PR card renewal during travel ban

[Thomas1]

This is a question for PR card renewal for my mother who is in India currently. Her PR card expires in mid July 2021 and she has not met the 730 days requirement due to Covid and other health reasons. There is a possibility that the travel ban from India could be extended.

In case the travel ban is lifted and she wants to get the PR card renewal done in Canada:
Is she allowed to come to Canada before July 15th. Will the flights allow her to travel to Canada with a soon to expire PR card?

Post expiry of PR card in July, is she allowed to travel outside Canada before getting the actual PR card? Will the flights allow her to board with an expired PR card in case she has to return to India before actually getting the PR card in hand?

In case the travel ban gets extended
In this case, she will not able to travel here before July 15 and she might have to apply for a PRTD post July. Because she has not met the 730 days will her PRTD get rejected?

Once she comes here, if there is a delay in processing, can she come here, apply and return before getting the actual card?

[SettlementOrgMod]

Hello There,

Thank you for sharing your situation and question with us.

Based on information on the IRCC website, your mother will likely need to apply for a Permanent Resident Travel Document to return to Canada after her PR card expires. According to the IRCC Help Centre article What happens if my permanent resident card expires while I am outside Canada?:

If you’re outside Canada and don’t have a valid PR card, you need a permanent resident travel document (PRTD) to return to Canada. You can only apply for a PRTD from outside Canada. If you try to return to Canada without a PR card or PRTD, you may not be able to take your flight, train, bus or boat to Canada.

You may also 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 may take humanitarian and compassionate reasons into consideration for your mother staying outside of Canada for an extended period of time. This is up to IRCC and it would be best for your mother to contact the local visa office or IRCC via web form to get more details about her specific application and what kind of supporting documents she may require. For updated information on travel rules and restrictions, we recommend that you visit the Government of Canada website on COVID-19 updates for travel, quarantine, and borders. You may also wish to consult a reputable and registered immigration consultant or an immigration lawyer about her 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