While I was composing a response,
@armoured succinctly and correctly responded.
If and when I engage in responding, I go into more depth, and more fully explain . . . so here is my much longer response:
Hi,
I did my soft landing in Mar 2020. My PR card is valid till Jul 2025.
When I renew PR, which dates are used for residency requirements? 5 years from Mar 2020 (till mar 2025) or 5 years before Jul 2025?
What is the last date I can enter in Canada?
a. Mar 2023
b. Jul 2023
Thanks
Date the PR card was issued, and date the PR card expires, are not relevant.
Compliance with the Residency Obligation (RO) is always determined relative to the effective date of the examination, whether that is:
-- the date the PR is examined at a Port-of-Entry when returning to Canada, or
-- the date the PR makes an application for a PR Travel Document, or
-- the date the PR makes an application for a new PR card, or
-- the date that a formal examination of RO compliance is conducted in the course of processing an application for which valid PR status is required (application to sponsor a family member, or in the course of processing a PR card application).
Thus, when an application is made to renew a PR card the date that establishes the relevant period of time for calculating Residency Obligation compliance is either:
-- preceding five years based on the date the application is made, or
-- if the PR card application is made prior to the fifth year anniversary of landing, days in Canada since landing count and days left on the calendar until the fifth year anniversary of the date of landing also count
Examples for PR who landed March 12, 2020:
-- if application for a new PR card is made April 23, 2025, RO compliance is based on dates IN Canada between April 23, 2020 and April 23, 2025 (five year period preceding date of application)
-- -- reminder: days IN Canada immediately following soft landing will NO LONGER COUNT when those days are more than five years past; in this scenario, for example, if the PR stayed in Canada for five weeks during the "soft" landing, from March 12, 2020 to April 19 say, those days will not count when a new PR card application is made April 23, 2025; again, only days IN Canada between April 23, 2020 and April 23, 2025 will count
-- if application for a new PR card is made January 29, 2025, RO compliance is based on dates IN Canada between March 12, 2020 (date of landing) and January 29, 2025, plus the 14 days still on the calendar until the fifth year anniversary
-- -- caution: general consensus is that it is better to wait until in RO compliance based on actual days in Canada, not relying on future days left to the fifth year anniversary for example; moreover, the RO is continuing, so even if a PR is in compliance with the RO on the date the application is made, the PR must continue to be in compliance going forward
What is the last date I can enter in Canada?
Please allow me to be a bit picky for a bit, in an effort to be clear about the PR RO and related matters.
There is NO last date a PR can enter Canada. Indeed, if you remain abroad for ten years, and have no contact with Canada in all that time, you are still a Canadian and entitled to enter Canada. So, for example, if you are able to physically travel to Canada and present yourself to border officials at a PoE, you will be allowed to enter Canada.
There are, of course, serious issues involved in that scenario:
One is that many (perhaps most) PRs can only return to Canada using commercial transportation, like taking a commercial flight from abroad to a city in Canada; to do this, the PR needs to have very specific documents showing authorization to enter Canada: either a valid PR card or a PR Travel Document.
The other is what your question is really about: the likelihood the returning PR will, upon arrival at the PoE, be subject to a RO compliance examination, potentially be determined to be in breach of the RO, and then issued a Removal Order, a decision that terminates PR status unless there is a successful appeal. The PR is still entitled to enter Canada PENDING an appeal, but absent a very strong H&C case (for an absence of that length) the final outcome is likely to be the loss of PR status.
Your question is really about what is the last date you can return to Canada without being in breach of the RO, and therefore not be at risk of being subject to an inadmissibility Report and issued a Removal Order.
Many here will answer this question far more simply than me. As
@armoured now has. During the first five years following the landing, the simple answer is typically framed one of two ways:
-- the PR needs to arrive in Canada in time to spend 730 days in Canada BEFORE the fifth year anniversary of the date of landing, or
-- the PR needs to arrive in Canada BEFORE the PR has been outside Canada for 1095 days since landing
This is about returning to Canada without breaching the RO. To my view the second is the easier way to approach the calculation. For example, for a PR who landed March 12, 2020, and who spent three weeks here, 21 days, and has not returned here since, that PR needs to arrive in Canada no later than April 2, 2023, before the PR has been abroad three years since landing, to be sure they are not in breach of the RO upon arrival, and thus at very little risk of a negative RO compliance examination.
