Traveling abroad before receiving 1st PR card?

After all the paper work finally cleared, I will have my permanent residency ("landing") sometime next week. I understand that it takes about 40 days after that to receive the initial PR card. However, it seems quite likely that I will have two short business trips (US and overseas) between the landing and arrival of the PR card. 

What to do? Is the valid passport with the immigrant visa in it sufficient?

canvis2006 wrote: 1. Strongly recommend to wait for PR Card before leaving Canada

While I agree that would be the easiest solution, I may not have that luxury. 

2. IMM Visa is single entry only, which will be used up when you land.

OK, understood.

3. You will have to apply for a PR Travel Document at nearest Canadian mission abroad in order to return back, unless you're from a country which is under visa-exempt for Canada. Note: Valid passport+COPR is useful to return from US by land only. (car,bus) If flying you will need the travel document

I am from Germany, so I am Visa-exempt. So would this mean that crossing the border by land should be OK, crossing by air could be a problem?

 

A landed PR really only needs the PR card for a few things, mostly internal to Canada and for these one can show alternative documents, ranging from obtaining a SIN to a health card, a driver's license.

For travel, a landed PR needs the PR card only to board commercial transportation destined for Canada. But in practice, this applies largely if not almost entirely to PRs whose nationality is a country which is not visa exempt.

Many, many recently landed PRs soon leave, to return to their home countries to settle their affairs, sometimes taking many months to do so. This is not in the least uncommon.

In the meantime, the PR card will be mailed to an address in Canada. It is best if that is, of course, a trusted address where a trusted person will either hold the PR card for you until you return or mail it to you abroad. Again, this appears to be quite common.

Even those from countries which are not visa exempt are simily in a situation where it is imperative they return home to settle affairs or such, and they can apply for and obtain a Travel Document which will allow them to board commercial transportation headed for Canada. The process for obtaining a TD, however, according to most reports, has gotten a little more complicated, perhaps quite a bit more inconvenient, so the choice is a matter of priorities.

But someone from a visa exempt country already possesses a necessary travel document for boarding transportation to Canada: their passport (that is, their passport from their home country is their primary travel document and a passport from a visa exempt country is a sufficient travel document to show authorization to enter Canada).

Theoretically since you're German, you should be alright returning to Canada by air, have your copy of COPR(landing document) and passport which had the PR Visa in it.
When you arrive in Canada, CBSA will verify your PR status and let you enter as a Permanent Resident.
If you're leaving for a while perhaps you can have a friend or someone you trust to courier you the PR Card to your address in Germany.

But yeah since you're from Germany it will be easy to get back since you do not require a visa for Canada.

madhumati:

The first card is automatically issued as part of landing process. So you do not need to fill anything.

The application is for renewals/replacement/lost cards only.