Expired PR & I met Residency Obligations: what are my options?

[blackopsng]

Hello,

I worked in Canada for a year in 2008-2009 and applied for Permanent Residency at that time. Then at the end of 2009, I got a new job in the US and got approved for my Canadian PR after I had left Canada. I went to Canada and got my Permanent Resident Card. Then I left to go back to the US.

Since getting the PR, I have not lived in Canada. I only went to Canada 2 or 3 times on short visits. So I have not fulfilled my Residency Obligations, and my PR card has also expired (since 2015).

I am now considering re-instating Permanent Residency but I’m not sure if that’s even possible. So I have 3 questions:
1) Can I re-instate permanent residency (and how) or is that option no longer possible?
2) I am now married. Is there any chance I can apply for Permanent Residency for my wife?
3) Can I apply to visit Canada for a few days holiday using a tourist visa? Will I even be eligible for one? Or will this be an issue since I haven’t met residency obligations with my PR?

I’m from Africa, so my country requires a visa to visit Canada. But I have a valid American visa and travel to the US frequently for work and tourism.

Please let me know if any other information would be useful.

 

[Buletruck]

1. You are a permanent resident until the government revokes it or you renounce it. There is no need to reinstate it.
2. You could sponsor her, but only after you meet the residency obligation. In your case, that would be 2 years from a successful re entry to Canada, plus 12 months to process the application.
3. No you can’t. You aren’t eligible for a visa as a PR.

 

[Bs65]

Jsut to add that given your PR card has expired assume you know that you cannot board a plane bound for Canada so you would need to apply for a PRTD which in doing so could lead to your PR status being revoked due to faiing the RO.

Alternatively you could present yourself at the US/Canada land border with your expired card and hope you do not get reported for failing the RO leading to your PR status being revoked. If you enter without being reported you would need to stay put for 2 plus years to reset your RO and before attempting to renew your PR card or as mentioned above trying to sponsor anyone..

Impossible obviously to predict any outcome other than to say given your changed circumstances maybe even worth looking to see if you would qualify to start a PR application from scratch now with your wife included given the alternative timeline.

By the way you cannot renew a PR card anyway from outside of Canada

 

[blackopsng]

1. You are a permanent resident until the government revokes it or you renounce it. There is no need to reinstate it.
2. You could sponsor her, but only after you meet the residency obligation. In your case, that would be 2 years from a successful re entry to Canada, plus 12 months to process the application.
3. No you can’t. You aren’t eligible for a visa as a PR.

Thank you so much for this response. It really helps.

Can I please ask a few follow-up questions to this, and I’m sorry if they are obvious. This whole process is just a bit confusing to me.

1) Can my wife apply for a PR just by herself or will that trigger an investigation into my own permanent residency status since she would have to declare she’s married to a permanent resident? Does this pose a risk to both of us?

2) If I renounce my Canadian PR status, can I re-apply for PR with my wife within the same year I renounce? How long would it take for a PR to be renounced, and do I have to wait a certain amount of time between renouncing and re-applying?

3) There’s no way for me to travel to and remain in Canada for 2-3 straight years right now. Because I need to be able to travel every few months. However, I can easily spend 2 or 3 cumulative years out of the next 5 years in Canada even with my travels (and meet any residency obligations). So it seems my best option right now is to renounce my PR. Would you agree?

4) Does previously holding a PR, not fulfilling residency obligations, and then renouncing it, affect my ability to apply for a tourist visa?

5) Does renouncing PR after not fulfilling residency obligations affect my ability to re-apply for a PR with my wife?

6) If I decide to use a border crossing between US and Canada to enter Canada, but then I go there only for a few weeks, is that viewed negatively, if I plan to renounce the PR right after that trip.

Thank you so much!

 

[blackopsng]

Jsut to add that given your PR card has expired assume you know that you cannot board a plane bound for Canada so you would need to apply for a PRTD which in doing so could lead to your PR status being revoked due to faiing the RO.

Alternatively you could present yourself at the US/Canada land border with your expired card and hope you do not get reported for failing the RO leading to your PR status being revoked. If you enter without being reported you would need to stay put for 2 plus years to reset your RO and before attempting to renew your PR card or as mentioned above trying to sponsor anyone..

Impossible obviously to predict any outcome other than to say given your changed circumstances maybe even worth looking to see if you would qualify to start a PR application from scratch now with your wife included given the alternative timeline.

By the way you cannot renew a PR card anyway from outside of Canada

Thank you so much. This is also really helpful. I’ve asked a follow-up to the previous response from Buletruck. Would you be kind to also opine on those questions?

 

[blackopsng]

Hello,

I worked in Canada for a year in 2008-2009 and applied for Permanent Residency at that time. Then at the end of 2009, I got a new job in the US and got approved for my Canadian PR after I had left Canada. I went to Canada and got my Permanent Resident Card. Then I left to go back to the US.

Since getting the PR, I have not lived in Canada. I only went to Canada 2 or 3 times on short visits. So I have not fulfilled my Residency Obligations, and my PR card has also expired (since 2015).

I am now considering re-instating Permanent Residency but I’m not sure if that’s even possible. So I have 3 questions:
1) Can I re-instate permanent residency (and how) or is that option no longer possible?
2) I am now married. Is there any chance I can apply for Permanent Residency for my wife?
3) Can I apply to visit Canada for a few days holiday using a tourist visa? Will I even be eligible for one? Or will this be an issue since I haven’t met residency obligations with my PR?

I’m from Africa, so my country requires a visa to visit Canada. But I have a valid American visa and travel to the US frequently for work and tourism.

Please let me know if any other information would be useful.

The title was wrong. I meant to write "unmet residency requirements" but did a typo on my iPhone. Just for those who read this thread and get confused .

 

[armoured]

I do not have specific answers to your questions, but can share a bit that may be partially relevant. What it boils down to is that I think (only think, not an expert) that the main question is whether you and/or your wife would qualify if re-applying for PR status under the various programs. Realistically it appears you would face considerable risk of getting in system for not meeting your residence obligations, and potentially being subject to a removal order eventually. (Does that impact future attempts to immigrate? I have no idea).

My wife immigrated on her own more than ten years ago. Life happened and she did not stay in Canada. We met after this and were not in realistic position to immigrate (return for me) to Canada at that time. So we did not seriously consider attempting to return to a point of entry eg through USA (she is not from a visa waiver country) and trying to assert her PR status.

We approached the Canadian embassy for a tourist visa and were up-front that she had the expired PR documentation. (I do not recall whether she outright applied for visitor visa or we approached to ask what to do). Ultimately she signed a document renouncing her PR status. She got a tourist visa, subsequently renewed a few times, now with a longer-tenor one, and we've visited several times. Basically no issues getting visas - but she is/was able to show strong ties to our current residence, employment, etc. (She does have to go through secondary clearance at airport in Canada on arrival every time, but after the first time this happened, we now know and this seems just a formality and the border people even quite nice about it).

We have now applied under family sponsorship. We disclosed her previous status and renunciation. While in processing now, I don't see any indication that this has harmed our application's chances. I presume our file is being checked carefully but we're reasonably confident.

Now: a lot of these circumstances are very different and she was able to show/document her intention not to overstay and return to home country, I'm a citizen, etc. Applying under family class/spousal is a different set of eligibility criteria (eg she is not being evaluated for employment etc - even though previously qualified, not clear that would still be the case). Notably, she also was completely honest at all times about these matters and had no negative reports (that we're aware of).

I don't have a firm conclusion here. Personally I don't think returning and attempting to travel all the time will be viable in your case, with some considerable risk. I assume that getting a removal order would make future immigration more difficult, but that's only a guess, and almost certainly would reduce chances of getting tourist visas. Your status in USA is a factor I know nothing about.

But in the end, the biggest question mark would seem to be whether your chances in a new application are good or not. Even then, I'm not claiming it's a slam dunk, all the approaches have some risk.

 

[blackopsng]

I do not have specific answers to your questions, but can share a bit that may be partially relevant. What it boils down to is that I think (only think, not an expert) that the main question is whether you and/or your wife would qualify if re-applying for PR status under the various programs. Realistically it appears you would face considerable risk of getting in system for not meeting your residence obligations, and potentially being subject to a removal order eventually. (Does that impact future attempts to immigrate? I have no idea).

My wife immigrated on her own more than ten years ago. Life happened and she did not stay in Canada. We met after this and were not in realistic position to immigrate (return for me) to Canada at that time. So we did not seriously consider attempting to return to a point of entry eg through USA (she is not from a visa waiver country) and trying to assert her PR status.

We approached the Canadian embassy for a tourist visa and were up-front that she had the expired PR documentation. (I do not recall whether she outright applied for visitor visa or we approached to ask what to do). Ultimately she signed a document renouncing her PR status. She got a tourist visa, subsequently renewed a few times, now with a longer-tenor one, and we've visited several times. Basically no issues getting visas - but she is/was able to show strong ties to our current residence, employment, etc. (She does have to go through secondary clearance at airport in Canada on arrival every time, but after the first time this happened, we now know and this seems just a formality and the border people even quite nice about it).

We have now applied under family sponsorship. We disclosed her previous status and renunciation. While in processing now, I don't see any indication that this has harmed our application's chances. I presume our file is being checked carefully but we're reasonably confident.

Now: a lot of these circumstances are very different and she was able to show/document her intention not to overstay and return to home country, I'm a citizen, etc. Applying under family class/spousal is a different set of eligibility criteria (eg she is not being evaluated for employment etc - even though previously qualified, not clear that would still be the case). Notably, she also was completely honest at all times about these matters and had no negative reports (that we're aware of).

I don't have a firm conclusion here. Personally I don't think returning and attempting to travel all the time will be viable in your case, with some considerable risk. I assume that getting a removal order would make future immigration more difficult, but that's only a guess, and almost certainly would reduce chances of getting tourist visas. Your status in USA is a factor I know nothing about.

But in the end, the biggest question mark would seem to be whether your chances in a new application are good or not. Even then, I'm not claiming it's a slam dunk, all the approaches have some risk.

Thanks so much! This was super helpful. I think the best thing for me to do is to just renounce the PR and re-apply when/if I really do want to relocate. In the meantime, I can get a visitor’s visa if I want to go see my friends there.

 

[armoured]

Thanks so much! This was super helpful. I think the best thing for me to do is to just renounce the PR and re-apply when/if I really do want to relocate. In the meantime, I can get a visitor’s visa if I want to go see my friends there.

Glad it helped but please do check more carefully all the regs and consider speaking to a lawyer. Situations different enough and not at all a fact that will lead to similar outcomes.

 

[blackopsng]

Glad it helped but please do check more carefully all the regs and consider speaking to a lawyer. Situations different enough and not at all a fact that will lead to similar outcomes.

Makes sense! Thanks.