Days abroad can still count toward your residency obligation when you are working full time for a real Canadian business, meaning a Canadian-incorporated company with ongoing operations here or a majority Canadian-owned enterprise that earns or expects revenue. A shell set up so you can live abroad and keep your card does not qualify. Days also count while you are ordinarily living abroad with a Canadian citizen spouse, partner, or parent, and a child here means someone under 22 who is not married or in a partnership. If you are abroad accompanying another permanent resident, your compliance rides on theirs.
(2)For greater certainty, a Canadian business does not include a business that serves primarily to allow a permanent resident to comply with their residency obligation while residing outside Canada.
(3)For the purposes of subparagraphs 28(2)(a)(iii) and (iv) of the Act, the expression employed on a full-time basis by a Canadian business or in the public service of Canada or of a province means, in relation to a permanent resident, that the permanent resident is an employee of, or under contract to provide services to, a Canadian business or the public service of Canada or of a province, and is assigned on a full-time basis as a term of the employment or contract to (a)a position outside Canada; (b)an affiliated enterprise outside Canada; or (c)a client of the Canadian business or the public service outside Canada.
(5)For the purposes of subparagraph 28(2)(a)(iv) of the Act, a permanent resident complies with the residency obligation as long as the permanent resident they are accompanying complies with their residency obligation.
(6)For the purposes of subparagraphs 28(2)(a)(ii) and (iv) of the Act, child means a child who is not a spouse or common-law partner and is less than 22 years of age.