KenA

Here is the scenario

My wife and Myself got the PR card after landed in Canada Sep 2018

I moved to Canada in Jan 2020 they (wife and kids) were suppose to follow 3 months later

but everyone know what covid did

so fast forward they still in Australia

Considering that PR is valid for 5 years

will it be an issue if they arrived after 4 years of PR date? that would mean they only stayed a year in canada before PR expries?

Former Lancastrian

Nobody knows for sure but I suspect in cases where RO is not met and is due to Covid and it can be proven that they returned at the earliest opportunity IRCC/CBSA should take this into consideration and elect not to report PR's and issue removal orders and issue PRTD's to those who need them.
I haven't seen anything official yet but I would be reluctant to take such cases forward.
Dates will be important for these cases i.e when they landed, how long they stayed and when they returned. I guess it will also depend on when they consider travel/Covid 19 restrictions began and ended.

Siouxie

PR Cards are valid for 5 years - not PR status. Permanent Residence status doesn't expire - the PR card does. However, in order to retain Permanent Residence status it is a requirement to be residing in Canada for a minimum of 730 days in the 5 years following the date of landing (Not the date of issue on the PR card - the date of landing stamped on the COPR) and ongoing on a rolling basis.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...pr-status.html
https://settlement.org/ontario/immig...residents-prs/

Yes, it may be an issue. Suggest reading the links above.. and hope that some conditions might be relaxed a little due to covid.. take heed of FL's response
How soon can they arrange a flight back? As PR's they could have flown back to Canada despite Covid, they should try to do so sooner rather than later and not leave it another year.

KenA

Thanks heaps.

I may get them to come so they have 2 years before PR card expires

glendem4

Travel restrictions will be eased by this summer, so you will have no excuse. To avoid any issues I would DEFINITELY have your family in Canada by August 2021 at the latest.
P.S. There will be HUGE DEMAND to travel, so the sooner you book the better.

DigitalGhost

I returned earlier this week after also landing in 2018 and having spent very little time in Canada since my landing date. I came back on a 12 month PRTD that is due to expire in the next few weeks and whilst I'm still pretty comfortably within RO by a few months, the CBSA officer who processed me didn't even question it. He did stamp my passport though which I found odd since they didn't do that the last time I returned. Last time they just looked at it and then handed it back to me.

I agree they will probably be a bit more flexible on this issue than normal but you should also prepare to return as soon as possible and not push your luck too far. PR's have no restrictions on returning to Canada atm and you can get a travel exemption to leave Australia if you're moving to another country so your number of excuses will be fairly limited. There are some countries that will not allow their citizens to leave for any purpose or have restricted flights almost entirely but Australia and the UK aren't amongst them.

DigitalGhost

That would be nice but we don't know that for sure. Right now Canada's travel restrictions are becoming tighter, they're not loosening up.