Hi All - I will be Canadian citizen soon and my husband holds PR landed in Mar 2016 who is on H1 B so never stayed in Canada expect the visitor visits which could be close 3 months. So, definitely he has not yet met PR obligation of 730 days which needs to be fulfilled till July 2021.
1. Since, his day counts will start soon as he will be accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse along him (soon from day I take oath?). In such situation does, his PR card will be renewed even he is short of 730 days?
2. We have to complete that 730 days to request his PR card renewal ?
3. Would he be able to maintain his PR status as long he is accompanying a Canadian spouse irrespective of meeting residency obligation?
Thanks,
Rajdeep
The situation is likely more complicated than you appear to understand, and in regards to some aspects there is a clear misunderstanding.
The latter first: misunderstanding the PR Residency Obligation during the first five years:
If he landed in Mar 2016, his first five year Residency Obligation period is Mar 2016 to Mar 2021,
NOT to July 2021. That is, he only has until Mar 2021 to meet the requirement that he is present in Canada for at least 730 days during his first five years. Reminder: the first five years runs from date of landing to the fifth year anniversary of that day . . . . you appear to be looking at the expiration date of his PR card, which is NOT what matters, not what counts.
To put this in perspective, unless he has been IN Canada at least 315 days since his landing, he is already in BREACH of the PR Residency Obligation. This is because there are not enough days left between now and March 31, 2021 for him to get to 730 by then unless he has already been IN Canada at least 315 days. Another way to do the calculation, which I find to be easier, is to count how many days he has been absent from Canada: if he has been outside Canada more than 1096 days since the day he landed, he is already in breach of the RO.
You suggest he has been in Canada a total of maybe 90 days (three months) or so. If this is all he has been in Canada, he is already well in breach of the RO and he is at risk of being issued a Departure Order for inadmissibility any time he is examined at a Port-of-Entry.
RENEWING the PR CARD:
"2. We have to complete that 730 days to request his PR card renewal ?"
To be eligible for a new PR card, the PR must be in compliance with the PR RO. There does not appear to be any scenario in which he will meet this eligibility requirement before the end of 2021 at the soonest, since he has already been outside Canada more than 1096 days (more than 1300 days it appears) in the last four years and the date of landing.
Note, the way the PR Residency Obligation (RO) works it can never be "completed" as such. Some look at the first five year obligation as if the new PR can, in a way, "complete" the RO, but that is not how it really works. At this stage, since he is already in breach of the RO and it will be late in 2021, at the very soonest, before he could possibly be in compliance with the RO, there is no point in further explaining the first five year calculation.
For him, he will need to have at least 730 days credit toward the RO based on the five year time period before the date of the PR card application. Or any other time he might be examined (such as at a PoE when returning to Canada).
Thus, for him, what will matter is getting enough credit to add up to 730 days WITHIN the PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS and do this BEFORE making an application for a new PR card. Which, again, is not even possible until near the end of 2021 at the soonest.
CREDIT FOR TIME ABROAD LIVING WITH CANADIAN CITIZEN SPOUSE:
This is where it gets more complicated. As others have already suggested, it is NOT for-sure that he will even be given credit toward the PR Residency Obligation for time you are living together abroad AFTER you become a Canadian citizen.
Obviously, he will NOT be given credit toward complying with the PR RO for time living with you abroad BEFORE you become a Canadian citizen. After all, during that period of time there is no way he could be "
accompanying a Canadian citizen who is [his] spouse," since his spouse was not a Canadian citizen during that time.
BUT even AFTER you become a Canadian citizen, the situation does NOT meet the qualifying criteria for the
accompanying-a-Canadian-citizen-spouse credit according to what representatives of the Minister have been arguing before the Immigration Appeal Division in numerous cases. Nor does it under any of the last three published IAD decisions regarding this issue.
Who-accompanied-whom is not even an issue if neither of you accompanied the other. Which it appears is your situation.
I recently posted links to two cases in which IAD panels ruled that
who-accompanied-whom does not matter (note: the Minister argued in both those cases that it does matter) :
In'Airat v Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), 2019 CanLII 124093 (CA IRB),
http://canlii.ca/t/j4cls
Jiang v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2019 CanLII 128447 (CA IRB),
http://canlii.ca/t/j4wmz
BUT both of those IAD panels REJECTED the view that just living together will qualify for the
accompanying-a-Canadian-citizen-spouse credit. Both those IAD panels ruled that the couple needs to have moved abroad either together or about the same time. (You appear to assert you have been living together these last four years . . . that seems likely to be a hard sell if you were in Canada for more than three of those years while he was only in Canada three months).
In the meantime, in that post I also referenced and linked a decision in which the IAD panel did rule that
who-accompanied-whom does matter and the that credit is only available where the Canadian citizen "is the primary person or the cause for being outside Canada." See Gehrke v Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), 2019 CanLII 124068 (CA IRB),
http://canlii.ca/t/j4cms
For that post and discussion, see the topic linked by
@Besram and go to the last page . . . which should link here:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/who-accompanied-whom-can-matter-for-prs-living-with-citizen-spouse-abroad-update.579860/page-5
HOW IT WILL ACTUALLY GO I CANNOT FORECAST:
There is clearly wide variability in how things actually go for different individuals in different factual situations. Will he be issued a 44(1) Report and Departure Order the next time he arrives at a PoE coming to Canada? Or the time after that? Very, very difficult to forecast.
BUT he is for sure AT RISK. He is clearly NOW in breach of the RO. And even if you live together and he gets credit for days after you become a citizen, it will take at least twenty-one more months, plus some, for him to get back into compliance.
BUT it is far from certain that he will be allowed credit toward the RO for time you live with him abroad after you become a citizen.
