Purley

My sister is applying for a PR card, however, as our Mom has had heart problems lately, she does not want to wait until the PR card comes. So, we found on the CIC website the following:


4. Temporary Travel Document

If it is not possible to issue a PR card to you before you travel, you may submit an application for a temporary travel document by mail to a Canadian visa office in the location that you will visit. You may also submit an application in person at any Canadian visa office around the world, including the United States.* Same-day service is provided in urgent cases except where an individual indicates that immediate processing is not required. Applicants will normally be required to pick up the travel document in person at the visa office. Applications for a temporary travel document are available at Canadian visa offices or on-line at www.cic.gc.ca.

Which seems to fit her perfectly. She clicked on the link and went to the CIC form

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pr-card/urgent-cases.html

But she says that it appears that the form is not intended for a person who has lived in Canada permanently for over 30 years but wants to visit England before her PR card arrives. She says that it has a question which asks, for instance, how many days she has been in Canada in the past year! I said she could put 365! Unfortunately I am having problems with Adobe so I can't even look at the form right now.

We have both tried phoning the CIC enquiry line, but have never got anything but a busy signal.

So - my question is - should she complete the Application for Travel Document and mail it to the London office and put that she has lived in Canada for the past 365 days - or is this the wrong form for her to use?

mickj

Liz,

There is a lesson here to be learnt by everyone that has been in this country all these years, and hadn't been bothered to apply for citizenship, especialy when the UK allows dual citizenship.

If your mums condition is that bad, it seems you might have to go instead, while your sister sorts out her PR card, and if she is over 60, she won't have to take the citizenship test anyway.

Good luck

ps: Go to the Adobe acrobat homepage and download a free reader.

iaink

Personally I have never had any joy with phoning CIC, I suspect its permanently busy!

The form I saw (5524B) asks have you been present in Canada at least once in the last 365 days, is that the one you are talking about? It's not quite the same as asking how many days you have been present, but if you have a different one, and its asking about the number of days, go ahead and say 365 if thats the case.

IIRC your sister lost her IMM1000 a while ago. If the officer did the same thing for her as he did for me, the serial number may be written in her passport next to the inkstamp where the form was stapled in, but of course, after thirty years, she may not even have the passport still, but its worth a look if she does.

Hope this helps

Iain

Purley

I personally dont understand why she didnt apply for citizenship. I applied years ago. I never felt that I was any less English because I am a Canadian too. It was just so much more convenient.

I worked as a corporate paralegal and Saskatchewan brought in a law that you had to have a majority of Canadians as directors of a corporation. I always had numbered corporations in reserve in case a client wanted one in a hurry. I had to be a Canadian or else I would have had to have someone else be the sole director and that would just have been a hassle.

I don't know what my Adobe problem was. I tried repairing Adobe reader but it still wouldn't work. In the end I had to uninstall it and reinstall it - now it works just fine again!