Immigration

I am a permanent resident of Canada which entitles me to live and work here. To prove my status I have a Permanent Resident (PR) Card which I must show when entering the country, cards are valid for 5 years, mine expires on January 11, 2013. Permanent residents are eligible to apply for citizenship once you have accumulated 1,095 days of physical presence in the country. The citizenship application requires you to detail every trip out of the country that exceeds 24 hours and, since I like to vacation it took me a little longer than three years to be eligible to apply.

I mailed my citizenship application and paid the fees back in June 2011. At that time there was a 15 month processing time. In September 2011 I received confirmation that my application had been received, not that it is being processed, just that it has been received. Today the processing time is listed at 19 months. I telephoned the contact centre to discuss my options and was advised that it is OK to have an expired PR card in Canada. Indeed, but what if one wants to take a vacation? I have two options:

1. I can go to the Canadian embassy of the country where I am on vacation and ask for a 'travel document'. This didn't strike me as a) how I want to spend my holiday or b) even a slightly good idea.
2. Alternatively I can apply to renew my PR card. However, renewal applications cannot be submitted earlier that 6 months before the expiry date and current processing time is 4 months. I was cheerfully informed that this is the lowest processing time ever for PR cards.

So now I need to get more passport photos, complete the application form detailing everything I have eaten for the past 5 years, pay $50 and hope the wondrously speedy processing times remain in place for the next 9 months. Worst case scenario I guess I will just have to stay in Australia at the end of our winter holiday ;-)