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upsidedown33

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Jul 29, 2020
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Canadian who has been living and working in China for ten years with my Chinese wife (married for seven) with a child.



We have no plans to live in Canada except if the situation in East Asia gets dangerous. Basically my wife wants an exit strategy.


Which is the best course of action?

  1. Apply for a PR card (my understanding is that it needs to be done within Canada, so I would use my parents’ address and have them mail it to us in Beijing, which in total would take at least a year or longer, correct?)?
  2. Apply for a PR Travel Document (PRTD) with a cover letter explaining that since we live in China that she’ll need a multiple entry document (the advantage to this is it’s much faster to apply and receive, correct me if I’m wrong).
  3. Finally, if I were to apply for either (1) or (2), is the confirmation of permeant residence (COPR) required in these applications? My thinking is no, but please let me know
 
Canadian who has been living and working in China for ten years with my Chinese wife (married for seven) with a child.



We have no plans to live in Canada except if the situation in East Asia gets dangerous. Basically my wife wants an exit strategy.


Which is the best course of action?

  1. Apply for a PR card (my understanding is that it needs to be done within Canada, so I would use my parents’ address and have them mail it to us in Beijing, which in total would take at least a year or longer, correct?)?
  2. Apply for a PR Travel Document (PRTD) with a cover letter explaining that since we live in China that she’ll need a multiple entry document (the advantage to this is it’s much faster to apply and receive, correct me if I’m wrong).
  3. Finally, if I were to apply for either (1) or (2), is the confirmation of permeant residence (COPR) required in these applications? My thinking is no, but please let me know

Just to be clear, did you previously sponsor your wife for PR and is she a permanent resident?
 
Canadian who has been living and working in China for ten years with my Chinese wife (married for seven) with a child.



We have no plans to live in Canada except if the situation in East Asia gets dangerous. Basically my wife wants an exit strategy.


Which is the best course of action?

  1. Apply for a PR card (my understanding is that it needs to be done within Canada, so I would use my parents’ address and have them mail it to us in Beijing, which in total would take at least a year or longer, correct?)?
  2. Apply for a PR Travel Document (PRTD) with a cover letter explaining that since we live in China that she’ll need a multiple entry document (the advantage to this is it’s much faster to apply and receive, correct me if I’m wrong).
  3. Finally, if I were to apply for either (1) or (2), is the confirmation of permeant residence (COPR) required in these applications? My thinking is no, but please let me know
Is your wife a Permanent Resident of Canada?
 
As above, this hinges on whether or not your wife is a PR already.

PRTDs are not multi-entry documents.

A PR "accompanying" a Canadian spouse outside of Canada is a tricky situation to claim PR residency obligation for.

If your wife is not a PR already, none of your options work.
 
Just to add as nobody else has specifically mentioned that (1) will not work given as you say a PR card application can only be made in Canada and the application includes an address history section which obviously will show that your current address is in China. You should not of course mislead IRCC about your address history as that would be misrepresentation and create a few problems.

The only option is to apply for a PRTD assuming as above your wife is a PR .Note that PRTDs as I understand it have an expiry date and although can sometimes be multi entry a PRTD is in effect an interim/emergency travel document document pending getting a PR card.


Assume that as part of your exit strategy if comes to that, that your child as assume a child of a Canadian citizen already has a Canadian passport.
 
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Canadian who has been living and working in China for ten years with my Chinese wife (married for seven) with a child.



We have no plans to live in Canada except if the situation in East Asia gets dangerous. Basically my wife wants an exit strategy.


Which is the best course of action?

  1. Apply for a PR card (my understanding is that it needs to be done within Canada, so I would use my parents’ address and have them mail it to us in Beijing, which in total would take at least a year or longer, correct?)?
  2. Apply for a PR Travel Document (PRTD) with a cover letter explaining that since we live in China that she’ll need a multiple entry document (the advantage to this is it’s much faster to apply and receive, correct me if I’m wrong).
  3. Finally, if I were to apply for either (1) or (2), is the confirmation of permeant residence (COPR) required in these applications? My thinking is no, but please let me know
So did you sponsor your wife to become PR and did she land? How long have you returned to work to China after she landed in Canada and how much time have she spent in Canada. (This will help on proving that she likely didn't meet RO is accomodating you for your job in China)
When did she land? COPR is a good document to proof her PR status if she doesn't have an expired PR card.

If you have never sponsored her, none of the listed action work.

Oh... if you haven't sponsored her yet and sponsoring her isn't really an "exit strategy". You as a sponsor (Canadian Citizen living oversea), will need to proof that you will relocate to Canada. (not just as a backup one day)
 
So did you sponsor your wife to become PR and did she land? How long have you returned to work to China after she landed in Canada and how much time have she spent in Canada. (This will help on proving that she likely didn't meet RO is accomodating you for your job in China)
When did she land? COPR is a good document to proof her PR status if she doesn't have an expired PR card.

If you have never sponsored her, none of the listed action work.

Oh... if you haven't sponsored her yet and sponsoring her isn't really an "exit strategy". You as a sponsor (Canadian Citizen living oversea), will need to proof that you will relocate to Canada. (not just as a backup one day)
To me, it's not clear that meeting someone in China, sponsoring them to Canada, staying there for a while, then relocating back to Canada is the foreign spouse "accompanying" a Canadian. They'd have had to have intended to permanently relocate to Canada and then leave to go overseas... I know that IRCC has taken split opinions as to whether or not who accompanies whom is an issue, but this is right on the knife's edge.
 
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To me, it's not clear that meeting someone in China, sponsoring them to Canada, staying there for a while, then relocating back to Canada is the foreign spouse "accompanying" a Canadian. They'd have had to have intended to permanently relocate to Canada and then leave to go overseas... I know that IRCC has taken split opinions as to whether or not who accompanies whom is an issue, but this is right on the knife's edge.
I understand that. But if OP hasn't even done the above, there is no next step available for this "exist stragey".
 
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Doesn't sound like spouse has a PR or that would be her exit strategy.

In order for you to apply for PR for your wife you will habe to convince CIC that you are moving back to Canada. People were only getting PR cards for future use so now r he proof required is quite tough to provide. You can see examples of others who have been asked to provìde more proof that they are resettling in Canada in the family sponsorship section