Those permanent residents who have met the residency requirement of being in Canada for at least 2 in the past 5 years can renew their permanent resident card on this basis.
Renewing expired pr card if you are meeting a residency requirement
To have your PR card renewed, you must meet the minimum residency obligations. To maintain your permanent residence, you must reside in Canada for at least 2 years in a five-year period.
If you have been a permanent resident for more than 5 years, you must show that you have been physically present in Canada for a minimum of 730 days (2 years) within the past 5 years.
If you have been a permanent resident for less than 5 years, you must show that you will be physically present in Canada for a minimum of 730 days within 5 years from the date you become a permanent resident.
You may be able to count days spent outside of Canada as part of the 730 days required to meet the residency obligation. For instance, if you accompany a Canadian citizen spouse outside of Canada, you may also count those days.
Another common situation is when you work for a Canadian company outside of Canada. You can count each day you worked outside Canada as long as certain requirements are met. We’ll look at these two common situations below.
Situation 1: Working for a Canadian company abroad
Has your permanent resident card expired while working abroad for a Canadian employer? There are strict regulations that enable permanent residents to fulfill their residency while working outside of Canada.
Other than being physically present in Canada, the permanent resident may fulfill the residency obligation if he/she was or is employed on a full-time basis outside Canada by a Canadian business or in the public service of Canada or a province in Canada.
For the organization to be considered a “Canadian business”, it must:
- Be incorporated under the laws of Canada or a province of Canada and has an ongoing operation in Canada
- If not incorporated under the laws of Canada, it must be an enterprise that has an ongoing operation in Canada and is capable of generating revenue (is conducted in anticipation of profit) and the majority of voting or ownership interests are held by Canadian citizens, permanent residents or Canadian businesses.
- Be an organization or enterprise that is created by the laws of Canada or a province.
A business that exists primarily to allow a permanent resident to satisfy the residency obligation while living abroad will not be considered as a “Canadian business”.
A permanent resident will have complied with the residency obligations while working abroad provided that:
- The person is under contract to or a full-time employee of a “Canadian business” or public institution that controls all its assignments from the head office in Canada.
- The person is assigned on a full-time basis as a term of their employment or contract to a position abroad either with a “Canadian business” or an affiliated enterprise/client.
- The person maintains a connection to a “Canadian business”.
- The person is assigned to work on an assignment on a temporary basis and
- He/she will continue working for the “Canadian business” once the assignment is over.
Permanent residents can also satisfy their residency obligation if they accompanied a permanent resident abroad who is/was a full-time employee of a “Canadian business” or in the public service working outside of Canada for the total of 730 days.
Situation 2: Accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse/partner
Each day that a Canadian permanent resident spends abroad accompanying (ordinarily residing with) a Canadian citizen, is considered a day of physical presence in Canada. However, the Canadian citizen must be the spouse or common-law partner of the permanent resident. You will be required to provide supporting documents to prove that the person you are accompanying is a Canadian citizen and you are the spouse/common-law partner of this person.
Generally speaking, the immigration authorities do not apply any nuances when assessing residency in this situation. When a permanent resident and a Canadian citizen travel outside Canada, it is not necessary to determine who is accompanying whom or the intent of their travel. As long as the permanent resident is accompanying the Canadian citizen, the purpose of their absences is irrelevant.
Similar rules apply when a permanent resident child is accompanying a Canadian citizen parent outside of Canada. The child, in this case, refers to a child under the age of 22 who is unmarried. If a permanent resident child is accompanying their Canadian parent abroad, then this time will be counted as time in Canada for purposes of the residency requirement.
Note that these rules apply to the residency requirement for the continuation of permanent resident status only. For purposes of qualifying for citizenship, time working for a Canadian company abroad or accompanying a Canadian spouse, partner or parent abroad do not count towards the residency requirement.