Don't Leave Home Without...Your Valid Permanent Resident Card!

Nearly five years ago, the Canadian government issued its first 'Permanent Resident Card' for Canadian Permanent Residents (PRs). Canadian citizens don't require this card and once PRs themselves become citizens, they no longer require it either.

Generally, if a PR travels anywhere outside Canada (using commercial carriage, such as a bus, plane etc.), then he/she must be able to present his/her valid PR Card in order to board and gain re-entry back into Canada. If he/she does not have such a (valid) card, he/she might then have to obtain an emergency travel document from the nearest Canadian emergency-travel-document-issuing authority (which might end up not being so near at all!), in order to get back home. Frankly, if you are at the close of your voyage and you're familiar with that 'just wanting to go home already' feeling, who then needs this kind of hassle and headache?! We're not even talking about lost time, lost money and maybe even your ticket home!

Well, those first cards which were issued by Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) way back in June 2002, are nearing their 5-year expiry date. This means that if you are a PR and you plan on travelling outside Canada some time soon, and you currently have a valid PR Card, then please check the expiry date on your card before leaving Canada. If there is enough time to renew your card before travel, then by all means do so; otherwise, you may have to contact CIC in order to request a rush service and/or perhaps consider modifying your travel plans.

Not to belabour the point, but if you are a PR and have never had any card at all yet, you might want to consider applying for one asap. One never knows when one might be unexpectedly summoned outside of Canada and when that happens, the last thing you'll want to be fretting about is about being able to eventually get back into Canada.

Make your trip an enjoyable one, one that will end happily. Plan ahead.

See: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/pr-card.pdf

Are you a Canadian living abroad? Do you have children?

Canada is a great country and a great place to live. Really. At once cosmopolitan and friendly, nice people, high quality-of-life, good health and education systems and great weather. (OK, maybe not really so much the weather. But, respectfully, other areas with more temperate climates are themselves weather-challenged, what-with their heat waves, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and so on. Those I can't live with - snow and cold weather, skating and tobogganing I can.) We live in a democratic society where we speak our minds with no fear of reprisal. It's destiny's gift to be able to live our lives in this glorious country.

Immigration to Canada, or to most countries for that matter, requires effort, concentration and drive. It can be costly. It often creates an upheaval in people's lives, hopefully in a positive way. Still, especially when coming to Canada, these efforts are well worth it. This is evidenced by the fact that thousands of people around the world apply to immigrate to Canada and would love to come to Canada, to live here and join in our rich lifestyles.

Why the pontification?

I know some people who were born in Canada and are consequently Canadian citizens. For whatever their personal reasons, they have moved from Canada and have established their families and households elsewhere now. They love Canada, though they may or may not still retain strong ties to her. This is fine.

However, and this is where I have my beef with them: they have not yet registered their children as Canadian citizens! This is incomprehensible! Generally speaking, the privilege of Canadian citizenship is generously extended to children born abroad to Canadian citizens, if either or both parents are Canadian at the time of their child's birth. Registration is not that complicated to do and is not very costly. Imagine that - gifting your child, almost effortlessly, with a nationality that most people can only dream of obtaining.

Why bother, you may ask? To me the answer is simple: it's about awarding your child the privilege of being part of this great Canadian family and nation. Consider also that one never knows what the future may bring. Perhaps right now, Canadian citizenship for your child may not be a priority and you cannot imagine how he/she may ever have any advantage from it. However, it helps to think about the years to come. What if your child may wish to come live in Canada at some point in his/her life? What if he/she one day desires to come study in one of our world-renowned and acclaimed universities and pay Canadian-student tuition rates? More seriously, our world's political situation is not quite as stable as we would perhaps like it to be. What if your child's current host country decides to implement homeland security measures and/or a draft for a war effort, implementations to which he/she may be ideologically opposed? While I am not suggesting any kind of civil disobedience and/or disrespect to his/her current home country, as a Canadian however, he/she could have the right to view political issues from a uniquely Canadian standpoint and correspondingly will always have a home to come to.

This registration privilege has limitations and does not last forever. Already on August 14 2004, transitional provisions of the Citizenship Act expired, such that persons born outside Canada before 14 February 1977 are no longer allowed to register under these provisions. (There has been much in the news recently about persons who applied for Canadian passports and because they had previously not registered, found out that they were technically not Canadian citizens! The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has set-up a dedicated unit in the CIC to deal with this issue). These could-have-been-Canadians have been denied their rightful birthright of a national heritage. How dreadfully sad!

So to all you expatriate Canadians: if you have children, unless you have clear beliefs and/or other pressing concerns which stand in your way, please register your children asap! Save any later regrets and don't let this incredible opportunity slip away.

Just one more practical reason: don't wait until it's too late and your kid has yet another reason to tie you to the whipping post for another alleged misdeed!