Win Your Residency Obligation Appeal

One way of winning the appeal is to show that the decision of the CIC officer concerning residency obligation is wrong in law or wrong in fact. Under section 28 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act a permanent resident (PR) must be “physically present in Canada” at least 730 days in every five-year period. There are certain exceptions to this rule which allow a PR to be outside Canada for one of the reasons specified in the Act or the regulations: (1) accompanying a family member or (2) working for a Canadian employer. For example, a PR can stay outside Canada without loosing his/her PR status if s/he is working for a Canadian company or if s/he is accompanying certain family members who are Canadian citizens.

Another way of winning the appeal is by requesting an exemption through showing presence of strong  humanitarian and compassionate considerations/factors based on which the appeal may be allowed even if the embassy’s/CIC’s decision was correct in law and fact. In other words, you would be explaining the reasons for your absence, which must be strong and compelling, and asking for an exemption based on the reasons/factors which prevented you from complying with the legal requirement of being in Canada for at least two years out of the last five years. In this context, as further grounds of strengthening your appeal, you may also present evidence of significant ties and connection to Canada. This is aimed at satisfying the IAD that, despite your physical absence from Canada, you have always maintained strong ties and connections to Canada and that you have consistently treated Canada as your ordinary place of residence. The burden of satisfying the IAD of the existence of sufficient Humanitarian & Compassionate considerations/factors is on you. In other words, it is your responsibility to satisfy the IAD why your appeal should be allowed rather than dismissed.

This responsibility should not be taken lightly and you should work towards gathering all the necessary evidence right from the beginning. Our experienced team of counsel and staff will work with you in informing you of and gathering all the evidentiary requirements, as the difference between success and failure depends almost exclusively on competent representation based on the right type of evidence. 

Contact our office for a free half hour initial consultation. Our experienced team of counsel and staff is committed to taking you where you want to go, not where you have to go. We will provide you with an exact list of the evidence that is required to win your appeal.

Ideally, at your free Initial Consultation (IC), you should come prepared with copies of all correspondence between you and the embassy/CIC (any letters, e-mails, faxes etc.). If you have them handy, you should also bring a copy of your file, and/or your application for PR Card and supporting documents which you attached to your application. This gives us the ability to discuss your case more thoroughly and enables us to determine the necessary course of action suitable to your case. You should feel free to discuss any underlying medical problems/conditions that you or your family members face/faced which was the cause of your prolonged absence from Canada. We will discuss your time spent outside Canada and identify any humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) reasons why you should be allowed to keep your permanent resident status.

To obtain further information and to take advantage of our free half hour initial consultation, please contact our office at (416) 365-9473 .