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Onus rests with the permanent resident

As indicated throughout this manual chapter, the onus rests with the permanent resident to provide the necessary information and evidence to satisfy an officer that they are in compliance with the legislation. An officer, when deciding whether a permanent resident complies with A28(2)(a)(iv), may address, inter alia, the following factors:

• whether the permanent resident is a bona fide spouse or common-law partner or child of the person they are accompanying abroad;
• whether the permanent resident normally resides with the person they are accompanying abroad;
• whether the person the permanent resident is accompanying is a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada; and
• if the person concerned is accompanying a permanent resident, whether that permanent resident is in compliance with their own residency obligation.

Documentation and information presented by a permanent resident that may be considered by an officer may include, inter alia: a marriage license; a child’s birth certificate or baptismal document; adoption or guardianship documents; school and/or employment records; passport and/or other travel documents or documentation; employment letters; such other documentation from a permanent resident being accompanied – as considered necessary by an officer - to confirm that the permanent resident being accompanied is in compliance with their own residency obligation.

Note: The above list is not meant to be all encompassing nor exhaustive. Officers may ask permanent residents to provide such documentation, as an officer deems necessary in the circumstances, to allow for a determination to be made with respect to the residency obligation provision of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

If you are outside Canada for extended periods of time, you can accumulate residency days if you are:

• Travelling with a Canadian spouse or common-law partner, or are a child under 19 years of age accompanying a parent, or
• Employed on a full-time basis by a Canadian business or the Public Service of Canada and are assigned a position outside of Canada, or
• The spouse, common-law partner or child of a permanent resident who is outside Canada and who is employed on a full-time basis by a Canadian business or the Public Service of Canada.

Even permanent residents who have lived in Canada for many years could be forced to leave.

One of the reasons that a refugee can lose their permanent resident status is if they voluntarily go back under the protection of their "country of nationality". This is the country they were a citizen of when they fled.

Going back under the protection of the country of nationality is called "re-availment".

The Minister may apply for cessation based on this reason if a protected person has:

• travelled to their country of nationality
• applied for or renewed a passport issued by that country

The waiting period begins on the date you establish or re-establish residence in Ontario. If you are an eligible temporary resident, such as a foreign worker who meets the citizenship and residence requirements described in Ontario's Health Insurance Act, the waiting period begins on the date you establish residence in Ontario.


Your coverage begins when the waiting period ends - after three calendar months.

If you are charged with a crime in Canada, you have a right to a trial in criminal court. At the trial, a lawyer for the government will try to prove that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If they cannot prove this, then the court will find you not guilty.


Be sure you know what kind of immigration status you have here. If you are not a Canadian citizen, what the court decides may affect your status. It may lead immigration authorities to take steps to get a “removal order” against you. This is an order to remove you from Canada to another country.

Here are just a few examples of crimes that could affect your immigration status — driving while you are drunk, stealing even if you steal something of little value, assaulting your family or other people, having illegal drugs.

What can I do to protect my status and stay in Canada?

Get legal advice right away. If there is a removal order against you, you may be able to appeal to the Immigration and Refugee Board. But there are time limits, so you should act quickly.

If the criminal court decides that you are guilty, you may also have the right to appeal. But again there are time limits, so get legal advice right away.

You could apply to the National Parole Board for a pardon (now called a “record suspension”) if you have completed the punishment the court gave you. There is a waiting period before you can apply.

If you get the pardon, immigration authorities should treat you as if you were not guilty of the crime.