PR Card Renewal while Living Outside Canada - Successful

[deraj_wa]

I found the threads from other people in a similar situation enormously helpful in figuring out the best way to approach a PR card renewal while living outside Canada, so I wanted to pay-it-back by passing along a recent reference point for a successful PR card renewal while living abroad.

Background
1. All materials were prepared by me (no lawyers or agents involved)
2. Live abroad with my Canadian citizen spouse --> residency obligation is not an issue (but not earning any days towards citizenship eligibility)
3. US citizen --> technically no need for an unexpired PR card (US citizens don't need a visa to enter Canada); but it is a nice-to-have, because you often receive friendlier treatment at ports-of-entry when you present a PR card along with the passport.
4. Original PR card expired in Oct 2023 (initial PR card received after landing)
5. Sent the renewal paperwork while in Canada visiting in-laws (Jul 2023) --> satisfy "apply in Canada" requirement
6. "Current Residential Address in Canada" --> provided an in-law's address; to be transparent, I included a cover letter clarifying that's the address where I stay while in Canada, but it's an in-law address and I live in the US full-time (and I would most likely not be at that address when the application gets processed). I also mentioned that I had heard in that the applicant is usually required to pick-up the card in-person in these situations (since the card can't be mailed internationally), and that I was prepared to do so.
7. After approval, the new PR card was mailed to the Canadian residential address used on the application; in-person pick-up was not required.
8. Expiration date on the new card was based on the date the new card was issued, not based on when the old card expired.

Timeline
1. Mailed renewal package in 8 Jul 2023, while visiting in-laws in Canada (since you need to apply while in Canada)
2. Package was delivered 21 Jul 2023 and IRCC confirmed receipt on 17 Aug 2023
3. Application was approved on 13 Oct 2023 (per IRCC website; no email notification was sent)
4. On 22 Nov 2023 I was notified by email that my photos did not meet specifications and to resubmit photos
5. Replacement photos mailed from the US on 24 Nov 2023; delivered 11 Dec 2023
6. PR card mailed to Canadian address 15 Dec 2023


Thanks and good luck to all!

 

[skyzee]

Really appreciate you sharing this information as we're in the exact same boat. I'm hoping that they will ship it to our friend's address as we live very far away in the US and it'd be a pain to go back, but we're also prepared to do so if necessary. Applied December 18, 2023 online, haven't heard anything since.

 

[deraj_wa]

One other update (for anyone has Nexus): I received guidance to update my PR card info with Nexus; this can't be done online, it needs to be done in-person at an enrollment center (but drop-in is fine; no need to schedule appointment). That info is coming from Canada Border Services - I checked with them on the suspicion that since it's their document they'd give me a more definitive answer than the American officials would.

I live in Texas, so with no access to an enrollment center I'll have to take care of that until next time I fly into Canada (probably sometime this summer).

Interestingly, Nexus never had my old PR card on file. When I enrolled in Nexus, I had my COPR (and had officially "landed" so it had all the official stamps and signatures) but was still waiting on my PR card to be issued; after receiving my PR card, I asked Nexus if I needed to bring in my PR card and they said not to bother, they had everything they needed from the the COPR document I had provided when I enrolled. (That answer may have come from an American official, though.)

 

[skyzee]

Wanted to add my 2c to this thread! I too successfully renewed while living outside Canada with my spouse and am delighted to report they also mailed the PR card. Hopefully it won't take too long to get it. The process was more or less the same except we filed online. We also included a cover letter explaining our similar situation along with providing evidence we were living together in the US.

To borrow OP's template:

Timeline
1. Filed application on PR Portal (online) Dec 19, 2023 while visiting family in Canada
2. IRCC never confirmed receipt throughout the entire process, but I did link the account with GCKey on Dec 21, 2023
3. Application was approved on Feb 21, 2024 (received email notification that CIC account had updated status on Feb 22, 2024)
4. PR card mailed to Canadian address on file Feb 21, 2024

Good luck to the rest of you cross border couples!

 

[canuck78]

Wanted to add my 2c to this thread! I too successfully renewed while living outside Canada with my spouse and am delighted to report they also mailed the PR card. Hopefully it won't take too long to get it. The process was more or less the same except we filed online. We also included a cover letter explaining our similar situation along with providing evidence we were living together in the US.

To borrow OP's template:

Timeline
1. Filed application on PR Portal (online) Dec 19, 2023 while visiting family in Canada
2. IRCC never confirmed receipt throughout the entire process, but I did link the account with GCKey on Dec 21, 2023
3. Application was approved on Feb 21, 2024 (received email notification that CIC account had updated status on Feb 22, 2024)
4. PR card mailed to Canadian address on file Feb 21, 2024

Good luck to the rest of you cross border couples!

The fact that you misrepresented your residential address is likely why you did not have to pick up the card this time. Not a good idea to misrepresent your residential address even though you did essentially specify that you knew you were misrepresenting but instead of filling out the form correctly you wrote a letter explaining why you were misrepresenting your address and even specified that you were prepared to pick up the new card in person (a little reverse psychology). Assume you wrote the letter to essentially cover yourself in case someone did want to highlight the fact that you were misrepresenting your residential address. From your letter it is clear that you did know that your residential address was in the US. Playing games with immigration or tax agencies never recommended. You got lucky but others may not be amused by the fact that you clearly knew you were misrepresenting but still did it. Would put your true residential address the next time you apply. You can use your in-law’s address for a mailing address which would be the appropriate use of their address which you appear to know.

 

[skyzee]

The fact that you misrepresented your residential address is likely why you did not have to pick up the card this time. Not a good idea to misrepresent your residential address even though you did essentially specify that you knew you were misrepresenting but instead of filling out the form correctly you wrote a letter explaining why you were misrepresenting your address and even specified that you were prepared to pick up the new card in person (a little reverse psychology). Assume you wrote the letter to essentially cover yourself in case someone did want to highlight the fact that you were misrepresenting your residential address. From your letter it is clear that you did know that your residential address was in the US. Playing games with immigration or tax agencies never recommended. You got lucky but others may not be amused by the fact that you clearly knew you were misrepresenting but still did it. Would put your true residential address the next time you apply. You can use your in-law’s address for a mailing address which would be the appropriate use of their address which you appear to know.

Others on this forum have done it with no problems and they wouldn't include an option to include a cover letter in the PR portal site if they didn't read it. It's far fetched to think they don't read documentation in a submitted application as the forms are clearly not processed automatically. Others who have done the same thing have been asked to pick up in person even after specifying a Canadian residential address. FYI, they do not have an option to put a US address on the PR portal.

Your tone is unappreciated even if I'm sure you mean well to give advice to others. Let others decide what they want to do based on the information available.

 

[armoured]

The fact that you misrepresented your residential address is likely why you did not have to pick up the card this time. Not a good idea to misrepresent your residential address even though you did essentially specify that you knew you were misrepresenting but instead of filling out the form correctly you wrote a letter explaining why you were misrepresenting your address and even specified that you were prepared to pick up the new card in person (a little reverse psychology). Assume you wrote the letter to essentially cover yourself in case someone did want to highlight the fact that you were misrepresenting your residential address. From your letter it is clear that you did know that your residential address was in the US. Playing games with immigration or tax agencies never recommended. You got lucky but others may not be amused by the fact that you clearly knew you were misrepresenting but still did it. Would put your true residential address the next time you apply. You can use your in-law’s address for a mailing address which would be the appropriate use of their address which you appear to know.

What a ridiculous lecture you've decided to give here. How could writing letter explaining the situation POSSIBLY be misrepresentation?

Absurd patronizing and condescending nonsense.

 

[armoured]

The process was more or less the same except we filed online. We also included a cover letter explaining our similar situation along with providing evidence we were living together in the US.

There is considerable inconsistency reported here in how IRCC treats these cases. I'm possibly misintrepreting the anecdotes reported or inventing patterns where there aren't any, but it somewhat seems to me that IRCC approaches cases where the couple are residing in US differently.

 

[deraj_wa]

Nothing to add re: the tone comments, where others have covered any points I would have made.

Since some may find it helpful, this is the text I used in the cover letter to cover the address issue. In my initial post, I had forgotten about creating a potential issue by providing a Current Residential Address that doesn't appear in my overall address history (where I would agree that including it would constitute a misrepresentation - and potentially a tax liability, i.e. if you were living in Canada why haven't you filed taxes in Canada?) - so also wanted to address that in application; as well as the fact that by the time they reviewed it, the departure history would already be out-of-date:

"I would like to provide additional clarification around absences and address history.

• This application is being sent from within Canada while visiting family, however by the time this application is processed we will likely be back in the United States; our expected date of departure is 16 Jul 2023
• The address shown in Section 2.6 (Current Residential Address in Canada) is my wife’s family house, where we are staying at the time of this application; it is not included in the Section 4.1 address history, as we do not reside there full time
• My online research didn’t reveal any definitive answers on the most appropriate way to fill out Section 2.6 when residing outside Canada, the general consensus was to provide a letter of explanation with full transparency"

Also, one other way the cover letter comes in useful to explain the documentation provided to support the residency requirement (i.e. residing outside Canada with Canadian spouse); we provided the front page of each of our US tax returns since becoming a PR, which show both a shared address as well a checked "Married filing Jointly" box (i.e. covers the two criteria: still live together, still married). Since none of us seem to know just how often IRCC deals with these situations, it seemed like a good idea to explain what the document is there to show - rather than force the agent try to figure out what they're supposed to be looking for on a bunch of foreign government forms.