sflynn905 said:
I am a US Citizen living with my Canadian husband in Canada for the past 2 yrs. I applied for PR 1.5 year ago, application is approved just got scheduled for an interview for next week. Problem is that we recently made plans to move back to the US, which will happen at the end of July. Should I cancel the appt. and withdraw my application? We really don't have any intention of moving back to Canada, but will be visiting family often. I don't see the point in pretending that we will be living here or paying the $500. I am just a little concnerned that if I w/draw my application, I will not have permission to stay here another 4-5 wks. until we move. I work in the US and cross the border almost every day and I'm worried one day they won't let me back in. Would love anybody's advice, thank you!
Hi Sflynn,
I'm not an expert, but I have a few thoughts on your situation. I take it you're applying in the in-Canada spouse class.
Although I'm not absolutely certain of this, my impression is that the only legal requirement is that you should be living in Canada with your husband at the time of your landing interview, not that you should intend to stay a lot longer. If that's correct then you can be open about your intentions and it won't affect your application.
The other thing you should know is that, although permanent residents are required to spend
three two years in every five year period living in Canada, time spent accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse abroad counts as time in Canada. So if you ever wish to return to Canada in future, you'll be able to do it without the hassle of going through another application. Every now and then you'd have to renew your permanent resident card, which at worst might involve documenting that you'd been living together, but that would be the only difficulty.
If you and your husband lived in the U.S. at the time of another permanent residence application, you'd have to prove that you both intended to live together in Canada, and that it wasn't just being done for you.
If you don't want to do go through with your permanent residence, I don't think there's any way you can have an ironclad guarantee that you'll always be let back into Canada. Only citizens and permanent residents have that privilege.
However, I think it's very unlikely that they wouldn't let you back in. That's because all they really want to know is that you won't work or study illegally in Canada, and that you won't stay more than six months before you leave, that is, before your next commute. But since you work in the U.S., this will all be patently obvious, so long as you have proof of your work there. And the worst case, even in this very unlikely scenario, is that you'll have to spend four or five weeks living on the U.S. side.
If you think you might want to go through with your permanent residence interview, please double check with an expert whether you're required to have the intention of remaining in Canada.
