# Renew your Canadian PR card

Apply online once it's within nine months of expiring. It costs $50. Your status doesn't end when the card does, but you'll want the card before you travel.

- Kind: Paperwork & IDs
- Applies to: Canada
- Your time: about 2½ hr
- Steps: 7
- Written by: @helg
- Version 1, updated 2026-10-24
- Source: https://helg.app/community/renew-your-canadian-pr-card

## Steps

1. **Check the expiry date on [Whose card]'s card** (5 min)
   Apply when it has less than nine months left, or has already expired. Send it any earlier and IRCC sends the application back.
   - [Apply for a PR card](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/permanent-residents/card/apply.html)
2. **Count the days in Canada over the last five years** (45 min)
   You need 730 days \(two years\) out of the last five, and they don't have to be in a row. You'll list your trips and add two pieces of proof, like pay stubs, bank statements or notices of assessment.
   - [The residency obligation](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/permanent-residents/status.html)
3. **Get a digital photo from a photographer** (30 min)
   Taken in the last 12 months, on a plain white background. A phone picture of a printed photo won't do, and you'll be asked for the studio's name, address and the date it was taken.
   - [Photo requirements](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/permanent-residents/card/photos.html)
4. **Pay the $50 fee online** (10 min)
   Save the receipt: you upload it with the application. It isn't refunded once processing starts.
   - [IRCC fees](https://ircc.canada.ca/english/information/fees/fees.asp)
5. **Apply in the Permanent Residence Portal** (45 min)
   Form IMM 5444 plus the document checklist. You sign by typing your name exactly as it appears on your passport.
   - [Permanent Residence Portal](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/pr-portal.html)
6. **Plan any travel around the wait** (10 min)
   Check the current processing time. If [Whose card] has to come back without a valid card, they'll need a PR travel document from abroad, which is another $50.
   - [Processing times](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html)
   - [PR travel document](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/permanent-residents/travel-document.html)
7. **Start using the new card**
   The old one stops being valid 60 days after the new one is issued.

## Details that depend on you

Words in [square brackets] are filled in when you add this to Helg:

- [Whose card]: Whose PR card is it?

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Written by people who have done it, not by Helg or any government. Check the official sites before paying for anything.
Add it to Helg as a checklist: https://helg.app/community/renew-your-canadian-pr-card