Does PRTD application need to mailed from outside Canada?

[andrews65]

I'm a new PR with no PR card as yet; I have booked travel to the UK leaving on 31st March, and I won't be in the UK long enough to apply and wait for a PRTD from there. But I'm considering applying now (mailing the application from Canada) and asking it for the PRTD to be mailed to my parent's address in the UK, then my parents can courier it back to me in time for my departure on 31st March.

Is there any flaw with this plan? Specifically, if the London VO sees the application was mailed from Canada will that impact the processing?

 

[thecoolguysam]

I'm a new PR with no PR card as yet; I have booked travel to the UK leaving on 31st March, and I won't be in the UK long enough to apply and wait for a PRTD from there. But I'm considering applying now (mailing the application from Canada) and asking it for the PRTD to be mailed to my parent's address in the UK, then my parents can courier it back to me in time for my departure on 31st March.

Is there any flaw with this plan? Specifically, if the London VO sees the application was mailed from Canada will that impact the processing?

I am not sure however, PRTD has to be applied from outside Canada. Where is your PR card?

 

[andrews65]

I landed a week ago and have not yet received my initial PR card. I know all the guidance says you must be outside Canada to apply for a PRTD, but if I give a UK mailing address even though the application was mailed from Canada are they really going to reject the application?

 

[thecoolguysam]

I landed a week ago and have not yet received my initial PR card. I know all the guidance says you must be outside Canada to apply for a PRTD, but if I give a UK mailing address even though the application was mailed from Canada are they really going to reject the application?

You have to apply for PRTD from UK in Canadian Embassy in UK. I don't think so that you can request a PRTD from Canada and mail to UK.

 

[Rob_TO]

I'm a new PR with no PR card as yet; I have booked travel to the UK leaving on 31st March, and I won't be in the UK long enough to apply and wait for a PRTD from there. But I'm considering applying now (mailing the application from Canada) and asking it for the PRTD to be mailed to my parent's address in the UK, then my parents can courier it back to me in time for my departure on 31st March.

Is there any flaw with this plan? Specifically, if the London VO sees the application was mailed from Canada will that impact the processing?

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/travel-document/
You can apply for a permanent resident travel document if you:
are a permanent resident,
do not have a valid PR card showing your PR status,
are outside Canada,
will return to Canada by airplane, boat, train or bus.

If you aren't outside Canada, you can't apply for a PR TD. It's as simple as that.

You also realize you have to mail your passport as well to the visa office?

Also in the PR TD form it asks for "your current address outside Canada". If you put your parents address while you are in fact in Canada still, that would be misrepresentation. PR TDs are expected to be applied for only while you're outside of Canada.

 

[andrews65]

Understood, thanks.

 

[Bs65]

I guess if really desperate to travel to UK before your PR card arrives there is always the land border route via the US although that means rebooking your travel though

 

[dpenabill]

I'm a new PR with no PR card as yet; I have booked travel to the UK leaving on 31st March, and I won't be in the UK long enough to apply and wait for a PRTD from there. But I'm considering applying now (mailing the application from Canada) and asking it for the PRTD to be mailed to my parent's address in the UK, then my parents can courier it back to me in time for my departure on 31st March.

Is there any flaw with this plan? Specifically, if the London VO sees the application was mailed from Canada will that impact the processing?

Understood, thanks.

If you had eTA before becoming a PR and you are still using the same visa-exempt passport you used to obtain the eTA, try using the check status tool online.

This can be reached by a link at:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1192&top=16

The user can select "I have an approved eTA. I want to consult my file."

And, if you do this, please let us know the outcome.


Otherwise:

The main obstacle in a plan involving applying for a PR TD before leaving Canada is that your passport has to be included with the PR TD application. Probably have a tough time boarding a flight to the UK without your passport.

Are you sure you will not have enough time to apply for and obtain a PR TD while there? Particularly for a new PR, my impression is that the process would be perfunctory and fast . . . biggest time factor being courier to the VO and getting it back.

Moreover, if you are not leaving until March 31st, IRCC is reporting that current timeline for issuing first PR card to new PRs is 46 days. If you landed at least two weeks ago, and especially if it was more than that by a week or so, there is a good chance you will get your PR card prior to leaving.

There are a range of other potential ways to work around this imbroglio, depending on personal circumstances, but they all involve either some risk (you suggest you obtained eTA before becoming a PR, so you could risk trying to use your visa-exempt passport to board the flight to Canada) or inconvenience (flying via the U.S. and as Bs65 suggested using land transportation to reach Canada, for example, or arranging a longer stay in the UK, long enough to get a PR TD while there).

The risk you would be taking if you attempt to use a visa-exempt passport, for which you had obtained eTA prior to becoming a PR, is not being allowed to board your scheduled flight back to Canada . . . and having to reschedule the flight to accommodate time for obtaining a PR TD (thus both a financial and lost time cost). Whether or not you could afford to incur these consequences is, of course, dependent on your personal circumstances.