My PR card expiring and getting married with Canadian citizen

[liltora]

Hello All,

My PR card will expire in March 2013, and so far haven't met the obligation of 2 years in Canada for the past 5 years.
Since I renewed my card in 2008, I only spent three months in Canada, and have been working in my home country.
In the meantime, I am going to get married with Canadian citizen next year.

My question is in order to keep my PR status, what do you think about the options below and which is most feasible?

1) Move back to Canada before March 2013, get married and stay there for 2 years (but can never leave Canada)
2) Let my current card expired in March 2013, get married in Canada and renew my status as a spouse of Canadian citizen
3) Let my current card expired, get married in Canada and reapply (or start over again) as a spouse of Canadian citizen.

However, due to my current job, I want to avoid the option 1) if I have a choice.
Or should you have better solutions, I would love to hear from you!

One more question is, if I travel to Canada this month, do I have a chance of being questioned or even rejected by the Canadian Immigration for not meeting the obligation for PR?

Thank you in advance.

 

[steaky]

I have a better option: You can maintain your PR status as long as you accompanying your Canadian spouse or common-law partner in your country or anywhere in this planet.

Of course you can be questioned by immigration. It's their job to ask questions!

 

[liltora]

Hello steaky

Thank you for your immediate reply.

Just to be clear, I granted my current PR status as a skilled worker (not even as a common-law, etc.) in the first place.
My fiance is living in Canada, and I am in my home country.
So based on your suggestion, it seems that I'd better get married before the expiry date? Otherwise, I may lose my current status and reapply for a PR status, sponsored by my partner after we get married....

 

[Leon]

You don't lose your status just because your PR card expires. You can however lose it if you get reported for not meeting the residency obligations as you enter with your still valid PR card or after your PR card expires if you try to apply for a travel document or if you try to renew your PR card without meeting the residency obligations.

You could go to Canada before your PR card expires, get married and then get your partner to move to your homeland. A day with a Canadian spouse outside Canada counts as a day in Canada towards your residency requirements. Once you have lived with your partner for 2 years, you meet the residency requirements again and can go to Canada and renew your PR card.

 

[liltora]

Hello Leon,
Thank you for your reply.

I do understand your point that I may lose my status as not meeting the residency obligations, no matter what situation I am in, either married or not married yet.

We are going to settle in Canada after marriage, as my partner has a stable job in Canada with almost 15 years of career and does not speak my language.

Let's say, I get married in Canada before I lose my status. Is it an only option to live in Canada for the next 2 years? or does it make sense for renewing my PR status by changing my PR category from skilled worker to spouse.?

Or if I lose my status or get reported before our marriage, can I still apply for the status from the scratch as a spouse of a Canadian citizen?

From my understanding, if I do not get reported and live in Canada at least for the next 2 years, I can renew my own status. But does this mean, I cannot leave Canada at all for the 2-year period? (I guess everytime I need to

 

[Leon]

Like I said, you do not lose your status just because your PR card expires. If you move to Canada before your PR card expires and do not get reported on entry, you are still a PR and allowed to live in Canada, work and go about your daily life for the next 2 years while you wait to meet the residency requirements again.

You would however have a problem leaving because you would have a problem coming back. If you are visa exempt or you are going to the US in a car, it is not so bad. You can re-enter with your passport, landing papers and expired PR card. However, the more you do this, it increases the risk that at some point you will run into an immigration officer who realizes you don't meet the requirements and who doesn't just lecture you but actually reports you. Being married is irrelevant in that case and it is possible that you lose your PR and you may be asked to leave Canada. If you do lose your PR status and your spouse has to sponsor you again, in will take at least several months, in some cases longer. If you were allowed to stay in Canada during this process, you would be under visitor status, that means no health care and not allowed to work.

 

[liltora]

Hi Leon,

Thank you for your reply.
I have one more question....

If I were to marry and stay in Canada before March, could I still travel freely as long as my husband accompanied you, despite the fact I do not meet residency requirements and pr card expires in march? In other words, if my husband accompany me to go out of Canada, does it count as part of 2 year residency in Canada?

 

[Leon]

Ok, right now, you do not meet the residency requirements. You say you have 3 months in Canada. That's 90 days. For your first 5 years as a PR and any rolling 5 year period after that, you should have 730 days. That's quite a big difference.

If you go back to Canada now and get married, that doesn't change the fact that you only have 90 days. Even a year later, if you want to travel with your husband, you will have maximum 455 days. I say maximum because days in Canada that are more than 5 years old will have expired as immigration only looks at the past 5 years. So if you are returning with your husband, your PR card is by now expired and they ask you if you meet the residency requirements and conclude that you do not, you could still get reported and you could still lose your PR.

Getting married does not automatically erase 5 years of not meeting your residency obligations. For the future, being outside Canada with your husband does count towards the requirements but if you want to keep this PR, you should really go before your PR card expires and stay in Canada for 2 years. If you do not want to commit to that, there is another option. Talk to the Canadian embassy about renouncing your PR. Then get married. Have your husband sponsor you. Depending on where you live, the sponsorship can take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years. Depending on if you are visa exempt, you may or may not be able to visit your husband in Canada during the processing. However, at the end of it, you will have a brand new PR and will be able to travel, even without your husband without a problem.

 

[liltora]

Thank you, Leon for your immediate reply as always.
I really appreciate your thoughts and advice.

If anybody is facing the same situation and could share own experience, that would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,