PR Card Renewal Timeline

Permanent Resident Cards eventually expire and when this happens residents will have to renew the document.

The renewal process timeline normally follows a very regular path: the application is submitted, processed, and then, if appropriate, granted to the applying immigrant. Few circumstances arise where the Permanent Resident Card will not be renewed.

The processing time for a renewal has been estimated by Citizenship and Immigration Canada as being 98 days from submission. This does not necessarily mean that you will receive your new PR Card in exactly 98 days from when you submitted your application. There are many instances where your PR could come earlier or later. What this designation means is that the card is much less likely to come later than about three months.

The waiting time for the renewal card varies significantly depending upon where you are applying from. When applying from within Canada the wait is slightly shorter, applying from outside of Canada will invariably prolong your wait.

If you are in a particular rush to receive your PR Card you may, in some cases, ask for urgent processing. There are two different sets of instructions for applying for urgent processing depending on whether or not you have already submitted your application.

Urgent Processing Before You Send Your Application

• Fill out your renewal application as usual.
• Include photocopies of both your proof of travel and payment. This could be a ticket, receipt or other such record, but they must have the date of your travel, your biographic information and your destination on the photocopied document.
• The exact words “Urgent—Proof of Travel Included” must be written clearly on the application package envelope.

Urgent Processing After You Send Your Application

If you have already sent in your application package, but wish for it to be processed urgently you can email the CIC with enough appropriate information to identify your package and the CIC may speed up the process. This is not a promise that the application will be significantly sped up, but the CIC will work on it.

Information that needs to be included in the email or fax must meet the CICs requirements exactly. Citizenship and Immigration Canada will contact you soon after you submit your application to inform you of the form’s new status in the processing timeline.

Travel Document

If it is not possible to obtain a replacement Permanent Resident Card in time to prove your right to reside in Canada when you are travelling abroad you will need to obtain a different document called a Travel Document.

Travel documents use an entirely different process from PR Cards and you will have to fill out Form IMM 5627 for submission to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.