cempjwi said:
Boarding and entering are two different things. I am curious to know if you have ever entered as a visitor, which is what this Australian mate is trying to do because his PR card will be expired upon return.
That would be gambling. A PRTD (or PR renewal) can kick off an investigation - entering as a visitor when one is not is misrepresentation. There are others on the forums who have done it, some many times - to a large extent, it would likely depend on whether or not one has a return ticket. Often at the border, they will ask for the "purpose of visit", and if informed that it is tourism, they will ask to see a return ticket. When one does not have that (or if the goods brought look inappropriate for visiting), they look deeper.
When someone is just visiting for a few weeks, there is a lower chance of getting kicked into secondary, particularly if the passport number has changed (due to renewal, for example). The computer shows "John Smith, Australian Passport". There is no automated way to know that the passport that was used for landing is for the same person, as the passport number has changed.
For criminal convictions, they will often just match name, birthplace, and birthdate (or name and approximate birth year for serious crimes)- if there's a match, they will take the time to figure out if it's you. People with the same names as terrorists have ended up with real problems because of this. For immigration, they are more likely not to assume. If John Smith, with an AU passport, shows up as a visitor, looks like a visitor, and has a return ticket, they have little reason to try to look in the system to see if there has ever been a John Smith, Permanent Resident. Should they look, they will find it, and at that point, John has some explaining to do, and may be looking at serious penalties if they search his laptop and find evidence of misrepresentation.
