How can get back my Permanent Resident card back?

Hi There, I was married to Canadian Permanent Resident & was successful with my spouse visa. I went Canada & got Permanent Resident Card But after 2months i Find out that my spouse is having relationship with some one else. We had Fight & I Surrendered my Permanent Resident card to Immigration & left Canada. But now i realized that with my anger,I shouldn't run away back from Canada. What is the Process to get back my permanent resident card with status while i am back home...  

Lots, and lots of variables. Many ways it depends.

A lot depends on how you "surrendered" your PR card to immigration, under what circumstances, what conditions, and whether or not it was attendant a process to remove your PR status.

If it was a unilateral surrender of just the PR card to an immigration official, while you were passing through a POE for example on your way out of Canada, and there was no process commenced to remove you from Canada, that should not affect your PR status. You would still be a PR. (I say this with the caveat that the actual terms of the surrender may make a difference, but again, if you simply impulsively dropped off your card with an immigration official on your way through a POE, that should not affect your PR status.)


But, how long ago this happened, and how long you have been outside Canada would then come into play. Depending on the length of your absence from Canada you may be in breach of the residency obligation. Without a PR card in possession, and in breach of the residency obligation, you are not likely to be given a Travel Document to Canada that would allow you to return as a PR, but rather probably lose your PR status in the process of applying for the Travel Document.


Ordinarily the simple surrender of a PR card does not terminate PR status, but, again, whether this applies to your situation or not depends on a lot of other factors.

It is worth noting: CBSA and CIC are not likely to be lenient here. How brief the relationship lasted in Canada may be taken to be evidence that the relationship was not genuine to begin with, or at least was not at the time you landed and obtained PR status. Does not matter which of you is the one who was not genuinely committed to the relationship, if either one of you was not (or in retrospect, might be found to have not been by a decision-maker in CIC), that would make you inadmissible and be grounds for terminating your PR status.

Another reason why leniency may be lacking here is that the Conservative Majority government is poised to change the law for sponsored partners and make PR conditional, so that even if there was no misrepresentation about the genuineness of the relatisonhip, if it does not last for a specified period of time (probably will be 18 months), the immigrating partner will lose PR status and be returned to home country. This will not apply to anyone who already has PR status, of course, and it will be some time before this is acted on (this government has other priorities to get through Parliament now that they have a majority), but it is almost certain to go this way and so it may affect (probably will affect) how CIC might assess a situation like yours, as in, they would still be obligated to apply the current law but they are not likely to be at all lenient in how they find the facts or apply that law.

Thanks Guys, Well I didnt had any cofrence or hearing with Immigration people but my spouse did complained & i left canada 6months ago.Do u know where i can get the forms to re-apply my Permanent resident again? Thanks in advance.....

Actually, it sounds like you are still a PR (again, depending on the factors I highlighted previously -- and in particular how it is that you "surrendered" your PR card).

If you are from a visa-exempt country, you should be able to simply return to Canada.

If you are not from a visa-exempt country, you need to apply for a Travel Document. See this CIC webpage. Note, though, while I am not sure, it is possible they could investigate, prior to issuing the TD, whether or not you are inadmissible based on a misrepresentation in the PR process (based on the relationship not being genuine). I do not know. Check with a Canadian immigration lawyer or simply apply for the TD (again, see the web page I linked).

This is not about re-applying for PR, since (it appears) you are still a PR -- a PR remains a PR unless and until there is a formal process to adjudicate the loss of PR status . . . whether the surrender of a PR card fits this or not depends on the particular situation, but it does not sound like yours does. That is, it sounds like you are still a PR.

If you have indeed lost PR status, there is no "re-applying" for it per se. You are in the same category as any other Foreign National who might apply for PR. Obviously, if you were to have another partner sponsor, well that would trigger some serious questions and probably be a more difficult case than the first time through, for obvious reasons.

Not really canvis2006.

While there are significant factors which singh_lucky has not divulged, including in particular whether or not there is any potential residency obligation issue (if date of landing was in June of 2008 or more recent, not an issue yet), and it is not entirely clear what the circumstances attendant the surrender of the PR card were, on the contrary, merely having surrendered the PR card does not suggest the loss of PR status.

It is worth noting that there is a presumption that a person outside Canada who is not in possession of a permanent resident document is presumed not to have permanent resident status (see ENF 23 "Loss of Permanent Resident Status, section 7.13); however, proof of identity in conjunction with other information can overcome this presumption, and indeed this is the usual circumstance in which many PRs abroad must apply for a Travel Document in order to return to Canada and so this is only incidentally relevant to the situation posed by singh_lucky.

If no A44 report was issued, no removal issued, the surrender of the PR card has no effect on status.

In particular,

If he "surrendered" as he says his card to CIC/CBSA, I doubt if much can be salvaged now. It all depends what forms if any, he filled out when he voluntarily surrendered his status to CIC/CBSA

While the second sentence, beginning with "it all depends . . . ," is a somewhat accurate one, since there are indeed some circumstances, but only "LIMITED circumstances," in which a PR can lose PR status attendant a "voluntary reqlinguishment of permanent resident status," generally this post, by canvis2006, is misleading. It is, on the contrary, not likely that surrendering the PR card has any effect on PR status.

That is because, generally, the surrender of the PR card is of little or no effect.

It is NOT comparable to the surrender of IMM 1000B under the former law, which provided for the loss of PR status upon an intent to abandon Canada as a place of permanent residence.

After a sketch of the reasons and the breakdown in the relationship, this is what singh_lucky said:

. . . I Surrendered my Permanent Resident card to Immigration & left Canada.

The probability is there was nothing lost, nothing to salvage, merely surrendering a PR card has no impact on a PR's status.

There is a possibility there was an A44 report on the grounds of inadmissibility for misrepresentation (as to the genuiness of the relationship), and a removal order issued pursuant to that report along with singh_lucky's waiver of the right to appeal, or a surrender of the PR card and departure in response to the removal order with the time for making an appeal now expired.

But singh_lucky does not so much as hint there might have been any such a proceeding (saying there was a "complaint" made by the sponsor but no "cofrence or hearing with Immigration people"). So this is not, according to singh_lucky, what happened.

Absent a A44 report on the grounds of inadmissibility, and the issuance of a removal order, it is most likely singh_lucky still has PR status and is entitled to return to Canada as a PR. Again, no need to salvage anything.

This does not guarantee that a A44 report will not be generated upon singh_lucky applying for a Travel Document in order to return to Canada, or later upon an actual return to Canada. But in the meantime, a Travel Document should be issued even if a removal order is to be issued, and singh_lucky should be entitled to return to Canada where singh_lucky can elect (or not) to appeal any removal order for inadmissibility on the grounds of misrepresentation.

I have no idea what the odds of a A44 report being issued are (that is especially fact specific). But in the meantime singh_lucky will still be a PR and as such entitled to return to Canada pending any further inadmissibility or loss of PR status proceedings.




Further observations with quotations from ENF 23 Loss of PR status

To document and cite sources for much of my observations above, I am including the following citations to and quotations from ENF 23 Loss of PR status

The criteria in IRPA for loss of status require that an officer conduct a determination on the residency obligation under A28 before loss of status can occur. Outside Canada, the loss of status occurs when the appeal period of 60 days expires, in the case of a person who does not challenge a negative residency obligation determination [A46(1)(b)]. At ports of entry (POEs) or inland, loss of status occurs when the period of 30 days to file an appeal against the removal order expires and the order comes into force [A46(1)(c), A49(1)(c)]. In addition, the Department has decided to allow voluntary relinquishment of permanent resident status in limited circumstances. This may be permitted in situations where an individual does not meet the residency obligation but is seeking to enter Canada only as a temporary resident, or where a person has to abandon permanent resident status in order to accept employment with a foreign government, including a diplomatic posting, or where such voluntary relinquishment is necessary in order to qualify for status in another country. This permission is not to be used in cases where permanent residents are subject to a report under A44(1) that may be or has been referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) for an admissibility hearing on matters other than the residency obligation criteria contained in A28.

(emphasis added in above quote)


Also see section 7.9 regarding voluntary relinquishment of PR status under the former Act.

7.10 details procedure for the voluntary relinquishment of PR status under current law, but this is explicitly about a PR who has failed to comply with the residency obligation and who surrenders PR status in order to seek entry into Canada as a Foreign National.

Provided the person has made it clear from the beginning and throughout the examination that they are interested in temporary resident status only and that they truly and voluntarily wish to relinquish status, the officer may allow the person to complete the Declaration: Voluntary Relinquishment of Permanent Resident Status/Residency Obligation Not Met (IMM 5538B).

Person satisfies the residency obligation in A28 but wishes to relinquish status for other reasons: As mentioned in section 5 above, a person may be allowed to voluntarily relinquish their status despite satisfying the residency obligation in A28, for the following reasons: • they have to relinquish permanent resident status in order to accept employment with a foreign government, including a diplomatic posting; or • it is necessary to qualify for status in another country. When a person approaches CIC and requests to relinquish their status, they may be allowed to complete the IMM 5539B (Declaration: Relinquishment of Permanent Resident Status/Residency Obligation Met) provided they are truly voluntarily relinquishing their status and fully understand the consequences. The person can then be treated as a foreign national. A copy of the IMM 5539B should be sent to the QRC to be stored on microfiche. Officers should always conduct an interview in person when accepting voluntary relinquishment of permanent resident status. This procedure is not to be used in lieu of completing a residency obligation determination for persons who might satisfy the residency obligation in A28 and where they are only seeking to come to Canada temporarily.

It is clear that there are indeed limited circumstances in which a PR may actually relinquish PR status voluntarily. None of those circumstances are indicated in the situation presented by singh_lucky.

In this regard it is worth quoting ENF 23 again regarding permission to allow the voluntary relinquishment of PR status:

This permission is not to be used in cases where permanent residents are subject to a report under A44(1) that may be or has been referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) for an admissibility hearing on matters other than the residency obligation criteria contained in A28.

Edited by dpenabill - 29 May 2011 at 3:02am