PR residency obligation calculator
Count your days in Canada against the 730-day rule for permanent residents, with a 5-year timeline.
Your details
The date on your Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) or PR card.
When time outside Canada still counts
- A. Full-time work for a Canadian employer
- You are an employee of, or under contract to, a Canadian business or the federal or a provincial public service, and assigned full time to a position, an affiliated business or a client outside Canada. A business that mainly exists to help a PR meet this rule does not count.
- B. With a Canadian citizen
- You ordinarily live with your spouse or common-law partner who is a Canadian citizen or, if you are a child (under 22 and without a spouse or partner), with your Canadian citizen parent.
- C. With a PR who works as in A
- You ordinarily live with your PR spouse, partner or parent who works full time abroad for a Canadian business or public service. It counts only as long as that person meets their own residency obligation.
An officer decides whether an exception applies, based on your proof (for example an employer letter, or the citizen’s passports and proof of address).
The day an officer would look at your record, for example when you apply for a PR card or a permanent resident travel document (PRTD) or come back to Canada. Defaults to today.
Your result
Enter the date you became a PR
How the days are counted
- The day you leave Canada and the day you come back both count as days in Canada (IRCC instructions for the PR card and PRTD application). A same-day trip is not an absence.
- If you have been a PR for less than 5 years, IRCC looks at the 5 years after you became a PR: the days you have so far plus the days left must reach 730.
- If you have been a PR for 5 years or more, IRCC looks at the 5 years right before the assessment. The window moves every day, so old days in Canada drop out over time.
- The 730 days don’t need to be continuous. Days after a report on a residency breach, or after a decision outside Canada that you don’t comply, are not counted unless that finding is later overturned.
- This tool counts calendar days and assumes you are in Canada on every day not covered by a trip, and from the assessment date onward.
Who decides
- An officer assesses the residency obligation when you apply to renew your PR card or for a PRTD, or when you come back to Canada. You list every absence on the application.
- If you don’t meet 730 days, ask for humanitarian and compassionate consideration on the application: explain why you stayed outside Canada, the hardship of losing PR status for you and your family, and the best interests of any child affected.
- A residency decision made outside Canada (for example a refused PRTD) can be appealed to the Immigration Appeal Division.
Official sources
Rules last checked Nov 3, 2026
- Justice Laws: Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, s. 28 (residency obligation)
- Justice Laws: Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, s. 61 (Canadian business, full-time employment, accompanying)
- Justice Laws: Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, s. 62 (calculation)
- IRCC: Understand permanent resident status (730 days in 5 years)
- IRCC: Instructions for the PR card / PRTD application (IMM 5444), time spent outside Canada
- IRCC: Guide 5445, Appendix A: Residency obligation and humanitarian and compassionate grounds
- IRCC: ENF 23, Loss of permanent resident status (calculating the 730 days)
- IRCC: Permanent resident travel document (PRTD)
- Justice Laws: IRPA s. 63(4) (appeal of a residency decision made outside Canada)
These tools give general information based on official rules. They are not legal advice and cannot guarantee any outcome. For advice on your case, book a consultation with a licensed consultant.
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