Managing Permanent Resident Status: The Family Connection Option

Last month I wrote about, the Employment Option, how employment outside of Canada can help a permanent resident of Canada satisfy residency obligation. The response has been tremendous and the one question that was common to almost all of the inquiries I received from the article was, “Can’t I maintain my residency status if I am married to a Canadian, even if we live outside of Canada?” The answer in short is yes, but it isn’t quite that easy.

Before I get into what I call the Family Connection Option, a quick refresher on the residency obligation rules is in order. Section 28 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, requires a permanent resident of Canada to satisfy with the “residency obligation” on an ongoing basis by complying with one or more residency obligation “options” for 730 days in every five year period. The starting point is that if you physically reside in Canada for 730 days in every five year period, that is, your feet are on Canadian soil (the “Residence Option”), you will satisfy the obligation and maintain status as a permanent resident. If you can’t satisfy the Residence Option and want to maintain PR status, you will have to rely on either the Employment Option, the Family Connection Option or humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Next to the Residence Option, the Family Connection Option is by far the most reliable mechanism by which a permanent resident of Canada can satisfy the residency obligation. It is worth clarifying at this point that each PR who is the member of a family must satisfy the residency obligation independently. There are no “family applications” for PR card renewals nor does an entire family lose their PR status only because a single member of that family loses their status.

The Family Connection Option provides that a PR can count every day spent outside of Canada (feet not on Canadian soil), accompanying a Canadian citizen who is their spouse (common-law or married) towards the 730 day obligation. In the case of children, if a PR child can count every day outside of Canada accompanying a Canadian citizen who is their parent in the same manner. By “accompanying”, I mean residing with under the same roof outside of Canada and by “child” I mean a person who has never been married or in a common-law relationship and is under 22 years of age.

The Family Connection Option also extends to children and spouses of permanent residents who accompany their parent or spouse outside of Canada, so long as that parent or spouse complies with the Employment Option. Basically, if a PR lives and works outside of Canada satisfying the Employment Option, that PR’s spouse and children can count the days spent residing with that permanent resident outside of Canada towards their own residency obligations.

As with all dealings with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, it is incumbent on a PR to prove their case, that is, to satisfy CIC that they have met the residency obligation, whether it is by the Family Connection Option or any other option. I strongly encourage PRs to keep a folder with detailed records of their compliance with the residency obligation. Although there is no definitive list of required documents to include, I generally advise people to keep marriage licenses, birth certificates, school records, boarding passes, copies of old passports, home rental agreements, credit card and bank statements, proof of cohabitation, lots of photographs of time spent with family outside of Canada and proof of a spouse or parent’s employment outside of Canada if that is the means by which a person hopes to satisfy the residency obligation.

Compliance with the residency obligation on the whole is carefully scrutinized by CIC. As such, PRs are strongly encouraged to seek qualified advice prior to planting their feet in non-Canadian soil for any extended period of time.