Immigration Newsweek
By Atty. Henry Moyal
Q. I became a landed immigrant in 2014 and left Canada shortly thereafter. I returned to visit my parents in Ottawa a few times but I am very short on the required 730 days to renew my PR card.
I am currently in Canada and I’m afraid that I will be caught by immigration and given a removal order. If I go to OHIP or apply for a driver’s licence office or file taxes will they tell immigration?
A. I doubt it. I have never seen it and many other government agencies do not even know or care about the 730 day rule. Remember, you are a PR and no one has taken it away from you.
You seem to be in breach of the residency requirement but that does not mean that you are under a removal order. To have a removal order you need to be issued one after some sort of investigation (which has not happened).
Q. I was a permanent resident of Canada in 2011 but could not meet the 2 out of 5 year residency requirement. I am in Canada now and have appealed the decision of the Immigration Appeal Division to take strip me of my permanent residence status. I was told that the appeal will take a year or two which is fine for me. Does the time I spend in Canada after filing the appeal count towards the 730 days?
A. No, not exactly. You appealed the decision which means the 5 year period clock goes back to the day of the refusal. If the appeal takes 4 years to be heard for example, you do not get credit for being in Canada for four years towards residency at the appeal hearing. However, the judge has the authority to look at humanitarian and compassionate grounds at the appeal. So any strong ties you maintain in Canada may help your cause.
IMPORTANT NOTICE ON THE ONTARION PNP PROGRAM EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 9, 2018
The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) has reached its 2018 nomination allocation, a total of 6,600 nominations for successful applicants across all streams.
New applications, and applications which have already been submitted to the OINP, will continue to be accepted and considered under the OINP’s 2019 nomination allocation, with the exception of the Masters Graduate stream.
Attorney Henry Moyal is a certified and licensed immigration lawyer in Toronto, Ontario.
The above article is general advice only and is not intended to act as a legal document.
Send questions to Attorney Moyal by email canada@moyal.com or call 416 733 3193
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