Residency Requirement Question

[helpmeee]

Hi Everyone,
We have a bit of a particular situation and are wondering if its complicated and we should have a lawyer represent us or if we can do this ourselves.

I am a Canadian citizen who sponsored my American spouse to immigrate to Canada, he received his PR in October of 2022. We are beginning to think about and prepare for his renewal as his card expires in October 2027.

Now the thing is we are both entertainers who are married in life and partners on stage. Unfortunately, there is not a ton of work in Canada to sustain oneself very well financially, so to grow ones career and make a decent amount of money, you kind of need to travel for work. This basically looks like taking temporary contracts on different shows in different countries. During all of this time, we have been doing different contracts (longest was 2 years in the US, but we never intended to stay longer than those two years and that ended May 2025) that are often 1-5 month contracts in Europe, US or some in Canada as well. Throughout all of this time, we maintained our tax residency in Canada and even bought a condo in 2023 that has been rented out, but that we plan to move into this summer to have a better home base (right now our belongings are split between my parents house in Ontario and his moms place in the US). We genuinely consider Canada to be our home despite the unfortunate reality of having to travel so much and want nothing more than to be able to work full time in Canada, maybe one day. I have never sought out green card in the US because i genuinely dont want to live there. Now, what we are concerned about is that while obviously when we are out of the country, we are together 100% of the time, but would it be a problem that we are both working? The thing is, our careers are literally tied together. We work the same contracts and everything. I am worried this wouldnt count as "accompanying". Maybe it helps that most of the correspondence between us and job offers comes from myself and not my PR spouse? Every single job we take has an end date with the intention to return to Canada. I am just very scared that this is a problem for the IRCC as this is literally how we earn our livelihoods and we have no other degrees or anything in any other career. Also we love it and we are lucky to be able to enjoy what we do.

Does anyone have any input on this situation? Should I get a consult with a lawyer for this?

 

[armoured]

-Stress less about this. You're overthinking, IMO.
-If you've been together most of this time, file confidently and put a letter of explanation. Your fact of being effectively partners in your work should provide plenty of ways to demonstrate that you've accompanied each other for work purposes.
-Make sure to 'claim' all time abroad together as qualifying for residency obligation purposes.
-Only minor specific suggestion: apply to renew the card when in Canada, with a Canadian address to have it sent to.
-If he gets a decision to come up and pick up in person, just return to Canada to do so. With US passport shouldn't be an issue to return. (My guess is will probably get it by mail)

 

[helpmeee]

-Stress less about this. You're overthinking, IMO.
-If you've been together most of this time, file confidently and put a letter of explanation. Your fact of being effectively partners in your work should provide plenty of ways to demonstrate that you've accompanied each other for work purposes.
-Make sure to 'claim' all time abroad together as qualifying for residency obligation purposes.
-Only minor specific suggestion: apply to renew the card when in Canada, with a Canadian address to have it sent to.
-If he gets a decision to come up and pick up in person, just return to Canada to do so. With US passport shouldn't be an issue to return. (My guess is will probably get it by mail)

Thank you for this. I had someone recently cast doubts on my confidence in our situation so it kind of sent me into a bit of a spiral yesterday. Yes luckily we do come back to Canada in between contracts. Approximately 8 months before his card expires next year we will just return from Germany and maybe apply then. For the moment we are not sure when the next contract will be, but possibly mid May until August. What happens if worse comes to worse, we apply then in March when we return and if we don’t get it before our next contract, would it be an issue for returning? Even though his old card would still be valid? His current one expires in October 2027.

 

[helpmeee]

-Stress less about this. You're overthinking, IMO.
-If you've been together most of this time, file confidently and put a letter of explanation. Your fact of being effectively partners in your work should provide plenty of ways to demonstrate that you've accompanied each other for work purposes.
-Make sure to 'claim' all time abroad together as qualifying for residency obligation purposes.
-Only minor specific suggestion: apply to renew the card when in Canada, with a Canadian address to have it sent to.
-If he gets a decision to come up and pick up in person, just return to Canada to do so. With US passport shouldn't be an issue to return. (My guess is will probably get it by mail)

Oh sorry I just reread your comment it seems you say it shouldn’t be an issue to return to get the card. Thank you! Yes of course we maintain our residence here and we have both my parents house for mail but also the apartment we will move into this summer, so we will of course apply with our Canadian addresses!

Thank you for the advice and suggestions

 

[armoured]

Thank you for this. I had someone recently cast doubts on my confidence in our situation so it kind of sent me into a bit of a spiral yesterday. Yes luckily we do come back to Canada in between contracts. Approximately 8 months before his card expires next year we will just return from Germany and maybe apply then. For the moment we are not sure when the next contract will be, but possibly mid May until August. What happens if worse comes to worse, we apply then in March when we return and if we don’t get it before our next contract, would it be an issue for returning? Even though his old card would still be valid? His current one expires in October 2027.

I understand, a lot of people are skeptical about the 'accompanying' provisions, but I think that's more about cases where circumstances with a lot more holes in the story.

Keep in mind, can only apply I think nine months in advance of it expiring. And with US passport, returning as a PR - with card expired or not - is pretty simple.

 

[helpmeee]

I understand, a lot of people are skeptical about the 'accompanying' provisions, but I think that's more about cases where circumstances with a lot more holes in the story.

Keep in mind, can only apply I think nine months in advance of it expiring. And with US passport, returning as a PR - with card expired or not - is pretty simple.

Ok wonderful. Thank you for clarifying and explaining everything.