hello, can anyone advise on the situation below.
Wife and child staying in Canada for the first 3 years of Pr period and becoming citizen at the end of say 4 years. Husband is unable to stay in Canada due to his professional compulsions and hence cannot meet the residency obligation for pr renewal or citizenship. However since Wife and child turned citizens at the end of 4 years and staying with the Husband, he can count the days staying with Canadian citizen for meeting the RO for Pr renewal. But at best can accumulate 1 year by the end of the 5 years period. In this case how can he manage a pR renewal? All advice welcome
has the RO for Pr renewal always been 730 days or has it changed overtime?
What if someone spends 2 years to fulfill the RoO for Pr renewal and leaves Canada and the rule changes to a higher RO at the end of the 5 year period when the PR is due to be renewed. Would the application be considered under the new rule of higher RO or still 730 days?
Thanks
Both these questions would be more appropriately asked in the Permanent Resident Obligations topics:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/forums/permanent-residency-obligations.11/
Regarding 2/5 rule for PR Residency Obligation (requiring presence in Canada for at least 730 days during any five year time period)
:
No, this has NOT always been the rule . . . but I believe it has been the rule for going on two decades or so (previous law was different and included an intent element).
There has been no talk about changing the RO rules in the near future. These rules are, of course, subject to change. While a change to the RO would likely be prospective, not retroactive, IT IS POSSIBLE changes in the rules could be made retroactive. PR status is considered a privilege and Parliament has very wide latitude in what requirements it can impose on PRs.
That said, there is little likelihood that the 2/5 rule will change in the next few years, and even if it did, it would likely give current PRs a significant amount of notice and leeway to come into compliance with the new rules.
BUT this leads to your other question about getting credit toward RO compliance for time the PR is living together abroad with a Canadian citizen spouse. Even this credit is NOT intended to facilitate keeping PR status for PRs who are, in effect, living abroad indefinitely with no actual settlement in Canada and, in contrast, are actually permanently established abroad.
RO CREDIT FOR DAYS ABROAD ACCOMPANYING CANADIAN CITIZEN SPOUSE:
As a practical matter, if a PR living in Canada moves abroad with a Canadian citizen spouse, or to be with a Canadian citizen spouse, as long as the couple are living together IRCC will generally give the PR credit toward RO compliance, credit as if those days were spent in Canada.
Otherwise, how IRCC deals with PRs living with a Canadian citizen spouse abroad, that is in scenarios or circumstances other than where the PR who is living in Canada moves abroad to be with a Canadian citizen spouse, can be more complicated. This gets into the
WHO-ACCOMPANIED-WHOM question. There is extensive discussion about this issue in a particular topic in the other conference; see:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/who-accompanied-whom-can-matter-for-prs-living-with-citizen-spouse-abroad-update.579860/
Basically, however, if the PR has been living abroad for a long while and then the PR's Canadian citizen spouse moves abroad to live with the PR, there is a significant risk that this will be seen as the citizen accompanying the PR, NOT the PR accompanying the citizen. NO CREDIT toward RO compliance. Again, this is more complicated than can be stated in sound bites. See the other topic for more discussion about this.
PR CARD RENEWAL FOR PR LIVING ABROAD:
Even if it is clear the PR accompanied the citizen spouse abroad, and thus gets credit toward the RO, current IRCC policy requires PR card applications to be made from WITHIN CANADA, and generally IRCC tends to discourage PRs from making the PR card application while living abroad. More than a few try to work-around this, such as by applying for PR during a visit to Canada. And this sometimes works. But many times this runs into hurdles making it difficult to actually be granted and delivered a new card.
IRCC's policy encourages such PRs to apply for a PR Travel Document for purposes of traveling back to Canada, and in recent years IRCC has been issuing multiple-use PR TDs to such PRs, and these can be valid for up to five years.
REMINDER: a PR does NOT need a valid PR card to keep status. The PR card is needed to show when boarding a flight headed to Canada. PRs in compliance with the RO can get the PR TD for this purpose. Or, for those who can travel to the U.S., the PR can travel via the U.S., approaching the Canadian PoE at a land crossing using private transportation.
ADDITIONAL NOTE REGARDING PR RO 2/5 RULE:
(subject to credit for time abroad based on specified circumstances)
While the rule is stated in terms of requiring 730 days presence IN Canada during a five year time period, it can be easier to understand how the rule works counting days absent rather than days present.
If the PR is absent from Canada for more than 1095 days between the date the PR landed and the fifth year anniversary of that date, the PR is in breach. The PR is in breach as of the 1096th day of absence. Thus, for example, a new PR could have a valid PR card that does not expire for two more years but already be in breach of the RO. IRCC does NOT need to wait for the full five years to pass to make a Residency Determination.
As of the fifth year anniversary of the date the PR landed, if the PR is absent for more than 1095 days within the previous five years of any day, any day at all, the PR is in breach of the RO.
Thus, note, no matter when a PR landed and no matter how much a PR has been in Canada before, if a PR leaves Canada and is outside Canada for the next three years, the PR is in breach of the PR RO.
Example I: PR is in Canada for two straight years and then leaves and is outside Canada 1096 days. BREACH.
Example II: After landing and becoming a PR, the PR spends a week or two in Canada a couple times per year while the PR's family stays more or less steadily in Canada . . . three years and a couple or so months later (depending on just how many days the PR has been in Canada) the PR will be in breach. (The PR may return to Canada, using his or her still valid PR card, one or three more times before a PoE officer takes note of the total days absent and proceeds to issue the 44(1) Report for Inadmissibility due to a breach of the RO,
OR this could happen the very next time the PR attempts to return to Canada.)
