Dos and Don’ts for Canada permanent residents

Why choose Canada PR?

There are many benefits that Canada permanent residents get. Here are a few:

• You can live, study, and work in Canada.
• You will get free coverage when it comes to healthcare services.
• In case you are a businessman or an entrepreneur, you can set up your own business in Canada and run it on a full-fledged basis.
• You can apply for Canadian citizenship after living legally in Canada for a certain number of years.
• You can open your bank account in Canada. Also, you can get a driver’s license.
• You have the opportunity to obtain lucrative scholarships in Canada.
• In Canada, those families having children aged under 18 years are classified as low-income. Hence, they can avail of monthly tax-free (child tax) payments that will help them in meeting daily tasks.
• Elderly people are provided financial assistance in Canada under the Canada Pension Plan. This will be available to them after they attain retirement age. In Canada, the retirement age is currently 65 years.
• If you got kids aged under 18 years, Canada’s public school system grants education to them for free.
• In Canada, women get one complete year of maternity leave. In general, they even earn 50 percent to 75 percent of their salary.

Canada Permanent Residency

In simple words, a permanent resident in Canada is a person who gets the status of a permanent resident upon his/her immigration to Canada. This status will however not amount to their becoming a Canadian citizen.

Canada Permanent Residency grants you the rights and legal status that are below that of a citizen but above those who arrive in Canada temporarily as students or workers. Those people will have termed visas, upon the expiry of which they have to either extend it (if possible) or leave the country.

If you are a permanent resident in Canada, you will receive a Canada PR card that shows your status in Canada. While you travel outside Canada, you have to carry a PR card as well as your passport. If you are a permanent resident in Canada without a valid PR card in hand, you will need to lodge an application for a PR travel document before coming back to Canada after a trip by a commercial vehicle.

Canada PRs Can Do Vs. Canada PRs Can't Do

Dos	Don’ts
Canada PRs get most of the social benefits that Canadian citizens are entitled to. These include healthcare coverage.	Canada PRs can’t vote or run for any political office.
Canada PRs can live, study, or work at any location in Canada.	Canada PRs can’t hold certain jobs that require a high-level security clearance.
Canada PRs can apply for Canadian citizenship.
Canada PRs will be protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Canadian law.

Know your eligibility to immigrate to Canada through Y-Axis Canada Immigration Points Calculator.

Validity of Canada PR visa

Canada PR visa gives you the right to live in Canada permanently. However, in order to maintain your Canada PR status, you are required to be present in Canada for a minimum period of 730 days during the last five years. It’s not required that the 730 days are spent in Canada continuously. It’s even possible that some of the time you spent abroad may count towards those 730 days.

How can I renew my Canada PR visa?

Your PR card could get expired. However, this doesn’t mean that your Canada PR status expires too.  Normally, the validity of a Canada PR card is 5 years. In case your PR card expires or is due to expire in under 9 months, you may apply for a new card.

To be eligible for a Canada PR card, you must

• Hold the status of a permanent resident in Canada
• Submit your application in Canada

In case you are outside Canada, you can apply for a PRTD (Permanent Resident Travel Document) to come back to Canada

If you want to leave Canada, you can renew your Canada PR card before you leave Canada.

• If you don’t get your PR card in time, you can file an application for a PRTD from outside Canada.

The cost of a Canada PR card is CAD50. The time taken for processing the application for renewal or replacement of a PR card is 93 days. A new PR card will be issued within 65 days.

In case you want a PR card to be issued faster, you have the option of applying for urgent processing. For urgent PR card processing, you need to be traveling outside Canada within the next three months owing to:

• A serious illness you have
• A job opportunity
• Work that’s related to the current job you are doing
• The death of a member of your family
• The serious illness of a member of your family

The granting of urgent processing isn’t assured.

Canada PR to Canada Citizenship

In order to become a Canadian citizen, you have to meet the following requirements:

• You must be a permanent resident of Canada.
• You must have resided in Canada for a period of 3 years out of the last 5 years.
• You must have filed your taxes payable in Canada, if any is pending.
• You must pass a test on your rights, responsibilities, and knowledge of Canada.
• You must present proof of your language skills.

Any additional documents may also have to be presented depending on the situation that arises.

If you are one who has the following statuses, you will have additional requirements to fulfill:

• You are applying for a person aged under 18 and hence deemed as a minor.
• You are a Canadian lodging an application for your adopted child who was born outside Canada.
• You are a former/current member of the CAF (Canadian Armed Forces) lodging an application under the fast-track process.
• You were a Canadian citizen in the past and want your Canadian citizenship back (this includes former/current members of the CAF)

You must note that marrying a Canadian citizen won’t make you a Canadian citizen automatically. However, if you have a parent/grandparent who’s Canadian, you may automatically become a Canadian citizen yourself.

If you are willing to migrate to Canada, talk to Y-Axis, the leading immigration and career consultant in the UAE.

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