Spouse was permanent resident but unsure now

[Ironmaiden]

Hello

My spouse lived in Canada most of her life, moved north from US as a young child with US passport. Has SIN, Canadian driver licence and all her family are all now Canadian Citizens . We met in Canada , We then married in UK ,lived in various places in the world are looking to return to Canada . She never had a PR card and left Canada before the PR card was introduced in 2002 .
Could she apply for her PR card or would she need to reside in Canada for two years again before applying ?
What would her status be ?

Some help would be great .

Thank you.

 

[Leon]

Unless you are a Canadian citizen yourself, her PR status would be out the window by now for lack of residing in Canada. Her PR would be protected if she were living with a Canadian spouse overseas.

However, even if that is not the case, immigration does not track the whereabouts of every PR so it is unlikely that they have officially revoked her PR. Therefore, it may be possible for her if she is visa exempt to enter Canada without attracting attention and stay for 2 years in order to put her PR status back in good standing.

The rules before PR card were that you had to stay in Canada 6/12 months to keep your PR status alive and after PR card until present, it's 2/5 years. There is a loophole in the regulations for a person who was a PR but hasn't met the residency requirements but has somehow managed to get back to Canada without being reported and therefore never lost their PR officially.

If such a person manages to stay in Canada for 2 years, their PR status will be back in good standing and they can apply for a PR card. This is because immigration is not allowed to go back in time further than 5 years. If she didn't get caught by them at a time she didn't meet the residency requirements, they can only look at the past 5 years by the time she applies for a PR card, by then having stayed in Canada for 2/5 years.

If she manages to enter Canada, she is still a PR. If she has her old landing papers, she can prove it too. Her SIN will have been deactivated after such a long time. She must go to Service Canada and get it re-activated. Not having a PR card could give her problems when applying for health care, a new drivers license etc. During the 2 years after arriving in Canada, she should not risk leaving and she should not apply for anything from immigration. Just lay low and wait for the 2 years to pass. After that, her status would be in good standing.

If you are not a Canadian yourself, that would however be a problem for you because she would not be able to sponsor you during that two year period. You could visit if you are visa exempt or try to qualify for your own work permit which is not easy.


If she gets reported on entry, that is when the immigration officer realizes that she is a PR who doesn't meet the residency requirements and writes up a report in order to revoke her PR, she can appeal and she can stay in Canada during the appeal processing but she has a very low chance of winning the appeal if her living outside Canada was by her own choice.

 

[Alurra71]

If she was moved there as a young child and her entire family became citizens, wouldn't it behoove her to find out if she was also extended this citizenship by virtue of being a child in the household where the parents were given citizenship?

 

[desi_jatt]

If she was moved there as a young child and her entire family became citizens, wouldn't it behoove her to find out if she was also extended this citizenship by virtue of being a child in the household where the parents were given citizenship?

Today, If you want your children to become citizens, you can include them in the citizenship application and pay applicable fees. Its not granted automatically to children in household.

Not sure what the rules were, when her parents applied .

 

[Leon]

They don't say when her family became citizens. Her parents may not have applied for citizenship until she was already an adult. If she thinks she might be a citizen and her parents applied when she was under 18, she should ask them.

Many PR's never apply for citizenship for various reasons and particularly those who gained their PR as children may take it a bit for granted but PR is only permanent as long as you meet the residency obligation and stay out of trouble with the law.