t-chan said:
Hi,
I became a PR about 10 years ago and extended it in 2012. Now my second extension time.
I understand that 5 years the CIC requires as my history for extension is past 5 years from the date you apply the extension.
(i.e. if I send in the application today, it is from Jan 24th, 2012).
I applied my first extension in March 2012 (and got it in May), so there is an overlap (i.e. Feb 2012, part of Jan and Mar 2012).
Am I just supposed to include my history during this period? For example, I just happened to be outside of Canada from late January to Mid February 2012. It would be in both my personal travel history in my first extension and second (this time)?
I would think so, but just want a definite yes from someone to be sure.
Thank you!
Follow the instructions. They are straight-forward enough in regards to this query.
Some longer observations:
I am no expert and ordinarily cannot offer a definite yes or no unless the query can be answered directly and specifically by an official source. For example, of course I can definitely say that to be eligible for a new (renewed) PR card, the PR must have been present in Canada or entitled to credit as such for at least 730 days during the five calendar years preceding the date the application is made. Which you already know and understand.
Similarly, the application form and instructions are straight-forward enough that sure, it is definite that the PR reports travel history (item 21 in current application form) for the five calendar years immediately preceding the day the application is signed/made; thus as you say, for an application signed today that would be January 24, 2012 through January 23, 2017.
Similarly for item 19, address history, and item 20, work and school history, including this information for time and employment outside Canada: application calls for this information for the time period January 24, 2012 through January 23, 2017 if the application is signed today and timely delivered to IRCC.
No interpretation of the instructions or the application form is necessary relative to this.
That said, there is something of a misconception in the premise of your query: there is NO extension, and there is NO overlap.
Once a person becomes a PR that individual will always remain a PR of Canada unless and until: death, surrender of status (renouncing PR status), an adjudicated loss of PR status, or the individual becomes a citizen of Canada. (PRs pursuant to refugee status can also lose PR status pursuant to adjudicated cessation of protected person status.) There is no extension of status. There is no time period or limitation on status.
Even if the person who becomes a PR leaves and never returns to Canada for decades, has no contact with Canada or Canadian authorities for decades,
they are still a Canadian PR unless and until one of the events which terminates status takes place. (Typical example: PR attempts to come to Canada many years after last time in Canada, is informed that he or she is still a PR, and depending on the particular situation one of the procedures for terminating PR status takes place.)
A PR card is merely a document evidencing one's PR status, and it is not necessary for a PR to have a currently valid PRC. The expiration of the PRC has
NO effect on the PR's status . . . much like a citizen not having a passport is nonetheless still a citizen, and similarly much like the expiration of a passport will not terminate or otherwise change a person's citizenship status.
The issuance of a new PRC automatically terminates the validity of any other PRC in that individual's name. So there is no overlap.
There is no extension of a PRC. They are issued for a specified period of time, for five years or a special PRC in certain cases for one year. The PRC cannot be extended, will not be extended.
Are these distinctions important?
For the vast majority of PRs there is little need
to-get-into-the-weeds, so to say, regarding these sorts of distinctions. But, this is in large part because the majority of PRs will never make a second application for a new (renewed) PRC but rather will become a Canadian citizen before nine or ten years have passed since they originally landed and became a PR. Additionally, a high percentage of the remaining PRs, those who will apply for subsequent PRCs, are well-settled in Canada but for personal reasons do not become Canadian citizens, and they just follow the instructions when applying for a new PRC (or do not bother to obtain a PRC), these distinctions having little or no relevance, no impact on their situations.
In contrast, the idea that a new PRC in effect extends PR status tends to be fairly common among PRs who have not fully settled permanently in Canada, and for PRs who have not settled permanently in Canada, understanding these distinctions can be important. At the least it is important to understand that a new PRC does not have any relevance to the PR's ongoing obligation to comply with the PR Residency Obligation . . . after a person has been a PR for five years, the five year period that counts starts over each and every day. Date PR card is issued or expires is
NOT relevant to this.
