Appendix A
Residency Obligation
You must meet the residency obligation to obtain a Permanent Resident Card. If you have been a permanent resident for five years or more: you must have been physically present in Canada for a minimum of 730 days within the past five years. If you have been a permanent resident for less than five years: you must show that you will be able to meet the minimum 730 days in Canada at the five-year mark.
You may also count the days you spent outside of Canada in the following circumstances as days for which you satisfy the residency obligation:
OPTION 1. Accompanying a Canadian citizen outside Canada
You may count each day you accompanied a Canadian citizen outside Canada provided that the person you accompanied is your spouse, common-law partner or parent (if you are a child under 22 years of age).
OPTION 2. Employment outside Canada
You may count each day you worked outside Canada provided that your employment meets the following criteria. You are an employee of, or under contract to, a Canadian business or the public service of Canada or of a province, and are assigned on a full-time basis to:
- a position outside Canada;
- an affiliated enterprise outside Canada; or
- a client of the Canadian business or the public service outside Canada.
For the purposes of this application, a Canadian business is defined as:
- a corporation that is incorporated under the laws of Canada or of a province and that has an ongoing operation in Canada; or
- an enterprise that has an ongoing operation in Canada and is capable of generating revenue and is carried out in anticipation of profit, and in which a majority of voting or ownership interests is held by Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or Canadian businesses as defined above; or
- an organization or enterprise created by the laws of Canada or a province.
OPTION 3. Accompanying a permanent resident outside Canada
You may count each day you accompanied a permanent resident outside Canada provided that:
- the person you accompanied is your spouse, common-law partner or parent (if you are a child under 22 years of age); and
- he or she was in compliance with his or her own residency obligation.
OPTION 4. Absence while in possession of a valid Returning Resident Permit.
You may count each day you spent outside of Canada with a valid Returning Resident Permit.
Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds
If you are unable to meet the residency obligation, we will consider any compelling humanitarian and compassionate factors in your individual circumstances that may justify the retention of permanent resident status. We will notify you if this additional assessment is required.
|
