British Expats - leaving Canada without pr card

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- - leaving Canada without pr card (https://britishexpats.com/forum/maple-leaf-98/leaving-canada-without-pr-card-658747/)

Clarey73

Mar 10th 2010 2:19 am

leaving Canada without pr card

Hi,
Has anyone left Canada before receiving their pr card and had trouble getting back in the country?? I landed at the end of Jan and have to go back this month, we should have received our pr cards but they werent satisfied with the photos so last week we were asked us to have new ones taken, thus slowing up the process of receiving our cards!!
I'm only in the UK for 4 days so one of them now has to be spent travelling to London from Manchester to try & get a travel document to allow me back into Canada!!!
Please any advice or words of wisdom will be gratefully received

:o

iaink

Mar 10th 2010 2:43 am

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

You arent the first, you wont be the last. Many people have asked this in the past, and none (that I know of*:sneaky:) have been arrested on re-entry

Assuming you have a british passport and a return ticket then the passport should be enough to get on the plane to Canada, and the paper ROLF form enough to get past immigration with an explanation that your PR card has not yet arrived. If you didnt have the visa waiver passport, then the Travel document is probably worth the hassle in order to get on the plane.

Clarey73

Mar 10th 2010 4:22 am

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

Thanks for the advice its much appreciated, i have had visions of being denied re-entry into Canada where my husband & 2 small children now live its a position i'd rather not be in.
Can the officials stop me from boarding the plane in manchester if i dont have the travel doc???:(

iaink

Mar 10th 2010 4:30 am

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clarey73 (Post 8410390)

No, If you have a british passport and a return ticket and they think you are a tourist its unlikely. The PR card thing is only an issue because airlines have to pay to return anyone without the right to enter canada back from whence they came, so they want a simple way for staff to be able to identify those with non waiver passports but the right to enter as residents.

The UK passport gives you the right to visit at least without needing preapproval, so for Britons its a non issue.

MarkG

Mar 10th 2010 5:53 am

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

I've flown back from Britain several times on Air Canada (return from Canada to the UK and back) and so far they've never asked for my PR card.

Alan2005

Mar 10th 2010 6:38 am

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkG (Post 8410589)

I've flown back from Britain several times on Air Canada (return from Canada to the UK and back) and so far they've never asked for my PR card.

I got asked by Cathy Pacific recently. Though I don't know what they'd have done had I not produced it.

Clarey73

Mar 10th 2010 9:50 am

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

What would they do if i dont have a travel doc would they be arsey with me in immigration on my return to Canada?
It wont affect my residence will it????
Sorry for sounding paranoid but its taken us so long to get here i dont want to jepordise it for my family :confused:

MarkG

Mar 10th 2010 10:08 am

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clarey73 (Post 8411121)

What would they do if i dont have a travel doc would they be arsey with me in immigration on my return to Canada?

Possibly, but you are a resident so they can't just send you back to Britain without checking :). You could take a copy of the COPR and your SIN card as a start on proving that you are really a PR... I always take a copy of my COPR just in case and when I almost had to go back to the UK shortly after landing the immigration guy we spoke to on the phone said to at least ensure I had my SIN with me when I returned.

kazchug

Mar 10th 2010 12:07 pm

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

This happened to me before the PR card arrived. Customs enjoyed giving me a hard time for not waiting for my card then let me through saying I should have applied for a visa before leaving, but they let me back in.

Atlantic Xpat

Mar 10th 2010 1:44 pm

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

Having noticed that my PR card expired in December of 09, I've recently gathered the neccessary documents/requested the neccessary forms for renewal. But the processing time seems to be 95 days which left me in the 'oh shit what do I do if I have to travel to UK for some family emergency during that time?' quandary. A quandary worsened by the fact that I had misplaced my COPR form and assumed it was lost. I had obtained the form to request a copy from CIC but that in turn needed a copy of my birth cert. which, you've guessed it, I can't find at the moment either. (Some updating of the filing system at chez AX is now underway;))

I hope to have no need to travel to the UK before our planned trip in July but it was a nagging, paranoic worry nevertheless. So tonight, looking for the birth cert. again I opened an envelope with some other, non immigration papers and what do I find? Lo and behold my COPR from 2004! To say I am happy is an understatement. :eek:

Naturally the COPR will now be placed in the same place as my passport. After being copied of course.

Time for a celebratory slurp of red. Cheers!

Novocastrian

Mar 10th 2010 2:17 pm

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atlantic Xpat (Post 8411497)

Fascinating. Has it occurred to you that you are amazingly incompetent?

Atlantic Xpat

Mar 10th 2010 11:08 pm

Re: leaving Canada without pr card

Quote:

Originally Posted by Novocastrian (Post 8411532)

Fascinating. Has it occurred to you that you are amazingly incompetent?

Frankly, it's staggering that I've been as successful in life as I have so far.;)

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