Re-entering Canada

[Gingaz]

Hi!

I got a bit of a situation that I'm hoping to get a clear answer on. I'm from Sweden, I've been in Canada for the last 10 years and besides being married to my Canadian wife, I have no papers (no temporary visas or anything). I've applied for permanent residence with my wife sponsoring me twice, the first time I got denied because of some missing papers and I just submitted a 2nd application to them a few weeks back.

My question is if I leave Canada now to go visit my sister in the US, can i re enter Canada without issues? Do I need a temporary visa and/or extend my stay to be able to safely return to Canada, or will my Swedish passport be enough?
I've tried calling the Canada Immigration Center and they told me to talk to the boarder agents so I called the boarder agents and they tell me to talk to immigration Canada so it's very confusing.

I would be going to the US via airplane, if that matters.

Thanks for any insight on this, much appreciated!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi

No one here can give you a clear answer or say whether you will be allowed to re-enter Canada. That is entirely up to the CBSA border officer.

You're visa-exempt, so a TRV doesn't apply to you. If you currently have no status, then you cannot extend your status.

If the border officer realizes that you've been living illegally in Canada, they may very well deny you entry.

 

[Gingaz]

Since I don't have a status, can't I use the option "Restoration of temporary resident status as visitor" in the extend your stay application? I looked at their guide for the application but it does not explain what that restoration really does but from the sound of it, it sounds like something I should be doing.

Thanks a lot for any help so far

 

[scylla]

No - you can't. You can only apply to restore your status if you had valid status in Canada and it expired within the last 90 days. If you are outside of the 90 day period, you don't qualify to apply to restore your status.

There is nothing you can do to guarantee that you will be allowed back into Canada if you visit the US.

 

[zardoz]

If you cross the border, you lose any "protection" that your PR application may afford. They could refuse your reentry or detain and deport you. In my humble opinion, this would be an act of folly.