IRPA 28(2)(a)(ii) Calculation: Soft Landing Only + Co-habitation with Citizen Spouse Prior to Divorce

[Robert278462]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for an experienced or professional perspective on a specific residency obligation calculation. Please, no guesses—I need accurate legal or operational insights.

My Baseline Situation:

• I am a PR but I have never lived in Canada. I only completed a "soft landing" and immediately returned abroad. My physical days inside Canada stand at 0.
• My ex-spouse is a Canadian citizen.

The Timeline & Evidence:

• Past Timeline: We lived together continuously in a shared household outside Canada while legally married for roughly 16 months (approx. 480 days) before separating.
• Current Status: Our legal divorce was finalized recently, and our marriage has officially ended.

I have clear financial and residential evidence (joint bank accounts, municipal bills, lease, official divorce ruling) proving our cohabitation and marriage during that window.

My Question:Under IRPA Section 28(2)(a)(ii), do the accrued days we lived together while legally married count toward my residency obligation, despite me never living in Canada post-landing? Does a subsequent divorce retroactively impact or invalidate those accrued days?

Note: I am only looking to count the days accumulated up to the official date of the divorce ruling.

If you can reference specific IAD (Immigration Appeal Division) case law or IRCC Operational Guidelines regarding soft-landers using this exemption, I would highly appreciate it.

Thank you.

 

[Buletruck]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for an experienced or professional perspective on a specific residency obligation calculation. Please, no guesses—I need accurate legal or operational insights.

My Baseline Situation:

• I am a PR but I have never lived in Canada. I only completed a "soft landing" and immediately returned abroad. My physical days inside Canada stand at 0.
• My ex-spouse is a Canadian citizen.

The Timeline & Evidence:

• Past Timeline: We lived together continuously in a shared household outside Canada while legally married for roughly 16 months (approx. 480 days) before separating.
• Current Status: Our legal divorce was finalized recently, and our marriage has officially ended.

I have clear financial and residential evidence (joint bank accounts, municipal bills, lease, official divorce ruling) proving our cohabitation and marriage during that window.

My Question:Under IRPA Section 28(2)(a)(ii), do the accrued days we lived together while legally married count toward my residency obligation, despite me never living in Canada post-landing? Does a subsequent divorce retroactively impact or invalidate those accrued days?

Note: I am only looking to count the days accumulated up to the official date of the divorce ruling.

If you can reference specific IAD (Immigration Appeal Division) case law or IRCC Operational Guidelines regarding soft-landers using this exemption, I would highly appreciate it.

Thank you.

For legal and operational insights, you can research here:

https://www.canlii.org/#search/inde...d833cf6b73044e449826e772387c3933&indexLang=en

Or consult a lawyer.

Beyond that, this statement is probably going to be an issue:

"Note: I am only looking to count the days accumulated up to the official date of the divorce ruling."
Assuming IRCC uses Canadian law as its reference, divorce requires being separated for 12 months prior to submission for an uncontested divorce and another 3-6 months for a final decision. It's reasonable to assume that only days up to the separation date would be allowable, potentially eliminating at least 12-18 months of the time you wish to include.

I'd also argue that IRPA Section 28(2)(a)(ii) would be dependent on whether you were married prior to or after your initial landing (yes, there are debates about who followed whom, and the courts don't seem to have formed a consensus on it yet), so that may be a consideration.

With zero establishment, if you were sponsored by your spouse, and are now divorced, this requirement "might" become an impediment to counting days abroad with your spouse:

"

• if you’re a Canadian citizen living outside Canada, you must show that you plan to live in Canada when your sponsored relative becomes a permanent resident."

My $0.02, whether it's a guess or accurate, only IRCC or the courts can decide. I'm sure others will chime in, accurate or not.

 

[Robert278462]

For legal and operational insights, you can research here:

https://www.canlii.org/#search/indexLang=en&text=IRPA Section 28(2)(a)(ii)&resultIndex=131&searchId=2026-06-20T05:06:08:339/d833cf6b73044e449826e772387c3933&indexLang=en

Or consult a lawyer.

Beyond that, this statement is probably going to be an issue:

"Note: I am only looking to count the days accumulated up to the official date of the divorce ruling."
Assuming IRCC uses Canadian law as its reference, divorce requires being separated for 12 months prior to submission for an uncontested divorce and another 3-6 months for a final decision. It's reasonable to assume that only days up to the separation date would be allowable, potentially eliminating at least 12-18 months of the time you wish to include.

I'd also argue that IRPA Section 28(2)(a)(ii) would be dependent on whether you were married prior to or after your initial landing (yes, there are debates about who followed whom, and the courts don't seem to have formed a consensus on it yet), so that may be a consideration.

With zero establishment, if you were sponsored by your spouse, and are now divorced, this requirement "might" become an impediment to counting days abroad with your spouse:

"

• if you’re a Canadian citizen living outside Canada, you must show that you plan to live in Canada when your sponsored relative becomes a permanent resident."

My $0.02, whether it's a guess or accurate, only IRCC or the courts can decide. I'm sure others will chime in, accurate or not.

Thank you for the perspective and the CanLII resource.

To clarify a few critical points that change the legal context here:

• The 16-Month Window: The continuous co-habitation in our family home abroad lasted for exactly 16 months post-soft landing up until the day the final court decree was issued.
• Foreign Divorce Law: The marriage, co-habitation, and divorce took place entirely outside Canada. Under local family law, an uncontested divorce requires no prior legal separation period. We lived as a fully married couple in a shared household for that entire duration.
• Long-Term Marriage: Prior to this, we were married for over 15 years with Canadian citizen children. The ex-spouse is a Canadian by birth (born and raised 18+ years in Canada).
• Evidence: I have clear, continuous financial and residential evidence for that entire 16-month window prior to the final divorce ruling.

Given that a valid marriage and shared household existed every single day up until the foreign court's final decree, does IRCC have any legal basis to retroactively discount these accrued days?

If anyone can reference specific IAD cases regarding foreign divorces and IRPA 28(2)(a)(ii), I would highly appreciate it.

 

[armoured]

Given that a valid marriage and shared household existed every single day up until the foreign court's final decree, does IRCC have any legal basis to retroactively discount these accrued days?

Apart from the foreign divorce issue, IRCC can and occasionally does evaluate on basis that you did not reside in Canada at all after becoming a PR. Sometimes this is phrased as the accompanying issue (who-accompanied-whom also referred to although less commonly now), because can be looked at from point of view that the citizen did not (re)settle in Canada during this period at all, and hence no 'accompanying' even occurred. Possibly also from point of view that the sponsorship involved making some form of statement that the intent was to re-settle in Canada together (with children?) and that never happened.

A separate point: you are not clear about the timeline - you became a PR (soft landing), then resided together for ~16 months at which point divorce was finalized ... how long ago was it finalized? Is it very recent and you intend to move now? If so - almost no issue and you do not need the time together 'counted' at all (move to Canada on your still-valid card, no issue, stay for the required number of days.)

So I presume this was some time ago - if your PR card has already expired, the situation in practical terms may be entirely different. That information may feed into how they evaluate your situation. You'd need to provide more detail - and my suggestion would be to discuss this with a lawyer.

I know you're asking for specific legal background and info - my comments this is not that, how IRCC approaches can depend on the subjective evaluation by an officer. And what that evaluation is and as a result what happens procedurally and cost-wise can be very, very different.

You haven't specified but it also depends on your circumstances and what you wish to do / your needs. If you are returning to Canada to reside and no need to travel at all for two years, your home country passport (access via USA with no visa/ with visa?), for example - more easy situation than if you expect to need to travel a lot and need a valid PR card to do so. These are questions that aren't strictly legal but need to be considered (and can of course be discussed wtht a lawyer).