PR Renewal - Working Abroad

[santaita7]

Hello all,

My PR card expires on August 31, 2021 and I have a tricky situation:

1) I have been employed by a Canadian organization and its affiliate abroad since 2017.
2) I applied for my PR on one citizenship and passport, but shortly after I also acquired another citizenship.

I have the following questions:

- How do I renew my pr card? I am employed abroad so do I need to return to canada and be there physically to do it? I can return, but I’m not sure I can stay for a long time to wait until the application is processed. I travel to Canada often for work but usually for 2 weeks at a time maximum.

- About residency obligation. What documents do I need? Do I submit them or the CIC will ask for them?

- About my second citizenship. Can I link my PR card to it? Or I need to use the same one I had?

Thank you so much for your help.

 

[scylla]

Hello all,

My PR card expires on August 31, 2021 and I have a tricky situation:

1) I have been employed by a Canadian organization and its affiliate abroad since 2017.
2) I applied for my PR on one citizenship and passport, but shortly after I also acquired another citizenship.

I have the following questions:

- How do I renew my pr card? I am employed abroad so do I need to return to canada and be there physically to do it? I can return, but I’m not sure I can stay for a long time to wait until the application is processed. I travel to Canada often for work but usually for 2 weeks at a time maximum.

- About residency obligation. What documents do I need? Do I submit them or the CIC will ask for them?

- About my second citizenship. Can I link my PR card to it? Or I need to use the same one I had?

Thank you so much for your help.

You'll need to wait until you have returned to Canada before you'll be able to submit the application to renew your PR card.

Note that working for a Canadian company abroad is only counted towards your residency requirement under very specific circumstances. You must have first been hired for a role in Canada, work in that role for a period of time and then later transferred to a temporary role with the same organization outside of Canada. If by any chance you were hired for the role outside of Canada directly, this cannot be counted towards PR.

Assuming you do meet the requirements to count your work experience outside of Canada towards the residency obligation, then yes, there is additional paperwork you will want to submit once you have returned to Canada in order to successfully renew your PR card, including demonstrating that you were hired by the company for a job in Canada first, that the role abroad is temporary, and that you will be returning to Canada once the temporary assignment has completed.

 

[santaita7]

Thank you Scylla!

I am supposed to travel for work to Canada at the beginning of next year. When you say “return” to Canada, you mean this or a permanent return to Canada?

I was hired in Canada first, although as a consultant and not a full time employee. Will that be an issue?

In order to proof that what exactly would I need? Work contracts? Payslips? How do I demonstrate that the assignment is temporary? Would a letter from my employer be sufficient?

 

[santaita7]

You'll need to wait until you have returned to Canada before you'll be able to submit the application to renew your PR card.

Note that working for a Canadian company abroad is only counted towards your residency requirement under very specific circumstances. You must have first been hired for a role in Canada, work in that role for a period of time and then later transferred to a temporary role with the same organization outside of Canada. If by any chance you were hired for the role outside of Canada directly, this cannot be counted towards PR.

Assuming you do meet the requirements to count your work experience outside of Canada towards the residency obligation, then yes, there is additional paperwork you will want to submit once you have returned to Canada in order to successfully renew your PR card, including demonstrating that you were hired by the company for a job in Canada first, that the role abroad is temporary, and that you will be returning to Canada once the temporary assignment has completed.

Thank you Scylla!

I am supposed to travel for work to Canada at the beginning of next year. When you say “return” to Canada, you mean this or a permanent return to Canada?

I was hired in Canada first, although as a consultant and not a full time employee. Will that be an issue?

In order to proof that what exactly would I need? Work contracts? Payslips? How do I demonstrate that the assignment is temporary? Would a letter from my employer be sufficient?

 

[scylla]

Thank you Scylla!

I am supposed to travel for work to Canada at the beginning of next year. When you say “return” to Canada, you mean this or a permanent return to Canada?

I was hired in Canada first, although as a consultant and not a full time employee. Will that be an issue?

In order to proof that what exactly would I need? Work contracts? Payslips? How do I demonstrate that the assignment is temporary? Would a letter from my employer be sufficient?

The following should be helpful in terms of what you will want to include with your PR card renewal application. Start reading on page 25:

https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/resources/manuals/op/op10-eng.pdf

 

[canuck78]

Thank you Scylla!

I am supposed to travel for work to Canada at the beginning of next year. When you say “return” to Canada, you mean this or a permanent return to Canada?

I was hired in Canada first, although as a consultant and not a full time employee. Will that be an issue?

In order to proof that what exactly would I need? Work contracts? Payslips? How do I demonstrate that the assignment is temporary? Would a letter from my employer be sufficient?

Do you happen to have a spouse who is Canadian and are they living with you? Based on your previous posts you only worked as a consultant for a few months for the Canadian employer so you are unlikely to be able to count your time abroad. Were you consulting or were you a full-time employee of the Canadian company while you were in Canada and how long did you work for the company while in Canada?

 

[santaita7]

Do you happen to have a spouse who is Canadian and are they living with you? Based on your previous posts you only worked as a consultant for a few months for the Canadian employer so you are unlikely to be able to count your time abroad. Were you consulting or were you a full-time employee of the Canadian company while you were in Canada and how long did you work for the company while in Canada?

I was a consultant in Canada and then I was offered a full time job but to be located abroad. Will this be an issue then?

I have no Canadian / PR spouse or partner.

Thanks!

 

[santaita7]

The following should be helpful in terms of what you will want to include with your PR card renewal application. Start reading on page 25:

https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/resources/manuals/op/op10-eng.pdf

thank you!

 

[canuck78]

I was a consultant in Canada and then I was offered a full time job but to be located abroad. Will this be an issue then?

I have no Canadian / PR spouse or partner.

Thanks!

Yes it makes a difference you don't qualify to count your time abroad towards PR.

 

[scylla]

I was a consultant in Canada and then I was offered a full time job but to be located abroad. Will this be an issue then?

I have no Canadian / PR spouse or partner.

Thanks!

It's a bit tricky to say if that will be accepted.

Read through the bullets under section 6.5 (page 16) of the document link I gave you.

You're supposed to be employed in Canada and then as part of that contract / employment relocated to a role outside of Canada. Not sure how it will be viewed if your were a consultant and then were offered a job outside of Canada. I'm not certain if that meets the requirements.

 

[santaita7]

It's a bit tricky to say if that will be accepted.

Read through the bullets under section 6.5 (page 16) of the document link I gave you.

You're supposed to be employed in Canada and then as part of that contract / employment relocated to a role outside of Canada. Not sure how it will be viewed if your were a consultant and then were offered a job outside of Canada. I'm not certain if that meets the requirements.

Thank you. I will look more thoroughly into that.

 

[santaita7]

Yes it makes a difference you don't qualify to count your time abroad towards PR.

In that case, what would be my alternative? Losing my PR regardless? Even if I were to return to Canada tomorrow, I wouldn’t meet the obligations.

 

[scylla]

In that case, what would be my alternative? Losing my PR regardless? Even if I were to return to Canada tomorrow, I wouldn’t meet the obligations.

The alternative would be to return to Canada as soon as you can and then remain here two years without leaving so that you can renew your PR card.

 

[YVR123]

It doesn't look like you plan to live in Canada as a permanent resident any time soon. I do not think there is a way to keep your PR since there is no plan to fulfill your RO after your next entry to Canada.

 

[santaita7]

It doesn't look like you plan to live in Canada as a permanent resident any time soon. I do not think there is a way to keep your PR since there is no plan to fulfill your RO after your next entry to Canada.

It's not that I'm not planning to return but I have important work I'm doing abroad at the moment, also including the government relationships and I wouldn't want to leave the projects I'm currently following before their completion. Returning to Canada would mean changing my job or at least changing the role inside the same organization but I'm not really looking forward to that at the moment.