Berty3000 said:
Hi all,
I am planning to land in Canada but only have a week to spare and then have other commitments abroad. So I will return to Canada later. However, I do not know anybody in Canada who could receive and post out my pr card. Any suggestions? How about:
- don't give an address. Return within 180 days of landing via a land border, and then provide an address once back in Canada? Would I make it through the border ok with my passport but no pr card?
- or, apply for a travel document to fly in from my home country. Only problem there is that they might refuse it for some reason. Not sure why they would, but they have the power to. Also, the application looks like a pain in the neck.
- or would they give me a temporary travel permit if I request one on landing to enable me to return later? Counterfoil
Also, is it actually allowed to leave without the pr card and return later? Is it something cic care about particularly?
Many thanks
This is common. Relatively limited period of time within which the PR visa
must be used often means the new PR needs to make the trip to do landing, formally become a Canadian Permanent Resident (this is immigration status; actual residency is not established by just becoming a PR), and returning to country of origin or residence for whatever period of time is required to make the actual permanent move to settle in Canada.
Regarding using someone else's address in Canada, that needs to be someone who can truly be trusted. Problems arising from lost or stolen PR cards are a bigger hassle than the procedure for obtaining the new PR card (PRC) later.
"- don't give an address. Return within 180 days of landing via a land border, and then provide an address once back in Canada? Would I make it through the border ok with my passport but no pr card?"
This approach is relatively problem free if you have status to travel via the U.S., and the travel route is convenient for you.
Be sure to keep (forever, even if you become a citizen down the road) your copy of the
CoPR. It is not absolutely necessary to show this at the border, in the absence of a PR card, but it confirms your PR status and thus it could avoid a longer border crossing (while CBSA confirms your identity and PR status).
"- or, apply for a travel document to fly in from my home country. Only problem there is that they might refuse it for some reason. Not sure why they would, but they have the power to. Also, the application looks like a pain in the neck."
There should be no problem with obtaining a PR Travel Document. Again, you would need a copy of your
CoPR. Any application for a PR TD less than three years after the date of landing should be routinely granted since the new PR cannot possibly be in breach of the PR Residency Obligation until the third year anniversary of landing. The visa office has
no discretion to deny this application unless there is doubt about your identity (technically identity or status, but these are connected, if there is no reason to doubt your identity that would suffice to establish status).
The application is a bureaucratic hassle but not much of one
in most locations in the world, but of course there are some parts of the world where there a greater risk of problems. Access to visa office/embassy is a factor. Security of mail system is a factor. Certain parts of the world are unstable or subject to instability, with obvious risks. And so on.
If in Japan or Singapore or Western Europe or the UK or Australia, or similar, obtaining a PR TD should be routine.
"- or would they give me a temporary travel permit if I request one on landing to enable me to return later? Counterfoil "
No.
"Also, is it actually allowed to leave without the pr card and return later? Is it something cic care about particularly? "
Yes, it is allowed. In fact there are no restrictions on
entering Canada for PRs (who are entitled to enter Canada) beyond proof of identity and status, and again proof of identity usually suffices to establish status. It is best to have and present CoPR, without which and depending on one's name and other vital statistic data (as in how readily CBSA can establish identity and link to IRCC client status), verifying identity as a client of IRCC with PR status can take some time in a Secondary examination at the PoE, and be a little stressful for someone prone to anxiety in such situations.
Again, this is fairly common. While technically the new PR has up to three years to return to Canada and settle, it is foolish to cut it anywhere near that close . . . the longer it takes for the new PR to come to Canada and settle, the less flexibility the PR has to travel abroad in the event
stuff happens (including family emergencies in country of origin for example), and make no mistake
stuff happens.
However, either PRC or PR TD is needed to board a flight to Canada:
It appears you understand this part. Once a PR reaches a PoE, however, the PR is entitled to enter Canada. This is true even if the PR is inadmissible -- though the PR may be issued a Report at the PoE and if inadmissibility is based on a breach of the PR RO that will likely be accompanied by a Removal Order, which is not enforceable for thirty days or while an appeal is pending, so the PR still gets to enter Canada. (Again, a new PR within the first three years since landing cannot be in breach of the PR RO.)
Thus, as it appears you recognize, for a PR who does not have a valid PRC but can travel via the U.S., no PR TD is necessary.
