Is it advisable for a Permanent Resident to, almost immediately upon getting the PR Card, to leave Canada to study outside Canada? Are there any implications on the PR status?
Hi There,
In addition to PMM’s response, this question has been answered in the thread here: Permanent Resident Studying Outside Canada - Questions about Permanent Residency - Discussion Forum
Here’s an excerpt:
As a permanent resident, it is your responsibility to ensure you meet your residency obligations. You may find useful information in the article on Settlement.Org , What are the residency requirements for permanent residents (PRs) ? Here is an excerpt:
To meet these residency obligations, you must be physically present in Canada for at least 730 days (2 years) in every 5-year period. 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.
This means that you can spend a total of up to 3 years outside of Canada during a 5-year period.
IRCC has a travel journal resource to help you keep track and record your trips outside of Canada. In this travel journal, the date of departure from Canada as “from” and date of return to Canada as “to”.
According to IRCC’s Physical Presence Calculator , the date of arrival and date of departure are both considered days you are present in Canada and may be excluded from your calculation for the number of days outside Canada. Please note, the intended use of this calculator is to calculate physical presence for citizenship applications. The residency requirement for citizenship requires physical presence in Canada for 1,095 days. The residency requirement for permanent residence is 730 days.
You may want to contact IRCC using their web form to make a case-specific inquiry. You may also wish to consult a reputable and registered immigration consultant or an immigration lawyer for advice regarding your situation. We hope this information is helpful. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to post them here .
Sincerely,
Your Settlement.Org Team