PR address in Canada

[bricksonly]

I own a house and rent it out. I have property tax bills and a hotwater tank rental under my name, no hydro or phone bills. Bank, driver license, health card, all with this address.
I visit Canada for several months per year, living in my kid's apartment. Sometimes my friends'. Have no any document under my name with her address.
I don't work in Canada and I pay non-resident tax for the rental income only.
I am going to apply PR renewal with cutting-it-close days.
Which address should I take?

 

[Ponga]

If you are saying that your rental property address is what you use for Bank, DL and Provincial health...I guess that's the one to use.

Since you're `cutting it close':

[source]
RESIDENCY APPEALS – TIPS & BEST PRACTICES Erin Christine Roth

From The Consultation, section 1.
For an individual who is substantially short on days, even if there is over a year left on their permanent residence card, departure from Canada bears risk.
(this could be a factor depending on `how close' you are cutting it)

From Documentation & Calculation, section 3.

Active vs. Passive Evidence – Active evidence is capable of placing your client physically in Canada, while passive evidence only demonstrates that your client has assets in Canada. This is the difference between a credit card bill and a hydro bill. While the hydro bill will demonstrate that your client is paying utilities in Canada, it will not demonstrate that your client is actually living in the property for which the bill is attached. The credit card bill, on the other hand, will provide an itemized list of your client’s shopping habits, listing the name of the store and typically the location. When location is not provided, the store number is provided which may be searched online to match store number with store location (particularly important for stores which are also present outside of Canada)
---

I don't think that the evidence that you show does much to strengthen your compliance with the Residency Obligation.

 

[dpenabill]

I own a house and rent it out. I have property tax bills and a hotwater tank rental under my name, no hydro or phone bills. Bank, driver license, health card, all with this address.
I visit Canada for several months per year, living in my kid's apartment. Sometimes my friends'. Have no any document under my name with her address.
I don't work in Canada and I pay non-resident tax for the rental income only.
I am going to apply PR renewal with cutting-it-close days.
Which address should I take?

Let's be honest, you need to be honest.

For address history in a PR card application the PR needs to honestly list ALL addresses the PR has had for the previous five years and the respective dates the PR lived at those addresses. For the applicant's current residential address in Canada, of course the PR needs to honestly declare his or her actual residential address in Canada (and if the PR does not maintain their residence in Canada, it would be misrepresentation to declare one).

So, again, let's be honest: there is an important difference in providing IRCC information in an application compared to information we give to businesses, including banks, a more stringent obligation to be honest. When we give a bank information about our "address," for example, the standard is essentially fraud; as long as the address we give the bank is not overtly deceptive in furtherance of fraud, it is legally OK. When we give IRCC information in an application the standard is significantly more strict; if the information is so much as misleading, even by way of omission, it is misrepresentation subject to significantly punitive consequences, ranging from at least compromised credibility to more severe consequences if it is a material misrepresentation, which can be a potential ground for terminating PR status, or even potentially prosecution for a crime punishable by imprisonment. (And the PR card applicant must certify, in the PR card application, that they understand this.)

It is rare to see misrepresentation allegations based on fudging address information. On the other hand, it is very common to see PRs declare, as many will say, an address they "can use," which often is not honest. The lack of prosecution has led many to more or less believe, and some to even advocate, it is OK (or "fine") to be less than honest in reporting addresses. This is more or less approaching the question from the what-can-I-get-away-with perspective, although sometimes it is asking what-looks-better.

While scores and scores of PRs have long gotten by OK fudging address information, overall my strong sense is that not only is it the PR's obligation to honestly provide this information, that tends to be the best approach most often.

So, even though I am not entirely clear what you are asking here, regarding which "address should [you] take?" If this is about declaring your address history or your current "residential address in Canada" in a PR card application, YOU know where you have lived, and the better approach is to honestly declare this information. Similarly, as to whether or not you currently maintain your residence in Canada, and if so what the address is for your residence, YOU know the truthful, honest answer for that, and again the better approach is to honestly declare this information.

My sense is that the risks are elevated for the PR cutting-it-close, since even being perceived to be less than honest can have a significant impact on IRCC's perception of the PR's credibility, and if that is compromised that can complicate meeting the PR's burden of proof . . . remember, if challenged, it's not what you know, it's what you can prove. (Stealing a line from a Denzel Washington character in a cop movie, the one he earned an Oscar for.)

I realize that I am making a relatively simple matter more complicated. That's because being less than honest in providing information like this tends to make things more complicated, and we should be honest about this. Just because there is rarely any overt prosecution for misrepresentation when PRs fudge address information does not mean this is not a factor separating those for whom things go smoothly compared to those who get bogged down in non-routine processing subject to collateral consequences. Just saying . . .

Note: I do not mean to dismiss or overlook or underestimate the importance of being honest in a moral sense. But, in the context here, I am just looking at this from the practical, potential consequences perspective. I have fudged plenty, perhaps more than my share over the years, and it appears I have more or less, as one might say, gotten-away-with-it, usually anyway, and perhaps mostly. But I have also learned that as a practical matter, when dealing with things like giving information to IRCC, the overall evidence indicates what works best most often is being straight, being honest. Especially with oneself.

 

[bricksonly]

So, even though I am not entirely clear what you are asking here, regarding which "address should [you] take?" If this is about declaring your address history or your current "residential address in Canada" in a PR card application, YOU know where you have lived, and the better approach is to honestly declare this information. Similarly, as to whether or not you currently maintain your residence in Canada, and if so what the address is for your residence, YOU know the truthful, honest answer for that, and again the better approach is to honestly declare this information.

My sense is that the risks are elevated for the PR cutting-it-close, since even being perceived to be less than honest can have a significant impact on IRCC's perception of the PR's credibility, and if that is compromised that can complicate meeting the PR's burden of proof . . . remember, if challenged, it's not what you know, it's what you can prove. (Stealing a line from a Denzel Washington character in a cop movie, the one he earned an Oscar for.)

For PR RO, days spending physically in Canada is qualified. The address, to my understanding, is tend to determine a residency tie. However, I am in Canada basically for vacation. I don't want to be not honest. If you take an vacation, your permanent address won't change, although the vacation could last for months, right? The problem is, the address can only be shown in Canada to make you are in Canada....

My real residence address is in U.S., where I pay gas bill, insurance, morgage, with my spouse and kid goes to school. I "live" in Canada for 6 months in my daughter's and friends' home. I have a legal address connect with my bank, car, health card, driver lience, anything in Canada. BUT I rented it out. I pay tax for the rent, however my CRA address changed to my U.S. one. I don't know how it works if I honestly give several different address in Canada but if asked for evidence for such a short stay. You basically cannot rent a home for 1 or 2 months.

Say if you fill the form, you live in Canada, you give an address for your permanent one. You take a two weeks vacation in Mexico. You won't change your address in Canada because of the vacation. You give the days and address in Mexico to calculate as days and address out of country, one of your hotel's address is OK. The time and address perfectly shows your STATUS in Mexico.

My main address is in U.S., my citizen spouse works there and we built normal residency tie there. In this case, all days in Canada should be looked as vacation days, even it's long enough to be considered as LIVING. For my understanding, if I didn't rent my home out and lived in it, I cannot declare I am taking VACATION in my HOME right? But my actual purpose in Canada is vacation. A very special case.

If the address is to show my STATUS, I agree to give it as VACATION. The problem is, it's very non-friendly to apply for PR card renewal, because PR card tends to be issued for NORMAL residents. But for people like me, have everything connect to Canada with a rent-out home and have the idea to return Canada, I can only apply for it AFTER my real return and submit the same VACATION status with my application?

Let's figure it out. The day when I submit my application, I believe I am going to move back. I am going to withdraw my home and will live in it as my permanent address. It's very honest. If I want the PR card, which address is better for me?

 

[dpenabill]

My main address is in U.S., my citizen spouse works there and we built normal residency tie there. In this case, all days in Canada should be looked as vacation days, even it's long enough to be considered as LIVING. For my understanding, if I didn't rent my home out and lived in it, I cannot declare I am taking VACATION in my HOME right? But my actual purpose in Canada is vacation. A very special case.

If the address is to show my STATUS, I agree to give it as VACATION. The problem is, it's very non-friendly to apply for PR card renewal, because PR card tends to be issued for NORMAL residents. But for people like me, have everything connect to Canada with a rent-out home and have the idea to return Canada, I can only apply for it AFTER my real return and submit the same VACATION status with my application?

I cannot offer an opinion, let alone say definitively what information in particular you should give in your application. I would not give much weight, let alone rely, on what particular address anyone in a forum like this says you should provide.

A forum like this can help clarify what is being asked, and help identify and illuminate factors which might help YOU determine what address information to declare.

They ask for your "residential address," and a history of ALL addresses where you have lived during the previous five years. And you are correct, they are not asking for the address of transient locations during vacations or such.

It is up to you to provide IRCC with honest, accurate information. This is a judgment call YOU must make.

But yes, address information can get a bit complicated. There is a difference, for example, between transient locations versus temporary locations versus primary permanent residence versus maintaining a secondary residence. And there are no fixed parameters, in this, applicable to everyone. It often is a judgment call. It is YOUR judgment call. As already noted, my sense is that being honest is the best approach, but yeah, what is the "honest" answer is for you to say.

You are also correct that a key factor IRCC considers is the nature and extent of a PR's ties to Canada, residential ties looming larger but other ties as well (owning a dwelling that is rented to others probably is not a residential tie as much as it is an investment). But IRCC also considers the nature and extent of the PR's ties OUTSIDE Canada. IRCC expects PRs to honestly disclose information regardless which way it leans.

To the extent an individual considers, in declaring an address, what it looks like, what impression is made, how much it favours or hurts, that really is not illuminating what the honest answer is. But yeah, this is the approach scores and scores have taken, many if not most without running into a problem. And there are some who will outright advocate this is the better approach. My sense is that view underestimates the extent to which IRCC officials get it and see things as they are, and that that view tends to underestimate the potential negative impact on credibility a less than fully honest answer can have, information which is not entirely the whole truth but which does not rise to a level where misrepresentation is alleged, which however might be very much suspected. My sense is that the honest answer is better than a somewhat misleading answer, even if the latter would tend to make the stronger case. That only works to the extent it is believed.

All of which does not really answer the question for you. That's because YOU are the one who needs to answer the question, based on YOUR best judgment, based on the facts in your case, on your circumstances, and your history.