Returning to Canada as PR after over two years

[rosas]

Hello!

I am writing to inquire about my eligibility to enter Canada with my Permanent Resident (PR) Card.

To provide some context, I became a PR of Canada in July 2021 through family sponsorship, as my wife is a Canadian citizen. However, in September 2021, I received an excellent job opportunity in my native country, and my wife and I relocated there.

As travel restrictions ease, I am eager to visit my wife's family in Canada. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, I will only be able to return to Canada more than two years after the date I left in September 2021.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could confirm whether I am eligible to enter Canada with my PR Card, despite the extended absence.

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

 

[armoured]

Hello!

I am writing to inquire about my eligibility to enter Canada with my Permanent Resident (PR) Card.

To provide some context, I became a PR of Canada in July 2021 through family sponsorship, as my wife is a Canadian citizen. However, in September 2021, I received an excellent job opportunity in my native country, and my wife and I relocated there.

As travel restrictions ease, I am eager to visit my wife's family in Canada. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, I will only be able to return to Canada more than two years after the date I left in September 2021.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could confirm whether I am eligible to enter Canada with my PR Card, despite the extended absence.

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

If you have been out of Canada less than 1095 days total since becoming a PR, you will have no trouble at port of entry. I'd suggest you at least mention that you and your wife have been residing abroad together if it should come up.

Note that since you say this is only a visit, you should get acquainted with the other aspects of the residency obligation. Likely you can continue to count your days residing with your spouse abroad towards your PR residency obligation (which is why I suggested refer to it to border officer should it come up).

Note that it is not always a straightforward proposition when it comes to renewing PR card and other aspects, but you have time to look into it and make plans accordingly. It will at minimum get more administratively complex when your PR card expires.

 

[canuck78]

If you have been out of Canada less than 1095 days total since becoming a PR, you will have no trouble at port of entry. I'd suggest you at least mention that you and your wife have been residing abroad together if it should come up.

Note that since you say this is only a visit, you should get acquainted with the other aspects of the residency obligation. Likely you can continue to count your days residing with your spouse abroad towards your PR residency obligation (which is why I suggested refer to it to border officer should it come up).

Note that it is not always a straightforward proposition when it comes to renewing PR card and other aspects, but you have time to look into it and make plans accordingly. It will at minimum get more administratively complex when your PR card expires.

That may not be the case because it doesn’t sound like the spouse ever lived in Canada as a PR and left soon after getting their virtual landing. To safely be able count the days accompanying a spouse abroad you generally have to have lived in Canada as a PR first.

 

[canuck78]

Hello!

I am writing to inquire about my eligibility to enter Canada with my Permanent Resident (PR) Card.

To provide some context, I became a PR of Canada in July 2021 through family sponsorship, as my wife is a Canadian citizen. However, in September 2021, I received an excellent job opportunity in my native country, and my wife and I relocated there.

As travel restrictions ease, I am eager to visit my wife's family in Canada. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, I will only be able to return to Canada more than two years after the date I left in September 2021.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could confirm whether I am eligible to enter Canada with my PR Card, despite the extended absence.

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

How much time did you spend living in Canada after receiving your virtual landing? Where is your spouse living and working?

 

[rosas]

My wife is a Canadian citizen (no other citizenship). We met outside of Canada, got married in 2019 and moved to Canada in April 2020. In July 2021 I was granted PR status. It says 16th of July 2021 on the card. We left Canada together on 7th of September 2021, my wife has been back twice for around a month to visit her family. Her work is remote.

Many thanks!

 

[canuck78]

My wife is a Canadian citizen (no other citizenship). We met outside of Canada, got married in 2019 and moved to Canada in April 2020. In July 2021 I was granted PR status. It says 16th of July 2021 on the card. We left Canada together on 7th of September 2021, my wife has been back twice for around a month to visit her family. Her work is remote.

Many thanks!

That is not a lot of time establishing yourself in Canada as a PR it’s unclear whether you’d be able to count accompanying your Canadian spouse abroad towards your RO. There is a lot of posts about the issue of accompanying a spouse abroad and counting time with your spouse abroad towards RO but in general it is really meant for those who had established a life as a PR in Canada and then left Canada to work abroad. Doesn’t sound like you ever worked in Canada, qualified for healthcare (you wouldn’t have met the residency requirement to qualify for public healthcare), were ever a tax resident, etc.

 

[armoured]

My wife is a Canadian citizen (no other citizenship). We met outside of Canada, got married in 2019 and moved to Canada in April 2020. In July 2021 I was granted PR status. It says 16th of July 2021 on the card. We left Canada together on 7th of September 2021, my wife has been back twice for around a month to visit her family. Her work is remote.

I don't fully agree with canuck78 on the degree of uncertainty here, but I'm sure we'd agree it's overstating to claim there is sufficient information (from IRCC!) to understand how they decide such cases. That said, neither me calling it more or less likely nor they listing the reasons they think it should not be approved tells you much - no-one knows for certain.

That's why I put the emphasis on what's at hand:
-you won't have a problem entering if you have been out of Canada less than 1095 days since start of your PR-ship.
-you probably won't have any problem if you have a valid card at any point during its original validity period.
-you should at least mention/claim that you are residing with your Canadian citizen-spouse abroad.
-you have time to look into this more - because the specifics of how IRCC interprets their own (vague) language about time accompanying a citizen-spouse abroad counting for PR status are not at all obvious (and can change over time).
-even in a worst-case scenario, where after a long period and much back and forth etc (i.e. years in the future) if you were to lose your PR status, your spouse could sponsor you again.

-That said, learn about the residency obligation and rules and pay some attention. There are some points at which having issues with your PR status could become very inconvenient, and other factors (such as whether your current passport allows you to travel through USA with/without a visa) can also make a big difference.

 

[bricksonly]

If wife works and gets paid reasonably, no problem. Never says a PR has to be a real PR to count days living with citizen wife overseas.
Just my point, no expert

 

[rosas]

As I said, we moved to Canada in April 2020. We started the PR application more or less right away, because of the pandemic (some of the absolute heights of it were during this time) - there was many delays. I have not left Canada from April 2020 to September 2021. My wife's family had a lot of experience in sponsoring family members and taking them to Canada, so with their help I was actually also able to set up provincial healthcare before leaving in 2021 (I also have a card that is still valid) and recently even got a tax return from the Canadian government for the tax year 2021. I also still have a valid province ID and my PR Card is valid until 2026. I know that it will be at the very least a hassle and some bureaucracy to get another one after that. That being said - is the consensus here that I should probably not run into problems if I want to come say in October 2023 to Canada for two weeks? The alternative seems to be to renounce my PR status and apply for an ETA, but that seems so wrong since it took so long to get the PR.

 

[armoured]

That being said - is the consensus here that I should probably not run into problems if I want to come say in October 2023 to Canada for two weeks? The alternative seems to be to renounce my PR status and apply for an ETA, but that seems so wrong since it took so long to get the PR.

I repeat what I said in the first post: you have no reasons, whatsoever, to be concerned about returning for a visit in October 2023 if you became a PR in June 2021. You have no reason, whatsoever, to be concerned until you have been out of Canada for more than 1095 days since you became a PR. (Or for someone who became a PR more than five years ago, 1095 days + in most recent five year period).

All this other discussion is about what may be concerns in the future. The only specific part that is relevant to what happens when you arrive in october is - IF you get asked about what you're doing abroad now/why - that you mention you reside with your citizen-spouse abroad. My reasoning is that IF it gets noted in your file, will all line up in future and won't hurt/might help your case when the time comes.

Repeat: no problems now. Keep your eye on the ball for later, get informed, make some preps for how you want to approach (eg if you will stay longer together abroad), make some life decisions, etc.

 

[rosas]

Ok thank you so much!

 

[canuck78]

As I said, we moved to Canada in April 2020. We started the PR application more or less right away, because of the pandemic (some of the absolute heights of it were during this time) - there was many delays. I have not left Canada from April 2020 to September 2021. My wife's family had a lot of experience in sponsoring family members and taking them to Canada, so with their help I was actually also able to set up provincial healthcare before leaving in 2021 (I also have a card that is still valid) and recently even got a tax return from the Canadian government for the tax year 2021. I also still have a valid province ID and my PR Card is valid until 2026. I know that it will be at the very least a hassle and some bureaucracy to get another one after that. That being said - is the consensus here that I should probably not run into problems if I want to come say in October 2023 to Canada for two weeks? The alternative seems to be to renounce my PR status and apply for an ETA, but that seems so wrong since it took so long to get the PR.

Were you a visitor or did you have a work permit and we’re you working in Canada before getting a PR? If you applied for a healthcare after receiving PR in Canada you weren’t actually entitled to healthcare and if you knew you’d be relocating shouldn’t have applied for a health card. There are residency requirements to receive healthcare in a province. To qualify for healthcare you must have a valid health card and meet the residency obligation. You have a valid health card but because you haven’t met the residency obligation you must reapply for a new health card and start any waiting period agsin upon your return. There is a good chance your wife is no longer entitled to receive healthcare or will be when you return permanently to Canada. If you use healthcare without meeting the residency obligation you can be asked to repay any services you use which is why reapplying is extremely important. Assume your spouse contacted CRA when you got married or became common law and also contacted them when you both left Canada permanently. That is required so you don’t receive any benefits you aren’t entitled and then have yo repay with a penalty. It is also important to avoid things like identity theft. It would also be a good idea to verify your tax residency status (especially her tax residency status) since it isn’t only dependent on days in Canada. CRA is the only agency that can determine your residency statuses and has a system to do so. You also are required to inform your provincial health authority when you leave Canada for an extended period of time partially to prevent fraudulent billing. If you weren’t working and didn’t have an OWP before you were a PR you were unlikely a tax resident since you only spent 2-3 months in Canada other than as a visitor. The rest of the time you would have been a foreign national visiting Canada.

There won’t be any problems returning to Canada especially if you are in a position to still meet your RO. You can still enter Canada with a valid PR card as long as you still have PR status. You can enter a land border while you are still a PR even if you don’t have a valid PR Card. You can usually count the days accompanying your Canadian spouse outside Canada towards your RO. The original intention was for a Canadian spouse not to have to miss out on career opportunities abroad because the sponsored spouse needed to remain in Canada to meet their RO. Technically the wording refers to accompanying the Canadoan spouse but the interpreting of accompanying has been challenged. There are in depth analysis on the topic of counting RO and who accompanied whom that you can look up On the forum. The fact that you had never settled in Canada as a PR (and based on your post were only visiting before getting PR) before leaving Canada could create issues counting dates abroad with your Canadian spouse towards your RO. If a sponsored spouse lands in Canada and returns to their job and life abroad and their Canadian spouse joins them that is often seen as a bigger issue. It Is certainly worth a try if you want to renew your PR card and have not returned to Canada for 730 days in the first 5 years after receiving RO. There is quite a lot of inconsistency when it comes to this rule and someone will hopefully one day clarify the issue once and for all.


Edit: looked back at your previous posts and you knew you were planning on leaving Canada in July 2021 when you received virtual landing so you were never entitled to apply for a health card. If applying knowing you will not be meeting the residency requirement to qualify for healthcare in that province it is actually healthcare fraud. You will need to reapply for your health card if you return to Canada and you shouldn’t use the health are you have or risk being ask to pay back any healthcare you use. It looks like your wife also has no longer meets the residency requirements to qualify for healthcare and will also need to reapply for healthcare if she returns permanently to Canada.