PR card help please!!!

[Drake889]

hi everyone i came to canada last year its been 10 months now my pr expired in 2011. as per the information i retreived i apparently cannot apply for a PR until i did 730 days physical presence in canada. But what i dont understand is that my pr is only expired and why do i have to wait for 730 days more. i am currently working in a security company have a bank account paying bills rent car insurance etc.. and i came here with a visa from abroad immigration of canada. im getting engaged with my g.f in the coming months she even asked me to marry her for me to get my PR but i dont wana do that as i wana get my own thing.
Please help me i really need it.

 

[Leon]

As a permanent resident of Canada, you are expected to meet a residency obligation to live in Canada for at least 730 days in any rolling 5 year period. For the first 5 years that you are a permanent resident, they look at if you have already stayed 730 days or if you still have the time that you still could before your 5 year PR anniversary. Once you have been a PR for 5 years or more, they look at if you have 730 days in the past 5 years. This is not related to your PR card periods at all.

If you have been a PR for more than 5 years which I assume you have if your PR card expired in 2011, immigration will look at the past 5 years in your case. If you have 730 days in Canada in the past 5 years, you can apply to renew your PR card now and if you marry your girlfriend, you can sponsor her for PR. If you do not have 730 days in Canada in the past 5 years, you should wait until such a time comes because if you apply to renew your PR card or sponsor a spouse without meeting the requirements yourself, you attract the attention of immigration that you do not meet the requirements and they may well decide to revoke your PR.

 

[Drake889]

my g.f here is a born citizen of canada (vancouver). she is willing to help but i wana see it i can do it on my own first.
so you are saying that even though i have an expired pr i have to wait for 730 days ?
my big problem is that they wont even issue me a drivers license as my work cannot be done without driving

 

[Leon]

So what is your situation? When did you get your PR? How many days have you spent in Canada in the past 5 years? If you do not have 730 days in the past 5 years, do you have mitigating circumstances? How did you enter Canada after your long absence? Did you enter with a still valid PR card, expired PR card or on a visa exempt passport? Did anybody say anything to you about your PR as you entered?

If your situation is that you did not spend 730 days in Canada in the past 5 years, you did not have mitigating circumstances why you didn't and you managed to enter Canada without being reported for not meeting the residency requirements, you are in a bit of a grey area status. You are still a PR but you do not meet the residency requirements and therefore you can not apply to renew your PR card right now.

Even if your girlfriend marries you to sponsor you for PR, she can not do it until you officially lose your PR status first and if you do, you would be without status and unable to work from the time you renounce your PR status until the time your sponsorship goes through.

If you were outside Canada for the past 3 years completely before your return 10 months ago, you have 14 months to go before you can apply to renew your PR card. I would suggest it would be best for you to wait. If you can't get a drivers license, then get a job where you don't need one.

 

[Drake889]

i think i have 200 something days during the last 5 years. i applied for a visa back in my home country and i had 6 months to enter canada and i came here in march last year. i was in toronto for about 2 1/2 years in total and i got my PR there but i was still a minor now im adult and on my own with my g.f. i have my sin number my expired health card for ontario and also i have my travel document dated back in 2005. according to icbc they need a primary id and secondary id. my primary id is my travel document which they wont accept and my secondary id is my passport which has the visa in it from canadian immigration in nairobi. i have a credit card on my name i have a temporary class 5 license and im paying tax. and its gona be a year soon that im working in that security company. Do you think i still cannot apply for PR?

 

[Leon]

You are not giving me enough info here.

Am I to understand that you left Canada a a minor and that you were granted a travel document based on that in 2005 and then you returned to Canada but then failed to meet the residency requirements again or what?

How did you enter Canada 10 months ago? Was your PR card already expired? Did you enter on a travel document?

 

[Drake889]

yes i left canada as minor and i was granted a travel or landing document when i first came to canada in 2005 then i left for personal reasons i came back in 2007 and stayed for 7 months in ontario and left again but my pr was not yet expired and then i came back again for more than a year then left again the 4th time i came back my PR was already expired so in order to get in canada i applied for a PR visa to the canadian immigration in nairobi. i got approved as i already had a PR but was only expired. i got down in vancouver airport and showed them my Permanent immigration visa which was in my passport and my landing document dated since 2005 and they let me in.
The time i was in ontario i got my sin card health card and PR card.

 

[Leon]

It seems to me that you have not really been committed to staying in the past and although you have been given the chance to come back in 2005, you did not use that chance to make sure you continued to meet the requirements in the future.

I do not know the reasons Nairobi gave your a "PR visa" the last time. Are you sure you are not talking about a travel document? Did you meet the 730 day requirements when you applied for it? Because if you didn't, they could have said no and revoked your PR. If you gave some special reasons for this last "visa" stating why you could not meet the requirements and they accepted that, you could apply for a PR card now based on that Nairobi accepted your reasons. If they did not look into if you met the requirements, that seems like a mistake on their part and in that case, you were lucky to get it and should stay 2 years before you try to renew your PR card.

 

[fijigirl]

i think the main problem is with icbc, you can wait the 2 years but need to figure out a way to keep driving, is there anyway way possible?

 

[Drake889]

i was still a minor and under parents charge but not im an adult. and i was not an adult until 2007 then i decided to come back for a carreer here. now im down here and im having problems i dont know if i should or can apply or not