IMM 5445 Guide: Applying for a Permanent Resident Card (PR Card) – First application, replacement, renewal or to change gender identifier

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Appendix A: Residency obligation

Minimum residency obligations

If you have been a permanent resident for less than five (5) years

• you must show that you will be able to meet the minimum of 730 days of physical presence in Canada within five (5) years of the date you became a permanent resident.

Time spent outside of Canada

Situation 1. Accompanying a Canadian citizen outside Canada

You may count each day you accompanied a Canadian citizen outside Canada as long as this person is your spouse, common-law partner or parent (if you were a child under 19 years of age before October 24, 2017 or under 22 years of age after October 24, 2017).

Proof needed

You must provide supporting documents to prove that:

• The person you are accompanying is a Canadian citizen; and
• You are the spouse, common-law partner or child of that person.

Supporting documents may include:

• Mandatory:
  • all passports or other travel documents that the person you are accompanying used in the five (5) years before the application;
  • documents showing the citizenship of the person you are accompanying, including the date the person became a Canadian citizen;
  • proof of the residential addresses of the person you are accompanying for the five (5) years before the application;
  • marriage licence or proof of common-law partnership (if you are accompanying a spouse or common-law partner);
  • child’s birth certificate, baptismal document, or adoption or legal guardianship document (if you are accompanying a parent);
• You may also include:
  • Canadian Income Tax Notice of Assessment (NOA) for the past two (2) years
  • school or employment records;
  • association or club memberships;
  • any other documents you want us to consider.

Situation 2. Employment outside Canada

You may count each day you worked outside Canada if:

• you are an employee of, or under contract to, a Canadian business or the public service of Canada or of a province or territory and
• as a term of your job or contract, you 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; and
• you will continue working for the employer in Canada after the assignment.

For 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
• an enterprise that has:
  • an ongoing operation in Canada
  • is capable of generating revenue
  • is carried out in anticipation of profit
  • 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

Supporting documents:

You must provide a letter signed by an official of the business stating:

• the position and title of the signing official
• the nature of the business and how it fits the description of a Canadian business (see definition above)
• details of your assignment or contract outside Canada such as:
  • length of the assignment,
  • confirmation that you are a full-time employee of the “Canadian business” working abroad on a full-time basis as a term of your employment, or that you are on contract working abroad on a full-time basis as a term of your contract; and
  • a description or copy of the position profile regarding the assignment or contract abroad, and
• confirmation that the business was not created primarily to let you meet your residency obligation

You may also include:

• articles of incorporation and business licences
• partnership agreements or corporate annual reports
• corporate Canadian Income Tax Notices of Assessment or financial statements
• copies of the Employee Assignment Agreement or Contract
• copies of any agreements between the Canadian business and the business or client outside Canada concerning your assignment to that client or business
• Pay Statements
• Canadian Income Tax Notice of Assessment (NOA)
• T4 slips
• Any other proof you want us to consider

Situation 3. Accompanying a permanent resident outside Canada