A couple received PR in August 2022 and had planned a short 'soft landing' trip in March 2023 before returning to India — but discovered they were expecting a child due later that year, which counts as a change in family composition. They asked whether to soft-land and return to India for the birth, or move to Canada permanently and deliver there.
What the thread strongly recommended:- Give birth in Canada if at all possible. A child born in Canada is automatically a Canadian citizen and doesn't need to go through the family sponsorship process at all — this avoids a separate, lengthy immigration process entirely.
- Sponsoring a child born abroad after your PR is a long, complex process, requiring at least one parent to already be physically established in Canada to sponsor the child — members described it as taking several months and adding real complexity versus simply delivering in Canada.
- You can still return to India for family support after the birth — giving birth in Canada doesn't mean permanently staying; one member noted you can go back to India for a while post-delivery if you need help with the baby, once the child already has Canadian citizenship secured.
The consistent advice: prioritize delivering in Canada to sidestep the sponsorship process altogether, and treat the timing of any return trip to India as a separate, later decision.