PR card renewal earlier than 9 months expiry

[anncottage]

My kid is currently in Canada but his current PR card expires Oct 2023 but he will be out of Canada from
July 2022 and won’t be back in Canada till August 2024.
Can he apply for urgent renewal of PR card now so that he will have a new PR card that expires later than 2024 ?
If he cannot apply for urgent renewal now, what is the best course of action to take so that he can return to Canada in August 2024?

Thank you,
Gary

[SettlementOrgMod]

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your questions with us.

You would want to first determine whether your child will still satisfy the permanent residency obligations by leaving Canada for the stated time period. The obligations are outlined under section 28(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, which are as follows:

(a) a permanent resident complies with the residency obligation with respect to a five-year period if, on each of a total of at least 730 days in that five-year period, they are

• (i) physically present in Canada,
• (ii) outside Canada accompanying a Canadian citizen who is their spouse or common-law partner or, in the case of a child, their parent,
• (iii) outside Canada employed on a full-time basis by a Canadian business or in the federal public administration or the public service of a province,
• (iv) outside Canada accompanying a permanent resident who is their spouse or common-law partner or, in the case of a child, their parent and who is employed on a full-time basis by a Canadian business or in the federal public administration or the public service of a province, or
• (v) referred to in regulations providing for other means of compliance;

Please ensure that your child takes the required steps in order to satisfy the obligations on an ongoing basis in order to avoid losing the PR status.
In answer to your question, the Immigration Canada’s website indicates that the application or renewal of PR card can be processed if:

• your card has expired or will expire in less than 9 months

• your card is lost, stolen, or destroyed

• you didn’t receive your card within 180 days of immigrating to Canada

• you need to update your card to:

• legally change your name

• change your citizenship

• change your gender designation

• correct your date of birth

Otherwise, they may not process your application.
Therefore, if your child applies for renewal more than 9 months before the PR card is expired and if there is no other reason for getting another PR card, the application may not be processed.

When the PR card expires while your child is outside the Canada, your child may retain the PR status if your child continues to satisfy the permanent residency obligations.
Immigration Canada’s website states that a traveller must possess either a valid PR Card or a Permanent Resident Travel Document (“PRTD”) for entering Canada. Airlines are required by the Government of Canada to ensure that each individual travelling to Canada presents a document approved for travel to Canada.

Please see the list of approved documents below as set out in Section 259 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations:

For the purposes of subsection 148(1) of the Act, the following documents that a person requires under the Act to enter Canada are prescribed:

(a) a travel document referred to in subsection 31(3) of the Act [PR Travel document]; (b) refugee travel papers issued by the Minister; (c) a document referred to in subsection 50(1) or 52(1) [passport or refugee travel document]; (d) a temporary travel document referred to in section 151; (e) a visa referred to in section 6 or subsection 7(1); (f) a permanent resident card; and (g) an electronic travel authorization referred to in section 7.01 or 7.1.

Therefore, once your child is outside Canada and does not have a valid PR card, your child must have a PRTD if he or she travels back to Canada on a commercial carrier.

You may wish talk to a qualified immigration lawyer about this or contact Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) directly to see if they have any information they can provide you.

Given the ongoing significant delays at Immigration Canada, unless the purpose of travel is mandatory, and/or you are willing to risk a longer processing time of the PRTD application, the most cautious path forward is to avoid travelling outside Canada until your child has all necessary documents.

Finally, we noted that Canada has implemented travel restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 that you must comply with. Up to date restrictions can be found here: https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid.
We hope that the information we provided is helpful to you. We would also recommend you to seek legal help from a lawyer or a licensed consultant familiar with Canadian immigration to find more information about your particular circumstances.

Please let us know if you have further questions.

Sincerely,

Your Settlement.Org team

Disclaimer:
This document does not contain legal advice. This document was prepared with the assistance of PBSC Western law student volunteers. PBSC volunteers are not lawyers and they are not authorized to provide legal advice. This document contains general discussion of certain legal and related issues only. If you require legal advice, please consult with a lawyer.