I think this has already been discussed but I just want to make sure. I know than as a PR, you have to stay 2 years out of 5 in Canada. But is there a max lenght limit?
My wife and me have been living in Canada since September 2014, and we are PR since march 2017. We are planing to leave the country for a 6-8 months period starting from next February (2018) in order to visit South America.
Could we have any issue re-entering Canada or shouldn’t this be an issue as we will still have plenty of time to meet the residency requirement?
We heard many stories about a 6 months limit and we wouldn’t want to loose our PR status (still plan to live & work in Canada after our trip!).
Thank you for sharing your situation and questions with us.
We can appreciate that you would be interested in some information regarding this situation.
As you already know, as a permanent resident, you may travel outside Canada after you arrive. However, as you also already know, you must meet certain residency obligations to maintain your status as a permanent resident.
To meet these residency obligations, you must be physically present in Canada for at least 730 days (2 years) in every 5-year period.
This means that you can spend a total of up to 3 years outside of Canada during a 5-year period. However, if you have been a permanent resident for less than 5 years and decide to leave the country for an extended period of time, it is up to you to prove to IRCC that you will be able to meet your residency requirements.
The 5-year period is assessed on a rolling basis. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will look back at your time in Canada over the previous 5 years.
In terms of the process when re-entering Canada, each time you enter Canada, Citizenship and Immigration may calculate 5 years back from the date you have entered or re-entered Canada to see if you have fulfilled your residency obligation.
You can find information on the process that is followed when entering Canada in this Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) ENF 23 - Loss of Permanent Resident Status manual.
Here is an excerpt from the manual on what happens at the port of entry here:
In terms of the “6-month limit”, some confuse the residency requirements for maintaining OHIP with that of permanent residency requirements.
Regarding OHIP, in order to maintain it, you must be “in Ontario for at least 153 days in any 12-month period.”
Thank you very much for your detailed answer! We should be all good then, as we should easily be able to prove that we will continue to live and work in Canada once we are back.