kswoosh

Hi All,

As of September 11, 2020, I am eligible to apply for Citizenship (woo hoo!). My PR card expires on August 5, 2021. Should I apply to renew my PR card, or just apply for Citizenship?

My plan was to apply for both, in case my citizenship application isn't completed before my PR card expires, but I'm not sure if a) it's a waste of money applying for both, and b) if it will cause confusion for me to apply for a PR card and citizenship at the same time.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, as always.

Former Lancastrian

Do you have any plans to travel outside Canada after 5 August 2021 returning by a commercial carrier? If yes and don't have citizenship and a Canadian passport then you need a valid PR card. Current processing time for citizenship grant is 12 months.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ing-times.html

IMHO apply for citizenship asap.

bc2015

Citizenship applications are badly backlogged because they haven't had any citizenship tests since March. I would say that anyone applying today is probably going to be in for a 18-24 month wait. So I would renew PR card in this case. It won't cause any confusion, it's done all the time.

Former Lancastrian

True but if no intention of travelling outside of Canada after August 2021 then you don't need a PR card.

bc2015

In my view it's always better to have a valid PR card, just in case. It's only $50 + photos + postage and is worth it for piece of mind just in case (despite intentions) you have to travel outside of Canada and saves messing around with PRTD (which costs $50 anyway).

glendem4

I can apply for Citizenship in May 2021. My PR card expires in Jan 2023. PR can only be renewed within 9 months of expiry = April 2022. If Citizenship is taking more than 20 months and I need to travel abroad after Jan 2023, when is the optimal time to get a replaced PR card?