As already pointed out you will need to be in Canada to apply to try and renew LE cards but you need to declare your genuine current address which would be outside Canada. Those residing outside Canada are typically expected to pick up the new cards in person and to an interview which would mean returning to Canada again within 6 months of being notified that the cards were ready for pick-up. I would also anticipate that processing may be non-routine so could take significantly longer than normal to receive a response. If an application was straightforward then remaining in Canada for 1-2 months after applying may have been an option. If you have no plans on returning to Canada on a permanent basis this becomes both time consuming and expensive to get an essentially a travel document. Getting approved once also doesn’t mean that approval is guaranteed on subsequent applications.
Canadian Citizen with PR spouse - Critical Immigration Questions
- Thread starter parassharma
- Start date
As already pointed out you will need to be in Canada to apply to try and renew LE cards but you need to declare your genuine current address which would be outside Canada. Those residing outside Canada are typically expected to pick up the new cards in person and to an interview which would mean returning to Canada again within 6 months of being notified that the cards were ready for pick-up. I would also anticipate that processing may be non-routine so could take significantly longer than normal to receive a response. If an application was straightforward then remaining in Canada for 1-2 months after applying may have been an option. If you have no plans on returning to Canada on a permanent basis this becomes both time consuming and expensive to get an essentially a travel document. Getting approved once also doesn’t mean that approval is guaranteed on subsequent applications.
Yes Travelling just to collect PR cards is really expensive especially in present times, where air ticket prices are unforgiving. If at all things go my way, i.e. I get the cards without any interview, can someone courier the PR cards to me? Is that allowed?
We are married for 9 years when I moved back to home country, and child was 6yo back then in 2025. When I sponsored my spouse in 2023, our relationship was verified fully, with all necessary documentation - Application was processed without any questions on relationship. This was also mainly because our names as spouses were present in each other's passports under "spouse name" field even before I landed in Canada as PR. My PR application was also processed smoothly and hence I strongly believe that IRCC never doubted the relationship in the first place.
There is an extremely low chance that you will not have to pick up the cards in person. You don’t have a Canadian residential address so there shouldn’t be a valid address to send the cards if you are being honest. I would be planning on having to return to Canada both to apply for PR card renewal and to try and pick up the new cards. If they are denied outright I would assume IRCC may not require you to come to Canada for the interview.
Yes, it can be couriered.
BUT: if it is expensive and timing problematic, repeat a point made above - you can apply for a PRTD while abroad, and if approved, travel to Canada without issue during the period of the PRTD's validity (it's basically a visa for a PR).
The downside is that PRTD applications are generally processed more 'strictly' and being refused means losing PR status (essentially) - basically less benefit of the doubt compared to someone applying from within Canada, although that strictness may not be as relevant in specific circumstances of a citizen/PR couple living abroad (I just do not know).
In your case if plans to move back to Canada are uncertain or very far away - and since your spouse can be sponsored anew, arguably doesn't matter so much if she loses the PR status. For example, if you think your spouse will never want to move to Canada, does it matter that much?
That's a simplification of course - there are pros and cons and costs and only you and spouse can decide, and involves scenarios that outsiders can't weigh for you (eg if you separate or the citizen passes away, the 'sponsorship anew' possibility disappears).
Important to note that some countries, and/or couriers, have banned the import of things like a PR card because of the RFID chip that's embedded into the card.
Can't recall off the top of my head which ones, but there have been at least a few threads with this info in these forums over the years. Best for @ani486 to check to see if this could be an issue.
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Good point. Canada doesn't care, but some companies (and as a result some courier companies) won't take all things.
Think that the family needs to apply for PR card renewal expecting they will have to fly to Canada twice if approved because that is the most likely scenario and budget accordingly. If they have zero plans of entering Canada in the next 5 years they don’t need a valid PR card. The previous visits only appear to have been to visit the spouse when they lived in Canada. PR card and PR status are different.
To be clear (and because I'm curious), are you suggesting the PR card renewal in preference to just getting a PRTD (and hoping it is long-tenor)? If so, why?
[I do think it is somewhat subjective as to which is better, so no criticism intended]
Just my opinion, but a PR card may be better when being asked to `show evidence' of having PR status.
The fact that the last two letters in the PRTD are for `Travel Document', may give pause to someone asking to see proof of status.
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It's a good point - one of the factors I ranked low in this case, as they seem to have no plans to return to Canada anytime soon.
We can fly to Canada twice even if we are called to fetch our PR cards as long as our status is maintained.
Our only concern is that if ever there is risk of any interview for physically collecting the cards, AND if my spouse’s explanation isn’t convincing to the immigration officer, then is it that we will be issued a departure order and in that case it might hamper my chances of sponsoring spouse again? Since spouse gets a departure order, she will have to run behind certificate of departure given by CBSA. I don’t know how that works and it will be too much of immigration stuff to deal with in addition to the already piling problems.
So my concern will be is travelling to Canada before expiration of cards and put in a new application for renewal a better choice OR I’ll just wait for cards to expire and apply for a stricter process i.e PRTD. Even If they reject PRTD there will be no departure order because we wont be inside Canada anyways, so if need arises I can sponsor them afresh without any questions on departure order in the PR sponsorship application
If they accept PRTD means our status is safe and we are assured of PR cards. Is this correct assumption?
I would appreciate your inputs.
Our only concern is that if ever there is risk of any interview for physically collecting the cards, AND if my spouse’s explanation isn’t convincing to the immigration officer, then is it that we will be issued a departure order and in that case it might hamper my chances of sponsoring spouse again? Since spouse gets a departure order, she will have to run behind certificate of departure given by CBSA. I don’t know how that works and it will be too much of immigration stuff to deal with in addition to the already piling problems.
So my concern will be is travelling to Canada before expiration of cards and put in a new application for renewal a better choice OR I’ll just wait for cards to expire and apply for a stricter process i.e PRTD. Even If they reject PRTD there will be no departure order because we wont be inside Canada anyways, so if need arises I can sponsor them afresh without any questions on departure order in the PR sponsorship application
If they accept PRTD means our status is safe and we are assured of PR cards. Is this correct assumption?
I would appreciate your inputs.
We can fly to Canada twice even if we are called to fetch our PR cards as long as our status is maintained.
Our only concern is that if ever there is risk of any interview for physically collecting the cards, AND if my spouse’s explanation isn’t convincing to the immigration officer, then is it that we will be issued a departure order and in that case it might hamper my chances of sponsoring spouse again? Since spouse gets a departure order, she will have to run behind certificate of departure given by CBSA. I don’t know how that works and it will be too much of immigration stuff to deal with in addition to the already piling problems.
So my concern will be is travelling to Canada before expiration of cards and put in a new application for renewal a better choice OR I’ll just wait for cards to expire and apply for a stricter process i.e PRTD. Even If they reject PRTD there will be no departure order because we wont be inside Canada anyways, so if need arises I can sponsor them afresh without any questions on departure order in the PR sponsorship application
If they accept PRTD means our status is safe and we are assured of PR cards. Is this correct assumption?
I would appreciate your inputs.
I doubt the certificate of departure issue will come up, really - although not so strong on the details of that process. Even if, it should likely not be fatal to a subsequent sponsorship again.
But I somewhat doubt it will come to that. One factor is that I /think/ they somewhat rarely issue a departure order to someone who shows up in Canada for the interview (it often is more of a test of whether the person shows up). You also have the option at any point in the process (at least before being found inadmissible) to renounce the PR status yourselves, and 'start over.' (One caveat - if one renounces while /in/ Canada, you'd have to manage the departure - I think they allow/provide for a conversion to a visitor status to give time for departure).
To reiterate: renouncing/having the PR status revoked isn't fatal to a sponsorship application. It might make it more difficult to get a TRV approved during the process, but mostly if the departure order process etc got messy (i.e. did not leave when told to).
"Assured" is probably a bit overly strong, in that any time one applies for something new that requires evaluation of status they /can/ review entirely (and come to a different conclusion). And in terms of how long eg renewing PR card takes after a PRTD decision, it's not automatic.
That said: there seems to be a fairly strong culture of deference to a recent formal decision based on merits (eg the 'accompanying a citizen' or H&C decision), that is, not go through and overturn the previous decision unless something significant has changed. By 'something significant' - hard to guess what might trip that, but an example might be an obvious change in the marital/residency basis on which the decision was made - eg accompanying and it turns out the relationship had ended and the citizen-spouse went somewhere else so not accompanying back to Canada.
Small note: that deference to an IRCC decision for a PRTD seems quite strong for CBSA (i.e. they'll let someone with a recent PRTD in usually only with confirming questions), less clear for IRCC proper (for PR card renewal), although that may just be because non-standard PR card renewals are slow (we don't know if there's actually a lot of detailed review going on).
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