I work abroad for a Canadian company does that count toward my permanent residence?
Short answer
In Canada, s. 28 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act provides that days on which a permanent resident is employed on a full-time basis outside Canada by a Canadian business, or in the federal or provincial public service, count toward the 730 days.
In detail
This situation is one of those that section 28 expressly recognizes. The text speaks of full-time employment outside Canada by a Canadian business or in the federal or provincial public service.
Two notions structure this exception: that the employment is full-time, and the nature of the employer. Both are questions of fact, established through employment documents.
The Regulations define these notions. Anyone in this situation is therefore well advised to check the applicable definitions for their own case rather than assume that any job connected to Canada qualifies.
What to document
Your contracts and assignment letters, pay stubs, T4s or records of employment, a description of the employer and its status, and the exact periods of your assignment abroad. These documents are harder to obtain once the job has ended: keep them as you go.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
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Official sources
Related questions
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.