Applicant

Hi,

Wandering if any questions are asked when PR's return back to Canada at airport.

No, I haven't violated anything or over timeline allowed to maintain my PR status. Just want to be better prepared that's all.

Thanks.

wizzard

I've left and returned a couple of times from the UK and US and they don't really ask much. You show your passport and PR card and they have a look at it and ask you where you have been and why and the usual kind of entering a country questions. Nothing major.

dbd33

I was much amused by a friend's account of his return last week. One can get the impression here that it's a miserable experience to go through immigration but it's not always so. The friend had just two weeks left on a two year working visa. The immigration officer pointed this out and the friend muttered about needing to go and get it extended. "Oh, we can do that right here." said the helpful officer. The officer couldn't find his exact job on the list of acceptable occupations so they picked one quite similar, added a note explaining that, and issued the permit for another two years. Perhaps this is the sort of service one can routinely expect if one has multiple facial piercings.

balaq8

Entering through Airport or land crossing you had the same experience?
Please elaborate.
Thanks

JAJ

Why should it make a difference?



Jeremy

aahtuk

I never showed a passport upon re-enering - just the PR card. That was perfectly sufficient.

wizzard

I was flying in each case so this is based on Pearson Airport in Toronto.

laceybank

I think the original poster wants to know (as I do) if the authorities have any way of knowing how long you've been out of the country and if they keep a record of this. I know that officially for us to keep our PR status we are only allowed a certain amount of time out of the country. There may be a time in the future when I want to spend more time out of the country than is allowed. What do they know?
It also seems a little too controlling to limit an individual to an amount of time allowed outside of a canada...is big brother watching is what we want to know?
IF anyone could shed some light on this it would be very useful!

JAJ

You don't seem to understand it's *your* job to prove you spent the necessary time in Canada, not the other way around. PRs need to spend 2 years in every 5 in Canada (unless they fall into the allowed exceptions) and if you are living in Canada, then this is very easy to evidence.

Canadian permanent residents are expected to *live* in Canada. Canadian PR is not there as some kind of lifetime insurance policy on which you can fall back if plans in some other country don't work out.

If this is a problem there's a simple solution - take Canadian citizenship before you think about living elsewhere.

The UK, Australia, New Zealand and the US all have rules that can strip a permanent resident of status for spending too much time outside the country. Those who make the effort to become citizens do not have this problem to worry about.

Jeremy

seacreature

Nothing in my case. I just told them I was a PR and lived in Toronto! Then again, I've only been to the US.
I don't see why they would ask any questions since you're a permenent resident. You are entitled to live in Canada forever so long as you reside here.

seacreature

I believe you have to live in Canada for at least 6 months in any one year.
If you leave Canada for longer than 6 months I think you lose PR status and you have to reapply.

JAJ

Old rules long out of date.

You should read the new rules (in place since June 2002 - and very different) on the CIC website:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomer/res-oblig.html

One thing that has not changed is that if you lose your PR, you do generally need to reapply from scratch.

Jeremy

Smokey

Jeremy, I'm rather curious (and it happens when I've had what you might call a breakfast beer!) but how do you 'prove' your residency? I mean, OK if you've flown you could use your tickets but what about those who drive to the States? presumably when you go through immigration they log the dates. I presume they check what's on your form and those dates. It's just that I remember reading a while ago that only your date of leaving Canada is logged so in that case what would stop you saying you've been out one day and not two weeks? Honesty?

It's not going to be a problem for me personally but I am wondering!

JAJ

You need 730 days in every 5 years to keep your PR.

Most people *living* in Canada will have well over 1500 days so in the vast majority of instances no-one in CIC is going to worry about whether you spent a few days more or less in the US on vacation.

How do you prove you were *living* in Canada? With things like employment documentation showing you were working in Canada, proof you were enrolled to study in Canada, bank statements and utility bills showing activity, statements from Canadian friends - and so on.

No one who's actually residing in Canada should worry about proving their status - unless you are a recluse or have a habit of throwing out documentation, it should be easy to do.

The residence window for citizenship is narrower (3 years in 4, not 2 years in 5) but even here, most people living in Canada should have no problems at all.

Jeremy