Voluntary surrender of permanent residentcy

Vicky3 wrote: Hello, I am in Canada with my family( wife and son).. all on PR. Have been in Canada for a year and planning to go back to the country of origin. I am considering surrendering PR for self and my family members. May want to visit as a visitor / tourist. Can you pls share info on - What is the process for surrendering the PR? - How long does the process normally take? - How much would it cost? - Can the required paper work be completed from outside of Canada or is physical presence required - If physical presence required - can it be only me or my wife and son as well.

Overall, there is usually no compelling reason to proactively surrender PR status. Exception would be a situation in which the PR is seeking or maintaining status in another country and that other country requires the individual to not have PR status elsewhere. The latter is not a situation one would have with their home country and otherwise is unusual enough this response will not address this situation.

Usually, mostly, a Canadian PR can simply leave Canada whenever the PR wants, and can forget about having PR status. There is no need to formally surrender PR status.

As long as the PR continues to be in compliance with the PR Residency Obligation and has a valid PR card, the PR can visit Canada, coming and going as a Canadian PR, staying as little or as long as the PR wants.

If the PR does not attempt to visit Canada until after having been abroad long enough to no longer be in compliance with the PR Residency Obligation, or otherwise the PR has been outside Canada for a period of time resulting in no longer being in compliance with the PR Residency Obligation, there are two typical scenarios:

-- If still in possession of a valid PR card, travel to Canada and at the POE disclose the extent of absence, ask to surrender PR status and be given visitor status. The POE officers will have the necessary paperwork to accomplish this, and a six month visa will ordinarily be issued, allowing the individual (at that point then a former-PR) to come into Canada for a six month stay.

-- If the PR card is expired, apply for a PR Travel Document at the respective Embassy, a simple application which can take a little while to process (so do it well in advance of when a visit to Canada is being planned). In the PR TD application explicitly state the failure to comply with the PR Residency Obligation. The PR Travel Document will be rejected and . . . I forget whether the time period is 30 or 60 days, but once the time for appealing the rejected PR TD application passes, the individual is no longer a PR. After that the individual can apply for whatever other status the individual qualifies for, such as a visitor's visa.

Alternatively, it may be possible to obtain paperwork from an Embassy abroad which will accomplish the surrender of PR status, rather than applying for a PR Travel Document and having to wait for it to be rejected and then waiting out the time to appeal. However, I am not familiar with that process and not sure it is available. Should be easy enough to check with the respective Embassy once you are in your home country.


You can only surrender your own PR status:

Once a Canadian PR, that status is personal and not dependent on a family relationship (unless the PR status itself had a condition). You can surrender only your own PR status. You cannot surrender PR status on behalf of any one else. Only they can surrender their PR status.

In particular, for example, you cannot surrender your spouse's PR status. Only your spouse can do that. For obvious reasons (if your spouse wanted to remain in Canada, for example, that is your spouse's decision not yours).

But again, there is no reason to surrender status unless and until you want to return to Canada after you have failed to comply with the PR Residency Obligation, and the reason for surrendering status at that point is to facilitate obtaining alternative status (such as visitor status) for entering Canada.

thanks. what would be the tax obligation of a person who formally does not surrender pr status and would one have to continue filing taxes if one leaves while pr card is still valid and one has no intention of maintaining pr status

yes you are right but my question was hypothetical and let me elaborate