PR Card Renewal

[fus]

My PR Card expired in 2009, before this I had lived in Canada for brief periods. I had planned to move to Canada permanently in 2007 but due to my mother sickness I could not and stayed in USA to take care of her until 2016. Being a US citizen, I drove to Canada on my US passport and finally settled here. It has been almost 2 years and 6 months and I have never traveled abroad. I am well settled here, working and paying my taxes regularly. I have few questions,

1) Do i need to have a valid PR card to apply for citizenship? or even with expired PR card I will be able to apply for citizenship? Is it better to have valid PR?
2) If I apply for PR card, what documents should I submit? I have gone through list but is there anything extra that I should send.
3) Do you recommend I apply through lawyer or is it a straight forward case? The only thing bothers me is that my card was expired in 2009 and I have been using my US passport to travel between US and Canada since my PR card expired.

I will greatly appreciate some suggestions and advice from the senior members here or who have gone through the same situation.
Thank you in Advance,

Fus

 

[zardoz]

My PR Card expired in 2009, before this I had lived in Canada for brief periods. I had planned to move to Canada permanently in 2007 but due to my mother sickness I could not and stayed in USA to take care of her until 2016. Being a US citizen, I drove to Canada on my US passport and finally settled here. It has been almost 2 years and 6 months and I have never traveled abroad. I am well settled here, working and paying my taxes regularly. I have few questions,

1) Do i need to have a valid PR card to apply for citizenship? or even with expired PR card I will be able to apply for citizenship? Is it better to have valid PR?
2) If I apply for PR card, what documents should I submit? I have gone through list but is there anything extra that I should send.
3) Do you recommend I apply through lawyer or is it a straight forward case? The only thing bothers me is that my card was expired in 2009 and I have been using my US passport to travel between US and Canada since my PR card expired.

I will greatly appreciate some suggestions and advice from the senior members here or who have gone through the same situation.
Thank you in Advance,

Fus

1) you do not need to have a valid PR card.
2) that will depend on what you have available. You are attempting to "prove" physical presence.
3) a lawyer is not required at this point in time. If you are denied a card or reported for not meeting the Residency Obligations, that's the time to lawyer up.

 

[fus]

Thank You Zardoz for your reply. I have been living and working here for last 2 years and 6 months, so i pretty much have everything a person would need to live a normal life. Car payments, tax returns, t4, pay stub, utilities and grocery bills etc. I was thinking of sending my employment letter, T4 for 2016 & 2017 and pay stubs for 2018. Do you think these would suffice?

 

[zardoz]

Thank You Zardoz for your reply. I have been living and working here for last 2 years and 6 months, so i pretty much have everything a person would need to live a normal life. Car payments, tax returns, t4, pay stub, utilities and grocery bills etc. I was thinking of sending my employment letter, T4 for 2016 & 2017 and pay stubs for 2018. Do you think these would suffice?

Yes, that's a good selection.