Your Permanent Resident card is proof of your status. You need it, together with your passport or travel document, to return to Canada on a commercial carrier: a plane, train, bus or boat.
In this guide
Start with the thing that causes the most panic and the least actual harm. A PR card is not the same as PR status. An expired card does not mean your status expired. Permanent resident status continues until it is formally lost through an official decision, voluntary renunciation, an enforceable removal order, or becoming a Canadian citizen. An expired card is an inconvenience, not a catastrophe. It only becomes a serious problem when you are outside Canada and need to board a plane home.
When to renew
Renew if your card has expired, or if it will expire in less than 9 months. IRCC writes it as "less than nine (9) months (270 days)."
Apply earlier than that and IRCC will simply return your application, unless you are also changing your legal name or gender identifier. There is no reward for being early here. There is only a returned package.
Who can renew
Guide 5445 lists six conditions. You must:
Be a permanent resident of Canada.
Be physically present in Canada.
Meet the residency obligation, or qualify on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Not be under an effective removal order.
Not be a Canadian citizen.
Not have been convicted of an offence related to the misuse of a PR card.
The second one catches people out. You cannot apply for a PR card, and IRCC cannot deliver one, while you are outside Canada. IRCC does not mail PR cards abroad. If you are outside Canada with an expired card, the route home is a Permanent Resident Travel Document, and you apply for the card once you are back.
The residency obligation
This is the substance of the application. Everything else is paperwork.
If you have been a permanent resident for five years or more, you must have been physically present in Canada for at least 730 days within the five years immediately before your application. The days do not need to be consecutive. It is a total, not a streak.
If you have been a permanent resident for less than five years, you must show that you will be able to accumulate 730 days within the five year period that began the day you became a PR.
The legal basis is section 28 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, with the counting rules in section 61 of the Regulations.
You must declare every absence from Canada in the relevant period on form IMM 5444. Every one. Including the weekend trip to Buffalo and the day trip across the border. Undeclared absences are the fastest way to turn a routine renewal into a problem.
Two pieces of evidence of residence
Provide copies of two pieces of evidence showing you have met the residency obligation. Send copies. IRCC does not return originals.
Useful evidence includes employment records and pay stubs, bank statements, CRA Notices of Assessment for the past five years, proof of Canadian government benefits, rental agreements, and other reliable records of a life lived in Canada.
The 1,095 day figure, explained properly
You will see the number 1,095 quoted online as though it were a pass mark. It is not. The binding number is 730 days present in Canada. What IRCC actually says is this: if you spent fewer than 1,095 days outside Canada, the extra supporting documents are not mandatory, although leaving them out may affect how your obligation is assessed. If you spent more than 1,095 days outside Canada, you may count some of that time abroad toward your 730 days, but only in specific situations, and you have to prove it.
Treat 1,095 as a documentation trigger, not a threshold you pass or fail.
When time abroad counts toward your 730 days
| Situation | What it means | What you must prove |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying employment abroad | You were an employee of, or under contract to, a Canadian business or the public service of Canada, a province or a territory, and were assigned full time outside Canada | A detailed employer letter, the assignment or contract records, corporate records, pay statements, tax documents |
| Accompanying a Canadian citizen | You were accompanying your Canadian citizen spouse, common law partner, or a parent if you are their child | Proof of their citizenship, proof of the relationship, their residential and travel history |
| Accompanying another permanent resident | You were accompanying a PR spouse, common law partner or parent who was employed full time abroad by a qualifying Canadian business or public service | Proof that they meet their own residency obligation, plus their employment records |
A note on the third one: the permanent resident you accompanied must themselves comply with the residency obligation. If they do not, their days do not rescue yours.
Humanitarian and compassionate grounds
If you do not meet the residency obligation, you can ask IRCC to consider your application on humanitarian and compassionate grounds by answering question 5.7 on IMM 5444.
There is no fixed document list. Submit evidence of the exceptional circumstances or the factors beyond your control, why the obligation was not met, the hardship that losing status would cause, the effect on family members directly affected, and the best interests of any child directly affected. An officer decides on the evidence in front of them. This is the point at which a licensed representative earns their fee.
How to apply
Applications go through the Permanent Residence Portal. Not GCKey. Not the IRCC secure account. Those are for linking and tracking afterwards, not for applying.
Create or sign in to a PR Portal account.
Complete the digital IMM 5444.
Complete and upload IMM 5644, the document checklist. It is mandatory, and incomplete applications get returned.
Upload your identity, residency and photo documents.
Pay the fee through the IRCC online payment service. Note that payment happens outside the portal.
Upload the official payment receipt.
Sign electronically by typing your full name exactly as it appears in your passport.
Submit.
Paper is available only as an accommodation, including for accessibility, and you have to request it from IRCC.
A representative can prepare your forms and communicate with IRCC through their own account. What they cannot do is open your portal account, sign in with your credentials, or sign for you. IRCC is explicit: you must be the one who types your name and clicks submit.
After you submit, you can link the application to an IRCC secure account. It can take up to five days to appear. You get five attempts to link, and five failures locks you out for 24 hours, so enter the details exactly as they appear in the application.
What goes in the package
The digital IMM 5444.
The IMM 5644 checklist.
The official IRCC payment receipt.
A compliant PR card photo.
Proof you meet the residency obligation.
A copy of a qualifying primary identity document.
A copy of your current PR card.
Any representative, name change, gender identifier, H&C or minor child documents that apply.
Your primary identity document is a copy of a valid passport or travel document, or the passport you held when you became a PR including the stamped landing page, or a certificate of identity or travel document issued by IRCC or a foreign country. The copy must show the document type and number, the issue and expiry dates, your name, your photo and your date of birth.
Photo requirements
One digital photo, uploaded through the portal, taken no more than 12 months before you apply.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | .jpeg or .jpg |
| File size | 4 MB or less |
| Dimensions | Between 715 x 1000 and 2000 x 2800 pixels |
| Quality | Clear and sharp |
| Lighting | Uniform, no shadows, glare or flash reflection |
| Background | Plain, untextured, white |
| Expression | Neutral, mouth closed, eyes open |
| Alterations | None. No retouching, no background replacement, no facial editing |
IRCC does not accept a photo of a paper photo taken with your phone or camera. If you have a professional print, scan it with a professional scanner or a scanner app. Better still, ask the studio for the digital file.
Fees
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| PR card renewal or replacement | CAD $50 per person |
| Permanent Resident Travel Document | CAD $50 per person |
For almost everyone renewing a PR card, the cost is CAD $50. That is it.
Biometrics are a common source of confusion and unnecessary worry. IRCC says most PR card applicants do not need to give biometrics. The exception is narrow: if you were under 14 when IRCC received your original PR application and you are now over 14, you may be asked for them, and the biometrics fee is CAD $85 per person or CAD $170 for a family of two or more. If that does not describe you, biometrics is not part of your renewal and you should not be paying for it.
Fees are not refunded once processing begins, and not refunded if the application is refused.
Processing time
IRCC published 34 days for a PR card renewal and 37 days for a new card as of 14 July 2026. These are live figures that move, and IRCC calls them estimates rather than guarantees. Check the IRCC processing times tool for the current number before you plan around it.
Then add reality on top. It can take up to 6 weeks beyond the posted processing time for the card to actually reach you in the mail.
Urgent processing
IRCC allows an urgent request if you need to travel within the next three months because of your own serious illness, the serious illness or death of a family member, work connected to your current job, a job opportunity, a crisis or emergency or vulnerable situation, or the loss or theft of your PR card while you were temporarily outside Canada.
Include proof of travel, a letter explaining the urgency, and evidence supporting the reason. In the portal, select "Yes, my request is urgent."
Two hard limits. IRCC cannot process a PR card application in less than 3 weeks, no matter what. And urgency is discretionary, so even a strong case does not guarantee the card arrives before you fly.
If your flight is sooner than three weeks and you are already outside Canada, the PR card route is closed to you and the PRTD is the answer.
The 60 day rule, which almost nobody knows
This is the single most important paragraph on this page for anyone with travel plans.
Once you apply for a new PR card, your current card stops being valid 60 days after the date IRCC issues the new one. Not 60 days after you receive it. Sixty days after it is issued, which may happen while you are abroad and while the new card sits in a mailbox in Canada.
If you leave Canada with your old card and the new one is issued in the meantime, you may find you cannot board a plane home with the card in your pocket. At that point you need a PRTD to return.
The safe move is straightforward: do not book international travel in the window between applying and holding the new card in your hand.
Common mistakes
- Applying too early. More than 9 months of validity left and IRCC returns it.
- Trying to apply from outside Canada. You must be physically in Canada, and IRCC will not mail the card abroad.
- Assuming an expired card means lost status. It does not.
- Omitting short trips or same day border crossings from IMM 5444. Declare every absence.
- Confusing the PR residency obligation with citizenship physical presence. The PR obligation is 730 days in 5 years. Citizenship uses a different calculation entirely.
- Uploading a phone photo of a printed photo.
- Treating 1,095 days as a pass or fail line. The number that matters is 730 days present.
- Paying a biometrics fee you do not owe.
- Travelling after applying without understanding the 60 day rule.
Questions people actually ask
Prepared by KGraph Immigration. Last updated July 2026. General information, not legal advice.
