Who needs a PR travel document
You need a PRTD if you are a permanent resident, you are outside Canada, you do not have a valid PR card, and you plan to return on a commercial vehicle such as an airplane, boat, train or bus. Common reasons IRCC lists: your card expired or was damaged, it was lost or stolen, or you had to travel before you received it.
You can only apply for a PRTD from outside Canada. A PR card cannot be mailed to you abroad or to a third party, so a PRTD is the way back when your card is not valid.
Do not apply if you no longer want to be a permanent resident. IRCC says that if you want to give up your status and come to Canada only as a visitor, you should apply to voluntarily renounce your PR status instead.
How and where to apply for a PRTD
Each family member who needs a PRTD must send a complete application. IRCC returns applications with missing information or documents.
- Read the instruction guide (IMM 5529) and the document checklist (IMM 5644).
- Sign in to the Permanent Residence Portal and complete the application form (IMM 5444). If you cannot apply online, you may be able to apply on paper; contact your nearest visa application centre (VAC) first to confirm it accepts paper applications.
- Pay the $50 fee online and include your receipt with the application.
- Add form IMM 5476 if a representative is helping you, or IMM 5475 to name someone who can receive information about your file.
- Submit the application, then send any extra documents and check your status through the IRCC web form, choosing Permanent Resident Travel Document.
- Paper applications: some visa application centres (VACs) accept them by mail or in person. Contact your nearest VAC before you apply.
- Chinese passport holders applying from China must include an Inquiry of Exit and Entry Record covering the 5 years before the application, from the local Public Security Bureau, translated into English or French.
- Keep your contact details up to date with IRCC while you wait.
How IRCC assesses your residency obligation
A PRTD is not only a travel document. IRCC checks that your application is complete and assesses whether you met your residency obligation and are still a permanent resident. 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 in the five years before you apply. If you have been a permanent resident for less than five years, you must show you can still reach 730 days within five years of becoming one.
Some days outside Canada can count. Under section 28 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, they include days spent accompanying a Canadian citizen who is your spouse or common-law partner (or, if you are a child, your parent), days when a Canadian business or the federal or a provincial public service employed you full time and, as a term of that job or contract, assigned you full time to a position, an affiliated enterprise or a client outside Canada, and days accompanying a permanent resident spouse or common-law partner (or, if you are a child, your parent) employed and assigned abroad that way. The IMM 5529 guide explains the proof needed for each situation.
IRCC may ask you for more information by letter. A decision is usually made without a personal interview, but IRCC may occasionally ask you to attend one. Be ready with proof of the days you spent in Canada and of any days abroad you want counted.
Humanitarian and compassionate considerations
If you do not meet the 730 days, you can ask the officer to consider humanitarian and compassionate reasons to let you keep your status. Section 28 of the Act allows an officer to find that such reasons justify keeping PR status, taking into account the best interests of any child directly affected.
In the application, you answer question 5.7. IRCC's guide says you must show exceptional circumstances or factors beyond your control that kept you outside Canada, and describe the hardship that losing your status would cause you, your family members and any child directly affected. Give evidence, not only a statement.
Fee, processing and urgent requests
IRCC's fee list shows $50 for a permanent resident travel document. You pay it online when you apply, and it is not refundable once processing has started.
IRCC processes all PRTD applications on a priority basis, but times vary and IRCC does not publish a PRTD processing time. Do not book a non-refundable flight before your PRTD is approved. For other IRCC applications, you can follow processing times with our tool at /tools/processing-times/.
You can ask for urgent processing, for example for a serious illness or a lost or stolen PR card, or other legitimate reasons. Urgent processing of a PRTD also requires that your flight back to Canada is leaving within the next 5 days. Include proof of travel, a letter explaining the urgency and proof such as a doctor's note or a death certificate. If you are leaving Canada in less than 3 weeks and your PR card will not be ready, IRCC says you may be able to apply urgently for a PRTD once you are outside Canada.
If IRCC approves your PRTD, it emails you instructions for sending your passport or travel document. Your passport is returned with the PRTD in it.
If your PRTD is refused: the right to appeal
If IRCC refuses your application, you get a refusal letter explaining the reasons and your appeal rights. Follow the instructions in the Notice of Appeal form and letter sent with it.
The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) says a decision made outside Canada that you did not meet the residency obligation can be appealed to its Immigration Appeal Division (IAD). The IAD must receive your notice of appeal within 60 days after you received the IRCC decision. File it with a copy of the decision.
At the appeal, you can argue that you did meet the obligation, or ask the IAD to allow the appeal for humanitarian and compassionate reasons. The IRB says the IAD may consider factors such as how long you lived in Canada, how established you are, the hardship you would face and the best interests of affected children. If the appeal is allowed, you keep your PR status. If it is dismissed, you lose it.
IRCC notes that you lose PR status only after an official decision, for example when an officer finds you are no longer a permanent resident after an inquiry or a PRTD appeal following a refusal. Until then, you are still a permanent resident.
Alternatives and common mistakes
IRCC's guide says that if you travel to Canada in a private vehicle, such as a car, truck, motorcycle or recreational vehicle, you can use your PR card, a PRTD or other documents to return. Your Record of Landing (IMM 1000) and Confirmation of Permanent Residence (IMM 5292 or IMM 5688) are not valid for travel to Canada. Also check the visa rules of any country you transit through.
A PRTD is normally valid for one entry, and a multiple-entry PRTD cannot go beyond your passport expiry date. Once you are back in Canada, apply for a new PR card right away.
Common mistakes: leaving Canada with a card that expires during the trip, sending an incomplete application, applying for every family member in one file instead of one complete application each, not proving days abroad that could count, and missing the 60-day appeal deadline after a refusal.
We don't provide legal opinions; for advice on your file, contact an RCIC-verified consultant or a lawyer.