Never Received Permanent Resident Card

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.

• 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.

  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.