Not meeting residency obligations

[Susan100]

Kindly allow me to explain the situation as we urgently need answers to some questions:
We were granted Permanent Residency status in 2008. We made our landing in June 2008 and returned as our son was in the middle of his engineering degree and our daughter had just got admission to university to pursue an undergraduate degree program in Veterinary Medicine.
Both of them were studying in India.
When our son completed his degree he went to Toronto in June 2011.
Our daughter will complete her five-year veterinary program only by the end of July 2013 and she has been offered admission by the University of Guelph to their Graduate Program.
Now for the questions:
1. Our daughter’s PR card expires on August 27th this year: what are the chances that it will be renewed based on what I have written above?
Please bear in mind that she got into a 5-year program in 2008 and there was no way she could come to Canada during the course. She did make a brief visit in 2012 but that was just a holiday.
2.If the request to extend her PR card is refused when we reach Canada, can she apply for a student’s visa without leaving Canada?
3. How long would it take to get a student’s visa? We do not want her to miss out on the opportunity of getting into Guelph this year.
4.Our son made enquiries in Canada and was told that the request for extension would be handled on a case by case basis at the discretion of the authorities concerned; in your experience, what are our daughter’s chances?
Under normal circumstances we would just go to Canada and take our chances but we don’t want to jeopardize our daughter’s opportunity to join the graduate program. We would like her to settle down permanently in Canada like our son has but she has not been able to complete the minimum residency requirements. We are hoping that someone will use his or her discretionary powers to override these requirements as our daughter was compelled to stay on in India to complete her course. Her course will finish on the 28th of July this year and she will be travelling to Canada in the first week of August.

 

[scylla]

1. Your daughter must meet the residency requirement to renew her PR card. If she applies to renew her PR card this August, it will be refused. Studying outside of Canada is not seen as a valid reason for failing to meet the residency obligation. CIC will say that she could have easily studied in Canada instead. Assuming she is able to re-enter Canada without any issues, she should remain in Canada without leaving for even a day until she meets the resdiency requirement in August 2015 and only apply to renew her PR card then. If she reported by immigration for failing to meet the residency obligation when she enters Canada, she will have to appear in front of a judge within a month to argue why she should be allowed to keep her PR status. If this appeal succeeds, she will be allowed to stay. If this appeal fails, she will have to leave Canada.
2. & 3. If your daughter is reported by immigration when she enters Canada and the appeals fails, she will have to leave Canada and will have to apply for a study permit from outside of Canada. Study permit processing times can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/temp/students.asp Note that processing times are currently being affected by a strike. To be approved for a study visa, an individual must prove they have strong ties to their home country and have no plans on remaining in Canada long term. This may be challenging for your daughter to prove if she is a former PR.
4. I think your daugher's chance of winning an appeal are low because she could have studied in Canada instead of India and CIC won't accept this as a reason for failing to meet the residency obligation. Your daughter's best chance is to hope that she is not reported for failing to meet the residency obligation when she enters Canada and then to wait tuntil August 2015 to renew her PR card (without leaving Canada).

 

[Susan100]

Thank you so much for your detailed response to all our queries.
But this is disappointing news.
We were hoping that the fact that she is a professional - Doctor-Veterinary Medicine and that she has got admission for a Masters course will make her case look a little more favourable to the immigration authorities there as they are always looking for skilled workers.
And in the worst scenario, we thought we could just apply for a Student Visa by cancelling her PR card. But it now looks like that is also not going to be easy.

Is there anything that we can do to help improve this situation? Would contacting a lawyer once we reach there help in fighting the case on her behalf?

 

[zardoz]

Unless your daughter was removed from Canada as a minor by you, her parents, she will have a very bad case. However, if she was removed as a minor, she may well be able to make a case, although she would have an uphill battle. Your PR status however is likely to be lost on appeal if you try to apply for a Travel Document.

 

[scylla]

Unless your daughter was removed from Canada as a minor by you, her parents, she will have a very bad case.

She might have a case if she had tried to return to Canada as soon as she turned 18 or 19. But since she has waited, I don't think she will be able to prove that she was removed from Canada by her parents and prevented from returning to Canada by her parents. She has chosen to complete her undergraduate degree outside of Canada. This is a choice that she made as an adult.

 

[zardoz]

I did say that it would be "an uphill battle" ;D I suppose that it's possible that she was committed to a course of study before she achieved majority and that therefore it would be unreasonable for her to abandon an existing study plan. We just don't have enough information on ages and timeline to make that guess. I have heard, in the UK and the US, of young teenagers being admitted to University. Very very rare!!

 

[scylla]

Thank you so much for your detailed response to all our queries. But this is disappointing news. We were hoping that the fact that she is a professional - Doctor-Veterinary Medicine and that she has got admission for a Masters course will make her case look a little more favourable to the immigration authorities there as they are always looking for skilled workers. And in the worst scenario, we thought we could just apply for a Student Visa by cancelling her PR card. But it now looks like that is also not going to be easy. Is there anything that we can do to help improve this situation? Would contacting a lawyer once we reach there help in fighting the case on her behalf?

To maintain PR - you must meet the residency obligation and demonstrate your commitment to Canada. It's really as simple as that. Since your daughter chose to complete her undergraduate degree outside of Canada and chose not to meet the residency requirement - it should really come as no surprise that her her PR status is in jeopardy. Hopefully she will be able to re-enter Canada without being reported. If shé's able to re-enter Canada without being reported, she MUST stay in Canada for at least two years without leaving for even one day before she can renew her PR card. On the other hand, if she is reported when she enters Canada, you can certainly hire a lawyer to assist with the appeal process. I don't know if it will help - but you can certainly try. Good luck.

 

[scylla]

I did say that it would be "an uphill battle" ;D I suppose that it's possible that she was committed to a course of study before she achieved majority and that therefore it would be unreasonable for her to abandon an existing study plan. We just don't have enough information on ages and timeline to make that guess. I have heard, in the UK and the US, of young teenagers being admitted to University. Very very rare!!

Agreed!