From another thread . . . seems gone now, but of course once out there it is never really gone, eh.
@flysoofi said:
1) I became a Canadian Permanent Resident on 10 Mar, 2018. Stayed for a week/did not wait for my PR card to be delivered with the plan to get it hand delivered by a friend who opted to bring the PR Card by hand to me once he travels from Canada to me in Dubai. Somehow my friend lost my PR card envelope while travelling and I never got to see my original/first time issued PR Card;
2) I went through the process of obtaining a PRTD in April 2020 and travelled to Canada in August 2020 to apply for a new PR card. I was very fortunate to receive my new/replacement PR card within 2 weeks despite of the fact COVID was at its peak. This PR card expires on 16 Sept, 2025 (this date is what has made me raise all the questions);
3) Since then I have been travelling to Canada on and off and have spent around 140 days in Canada. Primarily I was waiting to get some clarity on COVID longevity and its impact on the job market. I am employed in Dubai since 2018 with the privilege to work remotely however I have my mother (divorced) who is dependent on me living with me here in Dubai. I have applied for her Canada visit visa two weeks ago (awaiting decision) so that she is easily able to travel to me as she pleases when I move there permanently;
4) What my question is, when will I face the RO issue, what is the date where my RO will be calculated from, is it the date from when I became a PR (10, Mar 2018) or will it be the date of the application to renew my PR card in 2025. If I calculate from the date of becoming a PR, right now I still have around 2 months extra (2 years & 2 months in total approx.);
5) What I also need clarity on is the fact that if I plan on moving to Canada permanently by the end of this year, according to the expiry of my PR Card, I will still have 990 days with me so what RO window applies to me. What are any foreseeable issues I can face at the airport in Canada if I move by the end of this year and also will I be able to travel assuming I would have 990 days with me;
6) Lastly, why did IRCC issue a PR card which expires in Sep 2025 which makes it a validity of 7.5 years from the date I became a PR. What should I assume from this, was it a COVID related extension?
@armoured and
@scylla covered most of what you need to know. Seems gone now . . . but your responses indicated you mostly got it.
A couple observations by
@armoured warrant some emphasis:
-- There is NO connection between calculation or determination of Residency Obligation compliance and the date a PR card was issued or the date a PR card expires.
-- During the first five years the arithmetic tends to be easier counting days outside Canada; as long as a PR is NOT outside Canada 1096 or more days prior to the fifth year anniversary of the day they became a Permanent Resident they are in RO compliance. That is because they can still be IN Canada at least 730 days during that period of time. As soon as (again, during the first five years) the PR has been outside Canada more than 1096 days since landing it is no longer physically possible to be IN Canada 730 days within the first five years; that constitutes a breach of the RO.
It may help to elaborate about the first by responding to this question:
6) Lastly, why did IRCC issue a PR card which expires in Sep 2025 which makes it a validity of 7.5 years from the date I became a PR. What should I assume from this, was it a COVID related extension? (Actually 6.5 years from date of landing based on correction of year of landing.)
Again, the date a PR card was issued or the date a PR card expires has NO relevance in calculating RO compliance. Generally PR cards are issued for five years, although there are some particular circumstances in which one-year cards are issued. So a PR card issued late summer 2020 would be expected to expire late summer 2025.
PR cards are NOT like drivers' licenses, for which being a licensed driver ends if the license itself expires without being renewed. More like passports (except the PR card is only a status document, not a travel document), the expiration of which does not affect status as a citizen.
As long as you clearly stay on the IN-Compliance side of the arithmetic, no problem. Hence the cautions to keep good records and do the arithmetic carefully, to be sure to stay on the IN-Compliance side of the arithmetic.
But for the PR
cutting-it-close, sliding to the other side of the IN-Compliance equation can happen fast.
Stuff happens.
Practical Context / Caution:
The who, when, why, and how of actual RO enforcement can be confusing because the rules are not precisely applied, not strictly enforced. So the anecdotal reports tend to be all over the map, and this has been especially true the last two plus years given what has clearly been more leeway allowed in the wake of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Lots of reports like "
I was in breach and did not get Reported," which some mistakenly take to mean that is how it will go for them and others. To be clear: it means that MIGHT be how it goes, but there is no assurance that is how it will go. Same facts do not necessarily have the same impact for different PRs.
So on one hand there is no cause to panic if the new PR (within five years of landing) slips past the 1096 day threshold and is technically in breach of the RO; there are hardly any indications that new PRs are issued a Removal Order at the Port-of-Entry if they are just a few weeks or even months in breach. But they are nonetheless at risk. And especially some risk if it has been three years (or nearly three years) since the last time they were in Canada -- there is no need to do any arithmetic if a PR has been outside Canada three years and a day since last in Canada: that's more than 1096 days absent, so on the face of things, no arithmetic necessary, the PR is clearly in RO breach; and generally the longer the last absence, the more that is likely to raise questions about RO compliance.
However, once the PR goes past the 1096 days abroad threshold, during the first five years (or within the previous five years later, beginning the fifth year anniversary of landing), additional trips abroad before getting into RO compliance increase the risk, especially if the pattern of travel does not indicate having settled in Canada permanently. It's a lot about the numbers, but it's a lot about context as well. Did I mention that same facts do not necessarily have the same impact for different PRs?
What we see in this forum is how slippery the relying-on-leeway slope tends to be. Hence the caution from
@armoured about how difficult the practical reality can be for the PR who is
cutting-it-close. We have seen many, many tales of woe emerging from those
cutting-it-close and running into real life, got to go abroad, scenarios.
