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PR Card Renewal. Online vs. Mail

jeff198901

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How is everyone renewing their PR cards? Online or by mail? Is one faster than the other?
Thanks!!
 

Ponga

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Oct 22, 2013
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It would at least appear that online is faster, since there's nothing to send via snail mail or courier. However...there still seems to be at least a few bugs in the online system. IRCC recently combined the PR Card and the PRTD applications into one and the instruction guide has still not been fully updated.

How soon does your card expire?

Also...if you are a U.S. citizen...have you ordered your travel history from CBSA and CBP, just to compare with your own data?
 
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jeff198901

Champion Member
May 7, 2016
1,817
261
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
29-03-2017
AOR Received.
18-04-2017
It would at least appear that online is faster, since there's nothing to send via snail mail or courier. However...there still seems to be at least a few bugs in the online system. IRCC recently combined the PR Card and the PRTD applications into one and the instruction guide has still not been fully updated.

How soon does your card expire?

Also...if you are a U.S. citizen...have you ordered your travel history from CBSA and CBP, just to compare with your own data?
My wife’s card will expire in June. I have not ordered data or really kept any records. Is this something we will need to do?
 

Ponga

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Oct 22, 2013
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My wife’s card will expire in June. I have not ordered data or really kept any records. Is this something we will need to do?
Well you do have to list the complete travel history (including trips across the border at a land PoE) for the 5 year period that will be assessed for meeting the R.O., which surprises more than a few PRs...perhaps some U.S. citizens as well.

There is a section in the PR renewal application where you can give consent for IRCC to get travel history directtly from CBSA, which at first glance seems great...the problem is that the PR has to complete the Travel History section in the application and needs to show each and every absence from Canada (even if it was just crossing the border to buy gas, for example). So, yes...you need to input that travel in the application, before allowing IRCC to check that against whatever they get from CBSA.
 

jeff198901

Champion Member
May 7, 2016
1,817
261
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
29-03-2017
AOR Received.
18-04-2017
Well you do have to list the complete travel history (including trips across the border at a land PoE) for the 5 year period that will be assessed for meeting the R.O., which surprises more than a few PRs...perhaps some U.S. citizens as well.

There is a section in the PR renewal application where you can give consent for IRCC to get travel history directtly from CBSA, which at first glance seems great...the problem is that the PR has to complete the Travel History section in the application and needs to show each and every absence from Canada (even if it was just crossing the border to buy gas, for example). So, yes...you need to input that travel in the application, before allowing IRCC to check that against whatever they get from CBSA.
That’s crazy. That’s seems excessive to simply renew a card, especially when it says this on the website :
Applying for a Permanent Resident card


If you are renewing or applying for a Permanent Resident Card you do not need to request your Traveller History Report from the CBSA.


Checking "Yes" on page 3, Question 23 (section E) of the application form allows IRCC to collect the report on your behalf.
 
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Ponga

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Agreed, but it is what it is. I had long believed that a U.S. citizen's travel history was likely not complete, since CBSA [apparently] never tracked exits from Canada for U.S. and Canadian citizens prior to ~June 2019 (by land) and ~June 2020 (by air). Even now, they don't really track exits; they get entry records from CBP and/or passenger manifest data from an airline. That, in essence, constitutes an exit from Canada...but when I personally called CBSA to inquire (recently), the officer's reply was "I've never heard of that". o_O

You should start piecing together this puzzle now. Flights are easy to retrace, but those day/weekend trips across a land border...not so easy. I would hope that once you have shown that the R.O. has been met (by eclipsing the 730 days in Canada benchmark) the other data may not need to be exact, but...who really knows. Since you have to state that all of the information in the application is true and accurate, I would suggest that if you do not recall 100%, include a short statement attesting to that.
 

Ponga

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Oct 22, 2013
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That’s crazy. That’s seems excessive to simply renew a card, especially when it says this on the website :
Applying for a Permanent Resident card


If you are renewing or applying for a Permanent Resident Card you do not need to request your Traveller History Report from the CBSA.


Checking "Yes" on page 3, Question 23 (section E) of the application form allows IRCC to collect the report on your behalf.
Read this part, again:
There is a section in the PR renewal application where you can give consent for IRCC to get travel history directly from CBSA, which at first glance seems great...the problem is that the PR has to complete the Travel History section in the application and needs to show each and every absence from Canada (even if it was just crossing the border to buy gas, for example). So, yes...you need to input that travel in the application, before allowing IRCC to check that against whatever they get from CBSA.
So, if a PR has been keeping accurate travel history on their own, you would not need to even consider getting a copy from CBSA...to cross check your data. You stated that "I have not ordered data or really kept any records.", which says that you haven't.

I agree that it certainly seems crazy that they need the complete 5 year history, but...they do.
 

jeff198901

Champion Member
May 7, 2016
1,817
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Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
29-03-2017
AOR Received.
18-04-2017
Agreed, but it is what it is. I had long believed that a U.S. citizen's travel history was likely not complete, since CBSA [apparently] never tracked exits from Canada for U.S. and Canadian citizens prior to ~June 2019 (by land) and ~June 2020 (by air). Even now, they don't really track exits; they get entry records from CBP and/or passenger manifest data from an airline. That, in essence, constitutes an exit from Canada...but when I personally called CBSA to inquire (recently), the officer's reply was "I've never heard of that". o_O

You should start piecing together this puzzle now. Flights are easy to retrace, but those day/weekend trips across a land border...not so easy. I would hope that once you have shown that the R.O. has been met (by eclipsing the 730 days in Canada benchmark) the other data may not need to be exact, but...who really knows. Since you have to state that all of the information in the application is true and accurate, I would suggest that if you do not recall 100%, include a short statement attesting to that.
This may be a silly question, but is renewing a PR card the same as renewing PR?
 

Ponga

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Oct 22, 2013
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Not a silly question at all.

PR does NOT expire...only the PR card expires. Even with an expired PR card, the person is still a PR unless the status is revoked (for not meeting the R.O.), or the PR renounces their PR status. Just as the expiration of your passport doesn't mean that you are no longer a citizen, the same applies to a PR card. Neither can be used as a travel document, but the status remains the same.
 

jeff198901

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May 7, 2016
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Job Offer........
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App. Filed.......
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AOR Received.
18-04-2017
Not a silly question at all.

PR does NOT expire...only the PR card expires. Even with an expired PR card, the person is still a PR unless the status is revoked (for not meeting the R.O.), or the PR renounces their PR status. Just as the expiration of your passport doesn't mean that you are no longer a citizen, the same applies to a PR card. Neither can be used as a travel document, but the status remains the same.
Will I need to get entry/exit information from both Canada and the USA? How do I go about doing this?
 

CANADA-1

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Jan 17, 2017
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Will I need to get entry/exit information from both Canada and the USA? How do I go about doing this?
Fill in this Personal Information Request Form. Request from the Canada Border Service Agency. Please also put details like date of birth and name or passport number if you are requesting for travel history
 
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Ponga

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Oct 22, 2013
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Will I need to get entry/exit information from both Canada and the USA? How do I go about doing this?
You need to provide accurate travel history, so if you haven't kept track, you should make a ATIP request through CBSA. Have you had a lot of trips across a land border in the past ~5 years?

As mentioned already, there's still no real information regarding whether or not all exits from Canada (certainly regarding U.S. citizens) are recorded when crossing a land PoE. They are supposed to be included (via CBP entry record), but nobody seems to know for sure. You could contact CBP and request yours via a FOIA request ($5 USD fee). Either way, it doesn't much matter since it is the responsibility of the PR to keep accurate records, but...if you're like me, nobody told me that when I landed; no "Welcome to Canada...read this information on what you need to do (including travel history) for the next 5 years."
 
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jeff198901

Champion Member
May 7, 2016
1,817
261
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
29-03-2017
AOR Received.
18-04-2017
You need to provide accurate travel history, so if you haven't kept track, you should make a ATIP request through CBSA. Have you had a lot of trips across a land border in the past ~5 years?

As mentioned already, there's still no real information regarding whether or not all exits from Canada (certainly regarding U.S. citizens) are recorded when crossing a land PoE. They are supposed to be included (via CBP entry record), but nobody seems to know for sure. You could contact CBP and request yours via a FOIA request ($5 USD fee). Either way, it doesn't much matter since it is the responsibility of the PR to keep accurate records, but...if you're like me, nobody told me that when I landed; no "Welcome to Canada...read this information on what you need to do (including travel history) for the next 5 years."
I actually ended up going on the CBP website and was able to look up travel records. Between those and pictures on my cell phone and my wife’s cell phone, we have pretty accurate records (we always take pictures of the border lines) I will also do an ATIP request as well
 

jeff198901

Champion Member
May 7, 2016
1,817
261
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
29-03-2017
AOR Received.
18-04-2017
Thank you very much everyone
 

Ponga

VIP Member
Oct 22, 2013
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I actually ended up going on the CBP website and was able to look up travel records. Between those and pictures on my cell phone and my wife’s cell phone, we have pretty accurate records (we always take pictures of the border lines) I will also do an ATIP request as well
Isn't your wife a U.S. citizen? According to this, records are not available for a U.S. citizen:
https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/history-search

For Your Info
United States Citizens and Lawful Permanent residents are unable to look up their prior 10-year travel history at this time.

The provided travel history may not reflect the following: land border arrivals/departures, closed loop cruise arrivals/departures, air carrier reservation updates, and/or United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updates, changes of status, extensions of stay or adjustments of status. U.S. Citizen and Lawful Permanent Resident travel is NOT provided on this website. If this travel history is not complete, there is no action to take. CBP documents come from a variety of sources. This travel history is only a tool to assist the public and is not an official record for legal purposes.

Did she have to file a FOIA request for her land PoE exit/entry data, beyond the I-94 request?
 
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