According to section 28 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), a permanent resident must comply with the residency obligation to keep his or her permanent resident status. If a person stays outside Canada for more than three years and is found in non compliance to section 28 of IRPA, he or she is given right of appeal for residency obligations. There are some exceptions as well.
The following is the extract of section 28 of IRPA:
- Be physically present in Canada for at least 730 days out of the five year period; or
- Have been travelling with a Canadian citizen who is their spouse, common-law partner or, in the case of a child, their parent; or
- Outside Canada, be employed on a full-time basis by a Canadian business or in the federal Public administration or the public service of a province; or
- Outside Canada, be accompanying a permanent resident who is their spouse, common- law partner, or in the case of a child, their parent and who is employed on a full-time basis by a Canadian business or in the federal public administration or the public service of a province.
- Keep evidence of your entries and exits to and from Canada, such as airline tickets and travel itinerary. Even keeping a list of your dates of travel will be helpful when applying for your PR Card renewal as you will need to demonstrate that you comply with requirements of section 28 of the IRPA (see above).
- Ensure that your PR Card renewal application is completed in full and all of the necessary supporting documentation has been submitted. If your application is incomplete, it will be returned to you. If you do not submit the appropriate supporting documentation to demonstrate that you have met your permanent residency obligations (outlined above), there could be serious repercussions;
- Apply any time before your PR Card expires. Often permanent residents think that they need to wait a month or two before the expiry date of their PR Card before they can submit their renewal application. This is not true. A permanent resident of Canada can submit their renewal application at any time, so think ahead if you’re planning on travelling in the future.
- It is important to note that you will need to be physically present in Canada when you submit your application in order to pick up your new PR Card. This means that you will be required to remain in Canada during the entire time it takes for a new PR Card to be processed.
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