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Every Canadian permanent resident who is not yet a citizen should hold a valid PR Card. PR cards for newly landed immigrants are issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) upon arrival. CIC are also responsible for dealing with lost, stolen or damaged PR Cards. How to get a new PR Card:- Complete the application form
- Gather your documents:
- Your passport
- Your Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) or Record of Landing
- PR Card
- Canadian ID (Driver’s License for example)
- CRA Notice of Assessment
- Make photocopies of your documents
- Pay the Fee
- Submit application and photocopies to IRCC
- Get your PR Card in the mail
I landed in Canada 18 July 2011 and became a permanent resident. I left few weeks later. I returned back to Canada on 3 May 2015. Since then I only left canada for less than two months. I will complete the 730 days to renew my PR by early July 2017 and I intend to apply for renewal immediately. In one of your answers you mentioned that you recommended to wait until 1080 days. Why is that and what are the possibilities for my application if I submitted immediately after the 730 days.
It’s fairly common that people who renew their PR Card while only meeting the bare minimum of days of the residence requirement will have their application investigated. As you meet the requirement, there should be no danger in your status being revoked. However, investigations take time and the renewal can be delayed for months or more. So if you can live in Canada without a valid PR card for even a few months, it might be worth your while to delay your renewal.
I applied for my first PR card. While I’m waiting for my results, it is possible to apply to a canadian school during this time?
It depends upon the school. Some schools may accept your COPR/Record of Landing as proof of residency but some will likely ask you for a PR Card. The good news is that, if you get the request for a PR Card in writing from the school, you can submit a copy of that request to IRCC and ask for urgent processing of your PR Card.
I have forgotten to renew my PR card which expires on june 7th 2017. I’m reapplying for it now. The wait time currently is 66 days. What can I do to travel to the states and back during this process?
Drive. You are not required to present at PR Card at a land border as long as you are in a private vehicle (i.e. your car). You will need to provide your COPR/Record of Landing, though.
Once I get my Canadian passport do I still have to continue renewing my PR card? And if yes, why is that a requirement? Once I am a citizen I assume there will be no longer a need to carry a PR card or even keep a valid one
No, when you swear your Oath of Citizenship you will cease to be a Canadian Permanent Resident and are supposed to relinquish your PR Card at this time. (This is before you have a Canadian passport.)
I just received a notification from CIC asking for proof of residency in Canada to complete my PR card renewal application, specifically the following: 1. Complete pages (including blank pages) of your passport(s)/travel document(s) held in the last 5 years. Ensure all pages are in colour and are clearly legible. 2. Personal immigration entry/exit record or movement certificate issued by the countries where you have travelled. I did submit my current passport along with my application but didnt submit my old passport copies of my travel between Canada and Inadia in last 5 years now I am sending all the pages of old and new passport. Also I did check “Yes” in Section E Question 23 of your PR Card renewal form, to authorize IRCC (formerly CIC) to contact CBSA for your entries into Canada. My question is this all is sufficient or I have to contact Indian authorities to provide me personal immigration entry/exit record or movement certificate which seems to be very difficult task
This should be sufficient. IF IRCC wants more information they will let you know.
I had to leave Canada in 2013 having fulfilled only 2 years out of 3 for PR card renewal. If I fly back in on my (new) UK passport are my expired PR card details still on the system?
They should be. However, in the early days of the eTA system (that’s the thing you have to get instead of a visa) many permanent residents were able to get eTAs and come to Canada, which they weren’t supposed to do. That’s changed but we don’t know how thorough the system is. The only way to find out is to apply for your eTA and see if it’s approved or not.
My PR card is about to expire in July 2020. I stayed in canada 122 days. I want to go back to canada before PR card expiry. What kind of questions/process to expect at airport upon arrival in canada?
If you didn’t get back before the pandemic, you are probably going to have problems keeping your status. Under normal circumstances the best thing to do in this situation is to fly to the States and have someone come down and pick you up and drive you into Canada. (You can enter Canada by private vehicle without a PR Card.) There is still some risk of your status being revoked in this situation. But, honestly, we don’t know how the pandemic is going to affect Canadian PRs living outside of Canada who were not meeting the residence requirement. There’s probaly very little political will for an amnesty in this situation and so it’s definitely possible that there will be no official extension/waiver of the residence requirement in cases like yours.
My daughter is 7year old her PR card is expire in june I want to change her name on PR card plZ tell me procedure of changing name in canada I also want to know that we have to change name on Passport before or after changing name on PR card.
You need to get her a legal name change from your province of residence. If her only ID is her passport she will have to have her name changed on it as well. And so it depends upon the country, but some of them will likely not accept a Canadian name change as proof of a name change. So that’s something to think about. Once that’s done, you will have to apply to change her name on her Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR). Once that’s changed, she can get a new PR card with the new name on it.
My sons Mailed PR card renewal applications in December 2016…so far they have heard nothing…
Processing time depends upon many factors, including whether or not the person processing the application believes the applicant has met the residence requirement. If the government suspects your son hasn’t met the residence requirement, it will take a lot longer to process the application.
My nephew has been granted a permanent residence in Canada and applied for almost one month ago. Still there is a time to wait to receive it. Unfortunately, he has to travel back home to see his elder brother who is critically ill and on ventilator ( cancer patient). Is their any way he is eligible to travel out side Canada not having a PR card in possession. secondly as we know that doing an application for the permission to travel back into Canada from outside Canada will take long time as his vacations /leave will be only for three weeks max. Is it possible to have some document in advance ( prior to leaving Canada) that may allow him to travel in and out in special circumstance like this – on humanitarian grounds. Please advise at your earliest possible enabling my nephew to decide about his travel to attend his brother. It is an emergency situation for the family and hope you may have some support/solution for my nephew in these difficult times. Appreciate your response at the earliest. thanks. We are seeking this help to avoid lateral delays and difficulties.
There is not such special permission to travel while waiting for a new PR card. What your nephew needs to do is contact IRCC to request urgent processing due to a family emergency. He will have to prove it’s an emergency.
Me, my wife and my 2 kids are permanent residents in Canada landing in October 2012. But due to different unfortunate reasons we couldn’t stay in Canada. Also, I have a third baby in 2014 and I got a valid Canadian Visa for her My PR card will expire next October 2017 and I’m planning to return back permentaely to Canada next July 2017 with my family. My questions: 1- Can the immigration officer in the airport issue a departure form against me as I didn’t stay in Canada for 730 days? and If a departure form was done for me and I did an appeal … how long it will take and what is the percentage of acceptance ? 2- Can I sponsor my baby while I have a departure form? Or I should wait for the appeal acceptance? 3- If my son returned back alone and I canceled my return ( if there will be a problem for my return to Canada) ….He is 18 years and he will start his college. Can the situation be more acceptable and easier for him to enter Canada with no difficulties as it was not his decision to stay in Canada in the last 5 years.
Let’s try to answer your questions:
I’m planning to go back home this coming May. And my Pr card will expires on Sept 2020. But I already processed the renewal of my Pr card last month. But u haven’t receive any update for my application. I am allowed to travel outside the Canada?
Under normal circumstances you can travel outside of Canada and return for as long as your PR Card is valid, meaning you can return on the day your PR Card expires in September 2020 at the latest. During the pandemic this is going to be harder.
My husband became a permanent resident. Unfortunately he past away. How can I return his PR card and to where
Just destroy it with a pair of scissors.
I am a Permanenet Resident of Canada and I am currently outside Canada. I want to go back to Canada but my passport of my current nationality expired and I am unable to renew it. Can I travel back to Canada with only my PR card?
No. You cannot get on a commercial international flight without a passport.
Once my wife get PR card. After that, can she change middle name in her PR CARD? at moment her middle name is her father name and want to change to with her husband name? What is process for that??
She can apply to have her name legally changed. Once it is legally changed she can submit the name change to have her Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) amended to show the new name. Learn more.
It’s fairly common that people who renew their PR Card while only meeting the bare minimum of days of the residence requirement will have their application investigated. As you meet the requirement, there should be no danger in your status being revoked.
I applied for my first PR card. While I’m waiting for my results, it is possible to apply to a canadian school during this time?
It depends upon the school. Some schools may accept your COPR/Record of Landing as proof of residency but some will likely ask you for a PR Card. The good news is that, if you get the request for a PR Card in writing from the school, you can submit a copy of that request to IRCC and ask for urgent processing of your PR Card.
I have forgotten to renew my PR card which expires on june 7th 2017. I’m reapplying for it now. The wait time currently is 66 days. What can I do to travel to the states and back during this process?
Drive. You are not required to present at PR Card at a land border as long as you are in a private vehicle (i.e. your car). You will need to provide your COPR/Record of Landing, though.
Once I get my Canadian passport do I still have to continue renewing my PR card? And if yes, why is that a requirement? Once I am a citizen I assume there will be no longer a need to carry a PR card or even keep a valid one
No, when you swear your Oath of Citizenship you will cease to be a Canadian Permanent Resident and are supposed to relinquish your PR Card at this time. (This is before you have a Canadian passport.)
I just received a notification from CIC asking for proof of residency in Canada to complete my PR card renewal application, specifically the following: 1. Complete pages (including blank pages) of your passport(s)/travel document(s) held in the last 5 years. Ensure all pages are in colour and are clearly legible. 2. Personal immigration entry/exit record or movement certificate issued by the countries where you have travelled. I did submit my current passport along with my application but didnt submit my old passport copies of my travel between Canada and Inadia in last 5 years now I am sending all the pages of old and new passport. Also I did check “Yes” in Section E Question 23 of your PR Card renewal form, to authorize IRCC (formerly CIC) to contact CBSA for your entries into Canada. My question is this all is sufficient or I have to contact Indian authorities to provide me personal immigration entry/exit record or movement certificate which seems to be very difficult task
This should be sufficient. IF IRCC wants more information they will let you know.
I had to leave Canada in 2013 having fulfilled only 2 years out of 3 for PR card renewal. If I fly back in on my (new) UK passport are my expired PR card details still on the system?
They should be. However, in the early days of the eTA system (that’s the thing you have to get instead of a visa) many permanent residents were able to get eTAs and come to Canada, which they weren’t supposed to do. That’s changed but we don’t know how thorough the system is. The only way to find out is to apply for your eTA and see if it’s approved or not.
My PR card is about to expire in July 2020. I stayed in canada 122 days. I want to go back to canada before PR card expiry. What kind of questions/process to expect at airport upon arrival in canada?
If you didn’t get back before the pandemic, you are probably going to have problems keeping your status. Under normal circumstances the best thing to do in this situation is to fly to the States and have someone come down and pick you up and drive you into Canada. (You can enter Canada by private vehicle without a PR Card.) There is still some risk of your status being revoked in this situation. But, honestly, we don’t know how the pandemic is going to affect Canadian PRs living outside of Canada who were not meeting the residence requirement. There’s probaly very little political will for an amnesty in this situation and so it’s definitely possible that there will be no official extension/waiver of the residence requirement in cases like yours.
My daughter is 7year old her PR card is expire in june I want to change her name on PR card plZ tell me procedure of changing name in canada I also want to know that we have to change name on Passport before or after changing name on PR card.
You need to get her a legal name change from your province of residence. If her only ID is her passport she will have to have her name changed on it as well. And so it depends upon the country, but some of them will likely not accept a Canadian name change as proof of a name change. So that’s something to think about. Once that’s done, you will have to apply to change her name on her Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR). Once that’s changed, she can get a new PR card with the new name on it.
My sons Mailed PR card renewal applications in December 2016…so far they have heard nothing…
Processing time depends upon many factors, including whether or not the person processing the application believes the applicant has met the residence requirement. If the government suspects your son hasn’t met the residence requirement, it will take a lot longer to process the application.
My nephew has been granted a permanent residence in Canada and applied for almost one month ago. Still there is a time to wait to receive it. Unfortunately, he has to travel back home to see his elder brother who is critically ill and on ventilator ( cancer patient). Is their any way he is eligible to travel out side Canada not having a PR card in possession. secondly as we know that doing an application for the permission to travel back into Canada from outside Canada will take long time as his vacations /leave will be only for three weeks max. Is it possible to have some document in advance ( prior to leaving Canada) that may allow him to travel in and out in special circumstance like this – on humanitarian grounds. Please advise at your earliest possible enabling my nephew to decide about his travel to attend his brother. It is an emergency situation for the family and hope you may have some support/solution for my nephew in these difficult times. Appreciate your response at the earliest. thanks. We are seeking this help to avoid lateral delays and difficulties.
There is not such special permission to travel while waiting for a new PR card. What your nephew needs to do is contact IRCC to request urgent processing due to a family emergency. He will have to prove it’s an emergency.
Me, my wife and my 2 kids are permanent residents in Canada landing in October 2012. But due to different unfortunate reasons we couldn’t stay in Canada. Also, I have a third baby in 2014 and I got a valid Canadian Visa for her My PR card will expire next October 2017 and I’m planning to return back permentaely to Canada next July 2017 with my family. My questions: 1- Can the immigration officer in the airport issue a departure form against me as I didn’t stay in Canada for 730 days? and If a departure form was done for me and I did an appeal … how long it will take and what is the percentage of acceptance ? 2- Can I sponsor my baby while I have a departure form? Or I should wait for the appeal acceptance? 3- If my son returned back alone and I canceled my return ( if there will be a problem for my return to Canada) ….He is 18 years and he will start his college. Can the situation be more acceptable and easier for him to enter Canada with no difficulties as it was not his decision to stay in Canada in the last 5 years.
Let’s try to answer your questions:
- There is some small chance that your PR Card could be confiscated when you try to enter or even that your status could be revoked, but this is not likely to the best of our knowledge. More than likely they will let you in but when you apply for new PR Cards you will be issued 1-year cards rather than 5-year. They may also not ask you many questions and you might be fine. It depends upon the officer you get. Whatever happens you will not be admitted and then immediately asked to leave.
- You will not be admitted and then given a departure order.
- You should both try entering first before worrying about this. But, if they are threatening to not let you in and revoke your status, you can explain that it wasn’t your son’s choice and he should still be allowed to enter with valid status. If that doesn’t work, he can make a “Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds” appeal to keep them from revoking his status.
I’m planning to go back home this coming May. And my Pr card will expires on Sept 2020. But I already processed the renewal of my Pr card last month. But u haven’t receive any update for my application. I am allowed to travel outside the Canada?
Under normal circumstances you can travel outside of Canada and return for as long as your PR Card is valid, meaning you can return on the day your PR Card expires in September 2020 at the latest. During the pandemic this is going to be harder.
My husband became a permanent resident. Unfortunately he past away. How can I return his PR card and to where
Just destroy it with a pair of scissors.
I am a Permanenet Resident of Canada and I am currently outside Canada. I want to go back to Canada but my passport of my current nationality expired and I am unable to renew it. Can I travel back to Canada with only my PR card?
No. You cannot get on a commercial international flight without a passport.
Once my wife get PR card. After that, can she change middle name in her PR CARD? at moment her middle name is her father name and want to change to with her husband name? What is process for that??
She can apply to have her name legally changed. Once it is legally changed she can submit the name change to have her Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) amended to show the new name. Learn more.
