conducting elevated scrutiny and further inquiries (secondary review) for any PR with a history of spending more time outside Canada than in Canada. No advanced degrees in linear mathematics necessary to recognize the probabilities of this.

 

[markarbet]

You have nothing to do, but complete the form you got or will get from IRCC and attach all required documents. The MP is helpless in that situation. You have to deal with IRCC directly. It is kind of "normal" request from IRCC.

 

[dican]

Thank you all for your responses. I will keep waiting patiently and update about my case when it moves forward.