Permanent Resident Card Application Rejected - What now?...

[Puddle of Blues]

A little bit of background first: my whole family moved to Canada from the United Kingdom when I was 13 years old, for whatever stupid reason we didn't obtain citizenship for many years, and to be honest, it's not something I even thought about much. At some point in my early 30s I got the wanderlust urge to quit my job and go travel the world - I had some great experiences visiting countries in Asia, Africa, a lot of places across western Europe and some in eastern Europe. Fast forward to several years later, with my wanderlust satisfied I felt a growing urge to settle down again and spend much more time with my family(my dad getting sick and passing away made me particularly reflective of my life). Yes I know in hindsight I was incredibly stupid for not becoming a citizen before I left(the rest of my family obtained citizenship while I was wandering) and returning to Canada is when all the huge headaches started, and that is also when I truly learned about the seriousness of 'residency obligations'.

Anyway, I really wanted to return and be with my family so I strictly followed the correct procedures: I applied to the London office for a PRTD(Permanent Resident Travel Document) and included with my application a long letter explaining my situation and asking to be allowed to return on humanitarian grounds... after a few weeks, I was delighted to receive my United Kingdom passport with a firmly attached PRTD and a letter stating that I should return to Canada as soon as possible.

I returned to Canada soon after, and settled down in the family home while going through the process of getting a new PR Card. On the advice of a family friend with immigration background, I waited until over 2 years had passed before sending in a PR Card application... after waiting 8 months I received an email stating that I am no longer a permanent resident :'(

The response states:

Pursuant to Section 46 (1) (B) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), a person loses Permanent Resident status on a final determination of a decision made outside of Canada that the person has failed to comply with the residency obligation under A28. According to our records you received a negative decision from our office in London

Wait? if I received a 'negative decision' from London then why was I given a PRTD and told to return to Canada as soon as possible?!

Also:

The appeal provisions under subsection A63(4) provide a permanent resident the right to appeal (within 60 days of the negative decision) to the Immigration Appeal Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board against a decision made outside of Canada on the residency obligation under A28. There is no indication that you have filed an appeal within the allotted time.

I never received any notification that there was a 'negative decision' so how could I file an appeal? The only correspondence I received after I submitted the PRTD application was the PRTD along with letter stating I should return to Canada asap.

You can imagine my sadness when I read this after following the rules for 3 years now:

Since you are no longer considered a Permanent Resident of Canada at this time, your application for a PR card is closed.

Now I don't know what to do, I thought I was nearing the light at the end of the tunnel but this...

Is there anything I can do? Do I have to leave the country immediately? what kind of people make this decision?! i've lived over 20 years of my life in Canada..never claimed benefits, paid taxes, never had a criminal record...

 

[scylla]

This is one of those cases where you need to start working with a very good immigration lawyer asap. This is not a do-it-yourself case. I've never seen anything like this and I've been on the forum for years.

I will say that it does not make sense that you were granted a PRTD when you were in your thirties. Getting a PRTD on H&C basis as you've described really only works in your teens or very very early twenties (since you were in your thirties, the PRTD should have been refused and you should have been told you're no longer a PR). So my guess is that CIC issued the PRTD in error, realized their mistake and retracted the approval - but you didn't receive that notification.

BTW - your family friend with an immigration background provided you with wrong information regarding the renewal of your PR card. When a PRTD is granted on H&C grounds, you don't have to wait two years to meet the residency obligation before applying to renew your PR card, you can apply immediately (as soon as you return back to Canada). Having said that, waiting two years certainly wasn't the problem. I think there was some issue with the PRTD itself.

Get yourself a very good immigration lawyer asap.

Too bad you didn't get citizenship years ago. But that's obviously water under the bridge now...

Good luck.

 

[zardoz]

One other thing. If you are no longer a PR, as far as IRCC is concerned, what is your exact status in Canada. My suspicion is that you are without a valid status. If you still possess the PRTD, what is the code on it? Might be something like RC-1 for example... You should immediately order your GCMS notes to see what happened. https://atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca/atip/welcome.do?lang=en

See also http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/atip/requests-atip.asp and http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/ordering-gcms-notes-t400523.0.html

There is a dated but useful walkthrough here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_E_dq_uLVo

 

[Puddle of Blues]

Thank you your help, I guess I need to find a good immigration lawyer..

The PRTD which is firmly affixed to my passport has the code RX-1 ..no idea what that means. I had absolutely no problem entering Canada back in spring of 2014, the officer looked at my passport and waved me through without asking a single question.

i'll check out those links, thanks.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

http://www.cic.gc.ca/ENGLISH/resources/manuals/enf/enf23-eng.pdf

A31(3) Travel document “RX-1” counterfoil coding: Permanent residents without a permanent resident card / Decision made overseas that the permanent resident has not complied with the residency obligation / A63(4)appeal: In those cases where an overseas applicant for an A31(3) travel document is issued with an A31(3) travel document, and an officer overseas is satisfied that the permanent resident was physically present in Canada at least once within the 365 days before the examination (A31(3)(c)), and the applicant has appealed or may appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) under A63(4), the counterfoil coding is “RX-1.”


It seems that they determined that you did not meet the RO but as you had been in Canada at some point in the previous year, you had the right to come to Canada to appeal the loss of your PR status. As you did not appeal, your PR status was revoked.

Had you been in Canada at some point in the year before you applied for the PRTD? Do you still have the letter that was sent with the PRTD?

 

[zardoz]

Thank you your help, I guess I need to find a good immigration lawyer..

The PRTD which is firmly affixed to my passport has the code RX-1 ..no idea what that means. I had absolutely no problem entering Canada back in spring of 2014, the officer looked at my passport and waved me through without asking a single question.

i'll check out those links, thanks.

Oh dear... http://www.cic.gc.ca/ENGLISH/resources/manuals/enf/enf23-eng.pdf

A31(3) Travel document “RX-1” counterfoil coding: Permanent
residents without a permanent resident card / Decision made
overseas that the permanent resident has not complied with the
residency obligation / A63(4)appeal: In those cases where an
overseas applicant for an A31(3) travel document is issued with an
A31(3) travel document, and an officer overseas is satisfied that the
permanent resident was physically present in Canada at least once within
the 365 days before the examination (A31(3)(c)), and the applicant has
appealed or may appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) under
A63(4), the counterfoil coding is “RX-1.”

This confirms that you lost your PR status. It also confirms that you are without legal status. You should be considering your exit strategy at this point. Not sure a lawyer is going to be able to help you.

(looks like I was beaten to it ;D )

 

[Puddle of Blues]

Ok, thanks

Yes I still have the only letter they sent me, I uploaded it to tinypic but this forum wont let me include the link in my post. There was absolutely no mention in the letter of needing to appeal any negative decision...not even anything about a negative decision, really how am I suppose to know that I needed to make an appeal within 60 days? from seeing the code RX-1 on my PRTD? when I google RX-1 PRTD I just get some results about Yamahas and Snowmobile parts!

Sorry, thanks for your help, i'm just beyond frustrated...

 

[scylla]

Ah - that makes sense now. They were letting you come to Canada to give you a chance to appeal. (As I mentioned in my previous post, there was no way an H&C claim was going to be successful given your age and circumstances - so that all makes sense now.) Since you failed to appeal, your PR status was automatically canceled.

No point engaging a lawyer. Your PR status is long gone - nothing you can do to restore it now.

You will need to plan to leave Canada very shortly. If you want to return here to live permanently, you'll need to apply for PR from scratch through an economic stream like Express Entry. Detailed info here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/apply.asp

Good luck.

 

[scylla]

For what it's worth, if you had come to Canada and immediately appealed, it's pretty much certain the result would have been the same (loss of your PR status). You had no H&C reasons for failing to meet the residency obligation.

So you would have been in the same situation you are in now - just a few years earlier.

 

[Puddle of Blues]

For what it's worth, if you had come to Canada and immediately appealed, it's pretty much certain the result would have been the same (loss of your PR status). You had no H&C reasons for failing to meet the residency obligation.

So you would have been in the same situation you are in now - just a few years earlier.

Ouch, that seems to me they are happy to waste my time and effort just to appear to be running a fair process..

My father passed away leaving my elderly mother, who herself has had some serious health complications recently.. it's not humanitarian and compassionate enough to let her son be with her? I also grew up in Canada, went to school here, went to college and worked here... I don't have roots anywhere else. No second chance.

Ah well, thanks for your help.

 

[zardoz]

Ouch, that seems to me they are happy to waste my time and effort just to appear to be running a fair process..

My father passed away leaving my elderly mother, who herself has had some serious health complications recently.. it's not humanitarian and compassionate enough to let her son be with her? I also grew up in Canada, went to school here, went to college and worked here... I don't have roots anywhere else. No second chance.

Ah well, thanks for your help.

There is evidence that the Visa Office that issued your PRTD screwed up with the appeal handling and your GCMS notes might help to uncover this. However, at this late stage, I don't think that this is going to be of much comfort.

 

[scylla]

Ouch, that seems to me they are happy to waste my time and effort just to appear to be running a fair process..

My father passed away leaving my elderly mother, who herself has had some serious health complications recently.. it's not humanitarian and compassionate enough to let her son be with her? I also grew up in Canada, went to school here, went to college and worked here... I don't have roots anywhere else. No second chance.

Ah well, thanks for your help.

I wasn't judging your reasons for returning to Canada. They were strong and valid. However unfortunately this is not how CIC evaluates H&C - which is why an H&C claim would have failed for you.

To be successful with an H&C claim, you must prove that you were unable to return to Canada and therefore unable to complete the residency obligation. Economic (work) and education reasons aren't accepted. What is accepted is situation that cannot be controlled. For example, let's say you were seriously injured or became seriously ill while outside of Canada and were unable to return to Canada for a few years due to hospitalization. Another are more common example is the following: PR is an only child. Parent or parents are in home country and are very elderly / ill and unable to take care of themselves (and no other family members exist to help). PR remains outside of Canada longer than allowed to take care of parents. That's a common reason we see here that's accepted.

H&C is not about ties to Canada or your need to return to Canada. It's about proving why you were forced to stay outside of Canada. You failed to meet the residency obligation because you were traveling and working outside of Canada. Unfortunately this isn't accepted under H&C. CIC will view this as a personal choice - not something that forced you to be out of Canada.

Hope that helps.

 

[scylla]

There is evidence that the Visa Office that issued your PRTD screwed up with the appeal handling and your GCMS notes might help to uncover this. However, at this late stage, I don't think that this is going to be of much comfort.

This is a good idea and worth a shot just to see what they say. Agreed it's a hail mary - but might as well try. Notes will take around 30 days to arrive.

 

[Rob_TO]

Ouch, that seems to me they are happy to waste my time and effort just to appear to be running a fair process..

My father passed away leaving my elderly mother, who herself has had some serious health complications recently.. it's not humanitarian and compassionate enough to let her son be with her? I also grew up in Canada, went to school here, went to college and worked here... I don't have roots anywhere else. No second chance.

Ah well, thanks for your help.

At the time you got your PR TD back, they were supposed to include forms indicating the negative decision and the PR TD was only granted for you to return to Canada and appeal. They should also have included instructions on how to appeal. If you didn't get all this, then they messed up.

As far as H&C excuse, the reason you want to return is not as important as the reason you stayed outside Canada for more than 3 years in a 5 years span. So if you don't have a valid H&C for staying outside Canada that long, odds are a H&C claim would be rejected.

Anyways that is in hindsight now. Perhaps you can contact the MP local to your area (not sure if MPs deal with PRs since they have no voting rights, or with citizens only), or talk to a lawyer to engage IRCC for you. Since it was their screw up of not informing you of your appeal rights, perhaps there is something that can be done. Though really this is a unique situation so who knows what the end result will be. Best of luck.

 

[zardoz]

Just one more question. I'm not holding out a lifeline, yet, but exactly who are your remaining family in Canada and what is their immigration status? And I *do* mean "exactly"...