A person who has permanent resident status in Canada is considered a permanent resident of the country. Canada permanent residency is not equal to Canadian citizenship. All permanent residents living in Canada are citizens of other countries. To be able to maintain their status as permanent residents of Canada, people will be required to meet certain qualifications that include the obligations that come with having Canada PR.
Listed below are some of the benefits you will be able to gain if you get a Canadian permanent residency.
- You will have access to the healthcare system of Canada as well as the social services of the country.
- You will have the right to live, work and even study in Canada.
- You will gain protection under the laws of Canada.
- You will be able to leave the country and re-enter as you wish with the help of your permanent resident status card or Canadian permanent residency travel documents.
- You will have the right to invoke the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
- You will have the Authorization to submit an application to gain citizenship of Canada if you are eligible.
Many immigration pathways and streams are available to help you get Canada PR. Canada does not offer anything called a green card but instead, it gives individuals permanent resident status cards of Canada to signify that the holder of the card is legally a permanent resident of Canada. Just as is the case with the green card in the United States of America, a holder of a Canadian permanent resident card is not a Canadian citizen. But they have the authority to apply for Canadian citizenship. A permanent resident also has the authorization to be living and working anywhere in Canada, as well as leave and re-enter the country freely.
Pathways For Obtaining Canadian Green Card
The official term used for the Canadian green card is a Permanent Resident Card of Canada. This card can be used to showcase that you are legally a Canadian permanent resident. While traveling outside Canada, you will be required to show this card along with your passport or other valid travel documents while re-entering from a commercial means of transport. Listed below are the immigration streams you can use to migrate to Canada and obtain a permanent resident card.
Independent Or Skilled Worker Category
A person is considered a skilled worker if he/she has the skills that can be useful in the Canadian economy. Such a person is usually qualified in their job due to their educational qualifications or skills, and they must possess job experience in the occupational field such as management, any other skilled profession, or trade. To be qualified as a foreign skilled worker to be able to apply to one of the many skilled worker Immigration programs, you will be assessed on a point-based system. The points will be assigned to you by taking into account your language skills, age, job experience, and educational credentials. You should have got 67/100 points.
Business Immigration
Any person who is an investor or self-employed can be eligible to apply through a business immigration stream. It can also be people involved in a business who can apply through the Investor And Business Visa. A person who is self-employed will have to have the ability to establish their own business in Canada or own an already established Canadian business that contributes to the economy of the country. A person applying as an investor will have to have the ability to invest a specific amount in an already established business in Canada and have business skills themselves.
Family Class Immigration
If anybody from your blood relation like a brother, sister, or husband, or spouse is already living in Canada as a permanent resident then they can sponsor you to live in Canada as a permanent resident using family class sponsorship.
Canadian Experience Class
This program is for those people who immigrate to Canada as a student on the basis of a study permit and if you are an expert in both official languages (English and French) and also have Canadian work experience then you can apply for the Canadian Experience Class because you understand the society and the labor market of Canada and easily adjust with the new environment of Canada.
Express Entry
Express Entry is an online immigration process in which you have to submit your Express Entry profile and you get selected on the basis of your skills. If you got the highest ranking in Express Entry draw then you will get an ITA ( Invitation to apply) and you can apply for permanent residency status in Canada.
The Canadian authorities understand the requirements of their labor market so they immigrate newcomers to Canada to increase the growth of their economy and to maintain it for a long time. The Express Entry program is to manages the application process for permanent residence for new immigrants to meet the requirements of skilled workers for the Canadian labor market.
Permanent Residence Cards
If a person has been authorized as a permanent resident of Canada, they will be automatically eligible to submit an application to gain a Permanent Resident Card of Canada. This card symbolizes that the holder of the card has Canada PR status and that they can travel and out of the country using this card. If you wish to submit an application for gaining a permanent resident card in Canada, you will have to submit the application to IRCC.
Permanent Residence Card Renewal
A permanent resident card is usually valid for a duration of 5 years unless you have been authorized for a different duration explicitly. Some Canadian permanent resident cards can stay valid for only one year. As a permanent resident, you will have to keep track of the expiration date of the validity of your card and timely submit an application to get it renewed. The renewal is important to be done within 6 months of the card has expired.
Permanent Resident Travel Document
If you are a person with permanent residency in Canada and are living outside the country, wishing to gain re-entry, you can then submit an application to gain a travel document for Canadian permanent residents. This can only be done if your permanent resident card is not expired. The permanent resident travel document will be valid for the one entry into the country for which you submitted the application. This way you will be allowed to enter Canada before you gain a PR card or have a chance to get it renewed.
Residency Obligations
If you wish to be maintaining your status and continue as a permanent resident of Canada you will have to fulfill the obligations of a permanent resident. These are referred to as residency obligations and they include that you must be physically present in Canada for a certain time period. Usually, a person’s residency obligation states that they are required to stay in the country for a minimum of 730 days out of a period of 5 years. A person can be exempt from this if they fall under exceptions that have been set by the federal authorities.
Canadian Citizenship
Those foreign nationals who wish to obtain citizenship in Canada will be required to fulfill some requirements. This also includes the condition that they must have a permanent resident status in Canada and it should be valid at the time of submitting the application. It must be noted that the resident obligations for gaining citizenship differ from the resident obligations of renewal of the permanent resident card. To find out how you can gain citizenship in Canada quickly, you can consult with your immigration consultant.
Renouncing Permanent Resident Status
You will not lose your PR Status of the nation if your permanent resident card is not renewed once its validity period is up. You will have to go through the official process that is put in place by the IRCC to lose your Canada PR status. If you are a person wishing for the renouncement of your permanent resident status in Canada, you will be required to submit an application that states that you voluntarily wish to give up your PR status.
