Translation of passport stamps for PR card pick-up

[MrDry]

Hi all,

I have received a letter from the local office to pick up my PR card. It also says that I must bring additional documents including translation of all my entry/exit passport stamps (if not in English or French).

The thing is that all the stamps relevant to my presence in Canada are in English. Well, there are no exit stamps, but all my travels from Canada started through US, at the border in a Canadian airport, so all exits can be seen effectively via US entry stamps.

I wonder how important would be in my case to go to a translator. Can I just safely ignore the requirement? Would appreciate any feedback.

 

[outflare]

Hi all,

I have received a letter from the local office to pick up my PR card. It also says that I must bring additional documents including translation of all my entry/exit passport stamps (if not in English or French).

The thing is that all the stamps relevant to my presence in Canada are in English. Well, there are no exit stamps, but all my travels from Canada started through US, at the border in a Canadian airport, so all exits can be seen effectively via US entry stamps.

I wonder how important would be in my case to go to a translator. Can I just safely ignore the requirement? Would appreciate any feedback.

if there are any stamps in your passport which are not in english, get them translates . it doesnt cost much .
plus can you share your timeline

 

[MrDry]

Thanks for reply, outflare. Here is the timeline:

April 8, 2014 - landed; did not provide any address because did not plan to live immediately; so my PR card was not issued
April 3, 2017 - applied for the first PR card (sent by express)
May 29 - reapplied with additional explanation and 'emergency' label since the application was frozen according to call centre;
June 5 - email from CIC that the application was received on April 5, 2017
June 20 - local office received the card - that what a call centre agent said (I did not have online access)
August 1 - local office sent a letter of appointment
August 8 - I received that letter
August 22 - the date of appointment

So, as you see, it took more than 4 months in total. My mistake was not to provide explanation in the first application, which have cost me 2 months I guess. It is probably very unusual for CIC to process first PR card after 3 years from landing.

 

[Buletruck]

As noted above, you will need to have all the stamps translated to English or French. Based on your timeline, it looks like they are attempting to confirm if you met the RO for your PR. By the time you submitted your application you had missed the required 2 years in 5, but reveiwing your other posts, they are now trying to determine if the travel to Canada on the PRTD adds to the time in Canada to meet RO.

 

[MrDry]

To fulfill the RO, I have to stay in Canada at least 2 years out of 5, and I was away less than 3, so there is no breach.

By the way, I became PR on April 8, 2014 and my last stamp in passport is April 1, 2017 (entry to Canada). Only these data is sufficient to not worry about any travel between the dates, since the difference is less then 3 years. So, translation of stamps just does not make sense (but it seems it is still better do it, just to adhere general rules).