Last Day to Enter as A PR Help PLZZZZ

[jamaru]

Guys i am lost, and i need some help,
i recently did my soft landing (August 2018), and in January 2019 i received my PR card through a friend.
Anyhow, my question is when is the last day that i can go to Canada and stay there for 3 Years and i Apply for my Citizenship, because on the CIC website it says i can stay a PR if i spend a total of 2 years in Canada and that was my Initial Plan to go after Landing by 3 years stay 2 Year renew PR wait one more year and then apply for Citizinship, bt then i spoke to an immigration lawyer and he told me that can be don but when my PR expires, i have to restart the 3 years in order to apply for citizenship which scared me because it meant i will get citizenship after 5 years not 3 years.
is that true ? is it true that Citizinship is linked with Landing Date?

 

[Bs65]

Others can comment as well but first lets separate the PR residency obligation from the citizenship requirements,

First to maintain the PR status residency obligation you must spend 2 years in the 5 years from initial landing in Canada. After the first 5 years the 2 years in every 5 becomes a rolling target, that is each time you leave and enter the country you must be able to show in the 5 years preceding each entry that you meet the 2 out of 5 requirement.

Second PR cards expire PR status never expires and can only be revoked or renounced.

Third to qualify for citizenship you need to show 3 years physical presence in Canada in the 5 years preceding the application for citizenship. This 3 years can consist of time before becoming a PR such as a legal visitor or work or study permit to credit one half day for each complete day to a maximum one year credit added to 2 years post PR to total 3 years or simply just 3 years post PR.

For citizenship the important factor is physical presence in Canada so taking you situation if you landed August 2018, had no presence prior to landing then you stayed in Canada for 3 years straight from landing without leaving you could apply in September 2021 or at any point you reach 1095 plus days.

Your PR card expiry has nothing to do with anything except always advisable to keep valid., what matters is that you can show in your citizenship application that in the 5 years preceding the application that you have spent 3 years physically in Canada, does not have to be 3 complete years as long as the days total 1095 or more in the 5 years preceding the application then you can apply.

If your plan was land in August 2018 and return say June/July 2021 so that you can meet the residency obligation by July/August 2023 by staying put for 2 years then if you stay put an extra year until July/August 2024 no reason why you could not apply for citizenship in say September 2024.

As said always a good idea to keep a PR card valid and renew at the appropriate time but is not linked to whether you can qualify to apply for citizenship so the immigration lawyer statement that should your card expire the 3 out of 5 years starts from scratch when you renew if that was implied is nonsense, physical presence in Canada is the key requirement and by default meeting the PR residency requirements.