How to calculate days for PRTD application?

[odco]

Hi all,

I am applying for a PRTD and have a question about how to calculate the "Total number of days" (Q16 on IMM 5524).

I've been living outside of Canada for a little over 5 years with my Canadian spouse and I understand that time spent accompanying (ordinarily living with) a Canadian citizen spouse count towards the residency obligation.

However, I am unclear if I should be calculating only days where we both were physically in the same place, or if days that I am living in the country that is our ordinary residence still count?

For example, should I be subtracting days where I was in our country of residence but my spouse was on a business trip outside of the country?

I am also a bit unsure as to how to fill the form. Question 16 asks to list the periods when "outside of Canada and accompanying the person...".

Can I list the period of residence in each country lived in, or should I be listing each stay individually?

As an example, my spouse and I each took a trip alone (work and family related) out of our country of residence in 2019 and one together (holiday).

• Can I have 1 entry in the list and subtract the days that I spent by myself outside of our country of residence?
• Should I also subtract the days where my spouse was out of the country?
• Or should I have a separate entry for each period where we were both physically in the same place?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is driving me nuts

Cheers,

O.

 

[Pseudonamed]

I am curious about this too

 

[dpenabill]

I am curious about this too

Mostly see my observations in response to your queries in the topic you started.

As to this particular aspect, it is unlikely your partner will need to provide such detail in a PoE examination upon arrival in Canada. Some PRs are given a paper copy of a RQ-like questionnaire which probably (I have not seen a copy of this questionnaire, just general descriptions of it in some published IAD decisions) has items similar to those in a PR TD application, and asked to fill that out at the PoE, in which event how I respond to @odco below is partially relevant . . . but that mostly comes down to using his own best judgement about how to answer the questions in the form. Not every day the couple is separated needs to be detailed. If there is a week or even two weeks apart, here and there, as long as the couple is actually residing together overall my sense is that should not need to be detailed. But particular circumstances can vary a great deal, and what matters most is being HONEST, and that includes NOT being misleading. What one might be able to say, and what one can arguably say, are NOT necessarily the same thing as a frank and open statement of actual facts.

I am applying for a PRTD and have a question about how to calculate the "Total number of days" (Q16 on IMM 5524).

I've been living outside of Canada for a little over 5 years with my Canadian spouse and I understand that time spent accompanying (ordinarily living with) a Canadian citizen spouse count towards the residency obligation.

However, I am unclear if I should be calculating only days where we both were physically in the same place, or if days that I am living in the country that is our ordinary residence still count?

For example, should I be subtracting days where I was in our country of residence but my spouse was on a business trip outside of the country?

I am also a bit unsure as to how to fill the form. Question 16 asks to list the periods when "outside of Canada and accompanying the person...".

Can I list the period of residence in each country lived in, or should I be listing each stay individually?

As an example, my spouse and I each took a trip alone (work and family related) out of our country of residence in 2019 and one together (holiday).

• Can I have 1 entry in the list and subtract the days that I spent by myself outside of our country of residence?
• Should I also subtract the days where my spouse was out of the country?
• Or should I have a separate entry for each period where we were both physically in the same place?

There is NO one rule fits all approach to this sort of thing.

It is important for the PR making the PR TD application to use his or her OWN judgment, his or her BEST judgment when giving information in the PR TD application. The focus should be on being frank and open, being complete, and most of all being HONEST and as ACCURATE as possible.

Some may think giving an honest answer is the same as being accurate. These will almost always coincide but it is possible to give accurate information which is misleading, not entirely honest (lawyers are compelled to do this when addressing juries, to in effect push inferences based on what is arguably the case in favour of the client and NOT what the lawyer honestly thinks is the case). It is important to be BOTH as HONEST and as ACCURATE as possible.

Thus, the nature, duration, and reason for a period of separation can affect whether or not it constitutes a break in the period of time the couple is together, the PR accompanying the citizen partner.

"Can I list the period of residence in each country lived in, or should I be listing each stay individually?"​

The form itself answers this. The specific address, and time period, where the couple were together needs to be listed. So not only should each individual country be listed, but each individual place of residence. Generally this means the address where the couple RESIDE (actually in-fact reside, the place where they ordinarily live) and the period of time they lived at that address . . . so again, whether a period spent elsewhere or a period of separation needs to be detailed depends on the nature, duration, and reason for the separation or otherwise being located somewhere else.

Thus, for example, ordinarily there is no reason to separately detail a "holiday." That said, putting the label "holiday" on a period of time does not justify skipping over an extended period of separation or living somewhere else. The factual situation is what matters, which again is largely about the nature, duration, and reason for being separated or being located somewhere else.


A FWIW observation: There is no suggestion that there is any who-accompanied-whom issue lurking in your case, but where the amount of time abroad is particularly lengthy, it warrants awareness of this being a potential issue in some situations. One of the more obvious triggers involves scenarios where the PR has not had an established in-fact residence in Canada before. Or where it might otherwise be blatantly apparent the citizen is accompanying the PR.