A permanent resident must meet 730 days of compliance in every five-year period. Physical presence is one way to get there — but not the only way. And falling short does not automatically end your status. What ends it is a final determination, and there is a deadline for stopping that.
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Section 28 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act sets the obligation: at least 730 days in every five-year period. The count is rolling, not fixed to your landing date, so an officer looks at the five years immediately before the day of the assessment.
Days outside Canada count in four situations. You were accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse or common-law partner, or a Canadian citizen parent if you are a child. You were employed full time outside Canada by a Canadian business or by the federal or a provincial public service. You were accompanying a permanent resident spouse or common-law partner, or parent, who held that kind of employment. Or the Regulations otherwise prescribe it.
The employment exception is narrower than people assume. It generally means an assignment from a Canadian business to a position outside Canada, not simply working abroad for a company that happens to have a Canadian connection. Get the structure of the employment checked before you rely on it.
You remain a permanent resident until there is a final determination that you failed the obligation, or a removal order comes into force. That gap matters, because it is where the case is won or lost.
The determination usually arrives in one of three ways. You apply for a PR card and IRCC assesses your days. You apply for a permanent resident travel document at a visa office abroad and the officer assesses them. Or you arrive at a port of entry and a border officer writes a report that leads to a removal order.
An officer who finds you short can still let you keep status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected by the decision. Those factors are considered when they are put in front of the officer with evidence — establishment in Canada, reasons for the absence, family ties, hardship. They are not assumed.
If a decision was made outside Canada — typically a refused travel document — you have 60 days from the day you receive the officer's decision to file a residency obligation appeal with the Immigration Appeal Division. Let that run out and the loss of status becomes final.
If you were reported inside Canada and a removal order was issued, the appeal window is shorter: 30 days from the day you receive the removal order. Both timelines are set by the Immigration Appeal Division Rules, 2022.
The Appeal Division can allow an appeal on humanitarian and compassionate grounds even where the officer's finding on the day count was correct. That is a real second chance, but it is a hearing with evidence and witnesses, and it starts with a notice of appeal filed on time.
Not necessarily. Nothing happens automatically — you are still a permanent resident until an officer makes a determination and it becomes final. What matters is how you re-enter the picture. Applying for a travel document, applying for a card, or arriving at the border all trigger an assessment, and each carries different risks and different appeal rights. Get advice on sequencing before you take any of those steps.
Days of physical presence in Canada count toward the 730 regardless of whether you were carrying a valid PR card, because the card is a document and your status is the underlying thing. What does not help is time spent in Canada after a determination against you has become final — at that point you are no longer a permanent resident and the count no longer applies to you.
Generally yes. Days you spent outside Canada accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse or common-law partner count toward the 730. The evidence has to show you were actually together — shared address, shared lease or ownership, travel records, joint accounts, and proof of your spouse's citizenship. Officers refuse this exception when the couple's records show them living in different countries.
$3,388.87, taxes included. That covers the day-count audit, advice on which exceptions apply to your situation, building the humanitarian and compassionate case with evidence where you are short, and preparing the application or the notice of appeal and the record behind it. Government filing fees are separate. If a matter goes to a full Immigration Appeal Division hearing we will tell you what that involves before you commit.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.