What is a Canadian permanent resident?

Those who successfully immigrate to Canada will generally obtain the well-known "Maple Leaf Card" and a "Canadian permanent signature" status. However, through understanding, I found that many people do not understand what the permanent residence status they have obtained means. Next, the Overseas Immigration Network will tell you what a Canadian permanent resident is.

As the name suggests, the original meaning of "permanent resident" should allow those who obtain this status to have the right to live in Canada permanently. However, this "permanent" actually has many restrictions. If you do not understand these conditions, "Permanent" will become "non-permanent".

A friend of the author is doing business in Africa. He completed the Canadian immigration procedures a few years ago and took his family to settle in Montreal. A month later, he obtained the Maple Leaf Card (then called "Immigration Paper") and " He felt that he was done as a permanent resident, but something happened to his company in Africa, so he hurriedly bought a plane ticket and boarded the plane to leave, leaving his wife and children to live there. In the next few years, he only rushed back to Montreal during the holidays to follow him. His family was reunited and he spent most of his time in Africa or working in China. After more than four years, he suddenly received a notice from the Border Services Agency that his "permanent stay" was about to come to an end.

It turns out that Canada’s “permanent residents” must “reside” in order to be “permanent”. To be precise, they must live in Canada for at least two years within five years before this “permanent” can continue for another five years. If you do not become a Canadian citizen, you will be reviewed like this every 5 years. The author's friend received such a notice precisely because he could no longer live there for two years within five years.

Is there any workaround? In fact, there is. According to relevant Canadian regulations, if the spouse of a "permanent resident" is a Canadian citizen and needs to leave Canada for work, the "permanent resident" can apply for an exemption in the name of accompanying his spouse; in theory, the "permanent resident" himself can also write a letter to the border. The service bureau begged for mercy and stated the reason why he could not live up to the full time limit. But theory is theory. In fact, these two workarounds not only have a low success rate, but also have side effects (for example, becoming the focus of customs "care" and causing trouble for overseas travel), so it is best not to bother. Just don't bother.

Although "permanent residents" are not so "permanent", having this status is indeed very convenient in Canada. Compared with citizens, it seems that there are only two missing rights. One is no right to vote and The right to be elected. Secondly, traveling to a third country cannot enjoy visa-free treatment for hundreds of countries like Canadian citizens. Everything else, including various benefits, is an out-and-out "citizen treatment" - the key is, Check the expiry date clearly.

Another friend of the author immigrated on almost the same day as the previous one and left the country on the same day, but he escaped the fate of being "non-permanent". It turned out that he had known about Canada’s permanent resident policy for a long time and had thought of a countermeasure. At that time, the border management between Canada and the United States was relatively loose. Canadian citizens could cross the border with just their driver's license. It was also relatively easy for citizens of other countries to cross the border. So he used his Chinese passport to apply for a U.S. visa in advance (valid for 10 years and multiple entries). When he left the country for Africa, he did not Instead of setting off directly, go to the United States first, and then go to Africa from the United States. Since only the Chinese passport and visa were checked at the Canada-U.S. border and no Maple Leaf card was swiped, even though he stayed in Africa for several years, in the records of the Border Services Agency, this "permanent resident" has always stayed in Canada. However, this method has been used too much and is no longer very effective. The Canada-US border has also begun to require "permanent residents" to swipe their cards.

As for the friend who lost his resident status because he didn’t understand the concept of “permanence”, he finally had to go through a big circle: after his wife and children became Canadian citizens, they would then be reunited immigrants for him. Apply again, but reunion immigration is the longest process in Canada. Now several years have passed, and his second "permanent" is still waiting for a long time.