rsbhj

My wife is citizen by decent and we are looking to start the application for her to sponsor me and our 2 kids.

I have looked at the wikis and a lot of great info in there.

The plan was to get the application completed, wait for confirmation, then land and activate the PR, then return to UK before making the move.

However do you still have a deadline of 12 months from medicals to land and activate the PR, doing it this way? Just want to know time scales in case we decided not to make the activation run, and just made the move/activation in one trip.

SchnookoLoly

You can either just activate, or move and activate at the same time. The activation will have to be done within 12 months of the medical, that's the expiry date that will be on your COPR.

rsbhj

Great thanks so either way the COPR is 12 months expiry regardless of whether or not you are living with a citizen outside Canada.

The reason I asked is that I know we don't have a deadline to return as we will meet PR requirements as we are living with a citizen so wondered if this was the same as COPR date

rsbhj

Its ok I just found it also

The Border
You must enter Canada within the validity of your permanent resident visa (COPR). This cannot be extended. The validity date is connected to the expiry date of the medical examination results as well as to the validity of your passport.

SchnookoLoly

Yep, you're just fine. COPR is only good for 12 months from the medical - you can show up, land, activate, and then turn right back around and bugger off, haha. Yes, time spent living abroad with your Canadian spouse counts, so you're fine.

Your "clock" starts ticking the day you land - NOT the date on your PR card, NOT the date you move to Canada -- it starts the day you land!!

In our case, my husband landed on 8 December 2012. His COPR expiry date was 12 December 2012. He stayed for two weeks, then went back to the UK. He then came for another two weeks in June to job hunt. He told the officer he was jut coming as a visitor and not establishing residency yet. He moved properly in September 2013. His 5-year window ends on 7 December 2017, even though his PR card doesn't expire until April 2018.

Hope that helps!

caleo

We landed in 2011 - activated our PR and then returned to the UK to sell our house etc. We moved the following summer.