There is no mechanism to simply “strip” a permanent resident of their status in Canada. The loss of permanent resident status must occur through a legal process in which it is determined that the person is no longer entitled to retain that status.
What circumstances can trigger a process to take away a permanent resident’s status? There can be several reasons, including failure to comply with the residency obligation imposed on all permanent residents, which generally requires them to be physically present in Canada for at least 730 days during every five-year period, or misrepresentation in connection with an application for permanent residence.
Section 46(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is the complete list of the ways permanent resident status ends. Every item on it is either the end of a legal process or a step the person takes themselves:
| How permanent resident status ends | IRPA |
|---|---|
| Becoming a Canadian citizen | s. 46(1)(a) |
| A final determination, made outside Canada, that the residency obligation was not met | s. 46(1)(b) |
| A removal order against the person coming into force | s. 46(1)(c) |
| A final determination that refugee protection has ceased on certain grounds | s. 46(1)(c.1) |
| A final determination vacating refugee protection | s. 46(1)(d) |
| An officer approving the person’s own application to renounce the status | s. 46(1)(e) |
From a CBSA report to an admissibility hearing
If the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) determines that a permanent resident may be inadmissible under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), it may prepare an inadmissibility report. The report is then referred to the Immigration Division (ID) of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada for an admissibility hearing.
The Immigration Division is an independent administrative tribunal. At the hearing, the permanent resident has an opportunity to challenge the allegations contained in the CBSA’s report and present evidence in support of their case.
It is important to understand, however, that the Immigration Division generally does not have jurisdiction to consider humanitarian and compassionate factors, such as a person’s lengthy establishment in Canada, family ties, medical circumstances, or other personal circumstances, when determining whether the person is inadmissible.
What the Immigration Division decides, and what it cannot decide, is set out in more detail in our article on what an admissibility hearing decides.
The appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division
If the Immigration Division determines that the permanent resident is inadmissible and issues a removal order, the person may, in many circumstances, appeal the decision to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD). The IAD has jurisdiction to consider humanitarian and compassionate considerations in an appeal by a permanent resident, including factors such as establishment in Canada, family and community ties, and the hardship that removal may cause.
There are, however, important exceptions. Permanent residents who are found inadmissible on certain grounds, including security-related grounds, may be barred from appealing the removal order to the IAD.
Which grounds close the door to the IAD
Section 64 of the Act removes the appeal where the person has been found inadmissible on grounds of security, violating human or international rights, sanctions, serious criminality or organized criminality. For this purpose, serious criminality means a crime punished in Canada by a term of imprisonment of at least six months, or one described in paragraph 36(1)(b) or (c). Misrepresentation is not on that list: a permanent resident found inadmissible for misrepresentation keeps the right to appeal the removal order and to ask for humanitarian relief. Where the appeal is barred, the remaining route is usually judicial review in the Federal Court — and, where removal is scheduled, a motion for a stay of removal.
Status continues while the appeal is decided
Filing the appeal matters for more than the hearing itself. Under section 49(1), a removal order that can be appealed does not come into force until the day after the appeal period expires with no appeal, or until a final decision confirms it. Because permanent resident status ends only when the removal order comes into force, a permanent resident who appeals in time remains a permanent resident while the appeal is decided. The notice of appeal must reach the IAD within 30 days after the removal order is received. For a removal order made at an admissibility hearing, the Minister then prepares the appeal record — the documents the order was based on — and provides it within 30 days after the Immigration Division receives the notice of appeal.
The residency obligation in practice
The 730 days need not all be spent in Canada. Under section 28(2)(a), days also count while the person is outside Canada accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse, common-law partner or — for a child — parent; while employed full-time outside Canada by a Canadian business or in the federal or a provincial public service; or while accompanying a permanent resident spouse, partner or parent who is employed that way. Compliance is usually examined at the border, when a PR card is renewed, or when a travel document is requested from abroad.
A decision made outside Canada that the obligation was not met can be appealed to the IAD within 60 days after the decision and written reasons are received (section 63(4)), and status is lost only when that decision becomes final. Inside Canada, a residency breach is dealt with through a report and a removal order, which is appealable in the same way as any other.
Where the days are genuinely short, the IAD can still allow a residency appeal on humanitarian and compassionate grounds under section 67(1)(c), taking into account the best interests of any child directly affected. The reasons for the absence, the efforts made to return, and the ties the person kept to Canada are the kind of evidence that appeal turns on.
When the question comes up at the border
Under section 27(1) of the Act, a permanent resident has the right to enter and remain in Canada, subject to the Act. An officer at a port of entry who believes the residency obligation has not been met can write a report, but the report starts a process; it does not end the status. Permanent residents in that position are sometimes offered the option of renouncing their status instead. Renunciation is one of the ways status ends under section 46(1)(e): it takes effect when an officer approves the person’s own application, and the Act provides no appeal against it. It is a decision to make with full information about the alternatives, including an appeal where one is available, rather than on the spot at a counter.
Not automatic, and not immediate
Therefore, losing permanent resident status is not an automatic or immediate process. The circumstances must first be assessed through the applicable legal process, and in cases where an appeal to the IAD is available, humanitarian and compassionate considerations may provide an additional avenue for the permanent resident to seek to remain in Canada.
Angelina Shuster is a licensed paralegal and represents permanent residents at admissibility hearings and on appeals to the Immigration Appeal Division, including appeals against removal orders and residency-obligation decisions. A report, a removal order or a residency decision can be reviewed through a free assessment.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Whether an appeal is available depends on the ground of inadmissibility and the facts of each case.
