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PR Card Renewal 20 days short from meeting the 2-year minimum requirement

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hriant88

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Aug 15, 2018
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My PR card is expiring soon, but I am 20 days short from meeting the 2-year minimum requirement. What happened was that I landed in October 2013 and stayed in Canada for a year and then went back to my home country for about 3 years (1085 days) and came back to Canada in Oct 2017. I thought I was OK for meeting the 730 days in Canada (or less than 1095 days outside Canada) but I forgot that I went to the US in 2013 for 15 days vacation and again in May 2018 for another 15 days. Now after the calculation, I am about 20 days short from meeting the 2-year minimum requirement.

I don't know what I should do for this 20 days issue? Should I go ahead apply for my PR card renewal now?

Many thanks!
 
If you are in Canada now, don’t renew the card until you are well within the RO (800+ days). You don’t have to renew the card unless you plan on travelling outside of Canada. It has no effect on your Permenent residency status.

Keep in mind that after the first 5 years, RO requires you are in compliance for 5 years going back from the date of entry every time you enter. Those days from 2013 will start dropping off soon, so it will quickly drop you out of the RO if you travel outside if Canada for extended periods for a while. You will need to watch that when you travel.
 
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Thanks for the quick reply and information. The thing is that I have to go on another short trip out of Canada in November to attend a family member's wedding by when my current PR card will be expired if I don't renew it now. But I am scared if I renew it now, would this 20 days overstay kill my PR status? What will likely happen if I renew my card now?
 
If you try to renew now, you risk getting your PR status revoked. And even if you were not short 20 days, the processing time for a PR card renewal can take up to 3 months so there is no guarantee that you would have your PR card by November anyway.

Where is the wedding? If in the US, you can let your PR card expire but by then, you should meet the PR RO. So you can go to enter the US via land crossing and come back to Canada via land crossing. Tell CBSA that your card is expired but you are in the process of renewal and that you meet your PR RO.
 
Fly from USA to your destination and back thru a land entry by car. You don't need a PR card to pass land entry. Be prepared to have something to prove your time in Canada satisfying RO if you are asked for a secondary inspection.
 
Personally, I would send my regrets and defer your trip until you are in compliance. Once you apply to renew, the RO is based on the date of application. You are already pushing the limit to have your card back (assuming all went smoothly) in time for a mid-November trip, which would open you up to applying for a PRTD (and another review of residency). Realistically, an application now would probably end up in secondary, so you are many months (read more than 6) from getting a renewal.
 
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Thanks for all the advice.

So it seems I have to stay till October next year without leaving the country to be on the safe side. When would be the earliest I can apply for renewal? and till I get the new card, I can't leave the country anymore?

Thanks,
 
hriant88 said:
Thanks for all the advice.

So it seems I have to stay till October next year without leaving the country to be on the safe side. When would be the earliest I can apply for renewal? and till I get the new card, I can't leave the country anymore?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

The absolute earliest you can apply for renewal is when you have 730 days of residency within the last five years. However as said previously, it would be very wise to have a few buffer weeks at least - more would be better.

You can leave the country while your PR card is still valid, but you risk running into issues when you return.
 
If I wait till 2019/01/02 to apply for renewal, I will miss by 3 days. Do you think they will revoke my PR status just because of 3 days short?

I actually had a reason that I had the prostate cancer in 2015 and had to take the surgery and treatments after that's why I stayed outside of Canada for extended period (1085 days, almost three years). Would that counted for humanitarian and compassionate grounds considerations?
 
They may overlook 3 days or they may not. It's still short of the requirement of 730 days and they would be well within their right to start revoking your PR for those 3 days. It's pretty cut and dry and the requirement is extremely generous.

They would consider your cancer, but doubtful they would accept several years out of Canada for Prostate cancer as treatment is readily available in Canada. No reason, even if it was aggressive, that you couldn't have received immediate treatment in your home country and then returned to Canada for follow ups in less than 3 years. And if it was diagnosed in Canada, even less likely it would be accepted.
 
Yeah, it was diagnosed when I was out of Canada, pretty sever so I had to take the surgery right away, but coming back to Canada takes too long to get an appointment with the specialist so I did in my home country. And then after the surgery it requires the follow-up treatments twice a month every month for 18 months. I couldn't break it up and come back to Canada as finding a doctor here in Canada to follow up my case would take way more than a month waiting. I didn't want to break up my treatments so decided to stay till I finished my first round of treatments for 18 months as even after that I will be out for 1085 only still within the two-year time frame, however, I forgot the 20 days I spent in the US before. This was how I ended up in this ugly situation.

Don't know if my case sounds compelling to the judge if I apply?
 
Note that 730 days is an extremely generous MINIMUM requirement. You are asking for even more leniency?
 
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Don't know if my case sounds compelling to the judge if I apply?
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Personally, it doesn't sound that compelling.....the decisions were based on personal choices. A referral and advance notice of your return could probably have shortened any waiting period. But again, I have zero input into the decision making process for this, so it's just my 2 cents worth.
 
In most of the country you get an oncology appointment within 2 weeks. Lots of changing information about prostate cancer but surgery is rarely the first line of treatment because of the potential side effects. Agree. Access to treatment will not really be a a compelling reason in my opinion. Not sure if you were working during that time but that would really count against you.
 
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