A couple of quick questions regarding the process of renewing the PR card.
I have read through the forum as much as possible so I hope to avoid asking the same questions and I apologize in advance for inevitably not being able to do so for the length of this post.
I landed in Canada in October 2015. I have a Canadian spouse and our young child is also a Canadian citizen. Upon landing, we quickly began applying for jobs and while my spouse received several offers, I was not so lucky - given the real estate situation in Canada, we were worried about our ability to be able to get by on one salary. We decided to work in the lucrative international civil service and save up for house to Canada so that we have one headache less while we try to settle into the Canadian job market. From landing in Canada until August 2018, all three of us lived outside of Canada - from Oct 2015 to June 2017, my wife and I worked for the same international organization. In June 2017, I move to the United Nations and my wife quit her job and we moved together to a third country. After a year there, in inhospitable conditions and with our daughter due to start JK, we decided to finally invest our savings in a property in Canada and have been paying off a mortgage since mid-2018. My Canadian wife and child are in Canada full time, with my wife adding to her qualifications in order to improve her prospects of a good job that could eventually support all three of us when I move there full time. In the meantime, I am working in the field as an international civil servant so that we can meet our financial obligations and have an opportunity to afford the time to make sure my spouse walks into a proper job. Since August 2018, I have spent approximately 4.5 months in Canada and they have spent roughly the same time visiting me in my duty station.
I know that time spent with a Canadian spouse living abroad counts as time spent in Canada - does it matter 'who was accompanying whom'? Or is it enough that both my Canadian spouse and child were together with me? What sort of evidence do I need to provide to support our time abroad together(employment records, photos form the country in question, our child's nursery records?)? Given that this is more than 2 out of 5 years, would this by itself qualify for the PR extension?
If the above requirement has been wrongly understood by me, I have seen multiple posts on the forum that working as an international civil servant/diplomat, is not considered a valid enough reason by the courts as a reason for not meeting the residency requirement - I would just like to confirm that this applies even in situations where all your funds, tax returns, bank accounts, property and spouse and child are in Canada and you don't really have permanent residence anywhere else as your stay in a third country is regulated by international conventions and does not allow you to stay in that country outside of the mandate of your organization?
Assuming that the answer to the above is that my professional mandate/status/organization is of no concern, I have seen that there are options to apply for an extension on the basis of humanitarian/compassionate grounds - does the fact that my young child and my spouse are Canadian citizens and that revoking my PR status would keep me away from them (or keep them away from Canada in order for us to be a complete family), fall under this category? Or are compassionate grounds mostly to explain why you are outside of Canada (e.g. caring for sick relatives etc.)
Finally, if all else fails, is there a reasonable possibility to apply for a fresh PR through family sponsorship given that my wife and daughter are Canadian citizens. How would that application process differ from the initial process?
Since landing, we have not been to the country of my nationality at all, even for visits. I don't know if this can also be considered as any sort of proof that our only real home is Canada (on top of the fact that all the money we have is invested/tied down there, my salaries go to my Canadian bank, we have a Canadian mortgage, pay Canadian taxes etc.)
My PR card expires in one year. I know that we are being extra careful with all of this and are living in a situation which does not suit as we are a close knit family that is really struggling through this separation (first time in our 13 years together, 10 years married and first time since our daughter's birth). However, we are on track to pay off our mortgage very early and have given ourselves a decent cushion to enter the job market at a higher level than we would had we been in a position to seek any jobs just to make ends meet. While Canadian PR for me is a privilege, we were very wary of so many new or returnee Canadians burning through their savings without properly settling in and being forced into a vicious cycle of working out of their profession just to make get through the month. We have moved our entire life to Canada since I landed - I have also extensively applied for jobs in Canada and am slowly developing professional networks but I have no idea when this will come through and I can't simply turn my back of well paid work for hope. At the same time, I am desperate to get back to my family. I would really like to get this across in any renewal application if this is not a clear case based on the above options.
I would greatly appreciate any discussion and advice on how to proceed with this and get everything in order in place in a timely manner.
Thanks in advance.
I have read through the forum as much as possible so I hope to avoid asking the same questions and I apologize in advance for inevitably not being able to do so for the length of this post.
I landed in Canada in October 2015. I have a Canadian spouse and our young child is also a Canadian citizen. Upon landing, we quickly began applying for jobs and while my spouse received several offers, I was not so lucky - given the real estate situation in Canada, we were worried about our ability to be able to get by on one salary. We decided to work in the lucrative international civil service and save up for house to Canada so that we have one headache less while we try to settle into the Canadian job market. From landing in Canada until August 2018, all three of us lived outside of Canada - from Oct 2015 to June 2017, my wife and I worked for the same international organization. In June 2017, I move to the United Nations and my wife quit her job and we moved together to a third country. After a year there, in inhospitable conditions and with our daughter due to start JK, we decided to finally invest our savings in a property in Canada and have been paying off a mortgage since mid-2018. My Canadian wife and child are in Canada full time, with my wife adding to her qualifications in order to improve her prospects of a good job that could eventually support all three of us when I move there full time. In the meantime, I am working in the field as an international civil servant so that we can meet our financial obligations and have an opportunity to afford the time to make sure my spouse walks into a proper job. Since August 2018, I have spent approximately 4.5 months in Canada and they have spent roughly the same time visiting me in my duty station.
I know that time spent with a Canadian spouse living abroad counts as time spent in Canada - does it matter 'who was accompanying whom'? Or is it enough that both my Canadian spouse and child were together with me? What sort of evidence do I need to provide to support our time abroad together(employment records, photos form the country in question, our child's nursery records?)? Given that this is more than 2 out of 5 years, would this by itself qualify for the PR extension?
If the above requirement has been wrongly understood by me, I have seen multiple posts on the forum that working as an international civil servant/diplomat, is not considered a valid enough reason by the courts as a reason for not meeting the residency requirement - I would just like to confirm that this applies even in situations where all your funds, tax returns, bank accounts, property and spouse and child are in Canada and you don't really have permanent residence anywhere else as your stay in a third country is regulated by international conventions and does not allow you to stay in that country outside of the mandate of your organization?
Assuming that the answer to the above is that my professional mandate/status/organization is of no concern, I have seen that there are options to apply for an extension on the basis of humanitarian/compassionate grounds - does the fact that my young child and my spouse are Canadian citizens and that revoking my PR status would keep me away from them (or keep them away from Canada in order for us to be a complete family), fall under this category? Or are compassionate grounds mostly to explain why you are outside of Canada (e.g. caring for sick relatives etc.)
Finally, if all else fails, is there a reasonable possibility to apply for a fresh PR through family sponsorship given that my wife and daughter are Canadian citizens. How would that application process differ from the initial process?
Since landing, we have not been to the country of my nationality at all, even for visits. I don't know if this can also be considered as any sort of proof that our only real home is Canada (on top of the fact that all the money we have is invested/tied down there, my salaries go to my Canadian bank, we have a Canadian mortgage, pay Canadian taxes etc.)
My PR card expires in one year. I know that we are being extra careful with all of this and are living in a situation which does not suit as we are a close knit family that is really struggling through this separation (first time in our 13 years together, 10 years married and first time since our daughter's birth). However, we are on track to pay off our mortgage very early and have given ourselves a decent cushion to enter the job market at a higher level than we would had we been in a position to seek any jobs just to make ends meet. While Canadian PR for me is a privilege, we were very wary of so many new or returnee Canadians burning through their savings without properly settling in and being forced into a vicious cycle of working out of their profession just to make get through the month. We have moved our entire life to Canada since I landed - I have also extensively applied for jobs in Canada and am slowly developing professional networks but I have no idea when this will come through and I can't simply turn my back of well paid work for hope. At the same time, I am desperate to get back to my family. I would really like to get this across in any renewal application if this is not a clear case based on the above options.
I would greatly appreciate any discussion and advice on how to proceed with this and get everything in order in place in a timely manner.
Thanks in advance.
