Landing in Canada on PR status

[Rajma16]

Hi,

I have valid Canada PR until Feb 2015. I appled under Canadian Experience class. I stayed in Canada from April 2010 till June 2011. I am planning to land in Canada now. I have few queries:

1) Can I stay in Canada for 1 or 2 days and return back to my home country.
2) I do not have any job/ job offer in canada. Do I need to carry any cash/ maintain account balance when I land in Canada?

Thanks

 

[scylla]

1) Yes - you can return home. But keep in mind that you must live in Canada for 730 days out of every five years to keep your PR status. At this point you don't meet the residency requirement and once you return to Canada you should really stay in Canada without leaving until you meet the residency obligation. Note that there's a chance you may be reported at the border for failing to meet the residency obligation when you enter Canada. If this happens, you will have to appear at a hearing to argue why you should be allowed to keep your PR status. If keeping your PR status is a priority, you should re-enter Canada and provided you are not reported, remain in Canada without leaving until you meet the residency obligation.

2) No - there is no need.

 

[Rajma16]

Thanks Scylla,

1) What is residency obligation?
2) Suppose if i do not stay in Canada for first 4 years of my PR status. Can I enter Canada and stay in last year?
3) Somebody was telling me that i need to carry travellers cheque/ cash/ bank balance to show them my financial backup as I will not have job in Canada. Is it true?
4) Can I tell the officers at immigration that I am here for 1 day and will travle back to my home country.

 

[scylla]

1) The residency obligation for keeping your PR status is that you must live in Canada for 2 years out of every five rolling years. Right now you do not meet the residency obligation and are at risk of losing your PR status.
2) See my previous answer. You may or you may not. It's possible you could be reported when you enter Canada for failing to meet the residency requirement - in which case you may lose your PR status. If you are able to re-enter Canada successfully after four years, you need to remain in Canada for two years straight without leaving for even a day if you want to be able to meet the residency obligation and keep your status.
3) No - not true.
4) Sure - but again, you don't meet the residency obligation so the longer you stay outside of Canada the greater the chance you will lose your PR status.

 

[david1697]

OP, you want to go to Canada as a visitor.
It's perfectly fine to go to Canada as a visitor , even when you are a Permanent Resident, however I hope you understand that having failed your RO you will more likely than not be reported and, if you don't fall under exceptions or H&C, your PR status will be lost.

In the unlikely event, if you are not reported while entering, you will have a chance to regain your PR status and even apply for a new PR Card if you stay continuously in Canada for 2 years. If you don't, then you keep staying in breach and it's up to the next officer to decide at next entry whether to report you or not.

What you do is up to you, and since you already failed RO you have nothing to loose.
My only advise to you is not to give CBSA any misleading information and not give them a false information about your presence in Canada.
If you don't lie the worst that can happen is loss of PR (which you already lost, unless CBSA officer at entry for some reason decides not to take your status from you). But if you lie and give false information to CBSA in attempt to meet RO you will face fraud and other criminal charges. It can get very serious.

 

[Rajma16]

Thanks Scylla and David for your valuable inputs.
Let me clear my case more.
I worked in Canada from April 2010 till June 2011 on work permit. After returning back to my home country, I applied for PR and got it. Now, I have 1 time entry Canada resident Visa and CPR. Due to some family circumtances, I can not stay in Canada for now, and want to visit canada before my CPR expires. I would like to ask my queries again. Appreciate if you coudl gide me now according to my case.

1) Can I tel officers at immigration that I am here for 1 day and will travel back to my home country?
2) If I travel back to my home country, how will I get my PR card?
3) Somebody was telling me that i need to carry travellers cheque/ cash/ bank balance to show them my financial backup as I will not have job in Canada. Is it true?
4) Suppose if i do not stay in Canada for first 4 years of my PR status i.e. until Februray 2019. Can I enter Canada after February 2019 and stay in last year?

 

[Leon]

Thanks Scylla and David for your valuable inputs.
Let me clear my case more.
I worked in Canada from April 2010 till June 2011 on work permit. After returning back to my home country, I applied for PR and got it. Now, I have 1 time entry Canada resident Visa and CPR. Due to some family circumtances, I can not stay in Canada for now, and want to visit canada before my CPR expires. I would like to ask my queries again. Appreciate if you coudl gide me now according to my case.

1) Can I tel officers at immigration that I am here for 1 day and will travel back to my home country?
2) If I travel back to my home country, how will I get my PR card?
3) Somebody was telling me that i need to carry travellers cheque/ cash/ bank balance to show them my financial backup as I will not have job in Canada. Is it true?
4) Suppose if i do not stay in Canada for first 4 years of my PR status i.e. until Februray 2019. Can I enter Canada after February 2019 and stay in last year?

So you have a valid PR visa and you want to land in Canada to activate your PR status? You can do that.

1) Yes
2) You can give an address of a friend or a relative, however, the immigration officer may refuse the address if you have said you will not be there when the PR card arrives. If you do not get a PR card, you can apply for a PR travel document at a later time, go to Canada and apply for a PR card after you have arrived.
3) Some immigration classes required funds such as the skilled worker class. If you applied under another immigration class, you would not be asked for funds.
4) Suppose you did not stay in Canada for the first 4 years of your PR card, you would be in breach of the residency obligation and should rightfully lose your PR. You can stay outside Canada for a maximum of 3 years after your landing. After that, you must make it up by staying in Canada for 2 years straight. Then you can leave for up to 3 years again. If you do not get a PR card and must apply for a PR travel document, they will not issue it if you are in breach of the RO. If you do get a PR card, it is possible that you can slip into Canada without immigration realizing that you do not meet the RO but you would not be able to renew your PR card if you don't.

 

[Rajma16]

Thank you Leon for your valuable inputs.

If I tell the immigration officer that I am here for 1 or 2 days just for getting the PR, you told that he might refuse the PR. In that case, I will get the PR travel document.

1) Where and how will I get that PR travle document?
2) For how long is that document valid?
3) How ill I get the renewed PR and for how long that will be valid??

Thanks,
Rajeev

 

[scylla]

Thank you Leon for your valuable inputs.

If I tell the immigration officer that I am here for 1 or 2 days just for getting the PR, you told that he might refuse the PR. In that case, I will get the PR travel document.

1) Where and how will I get that PR travle document?
2) For how long is that document valid?
3) How ill I get the renewed PR and for how long that will be valid??

Thanks,
Rajeev

No - that's not how it works. If the officer reports you for failing to meet the residency requirement, applying for a TD won't work either.

To answer your questions:

1) You can only apply for a travel document from outside of Canada. However a TD won't be issued if you don't meet the residency obligation. So if you apply for a TD you should expect it to be refused since you don't meet RO.
2) TDs are valid for a few months. But again, it doesn't matter in your case since the TD will be refused due to you not meeting the residency requirement.
3) As explained previously, you can only renew PR once you have returned to Canada and lived in Canada for two years straight. It will be valid for another five years once renewed.

 

[Leon]

scylla, the OP seems to be landing now as a PR so is not yet in breach of the RO.

If I tell the immigration officer that I am here for 1 or 2 days just for getting the PR, you told that he might refuse the PR. In that case, I will get the PR travel document.

1) Where and how will I get that PR travle document?
2) For how long is that document valid?
3) How ill I get the renewed PR and for how long that will be valid??

1) If you end up not getting a PR card, you would have two options to enter Canada. If you are still in the US, you can enter at the land border by showing your landing papers (COPR). If you are no longer in the US or you want to fly, you would need to apply for a PR travel document at the Canadian embassy in the country where you are located. You must of course still be able to meet the RO when you apply. That means you may not be outside Canada for a full 3 years after your landing. Say you land today and leave tomorrow, you would have to return in order to meet the RO on January 7th 2018 at the latest and then you would have to stay for at least 2 years straight.

2) A travel document is usually valid for 6 months from what I have heard.

3) Getting a PR card first time after landing is always faster. If you didn't get one, your application for a PR card will be treated like a renewal and could take months. Your PR card would be valid for 5 years.

I see from your older posts that you had to add your wife to your application so I assume she now has a PR visa as well? She will have to land as well to activate her PR status.