Expired PR but need to urgently travel - Seeking advice

[ahsm444]

Hello

My wife has a PR and it expired in January 2023, we sold our house and were moving and forgot to renew the PR card.

Due to an illness in her family and a death in the extended family as well, she must travel to Ukraine at the end of June/beginning of July.

I am seeking advice on the proper way to do this.

If I apply for a PR card renewal today and mark it as urgent and include a letter explaining our situation, would this help renew her PR card before she intends to travel?

Or should she just go to Ukraine with an expired PR card and apply for a PRTD while in Ukraine?

Unfortunately this is a very stressful situation and we are looking for any advice that we can get.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Ponga]

Hello

My wife has a PR and it expired in January 2023, we sold our house and were moving and forgot to renew the PR card.

Due to an illness in her family and a death in the extended family as well, she must travel to Ukraine at the end of June/beginning of July.

I am seeking advice on the proper way to do this.

If I apply for a PR card renewal today and mark it as urgent and include a letter explaining our situation, would this help renew her PR card before she intends to travel?

Or should she just go to Ukraine with an expired PR card and apply for a PRTD while in Ukraine?

Unfortunately this is a very stressful situation and we are looking for any advice that we can get.

Thank you in advance.

Ok, you understand that only the PR Card has expired, NOT PR status, right? Big difference!

Has your wife met the Residency Obligation to renew the card? If she has more than 730 days in Canada for the last 5 years, she should be approved for the PRTD (would not get the new card for at least a few months). At least a couple of people have been successful applying for a PRTD while still in Canada:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/prtd-application-submitted-in-canada-success-story.794260/

Good luck!

 

[armoured]

Or should she just go to Ukraine with an expired PR card and apply for a PRTD while in Ukraine?

Keep in mind that she will almost certainly not be able to get this done in Ukraine just due to embassy not providing all services now - most likely Warsaw is the primary option.

If she has a visa permitting travel to USA, she could return to Canada via land border, where the expired PR card will be sufficient (valid PR card required to board plane to Canada).

 

[ahsm444]

Ok, you understand that only the PR Card has expired, NOT PR status, right? Big difference!

Has your wife met the Residency Obligation to renew the card? If she has more than 730 days in Canada for the last 5 years, she should be approved for the PRTD (would not get the new card for at least a few months). At least a couple of people have been successful applying for a PRTD while still in Canada:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/prtd-application-submitted-in-canada-success-story.794260/

Good luck!

Keep in mind that she will almost certainly not be able to get this done in Ukraine just due to embassy not providing all services now - most likely Warsaw is the primary option.

If she has a visa permitting travel to USA, she could return to Canada via land border, where the expired PR card will be sufficient (valid PR card required to board plane to Canada).

Thank you to both of you for your prompt replies.

Unfortunately, travelling to the USA would not be a choice. She does not have a US Visa and she will be travelling with a small child.

It seems our only two options are to either A) apply for a PRTD within Canada or B) apply for a PR renewal today and mark it as urgent, include the plane tickets, receipts and a letter explaining the nature of the urgency. I just need to know which option is quicker and more hassle free.

Could you please advise me on which option to take if you were in our shoes? I completely understand that is is our fault for letting the PR expire and we typically do let these things happen but the war in Ukraine took a huge mental toll on us, I also lost my job at the beginning of this year and all these things combined led to us making this mistake. We can delay her trip by a bit, perhaps have her fly out in the middle of July if that would help the situation. Also, yes she has been in Canada for more than 730 days during the last 5 years. I apologize to the Government of Canada and anyone reading this for the extra hassle.

Thank you.

 

[armoured]

It seems our only two options are to either A) apply for a PRTD within Canada or B) apply for a PR renewal today and mark it as urgent, include the plane tickets, receipts and a letter explaining the nature of the urgency. I just need to know which option is quicker and more hassle free.

Could you please advise me on which option to take if you were in our shoes?

Basically I'd suggest doing both: apply for the PR renewal today, mark it urgent (mention the child!), and then a few days or weeks later on the assumption that the PR card will not come through in time.

Side note: while I said Warsaw, I should have noted that I think that in fact you'd be able to submit at any VFS Global office and they'd do the logistics for the PRTD. Don't know if VFS has offices in Kyiv or Lviv right now working. Also note, I believe this is how PRTDs work, not certain.