When will your Maple Leaf Card expire? Although this small card is often visible when carried around, few immigrants can clearly explain its validity period. Therefore, every year, 6,000 permanent residents encounter card failure when traveling abroad. When they are about to return, they face the dilemma of losing their immigration status due to lack of valid documents.

It is understood that the federal government launched a maple leaf card in 2002 to replace the previous "login paper". After that, permanent residents must provide a maple leaf card as identification if they need to leave Canada and then enter the country. The card is valid for five years, and the licensee must live in Canada for at least two years during this period before being eligible for renewal procedures.

People who are in Canada occasionally forget to cause the maple leaf card to expire is not a serious problem. As long as they meet the residence requirements, they can apply to the Federal Immigration Department for reissue. However, if a maple leaf card is invalid when a person is abroad, the situation is quite bad.

Theoretically, even if the maple leaf card is invalid when a person is abroad, it does not mean that he cannot return to Canada. Although cardholders are usually unable to apply for a new card abroad, they can apply for a temporary entry permit and pass the border inspection with this document and go through the update procedures after arriving in Canada.

However, according to information obtained by the local English newspaper The Toronto Star, the approval rate of one-time travel permits has decreased year by year during the four years from 2010 to 2014. In other words, more permanent residents travel abroad, because the maple leaf card is invalid and they cannot apply for a temporary travel certificate, which ultimately leads to losing their immigration qualification.

Statistics show that in 2013, 19,500 Canadian permanent residents had their maple leaf card invalid after leaving the country. When these people wanted to return to Canada, they had to apply for temporary entry permits. However, in the end, only 13,200 people were approved, and another 5,550 people were rejected, which reached 30%. If the application for a one-time travel document is rejected, it can still be filed with the Tribunal for the Immigration and Refugee Commission (and Board). However, the approval rate of such complaints is very slim and shows a trend of continuous decline. The specific data has turned sharply from 32.1% in 2010 to 15.5% in 2014 (picture above).

Chinese immigration lawyer Wang Renduo pointed out that the appeal failed after the application for one-time travel documents was rejected, and there were also people who did not file a complaint. Every year, 5,000 to 6,000 immigrants completely lost their immigration status because the maple leaf card expired.

The survey results also show that due to the invalidity of the maple leaf card, the most group of people applying for short-term travel documents before returning to Canada are Chinese, with about 4,300. According to statistics from 2013, there are 1,800 Indians; then there are Filipinos, with 1,545; in addition, there are French, British and other groups.

Wang Renduo also mentioned that many people encounter maple leaf card failure when traveling abroad. The crux of the problem is that they lack accurate judgment on the time nodes when applying for renewal of their documents. Some people just met the conditions to live in the past two years within five years and were eager to leave after submitting an application for renewal. They did not realize that when the Immigration Bureau calculates the length of residence, it does not count from the date of arrival, but from the date of actual review, which has led to many people in trouble.

Some people may not be unable to return to Canada when their maple leaf cards expire abroad. Immigration in specific situations, such as providing companionship for Canadian citizens abroad, or being sent to work abroad by Canadian businesses, may not have to comply with minimum residence requirements, so there is no need to worry about such issues.

However, for many people, they should pay attention to the timeliness of the maple leaf card, submit a renewal application on time, and avoid going abroad during the period of receiving the new certificate. This is the safest way to maintain your personal identity from being lost.