Reestablishing as a Canadian

[rachel6992]

I know this is for all newcomers to Canada, but I had a few questions out there for the Canadian citizens in this forum...

I'm a Canadian citizen myself, but I've lived in Texas my whole life as a US Permanent Resident. For the many times I've flown into Canada, the immigration officers are always quite difficult with me (not sure why, but whatever!). If I tell them I'm moving back to Canada to live, will I have an issue? Secondly, do I apply for a SIN just like new immigrants? Do I need a SIN to get a driver's license?

I feel like an immigrant myself Any help would be great!

 

[srcc]

If you are a Canadian citizen you don't have any issues.
I'm also a Canadian, and lived in Portugal for more then 10 years, and came back to Canada (ONTARIO) this year. To get a SIN I just had to show my citizenship card, in minutes I had the SIN number.
You don't need a SIN to get a driver's license.
You can get information about the driver license here http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/driver/drvlicen.shtml

 

[Leon]

Did you ever have a SIN? If you did, it probably still works, otherwise yeah, you would go an apply for a new one just like an immigrant. Information about that here: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sc/sin/index.shtml

I don't think you need a SIN to get a drivers license but in some provinces, you have to prove your status in Canada and that you live in that province. To prove your status in Canada, often a Canadian birth certificate is enough or if you weren't born in Canada, a citizenship certificate.

I don't know why immigration gives you problems when you are entering Canada. Do you travel on a Canadian passport? What kind of things do they ask you?

One thing you might consider though is that if you move back to Canada for good, you could lose your US PR status. You might want to go for US citizenship while you can and become a dual citizen. That way you could always go back to the US if you want to.

PR's often think that PR is forever but really it's only forever as long as you stay in that country and stay clear of trouble. As soon as you leave, every country has rules on how long you can be gone before they take your PR away. The US isn't actually clear on it, basically you would think it's enough for you to go to the US every 6 months to keep it but they are actually allowed to cancel your PR as soon as they believe you have moved away from the US permanently.