Never Received Permanent Resident Card – PR Card Canada (2024)

If you have never received your PR Card from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), what you need to do depends upon your situation:

1. First PR Card never received
2. Renewal/Replacement PR Card never received

Never Received Your First PR Card

If you recently landed in Canada and you provided a residential address within Canada to IRCC at the time of landing, or within the first six months after you landed, you need to use the IMM 5451 Solemn Declaration Concerning a Permanent Resident Card that was Lost, Stolen, Destroyed or Never Received in order to get a new card. You must wait at least six weeks after you landed in Canada, or this application will be ignored.

If you failed to provide your Canadian residential address within the first six months after you landed, you need to apply for a new PR Card.

How to Complete the IMM 5451 Solemn Declaration

In order to replace a first PR Card that was never received, you must complete the 1 page IMM 5451 and submit it to IRCC.

On the first line, enter your surname, your given name(s), and your Unique Client Identifier (UCI), if you know it. Your UCI is the number assigned to you by IRCC when you first applied to travel to or immigrate to Canada. If you do not know your IRCC, leave the field blank. Answer the remaining sections as follows:

1. Details of birth: You must enter
   • Your Date of Birth in YYYY-MM-DD format
   • The city, town or village you were born in
   • The country of your birth.
2. Permanent address: This is your residential address in Canada, include your
   • Apartment number (if applicable
   • Street number
   • Street name
   • City or town
   • Province
   • Country – This address must be in Canada.

   In this section you must also enter your home and business phone numbers.
   Finally, you should enter your old PR Card number if you are completing this form for the odd reason that you lost your PR Card but do not want to replace it. If you are not completing this form for that reason, ignore this question.

3. My Permanent Resident Card (PR Card) was: If you are completing this section because you never received your first PR Card after landing in Canada, and you notified IRCC of your address in Canada within the required six months, you need to indicate “Never Received.”
   • Lost: Only check this box if you are completing this form because you need to notify IRCC of your lost card, but do not want a new card at this time.
   • Stolen: Only check this box if you are completing this form because you need to notify IRCC of your stolen card, but do not want a new card at this time. You will need to provide details of the police report your filed in section 4. Learn more about reporting a stolen PR Card missing.
   • Destroyed: Only check this box if you are completing this form because you need to notify IRCC of your destroyed card, but do not want a new card at this time. You will have to explain why you destroyed your PR Card.
   • Never received: Most people complete this form because they are reporting that they never received their first PR Card. Select this option if you have never received your PR Card, it has been over six weeks since you landed, and you informed IRCC of your permanent residential address in Canada within 180 days of landing. You will need to complete the other fields in this section:
     • On or about: The date you “never received your PR Card” is the date your card was issued. You can find out the date by checking your application status at cic.gc.ca or by calling IRCC and asking when it was issued. You should have already checked the date your card was issued before completing this form.
     • at City/Town: Obviously you do not know where the card was lost. You can write “never received” or “lost in mail” or leave it blank.
     • Country: Canada.
   • Under the following circ*mstances: If you did not receive your PR Card, you need to write “Lost in the mail” or “Never received” and something like “after issuance by CIC on the date listed, which was over six weeks ago.”
     If you are completing this form because you lost your card, had it stolen, or destroyed it, but you do not want to replace it, you need to explain how you lost it, how it was stolen or why you destroyed it.
4. I have made the following efforts to locate this document (if applicable indicate police authorities notified and attach a copy of police report or incident report number: If you never received your first PR Card, you can write something like this “Checked my application status online; card issued on YYYY-MM-DD but never received it.”
   If you are completing this form because you lost your card, had it stolen, or destroyed it, but you do not want to replace it, you need to explain what you have done to locate it and include any police report you’ve filed.
5. Should I ever regain possession of the original document, I promise to return it immediately to a Citizenship and Immigration Canada [now IRCC] Centre or, if I am abroad, to the nearest Canadian Embassy, Consulate, or High Commission: If the card does come in the mail after submitting this application, you must mail it to IRCC as soon as possible.
   I solemnly declare that the information I have provided is true, that it is of the same force and effect as if made under oath, and that it was freely given. I authorize the department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada [now the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada] to verify the information I have provided. I also understand that the provision of any false or misleading information may lead to prosecution in accordance with Section 127 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act: You are attesting that the above information is true (i.e. you didn’t say you never received the card when you really lost it) and that you are aware that any information that you give in this form could potentially be used against you if you were being dishonest. If you are under 18 years of age, your parent or guardian must sign the form instead.

Submitting the IMM 5451 Solemn Declaration

You must submit the form either by mail or fax. To submit by mail, mail it to this address:

PR Card Processing Centre
PO Box 9000
Sydney, Nova Scotia
B1P 6K7

We strongly recommend sending the form by registered mail so you can track your letter and ensure its delivery. Do not send by courier as couriers are unable to deliver to this address.

If you would prefer to fax the IMM 5451, fax the form to 1-902-564-3148.

Never Received Your New PR Card

If you have never received a PR Card when renewing or replacing your old one, you have to complete the regular PR Card renewal application. You must wait for the entire processing time period to have elapsed before submitting a new application. As of this writing, the processing time is 93 calendar days. If you submit a new application before this time, it will be ignored, or could otherwise cause issues.

How to Complete the PR Card Replacement Application