If you wait and NEXT year you apply for a PR Travel Document, follow instructions, prompts, and links at the following webpage:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...rvices/new-immigrants/pr-travel-document.html
Better option, by far, if at all possible, would be to return to Canada by the end of January 2021. That is, to return BEFORE your PR card expires. Leading to . . .
Best Option Is Return To Canada Before End January, 2021:
If it is at all possible to travel to Canada by the end of January, 2021, that is, so that you arrive in Canada by the day before your PR card expires, that is your best option. It is
NOT for-sure but highly
likely that returning PRs will be allowed significantly more leeway in RO compliance if it appears their return to Canada was delayed due to Covid-19.
Even if you are reported for a breach of the RO upon arrival, at the PoE, you can appeal that and
if you then STAY in Canada, you should have a good chance of being allowed to keep PR status despite the breach of the RO. The stronger H&C reasons you have, the better your odds you will NOT be Reported at the PoE upon arrival, But, likewise, if reported anyway, the stronger your H&C reasons (in addition to delay due to Covid-19 travel restrictions), the better your odds of a successful appeal.
PR Travel Document Options If You Remain Abroad Past Date PR Card Expires:
If you must remain abroad past the date your PR card expires, you will need to apply for and obtain a PR Travel Document in order to board a flight carrying you to Canada. Again, follow instructions, prompts, and links at the following webpage:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...rvices/new-immigrants/pr-travel-document.html
Since by then you will be in breach of the RO, yes you will need to submit sufficient H&C reasons for IRCC to allow you to keep PR status despite the failure to comply with the PR Residency Obligation. To the extent that Covid-19 interfered with how soon you could return to Canada, that will be a factor that the visa office MUST consider, along with any other H&C reasons you document.
It is NOT likely, however, that Covid-19 will result in a free pass to PRs in breach of the RO. So many other factors will have influence in how this goes. The longer you wait to return to Canada, obviously the more in breach of the RO you will be, and the stronger your H&C case will need to be. And the longer you wait to return to Canada after it is practically feasible to travel (that is, once Covid-19 travel restrictions are sufficiently relaxed to allow travel), the less favourable weight you will get due to a claim that returning to Canada was delayed by Covid-19.
The latter warrants some emphasis since it is possible, maybe even likely, that travel restrictions will ease enough that travel to Canada will be feasible before the end of January 2021, such that your return to Canada is not really delayed much by Covid-19. In which event, you will be primarily relying on the strength of your other H&C reasons.
If PR TD Application Is Denied; Appeal:
Since your PR card is still valid until the first of February 2021 and thus there is no need to apply for a PR TD before then, and a lot can still change between now and then, it would be
premature to address contingencies related to appeal options in the event a PR TD is denied. I do not know for sure how NEXT YEAR appeals will be handled by IRCC, but my best guess is that whether or not a PR abroad will be issued a special PR TD, allowing the PR to return to Canada pending an appeal, will still depend on whether the PR had been physically present in Canada within ONE year prior to the date the PR TD application was made. Technically such special PR TDs are issued so the PR can attend the appeal hearing, but it appears that practically this may be as much about allowing those PRs with sufficient ties in Canada that they have been IN Canada within the previous year the opportunity to return to and live in Canada pending the outcome of the appeal.
FURTHER OBSERVATIONS:
Unless you return to Canada before your PR card expires (which, again, is your
BEST option by far, if at all possible), a big factor in how things go will likely be WHEN it was that you spent the 320 days in Canada. The more the more recently the better. In contrast, the longer it has been since you were last IN Canada, the more difficult it will probably be to present a successful H&C case.
In a similar vein, the longer you were abroad before Covid-19 caused travel restrictions, the less weight Covid-19 travel restrictions are likely to have as a H&C factor. As already noted, likewise, the longer after travel restrictions are lifted you seek to return to Canada, the less weight Covid-19 travel restrictions are likely to have as a H&C factor.
Some Particular RO Compliance Calculations:
NOTE: It appears that as of right now you are still in compliance with the PR Residency Obligation. But not for long. If, for example, you landed August 9, 2015, and you have been physically present in Canada 720 days as of today, you are currently in compliance and will continue to be in compliance until July 30th or 31th. This is because in addition to the credit for the 720 days you have been IN Canada, you get credit for any days left on the calendar until the fifth year anniversary of the date you landed.
IN CONTRAST, assuming you spent some time in Canada when you landed in 2015, REMEMBER that those days will NO LONGER COUNT toward RO compliance when they are more than five years ago. For example, if you were in Canada for six weeks after landing in 2015, by the time you apply for a PR TD in February, or later, those 42 days will no longer count, so you would only have 678 days credit toward RO compliance (subtracting the 42 from the 720 days you report having been in Canada since landing). That number should not change the odds of getting H&C relief much BUT, for example, if you were in Canada for six months right after landing, in 2015,, then by the time you apply for a PR TD you will be losing 180 days. 540 or so days credit toward RO compliance would put you into a far higher RISK category.