Any person residing in the territory of a particular country has a certain status. It is either the status of a citizen, the status of a permanent resident of the country, or the status of a person temporarily in the country, writes 'Russky Toronto'. Who a citizen is needs no special explanation. We are all familiar with this status. A person obtains citizenship of a country either automatically, by birth, or it is granted to them upon fulfilling a number of conditions set by the country whose citizen they wish to become. For example, if you were born in Ukraine to a family of Ukrainian citizens, you automatically become a citizen of Ukraine. This citizenship is granted to you by birth; you do not need to obtain it. If you want to become a citizen of, say, Canada, you must achieve this. How? You must first obtain permanent resident status in Canada, after going through the immigration process. Then you must live in the country for a certain period of time in order to be eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship. And only after meeting all the above conditions and passing the required exam can you obtain Canadian citizenship. Remember that you are only 'one of their own' for the country whose citizen you are.
If you do not have citizenship of the country you wish to enter, you must first obtain permission to enter and stay there. Each state has its own immigration laws that define the rules for entry, stay, and obtaining work permits for non-citizens. For temporary entry into a country, there is a set of various visas depending on the purpose of entry and the length of stay. In particular, it could be a tourist or visitor visa, which grants the right to enter the country for a short period for the purpose of a sightseeing trip or meeting with friends and relatives. Or it could be a student visa for those who are enrolled at an educational institution in that country. Such a visa grants the right to stay in the country for a long time, but, as a rule, does not give the right to work. There are also work visas that allow long-term (but limited) residence in the country and the right to work.
All the visas listed above have a certain validity period, after which you must either extend the visa or leave the country. Violation of immigration rules (that is, the rules of stay of foreigners in the territory of a state) is considered a violation of the law and may entail punishment. The most common is forced deportation (that is, expulsion from the country with a ban on subsequent entry).
If you want to live permanently in a state of which you are not a citizen, you must obtain permission to reside there by obtaining a residence permit. The permanent residence permit is issued by the relevant state authorities (in most countries, these are immigration services). To obtain a residence permit, you must satisfy a number of requirements set by the immigration legislation of the country of entry. In particular, to obtain permanent resident status in Canada, you must go through the immigration process under one of the categories defined by Canada's immigration legislation. Obtaining a permanent residence permit in a country does not mean you have obtained citizenship of that country (as some people think). Moreover, permanent resident status is not lifelong. Unlike citizenship, permanent resident status can easily be lost by violating certain rules.
In particular, permanent resident status in Canada, which is granted to those who have successfully completed the immigration process, is permission to live in Canada indefinitely, work, and enjoy virtually all the rights and social programs available to Canadian citizens, provided they comply with the country's laws. However, despite
the unlimited validity period of the residence permit, a person can be deprived of this status. This can happen if he has committed a crime or, which happens more often, has lived outside Canada for a long time (new Canadian immigration legislation does not allow individuals with permanent resident status to be outside Canada for more than three years out of five).
What is the difference between being in a country with permanent resident status and living in a country on a visa with a work permit (for example, on a work visa)? In a number of countries (such as Spain, the Czech Republic, etc.), a residence permit combined with a work permit allows you to stay in their territory indefinitely. This is exactly what emigrants from CIS countries who live in these states for several years make use of. However, you must be aware that such a residence permit gives nothing except the right to stay in the country for the duration of the permit. You do not have the right to work, you are not covered by medical care (if the country has state-funded medical care), and you do not have the rights and obligations of citizens of that state. A residence permit means that you have been allowed to temporarily live in the country as a guest. In order for you to earn money in the state you are in, in addition to a residence permit you will need to obtain a work permit. A work permit is also issued for a fixed period. In most countries, working without such a permit is considered a crime, and as punishment you may be expelled from the state without the right to re-enter for a very long time.
Usually, a residence permit and a work permit can be renewed, and in this way one can live in the country for quite a long time. However, at any moment you may be refused renewal of your work or residence permit, and then you will have to leave the country. The reason for refusal to renew may be a change in the state's internal policy towards temporarily residing citizens of another country, your violation of any laws, or simply in accordance with the law that a person cannot remain in the territory of the country longer than a certain period (otherwise this automatically leads to granting him permanent resident status). Since citizenship of the country will most likely never be granted to you, your position in this country will be temporary. And even if you obtain permanent residence (which is very lucky), there is still no guarantee that you will not be deprived of it - the right to live in the country, leave it, and return at your own discretion belongs only to its citizens.
Many people believe that obtaining permanent resident status automatically deprives them of the citizenship of the country of which they are citizens and equates them with citizens of the state whose permanent resident status they have obtained. This is absolutely wrong. Let us take Canada as an example. Canadian permanent resident status is merely permission to reside and work in Canada. For Canada, you remain a foreigner, a citizen of your own country. In this regard, we would like to clarify that as long as you have not been officially deprived of citizenship, you remain a citizen of your country no matter where you live or where you are. Accordingly, if you are a person with Canadian permanent resident status, when you travel outside Canada, you leave not as a Canadian, but as a citizen of, for example, Ukraine. Canadian permanent resident status does not provide advantages for entry into other countries, but it does give the right to enter Canada without hindrance.
In order to enjoy all the advantages of a citizen of a given country, one must first obtain the status of its citizen. In most countries, citizenship is granted to persons who have lived in the state for a certain period with permanent resident status (something like a probationary period). This process is called naturalization.
Therefore, before starting the immigration process to a particular country, you must be sure to find out the possibilities of obtaining citizenship there. For example, the overwhelming majority of residents of CIS countries who have settled in the Czech Republic or Spain in recent years will almost never be able to obtain citizenship. In Canada, on the contrary, after three years of life with permanent resident status, one can apply for Canadian citizenship. Unlike permanent resident status, which is not difficult to lose, citizenship can be taken away from you only in exceptional cases. Moreover, even if you, having obtained citizen status, leave the country and are absent for decades.