Replacement uses the same form and the same $50 fee as a renewal. The difference is what you have to explain: how the card was lost, stolen, damaged or never delivered. If you are outside Canada when it happens, you cannot apply for a replacement at all — you need a travel document first.
Our charges include applicable taxes. Disbursements are extra and billed at cost — itemized upfront, in writing, never hidden.
From $3,388.87 taxes included
You apply on form IMM 5444 through the Permanent Residence Portal, pay $50, and submit photos and identity documents — exactly as you would for a renewal. There is no separate cheaper or faster lost-card process.
What changes is the supporting material. If the card was lost or stolen, include a copy of the police report or the incident number if you have one. If it was damaged or destroyed, send the damaged card if you still have it. If it never arrived in the mail, say so and explain the address history.
A card issued under a former name is not a lost card. If your legal name or gender identifier has changed, you can apply at any time — the nine-month rule that blocks early renewals does not apply to those changes.
You cannot replace a PR card from abroad. Cards are issued to permanent residents in Canada and mailed to Canadian addresses. If your card is lost or stolen while you are travelling, the document you need to get home is a permanent resident travel document, applied for through a visa office or visa application centre. The fee is $50.
That application is not a formality. The officer deciding it also decides whether you have met the 730-day residency obligation under section 28 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. A traveller who has spent most of the last five years abroad can find a lost wallet turning into a loss of status.
If a travel document is refused on residency grounds, you have 60 days from receiving the written decision to appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division. That deadline is hard, and it is the whole ballgame.
Address failures are the most common. IRCC mails the card, and a card returned undelivered restarts the problem. Update your address with IRCC before the card is produced, not after.
Weak loss narratives are the second. An officer wants to understand what happened and be satisfied the card is not in someone else's hands. A one-line statement invites questions; a dated account with a police file number does not.
The third is treating replacement as separate from your residency record. It is the same application, assessed by the same officer, against the same 730-day standard. If your day count is thin, the lost card is not your main problem and the application should be built accordingly.
There is no rule that a police report is mandatory, but IRCC asks you to include a copy of the report or the incident number if you have one, and a report is the cleanest evidence that the loss was genuine. If the card was stolen along with other identity documents, report it — the report also protects you if the card is misused.
Yes. A damaged card that cannot be read is treated as a card needing replacement, on the same form and for the same $50 fee. Send the damaged card with the application if you still have it. Do not wait until you are at an airport to find out the chip has failed.
No. The application is yours to make, and PR cards are issued to permanent residents in Canada. A representative can prepare and submit an application for you, but that does not change where the card is delivered or remove the need for a permanent resident travel document to get you back into the country.
$3,388.87, taxes included. That covers assessing whether you need a replacement card or a travel document, building the explanation for the lost or damaged card, auditing your five-year travel history against the 730-day obligation, preparing and filing the application, and handling IRCC's questions. IRCC's $50 fee and any biometrics fee are paid separately to the government.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.