Expiration date or landing date?

lisafisa wrote: I landed for the first time in Canada on April 20th, 2012, then preceded to stay for 189 days. After this, because of the quick move I went completely broke and in debt and had to return to my home country. I remained there until Aug 27th 2015 (so a lil less than 3 years) and now am attending school until may of 2017. My PR card expires at the end of June in 2017. However, I only get money for school until end of April and was planning to go back home and work at my job (i'm currently on a study leave) during the summer for money then return in August for school and stay until end of June 2017. If I do this I'll have like 742 days that I've been in Canada. However, will it be accounted for or can they deny me since I will not reach the 730 days before April 2017 if I go back home inbetween? I'm nervous cause when I got here in August the immigration officer was very rude and mean about me being gone for so long although I tried to explain my situation.... I believe I have valid reasons for going back other than money, my cousin is having a baby in april and my grandmother is ill and besides, I have no family in Canada and am only 25.

Overall (short answer): you probably need to stay in Canada if you want to keep your PR status.

Longer explanation:

Date of landing determines the period of time within which a new PR must be able to meet the PR Residency Obligation. What this means practically is, simply, that a PR must not be absent from Canada for 1095 or more days between the date of landing and the fifth year anniversary of that date. Date on PR card is largely irrelevant (for purposes of determining asmissibility relative to the PR Residency Obligation).

After that, all that will matter, as of the fifth year anniversary of the day you landed and became a PR (thus the respective date in April 2017), is whether you have been present in Canada for at least 730 days in the preceding five years.

In the meantime, between now and April 2017: Add up the number of days you have already been absent, since landing, and subtract that from 1095. The difference is how many more days you can remain outside Canada and still be in compliance with the PR Residency Obligation.

Which is to say, if you leave in the summer of 2016, and the total of that absence plus your previous absence is 1095 or more, you would be in breach of the PR RO, and subject to being reported for inadmissibility and issued a removal order, leading to the loss of PR status (unless you appeal and win the appeal).    

Yes, you can argue H&C reasons for the extent of the absence, that you fully intend to settle permanently in Canada and are just struggling to make that possible while also balancing other compelling contingencies like a close family member's illness. A cousin's pregnancy and a grand parent's illness probably does not weigh enough to win this argument. Lack of family in Canada in contrast to family abroad actually hurts because it supports the conclusion that you would not suffer undue hardship if your PR status is terminated (you would, for example, not be separated from family in Canada). Overall, relying on an H&C case is a big risk.

It sounds like you have actually already really cut the 1095 day limit close, that the encounter at the POE probably resulted in FOSS notes which will alert POE officers, the next time you travel and upon returning to Canada, to more closely consider the extent of your presence or absence.

Immigrating can be difficult, really difficult. It is not for everyone. Whether or not you are committed to pursuing a life in Canada or not is a personal decision. There are requirements if you want to keep PR status. Those requirements can indeed result in some difficult choices. What your priorities are, what your abilities are, what is practically in the realm of what you can do, are aspects of the decision-making that is for you to consider and make your own choices about, based on what is best for you.

If living in Canada permanently is your main priority, best to stay now and stay for a full two years (remember that in April 2017, those days you were in Canada in 2012 begin to fall out of the equation, as they become more than five years old).