Imigrating back to Canada

[Junglist]

Hi guys,

Need some advice on my current situation.

I moved to Canada in 2010 after getting married to a Canadian woman. I received my PR card in 2012.

We have two kids together (Aged 6) but we ended up separating in 2017, and I moved back to the UK.

My PR card expired in 2017, and I did not renew it.

So now I've decided that I want to move back to Canada to be closer to my children but not sure how to go about it.

Can I just renew my PR card, or will I have to go through the immigration process again?

I did go to college in Canada and received a Diploma and have work experience in Canada.

Any advice would help

Thanks

 

[scylla]

Hi guys,

Need some advice on my current situation.

I moved to Canada in 2010 after getting married to a Canadian woman. I received my PR card in 2012.

We have two kids together (Aged 6) but we ended up separating in 2017, and I moved back to the UK.

My PR card expired in 2017, and I did not renew it.

So now I've decided that I want to move back to Canada to be closer to my children but not sure how to go about it.

Can I just renew my PR card, or will I have to go through the immigration process again?

I did go to college in Canada and received a Diploma and have work experience in Canada.

Any advice would help

Thanks

The issue is that you don't meet the residency requirement. So this will make the process challenging for you.

You'll need to re-enter Canada. To do this directly via plane, you need either a valid PR card (which you don't have) or a valid PR Travel Document (which you can't get since you don't meet the residency requirement). Since you have neither of these, you will need to fly to the US and then re-enter Canada through the US/Canadian border using a private vehicle. You will also have to hope that you are not reported by CBSA for failing to meet the residency requirement. If you are not reported, then you will need to live in Canada for 2 years straight before applying to renew your PR card. Without a PR card, it may be challenging to do a few things like renew your health card or get a driver's license. However this is the way to "save" your PR status. There is also some risk involved. If you are reported by CBSA when you enter Canada for failing to meet the residency requirement, this will trigger a process to officially revoke your PR status and you'll need to try to argue why you should be allowed to keep in (in this scenario the fact you have kids in Canada will help you, but at the same time the fact you've not been living in Canada for the last number of years will really work against you). So unknown how this would work out for you and it's quite possible your PR status could be lost.

The alternative is to renounce your PR status and apply again from scratch through an economic immigration program like Express Entry. This is not an easy or short path and success will largely depend on factors such as your age, level of education, skilled work experience, your occupation, etc.