Questions About Foreign Travel as a PR

[lulubeans9]

Hello All!

I am a USA citizen applying for family class PR with my Canadian citizen spouse sponsoring me. We will be married for less than two years at the time of application, so we will have conditional PR.

We are both avid travelers and have some questions regarding how my PR status will limit our travels.

I have read some different things regarding how much time one must spend in Canada once spousal PR has been approved.

Must I live in Canada for a consecutaive period of months or years following approval?

If my spouse and I travel to forgeign countries together, does that time count as time spent in Canada?

If we travel to a foreign country for a period of 1-5 months, will this affect my PR status? Could we live, work or study in a foreign country together with my PR status? Must we maintain a residence in Canada if we travel for extended periods of time outside the country? Could my spouse and I travel to the USA for pleasure for an extended period (within the 6 month restriction)?

Could I travel outside Canada without him for pleasure or to visit family alone, and if so for how long?

I currently have a small face painting business in the USA. I work out of the Seattle area and will be moving to the Vancouver area upon PR approval. I plan to register a business in Canada once there, but could I continue to have my business in the USA and take occasional day or weekend jobs in the states?

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[lulubeans9]

hmm... any input?

 

[clearly]

hmm... any input?

Days that end or begin in Canada are counted as days in Canada. Day trips into the US that end and begin in Canada do not even need to be reported (currently).

You have to be present in Canada for 730 days out of every 1825 days. Doesn't have to be consecutive.

If you are under this amount, you can invoke a few exceptions. One of these is that you can add days spent outside the country with your Canadian spouse. You have to show proof for this. I've not really looked into it, but I'd assume pictures, plane tickets, etc would be useful there.

I'm guessing there's very little chance you'd be spending 1095 days in a 5 year period out of Canada and away from your spouse, so you should be good.

Also, I'm not sure what the 6 month restrictions is you are referring to. Do you mean the six months per year that your Canadian spouse is allowed to visit the US?

 

[lulubeans9]

Thank you

Yes, i mean the 6 mos a year my spouse is allowed in the US. And no, it suks to even spend one day away from my spouse But here we are applying outlaand, so we're working with it But who knows in the future, we may need to travel apart from time to time.

 

[clearly]

Thank you

Yes, i mean the 6 mos a year my spouse is allowed in the US. And no, it suks to even spend one day away from my spouse But here we are applying outlaand, so we're working with it But who knows in the future, we may need to travel apart from time to time.

No problem.