I was born and raised in the states and moved here to be with my spouse and their two children 2 years ago. I received my PR In December of 2017 and was on a visitor visa from September 2016-December 2017.
My family and i wants to move back home where i would be the sponsor of my spouse and two children. I was told that i would be able to keep my PR in Canada as long as i live in the states with my spouse and would be able to apply for my Canadian citizenship in 2019. Is this true ?
I would prefer to stay and get my citizenship before we move so if we were to move back down the road, i wouldn’t have to go through the entire immigration process all over again.
If your spouse is a Canadian citizen, the days you LIVE TOGETHER abroad should be credited toward meeting the PR Residency Obligation. There are some wrinkles in this if and when there is a question about who-accompanied-whom. There is a separate topic explicitly about this issue. Odds are good, under current policy, that as long as the family moves together (roughly so, not necessarily exactly on the same day), and the couple are LIVING TOGETHER, there will no problem getting this credit. BUT since it appears the reason for moving to the States may be about YOU, the PR, it would be prudent to be aware of this issue and to especially watch to see if there are any future policy changes in regards to the PR Residency Obligation.
OTHERWISE NO CHANCE the time together abroad will count toward meeting citizenship requirements. While there are some very narrow, Crown Servant related exceptions, the citizenship requirements are strictly based on actual physical presence.
THUS:
Thus, it should be OK to move sooner rather than later in terms of keeping your status as a Permanent Resident of Canada. BUT watch for possible changes about this. This would avoid having to go through the immigration process again.
BUT to become a Canadian citizen, you would have to stay long enough to meet the presence requirements BEFORE moving. OR, after you return to live in Canada stay long enough then to meet the requirements. Note these too are subject to change, and indeed big changes to the requirements took effect in June 2015, then again in October 2017, and no one can reliably predict, when there is a Conservative Majority Canadian government again, whether there might yet again be some big changes.
