Soprano said:
Hello Everybody,
I am travelling to my homecountry in 3 days and will be back to Canada in 4 weeks by my private vehicle through US landborder as my PR already expired 2 years ago and I then stayed for 2 years inclusive inside Canada.
I will have the confirmation of permenant residency with me when I return along with all supporting documents from Work and University attended in the past 2 years however I may not be able submit for PR renewal before travel as translation of my passports would take 5 calendar days at least considering the Easter vaccation. so I will not be able to show the officer at the border when I return the receipt of payment of PR renewal fees which I know it is something that bring them relief.
Is it a big deal if I submit after I be inside Canada again not before travel?. Does this make them annoyed and would make them investigate further with CIC after my entry back in Canada?. I still do not want them to make my renewal takes longer time?.
Thanks all and Happy Easter!
How it goes for a particular individual in these circumstances depends very much on all the particulars attendant the individual's circumstances. That is, how it will go
DEPENDS, depending on many factors.
Given the circumstances, you may be required to prove you have met the PR Residency Obligation at the POE upon returning to Canada. Thus, it would be a good idea to carry, in a folder or something you have right at your fingerprints to carry with you into the offices if you are referred to Secondary (really do keep this in your hands -- you may not be allowed to return to the vehicle to retrieve documents for the interview inside), some documentation showing where you have been living and working in Canada for, at minimum, two years and, hopefully, plus some. Technically if you do not prove compliance with the PR Residency Obligation at the POE, and they issue a Removal Order, you will be able to appeal the Removal Order and present your proof on appeal, but you will only be able to get a one-year PR card until the appeal is resolved, and of course stuff happens, and an appeal is more of a last resort option.
Far better to be prepared to make and prove your case to the officers at the POE.
The risk of a more or less challenging interview at the POE upon returning depends on a range of factors. Obviously, the longer you have been living and working in Canada, and have some documentation to support this, the less challenging the encounter is likely to be. If, on the other hand, you are cutting it really close, there is the risk of elevated scrutiny and skepticism by officers at the POE.
You might be given a fairly simple interview and waived through, but without having had a valid PR card for years there is a significant risk CBSA will be asking probing questions and potentially they might not be easily persuaded, that is, unless you have strong evidence to document
more than two years of recently living and working in Canada.
Reminders: a PR abroad without a valid PR card is
presumed to not have valid PR status. And, the burden of proving compliance with the PR Residency Obligation is always on the PR.
Regarding application for PR card after returning:
Here too, whether it is a routinely processed application, or CIC has some concerns and engages in making a Residency Determination, will depend on all the attendant circumstances, including your history and of course how long you have been in Canada recently. How it goes at the POE could be a clue about how the PR card renewal process will go. A very smooth POE entry would suggest your situation does not arouse concerns and would not do so in the application for a new PR card. Of course that is no guarantee.
And yes, a recent return to Canada can be something that leads an officer at CIC to look closer . . . but here too a really big factor is how much time you have spent in Canada. If you have been in Canada less than half time in the previous five years (less than 900 days say), obviously that could lead CIC to have questions and to go through the process of requiring you to document and verify your time in Canada. The burden of proof is on you, and generally where a person has been most of the time is a clue about where the person was any time they do not specifically show proof of being in Canada . . . so for someone who was outside Canada more than in Canada, the easy inference is they were outside Canada unless that person specifically proves those days were in Canada . . . for example, in such a scenario, you cannot count on a positive inference of having been in Canada from the date of last entry to next known date of exit. You could easily be required to prove significantly more than that.
If the POE experience is a challenge, that could indicate the PR card application process will also be challenging. And, as I noted above, if a Removal Order is issued at the POE (or soon after, if only a 44(1) Report is written), you will have to appeal during which you would only be able to obtain a one-year PR card.
