Whom and how to contact regarding PR obligation
- Thread starter kn2172
- Start date
There is no point in contacting IRCC about the fact that you don't meet the RO. They can't do anything for you.
There are no mechanisms by which you can either obtain pre-clearance or to negotiate your Residency Obligation shortfall.
Your RO assessment will be done, or not, at the Port of Entry by CBSA. It is them that will decide to issue a report, or not, for inadmissibility due to not meeting the RO requirements. IRCC’s not involved at that time.
For a formal PR Residency Obligation assessment, apply for entry into Canada with CBSA at any Canadian PoE. Contact must be in person.
Any direct flight to Canada will take you to a PoE where you make the application to enter Canada with the appropriate CBSA officials. Or, if you travel via the U.S., there are many border crossing locations where you can similarly approach the PoE and make your application to enter Canada with the appropriate CBSA official.
There are other alternatives: apply for a PR Travel Document (apply at the Visa Office for your current location) or apply for a new PR card (technically you should be IN Canada to do this), but neither of these is appropriate for you at this juncture. Instructions, including contact information, for either type of application are easily accessed at the IRCC website.
LONGER EXPLANATION:
As others have responded, in multiple topics, there is no procedure for obtaining, in advance, any kind of advisory opinion regarding compliance with the Residency Obligation.
Similarly, there is no avenue for obtaining any sort of formal let alone binding decision OTHER than engaging in a transaction which involves a Residency Obligation determination.
Transactions which COULD result in a formal decision as to you whether you will be allowed to keep PR status despite the breach of the Residency Obligation include:
-- arriving at a PoE seeking to enter Canada
-- applying for a PR Travel Document at a Visa Office outside Canada
-- applying for a new PR card
-- applying for a PR Travel Document at a Visa Office outside Canada
-- applying for a new PR card
Of course, if you have a valid PR card there is no point in applying for a PR TD and indeed it would be inappropriate to do so.
To apply for a new PR card you need to be in Canada, and if you are able to come to Canada without being reported at the PoE, BETTER to stay and wait until you are in compliance with the RO rather than forcing IRCC to decide whether to terminate your status.
Which leads to what everyone has repeatedly noted: basically a PR abroad and in breach of the RO can decide to either NOT pursue keeping PR status OR travel to Canada to stay, and do so prepared to explain why the failure to comply with the RO (even if that explanation is little more than you ran into problems delaying your plans to come to Canada to stay), and then . . .
-- if allowed into Canada without being reported (without being issued a Departure Order), STAY long enough to cure the breach; or
-- if Reported and issued a Departure Order, appeal and stay pending the appeal, hoping to win the appeal and being allowed to keep PR status
-- if Reported and issued a Departure Order, appeal and stay pending the appeal, hoping to win the appeal and being allowed to keep PR status
There is NO point in doing this UNTIL you are prepared to come to stay.
AND for sure, NO ONE here can tell you what the outcome will be.
As some have suggested, the SOONER you arrive in Canada the better your odds, and the odds appear to still be fairly good for a new PR who is still almost two years short of the fifth year anniversary of the date of landing . . . that is, for a new PR who has not breached the RO by more than two or three months.
To find out how it will actually go, you just need to go to a Canadian PoE in person and apply for entry into Canada (which every traveler coming to Canada must do in order to legally enter Canada; application for entry made by simply showing up at the PoE).