PR card renewal without meeting the required duration of stay

[keremo]

Hi dear CanadaVisa users,

I have recently heard of a quite odd occurrence. So a friend of mine has applied for immigration in Canada in 2009. Well, actually his father applied as a skilled worker. He landed in Canada in November, 2010 and did not proceed to live in Canada. He went back and stayed in his home country, Turkey for four years and graduated from high school.

Then, in September,2015, he enrolled in a university in Quebec as a permanent resident. As you all know the PR card expires after 5 years of landing in Canada and it expired in November, 2015. Now, he hasn't stayed in Canada enough to fulfill the duration he needs to extend his PR card expiry date. He needed two years and stayed only for mere months. At this point, his PR status should have been revoked. However, when he was called for an interview with the immigration officers things turned out differently. He told the officers that the reason he couldn't come to Canada sooner was that he was attached and dependent on his family and therefore, he couldn't separate from them. Now that he was 18, independent and enrolled in a Canadian university he had every intention to stay, study and later live in Canada. After this discussion with the officers, his PR card got renewed and he is still living in Canada.

My question for you is have you ever encountered a similar situation or do you know anyone who did the same thing? I would like to know if this is common or not. If you have any more questions about what my friend did, please ask! Thanks to all!

 

[Leon]

Yes, this is not uncommon. Your friend has H&C (humane & compassionate) grounds for not being able to meet the RO (residency obligation) based on that he was removed from Canada as a minor and returned as soon as he could after reaching the age of majority.

If his PR card would have been expired and he would have applied for a PR travel document in order to return to Canada, he would have had very good chances of getting it.

 

[keremo]

So what are the chances of this happening? Is it dependable? Could this request be denied?

 

[Naheulbeuck]

So what are the chances of this happening? Is it dependable? Could this request be denied?

You need to share more about your situation if you want people to be able to answer that question.

H&C is a case by case situation, however as mentioned by Leon, it is one well known fact for H&C claims that if you were removed as a minor (therefore out of your control) and come back as soon as possible after reaching the age of majority, your chances of winning the H&C claim are very high.

 

[Leon]

So what are the chances of this happening? Is it dependable? Could this request be denied?

If you have actual H&C grounds like your friend and can prove it, immigration would in most cases let you renew your PR card. If you don't, they could tell you that as you don't meet the RO and are admitting to it that they will be revoking your PR and you will be asked to leave. They could also tell you that as you don't meet the RO, they will simply not renew your PR card and that's it. Which is more likely, I can't tell you but it is generally not advised to try to renew your PR card if you don't meet the RO unless you have H&C grounds.