041: What Everybody Should Know About Canadian Permanent Resident Status! Essential tips on how to retain your status with Chantal Desloges

Becoming a permanent resident of Canada has never been more difficult. Knowing how to keep that residency in changing life circumstances can be just as important....in fact, possibly even more important! In this episode I caught up with immigration lawyer Chantal Desloges who practices in Toronto, Ontario to share some insight on this increasingly important area of immigration law. If you are a permanent resident of Canada wondering if you have done enough to maintain your PR status, this episode is for you. If you go to virtually any of the online newspaper or television websites in Ontario and search immigration lawyer, you are almost certain to find Chantal Desloges. She is a regular immigration commentator on CTVs Power Play, and has been interviewed and quoted in both national and local television and newspapers on a variety of Canadian immigration related topics. Chantal has also been a regular organizer and participant in community education programs by giving speeches, lectures and training seminars to not only the community at large, but to other immigration practitioners as well. Chantal is certified as a Specialist in both Immigration and Refugee Law with the Law Society of Upper Canada and practices out of her own firm Desloges Law Group in Toronto, Ontario. If you are a permanent resident of Canada and are concerned that you may not have met the residency obligations to keep this status, this Podcast is going to be invaluable to you. I can guarantee that you are not going to get this level of insight and detail on maintaining Canadian permanent resident status anywhere else. And if you can find it somewhere else, you are definitely paying for it. In this episode Chantal and I discussed the following topics: the difference between permanent resident status and the permanent resident card; calculation of the 5 year residency period; physical presence exceptions (accompanying spouse and working abroad); how to return to Canada with an expired or missing PR card; when a residency determination is triggered; what to do if written up for breach of residency obligation; and how to relinquish PR if necessary.