Canada's PR Residency Obligation: The 730-Day Rule

Canadian permanent residence is not permanent by default. It carries a physical presence obligation, and losing track of it is one of the more common ways people discover a problem at a port of entry rather than at a desk.

Accurate as of 24 August 2026. Every figure on this page is quoted from the primary source linked in Sources and was checked on that date.

The rule

Under Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 28, a permanent resident must be physically present in Canada for at least 730 days in every five-year period. The days need not be continuous, and the five-year window rolls rather than starting from a fixed date.

730 days is two years out of five. Put the other way, you may spend up to three years of any five outside Canada, which sounds generous until a couple of long postings overlap inside the same window.

Days abroad that still count

This is where the rule is more forgiving than its reputation. Certain days outside Canada count toward the 730:

• accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse or common-law partner;
• accompanying a parent, for a child;
• employment abroad on a full-time basis by a Canadian business or in the public service.

Each has conditions, and "Canadian business" in particular is defined rather than assumed. If your position depends on one of these, the evidence for it should be assembled while it is easy, not years later.

How status is actually lost

Falling short does not automatically strip your status. Permanent residence continues until an officer makes a formal determination, typically on a residency examination at entry or on a travel document application from abroad. There are appeal rights, and humanitarian and compassionate considerations, including the best interests of a child, can overcome a breach.

That said, relying on discretion is a poor plan. A failed determination while you are outside the country is a materially worse position than one you could have avoided by counting.

The other Canadian day rule

Keep the two apart. The 730-day obligation preserves your status. Citizenship has a separate and larger requirement: physical presence of at least 1,095 days in the five years immediately before applying, with pre-PR time as a temporary resident or protected person counting as a half day each, capped at 365 days. Because citizenship requires valid PR status, a breach of the 730-day rule can end the citizenship route as well.

Counting these days automatically

A rolling five-year window, with some days abroad counting and others not, is precisely the kind of rule that needs a running record rather than an annual estimate. The Days Monitor iPhone app logs your days by country and state automatically, runs custom rules with rolling windows of any length, warns you before you cross a line, and exports a timestamped PDF or CSV record if you are ever asked to evidence it. Download it on the App Store.

Sources

• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 28 (accessed 24 August 2026)

All sources checked 24 August 2026.

This article is general information, not tax, legal or immigration advice. Day-counting rules interact with treaties, your immigration status and your individual facts. Verify current rules with the relevant authority and take advice from a qualified professional before relying on any threshold.