PR card Renewal

[ura2021]

Hello,
Let me give a bit of background:
Sept 2021 - Offered PR
April 2022- Officially landed, but I only stayed for 2 days and then left Canada
Sept 2022 - Received PR card (used a friend's address in Canada and then she mailed it to me) which was set to expire in Sept 2027
Sept 2024 - Lost PR card and then applied for PRTD which i got.
Feb 2025 - Came back to Canada and applied for replacement PR card which I never received
July 2025 - Submitted Solemn declaration form saying I never received it
August 2025 - Received replacement PR card.

Since I just started to fulfill my Residency obligation from Feb 2025 I was planning to not leave the country until March 2027 that way I'll have completed a little over 2yrs with some time to spare since the first one issued would have expired in Sept 2027.

However, the new one i just received is set to expire Aug 2030. Does this mean I'll have more time to fulfill my residency obligation? Does this mean i can travel outside Canada as long as I meet the 2yr residency obligation before August 2030? OR does my 5 year end April 2027 since my official landing was in April 2022?

 

[steaky]

Hello,
Let me give a bit of background:
Sept 2021 - Offered PR
April 2022- Officially landed, but I only stayed for 2 days and then left Canada
Sept 2022 - Received PR card (used a friend's address in Canada and then she mailed it to me) which was set to expire in Sept 2027
Sept 2024 - Lost PR card and then applied for PRTD which i got.
Feb 2025 - Came back to Canada and applied for replacement PR card which I never received
July 2025 - Submitted Solemn declaration form saying I never received it
August 2025 - Received replacement PR card.

Since I just started to fulfill my Residency obligation from Feb 2025 I was planning to not leave the country until March 2027 that way I'll have completed a little over 2yrs with some time to spare since the first one issued would have expired in Sept 2027.

However, the new one i just received is set to expire Aug 2030. Does this mean I'll have more time to fulfill my residency obligation? Does this mean i can travel outside Canada as long as I meet the 2yr residency obligation before August 2030? OR does my 5 year end April 2027 since my official landing was in April 2022?

April 2027

 

[armoured]

However, the new one i just received is set to expire Aug 2030. Does this mean I'll have more time to fulfill my residency obligation? Does this mean i can travel outside Canada as long as I meet the 2yr residency obligation before August 2030? OR does my 5 year end April 2027 since my official landing was in April 2022?

The card is not your status, and the card does not attest to you being in compliance with the residency obligation.

The obligation does not 'end' or begin in five year chunks.

In my view the best way to udnerstand and look at it is this: at any date, looking back five years, if you have been OUTSIDE Canada MORE THAN 1095 days, you are out of compliance - BUT you don't count days outside Canada before you became a PR.

This is the only sense in which there is any five year period, and only an 'initial' five year period - because for the first five years of your PR status, they don't count the days before you became a PR.* (After the first five years, there are no longer any days before you became a PR that are considered at all)

Keep in mind, you can always travel outside Canada, but you will be 'examined' at the port of entry on returning to Canada, at which point they may consider/discover you are not in compliance with the residency obligation, and then there are potential consequences.

*Yes, this is formulated in law and regs and stated somewhat differently: it's framed as days INSIDE Canada, and then in order to discard days outside Canada before you became a PR, they 'add back' days remaining. But the substance is identical to what I wrote above, it's just an arithmetic restatement.

E.g.: Five years * 365 days/year - 730 days INSIDE Canada = 1095
is the same as
Five years * 365 days/year - 1095 days OUTSIDE Canada = 730

 

[Amarjrrt]

I’m planning to travel outside Canada with my family. We have applied to renew our PR cards, but we have not received them yet. Our current PR cards are still valid. If IRCC issues new PR cards while we are outside Canada, can we return to Canada using our old valid PR cards?
We are returning in mid March and our card is valid until 2nd April

 

[canuck78]

I’m planning to travel outside Canada with my family. We have applied to renew our PR cards, but we have not received them yet. Our current PR cards are still valid. If IRCC issues new PR cards while we are outside Canada, can we return to Canada using our old valid PR cards?
We are returning in mid March and our card is valid until 2nd April

The old ones should be cancelled but whether they do and how the airlines check status may make it possible although risky. Hope you get your PR cards in time, have someone courier the cards to you while aboard or apply for a PRTD if you haven’t received your PR cards in time.

 

[armoured]

I’m planning to travel outside Canada with my family. We have applied to renew our PR cards, but we have not received them yet. Our current PR cards are still valid. If IRCC issues new PR cards while we are outside Canada, can we return to Canada using our old valid PR cards?
We are returning in mid March and our card is valid until 2nd April

The new cards are issued with the validity of the 'old card' being cancelled some weeks (I think it's 60 days but it could be 30, don't recall) after the issuance.

So in most cases you should be fine (at least if I'm right that it's 60 days), because there's about 45 days remaining until then.

I'd still recommend you have someone checking your mail in Canada while you're away and you can decide how to proceed.

It should be possible to find in the IRCC regs the # of days old cards are still valid for - I've seen it but don't have it to hand right now.