Thank you for sharing your parents’ situation and question with us.
We can appreciate that you would be concerned about this situation and would be interested in finding out what your options are.
We have previously received some information from one of our legal researchers related to being in Canada after not meeting the residency requirements.
According to their research, the five-year time frame set out in the Refugee and Immigrant Protection Act is not static. Rather it is a moveable window that is dependent on the time at which a visa officer examines your situation. Therefore, if you cannot fulfill the two-year (730 day) requirement for the five-year time frame starting from when you became a permanent resident, you should remain in Canada until you can satisfy the requirement for another five-year time frame.
Since the officer cannot choose any five-year time period for consideration, but must always assess the most recent five-year time period (the one immediately preceding examination), they may still have the opportunity to satisfy the two-year “in Canada” requirement.
As you may already know, a PR card is required to re-enter Canada.
It is important to note that the PR card’s expiry date has no correlation between whether or not you have met the residency requirements.
We suggest that it is important and probably best that you and your parents speak to a Lawyer who is familiar with Canadian immigration issues for additional information regarding you and your family’s situation and before they apply to renew their PR cards.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions and if there is any follow up to your question/situation.