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I am a PR resident of Canada and am accompanying my Canadian citizen spouse abroad. Could you please let me know how the residency obligation is considered for the 730-day rule?
Does my spouse need to work full-time for any Canadian business or be employed by the public service of Canada to be considered for the 730-day rule?
Foremost, to actually respond to your questions:
Days that a PR is outside Canada "
accompanying" their spouse who is a Canadian citizen count the same as days physically present in Canada, given the same credit toward meeting the PR's Residency Obligation.
To qualify for the RO credit allowed a PR who is accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse outside Canada, there is no requirement that either the citizen spouse or the accompanying PR work at all, let alone work full-time, for anyone, let alone for a Canadian business or a public service of Canada.
You can read what the law is for yourself; see section 28(2)(a)(ii) IRPA here:
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-2.5/page-5.html#h-274598
Also see
the appendix in the guide for making a PR card application, and look at what it says in regards to
Situation B. Accompanying a Canadian citizen outside Canada where it discusses this credit and what needs to be provided as proof to qualify for it.
Explanation:
Generally, in most cases, for as long as the couple is outside Canada ordinarily residing together ("
ordinarily residing" is IRCC's language), those days the couple is ordinarily residing together count as days the PR is accompanying their spouse (even if one of the spouses goes elsewhere for days at a time, such as to work elsewhere); the main things are:
-- there is a genuine marital relationship
-- the spouse is a Canadian citizen
-- the couple together maintain a residence, a joint residence such that it is honest to describe them as living together, or again as IRCC phrases it, that they are ordinarily residing together (IRCC will look at both partners' passports and travel history, as well as typical cohabitation factors, to corroborate this)
That's the credit, and how it works in most cases in which a PR is living outside Canada with their Canadian citizen spouse is simply those days living together count toward the RO just like a day spent in Canada would count.
Beyond that . . .
I deliberately swapped "
living" together for "
ordinarily residing" together, neither of which is precisely the same as "
accompanying" the other, the latter subject to a
morass of nuances that most PRs relying on this credit do not need to worry about.
In some cases, however, in some circumstances, there are varying, strict interpretations of what "
accompanying" means that can result in various ways this credit (considered an exception) is applied.
The question you were asked about how long you were living in Canada is probably about this, about whether there are some such circumstances in your situation, factors which might lead to one of the more strict interpretations or applications of the credit being applied in your case.
If you
and your spouse were settled and living in Canada together after you became a PR, and only made the move outside Canada after that, and made the move together (at least coordinated with one another, not necessarily together on the same conveyance), that fits the typical case in which this credit applies (an application of the more typical understanding of what "
accompanying" means), IRCC giving RO credit for all days the couple is thereafter living together outside Canada. Nothing to worry about.
If that does not describe your scenario, however, before relying on qualifying for this credit to keep your PR status you might want to explore the issue more. There are hints your situation might not fit the scenario described above (actually settled here in Canada together before
later making a move to live outside Canada together) since "
a month" together in Canada does not give a strong impression of being settled here and then moving abroad together.
About That Morass of Nuance:
Being with someone, or traveling with someone, versus "accompanying" them; accompanying someone versus living with someone; and sometimes who-accompanied-whom matters:
To be clear, in order to qualify for the accompanying-Citizen-spouse-abroad credit, there is NO rule that a PR must live together with their Canadian citizen spouse in Canada before they live abroad together.
But that circumstance is common in many of the cases in which accompanying-credit has been challenged, and in more than a few of those also denied on appeal, despite proof the couple were in a qualified marital relationship and were living together (ordinarily residing together) outside Canada. The logic is simple: if the PR and citizen-spouse were not settled and living together in Canada before living abroad, that suggests they did not accompany one another in going abroad, let alone the PR accompany the citizen-spouse in particular.
There are other circumstances which, in some cases (a lot of emphasis on this just being
some cases, and it is not a lot of cases), trigger elevated inquiry into whether the PR was actually
accompanying the citizen-spouse, in contrast, say, to just being in the same place over the same period of time.
My sense is that this forum tends to give this issue, the risk of this being an issue, more attention than it warrants. I could be among those most to blame given how much I go into depth about this subject, diving into its morass of nuances. But very few PRs living outside Canada with their Canadian citizen spouse need to worry.
Here, for example, your initial query presented NONE of the circumstances which would suggest there is a risk the accompanying-RO-credit would not be allowed, but got a question and an insult instead of answers to your queries about what the accompanying credit is and how it works.
And even though I said that living in Canada just a month "
hints" there could be an issue, if you and your spouse were actually settled here in Canada for a month before the two of you together moved abroad, there should be little or nothing to worry about in terms of qualifying for the accompanying-credit toward the RO for as long as you are living together outside Canada.
The reason I expressed some concern is that a month is a remarkably short period of time to establish a permanent residence and then move to another country, suggesting that something else might be the real situation. It is the real situation that matters.
If you are concerned and want to study the issue more, I have posted scores of references and links to sources in
the topic titled Who-accompanied-whom can matter for PRs living with citizen spouse abroad: UPDATE . . . but will caution all that attention to detail probably makes this appear to be a bigger deal than it deserves.
