Immigration Canada recently revised regulations requiring those who have used any two-year tax bill as a residence certificate to check tax bills over the past five years. However, many permanent residents who apply for “no taxation” and live with citizen-qualified spouses are worried that they will be refunded when reissueing the maple leaf card because they do not pay taxes. In response to our inquiry, the Immigration Department stated that it should submit a written explanation and will still be accepted.

Starting April 30, the Immigration Department will change the commonly used resident cards, commonly known as the Maple Leaf Card, which will be delivered by mail. Applicants do not need to go to the Immigration Office to collect it in person, which is a great blessing for those applying for a replacement. However, starting in June, the Immigration Department revised the Maple Leaf Card Update Regulations, requiring applicants to pay taxes as residence certificates.

According to the latest application instructions issued by the Immigration Department, copies of documents that must be attached to the replacement maple leaf card include:

1. Old card.

2. Passport or travel documents.

3. Two types of identity certificate documents, such as immigration paper, driver's license, student ID, etc.

4. Other residence certificate documents, including all internal pages of the passport and any two-year personal income tax form (tax) approved for the past five years.

The Immigration Bureau has particularly emphasized its website that those who have incomplete documents will be returned. For most applicants, preparing these documents is not a big problem as long as they do live for over two years in the past five years. However, applicants who have become "non-tax residents" naturally cannot obtain taxes because they do not need to submit taxes in Canada. The tax form released by the bureau is worried about a refund.

According to the regulations, permanent residents must live for two years within five years before they can continue issuing maple leaf cards, but the restrictions will not be subject to this restriction if they are accompanied by a spouse who is citizenship living overseas. Therefore, there are many "astronaut" families who have acquired their identity and lived with their partner, whose spouses return to their original residence, and they still hold maple leaf cards to ensure that their immigration status is not lost.

Industry insiders say many Chinese immigrants returning from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China have completed “non-tax residents” and then left the country based on tax considerations, according to industry insiders. Now, the Immigration Bureau suddenly requires those who issue maple leaf cards to submit a two-year tax bill, which may be an impact on these non-tax residents who settle overseas.

The newspaper asked the Immigration Bureau about this matter. Gassi spokesman Lisa-Marie Gagne replied that when non-tax residents apply for a replacement of the maple leaf card, they should be delivered if they cannot provide tax bills and other required residence certificates. When interpreted in writing, the Immigration Bureau will still accept the case and will not return it.