US citizen living in UK travelling to Canada with expired multi-entry PRTD - help please!

[spottiswoode]

Would be very grateful if anyone can double-check I'm understanding things correctly. I'm a Canadian citizen who sponsored my common-law partner for PR in 2008. We later moved to the UK because I got a job there (we are now both working). We've had 2 kids since, bought a house, etc. In 2017 we got a multi-entry PRTD for her as her PR card had expired and we wanted to visit Canada (with our children, who have Candian, British and American passports). We have been trying to move back to Canada but work in an industry where opportunities are few.

The situation now is: She has a job interview in Montreal of Feb 2nd, but we just realised that the multi-entry PRTD in her American passport expired back in September. My understanding from reading the forum is that if she flies to the US then drives to a point of entry, they will be able to confirm by swiping her passport that she's a PR, but naturally want to determine whether she still meets the residency obligation. Assuming this is right, does anyone have views on how hard it would be for her to do this at the border if she is travelling alone? Some stuff she could bring:

extensive paperwork showing joint stuff with me, e.g. mortgage documents, house deeds, tenancy agreements, joint bank accounts in both the UK and Canada

UK birth certificates for our kids (5 years and 2.5 years), copies of their and mine passports

personal stuff, e.g., photos, copies of flight bookings for holidays last two Christmases, family travel to Canada in Dec 2017, family travel to the US in summer of 2018

proof of my employment in the UK (at a major UK university)

Basically trying to confirm that she'll be pulled aside at border but they'll look at all this stuff, combined with history going back to 2008, previous approval of meeting residency obligation through accompanying me, etc., and let her in. Any advice on what to do extremely welcome -- we have been trying to move to Canada for years and she has an interview at McGill, so it would be terrible to miss the opportunity.

thanks.

 

[spottiswoode]

p.s. Should add: I know we can apply for a PRTD again but timelines are very unclear and it seems impossible to get this all done within a week. She could try to delay her interview at McGill a couple of weeks but hard to push it any longer. Also, I gather that in principle she could fly directly to Montreal if airline lets her board with her US passport, but I'm not sure whether that is risky (either from point of view of airline refusing -- seems unlikely -- or airport border people being more uptight -- although I stress she meets the residency obligation, so doesn't need "leniency", she just needs someone to look at the materials and determine that yeah, nothing's changed, we're still together."

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Would be very grateful if anyone can double-check I'm understanding things correctly. I'm a Canadian citizen who sponsored my common-law partner for PR in 2008. We later moved to the UK because I got a job there (we are now both working). We've had 2 kids since, bought a house, etc. In 2017 we got a multi-entry PRTD for her as her PR card had expired and we wanted to visit Canada (with our children, who have Candian, British and American passports). We have been trying to move back to Canada but work in an industry where opportunities are few.

The situation now is: She has a job interview in Montreal of Feb 2nd, but we just realised that the multi-entry PRTD in her American passport expired back in September. My understanding from reading the forum is that if she flies to the US then drives to a point of entry, they will be able to confirm by swiping her passport that she's a PR, but naturally want to determine whether she still meets the residency obligation. Assuming this is right, does anyone have views on how hard it would be for her to do this at the border if she is travelling alone? Some stuff she could bring:

extensive paperwork showing joint stuff with me, e.g. mortgage documents, house deeds, tenancy agreements, joint bank accounts in both the UK and Canada

UK birth certificates for our kids (5 years and 2.5 years), copies of their and mine passports

personal stuff, e.g., photos, copies of flight bookings for holidays last two Christmases, family travel to Canada in Dec 2017, family travel to the US in summer of 2018

proof of my employment in the UK (at a major UK university)

Basically trying to confirm that she'll be pulled aside at border but they'll look at all this stuff, combined with history going back to 2008, previous approval of meeting residency obligation through accompanying me, etc., and let her in. Any advice on what to do extremely welcome -- we have been trying to move to Canada for years and she has an interview at McGill, so it would be terrible to miss the opportunity.

thanks.

As an American, she doesn't need a PRTD to fly to Canada. Americans can travel to Canada on the strength of just their passports.

 

[Besram]

I am unsure about what travel documents may be required for US citizens who are also PRs.

It seems your wife will not be able to prove physical presence in Canada, so will have to rely on this:
https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1466&top=10

Specifically:

You travel with a spouse or common-law partner
Your spouse or common-law partner needs to be:

• a Canadian citizen, or
• a permanent resident working outside Canada, full-time for:
  • a Canadian business, or
  • the Canadian federal, provincial or territorial government

In some of the cases that I have read, there has been some debate about who was accompanying whom. If you had to move for job reasons and she came along to join you, this would likely qualify. If, on the other hand, you joined her abroad, it gets murkier.

So I think it would be important to supply any documents that not only prove that you are living together in the UK, but also that it was your job situation that required the move.