Replace Your Lost or Stolen Work or Study Permit

Here’s a step by step guide to replacing your immigration document that takes through the process and makes sure you send in a complete application with as few delays and frustrations as possible. It’s vital to quickly replace any lost or stolen temporary residence permit like a study or work permit, so let’s see how it’s done.

Also, if you just need these documents quickly, we do offer a fast and easy service full paid service by clicking here, you can learn more. Otherwise keep reading…

 

Which lost or stolen temporary status documents can I replace?

While you can obtain information on various documents through this process, only the following status documents can be replaced:

• Visitor Record
• Work Permit
• Study Permit
• Temporary Resident Permit
• Record of Landing.

 

Who do I contact to replace my lost work or study permit or other status document?

As long as your document was issued within the last 75 years – which will almost certainly be the case with any work or study permit issued in Canada – contact IRCC as will be explained below.

 

Now I want to take a moment to let you know that Immigroup does have a simplified process in getting these documents for you. Click here to see our service page or click here to download our simplified PDF order form.

 

Can I request urgent processing of my replacement work or study permit?

You can mark your application package envelope (containing your completed, dated, and signed form IMM 5009, supporting documents, and fee receipt of payment) with the word Urgent if one of the following applies:

• If you receive a letter from Service Canada that your pension application file will be closed unless they receive immigration documentation – you must provide a copy of the letter in your application package.
• If you must travel due to death or serious illness in your family and require an immigration document to obtain your travel document.
• If your employer will terminate you due to lack of immigration information and you urgently require this information – include a copy of a letter from your employer.

In every case, you must include a copy of your expired travel document and a list of documents required to obtain a new travel document.

Finally, please remember that the email address you provide in IMM 5009 will be the official address that IRCC uses to contact you for all matters related to your application to replace your lost or stolen Work or Study Permit. If you do not provide an email address, all communication will be mailed to your mailing address provided in IMM 5009. This will result in slower processing.

 

What Documents do I Need to Replace my Work or Study Permit?

At the end of your IMM 5009 form, there is a document checklist. It includes the following documents you must send with your application package:

• Photocopy of a Federal/Provincial/Territorial Government-issued ID including one of the following:
  • Passport or Travel Document you use to travel to Canada
    • Only photocopy the pages with your passport number; date of issue; date of expiry; passport photo; name; date; place of birth; any changes to any of this information
  • Driver’s License issued by Provincial or Territorial Authority
  • Photo Health Card issued by Provincial or Territorial Health Authority
• Government-issued or internationally recognized ID such as:
  • Your birth certificate
  • Your marriage certificate – if applicable
  • If your country does not issue birth certificates, then you can use an official document about your parents with names, dates, and place of birth, such as:
    • A baptismal certificate
    • A Family composition form.

Do NOT use the following – they are NOT acceptable:

• Social Insurance Cards (SIN)
• Bank Card
• Credit Card
• School ID Card
• Income Tax return
• Temporary Driver’s License.

 

Do I need to translate my documents to replace my work or study permit?

Yes. If your documents are not in English or French, you must submit the following:

• An English or French translation of the document, AND
• An affidavit from the person translating the document (unless they are a certified translator).
  • The affidavit is a legal document where the translator swears in the presence of a public notary that the translation is a true translation and represents the contents of the original document. AND
• A certified copy of the original document

• A public notary also must certify the copy of the original document by writing the following:
  

  “I certify that this is a true copy of the original document”
  Name of original document
  Date of the certification
  Their name
  Their official position and title
  Their signature.

In Canada, the authority to certify varies by province or territory. Check with provincial authorities to see which authority you need, including:

• A notary public
• A commissioner of oaths
• A commissioner of taking affidavits.

How do I open up the PDF for form IMM 5009?

First, go here and select “a form or checklist”. Then locate form IMM 5009 and try to open it by clicking on the link.

If the PDF doesn’t open and you get a blank page with a notification that you must upgrade your Adobe Acrobat Reader, try the following (after upgrading your Adobe Acrobat to at least version 10 and version 11 if possible):

• Right-click the link to the file
• Select Save Target as or Save Link as
• Choose an easily accessible location on your PC, like Documents, to save the file
• Select Save
• To open the PDF file, go to Windows Explorer
• Right-click on the file
• Select Open With
• Select Choose Program
• Select Adobe Acrobat Reader.

 

What does a completed form IMM 5009 look like?

As we’re providing a How-to for lost or stolen Work and Study permits, this will simplify your form as you can ignore the section for people who entered Canada as a permanent resident before 1973. Seeing that you need to replace a work or study permit, it is safe to say you are therefore not a permanent resident.

So, let’s fill out a form IMM 5009 for an imaginary Li Chen who we’ll suppose is a Chinese National and an international student at University of Toronto and who had his study permit stolen and needs a replacement.

As you can see, it’s a fairly straightforward form to complete in the case of an international student (such as our imaginary Li Chen) who has lost or had stolen their study permit (or work permit).

The key is making sure you provide the right documents, copied, translated, and certified by an official authorized to do so.

In the case of Li Chen, our imaginary international student, he’s living in downtown Toronto on Madison Avenue, so he would use someone like a public notary or commissioner of oaths, licensed and registered in the province of Ontario. As well, he will hopefully find an official translator in Ontario who specializes in Chinese to English translations. That should also be fairly straightforward in a city like Toronto but may involve a little more effort to translate and certify the ID documents needed if he’s living in a smaller town farther from Toronto and needs, for example, to replace a work permit rather than a study permit.

 

How do I pay the fees for Replacing a Work or Study Permit?

The fees for an application to replace a study or work permit are CAD$30.

• If you are a protected person and are neither a permanent resident nor a Canadian citizen, then there is no fee charged. However, in our imaginary case, Li Chen, he would have to pay the fee.
• The fee is non-refundable and should be paid before sending the application package as you will need a printed copy of your receipt.
• Fees are only paid online. There is no other way to pay your fees. You will need the following:
  • A valid email address
  • Access to a printer when you pay the fee online in order to print your receipt
  • A Credit Card or a Canadian Debit Card
• Go here (Online Payment)
  • Follow the instructions at the site
  • At the end, print 2 copies of the receipt (which must display a barcode)
  • Attach 1 copy to the printed forms in your application package
  • Keep the other copy for your personal records
  • DO NOT exit the page before printing the 2 copies of your receipt!

 

Where do I send my application to replace a Study or Work Permit?

You should place your completed, signed, dated, and printed form IMM 5009 in an envelope addressed as follows:

I: For normal mail use the following address:

Your name
Your address
our postal code

 

Verification of Status or Replacement of an Immigration Document
Operations Support Centre (OSC)
P.O. Box 8784 STN T CSC
Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 5J3

 

II: For registered mail or private courier delivery, use the following address:

Your name
Your address
Your postal code

 

Verification of Status (VOS) or Replacement of an Immigration Document
Operations Support Centre (OSC)
365 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 1L1

 

If you still feel like this process is a little too much and need these documents to be done correctly and even delivered to you urgently, then let Immgroup take over the process for you. Click here to see our service page or click here to download our simplified PDF order form. Start today, and we will get these documents!

 

List of Status Documents You Can Use the IMM 5009 Application Form For

You’ve already dealt with IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) to get that work or study permit in the first place, so you already know there are endless forms and documents that you need for most applications. Types of Documents you can replace:

• IMM 1097: Visitor record, a status document which functions like a visa and is generally issued by CBSA and/or IRCC to usually do the following:
  • Extend or limit a visitor’s stay in Canada.
  • Specify any conditions applicable to the visitor’s stay in Canada
  • In other words, a visitor record is a modification of the standard 6-month visitor visa issued to travelers to Canada.
• IMM 1102: Work permit, a status document allowing you to legally work in Canada generally for a period of up to 2 years.
• IMM 1208: Study permit, a status document allowing you to study at a Canadian designated learning institution (DLI) for a specified period.
• IMM 1442: A general visitor record form like IMM 1097. You use IMM 1442 to provide your historical immigration information contained in your original study or work permit to IRCC and prove your visitor status when seeking a replacement document, for example.
• IMM 5009: Verification of Status (VOS) or Replacement of an Immigration Document; This is the basic form you will need to fill out and send to IRCC in order to replace your lost or stolen study or work permit. It is also used for the following documents to establish your historical record of immigration status:
  • IMM 1000: Immigrant visa and Record of Landing
  • IMM 5292 and IMM 5688: Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR)
  • IMM 1214: Exclusion Order
  • IMM 1215: Deportation Order
  • IMM 5238: Departure Order
  • IMM 1263: Permit to Come into or Remain in Canada
  • IMM 1203: Authorization to Return to Canada
• IMM 5292 or IMM 5688: Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR); your official confirmation that you have PR status, which is either sent before you travel to Canada or when you land in Canada at your Port of Entry
  • As this page is about the case of a lost or stolen study (or work) permit, then a COPR will not be part of the process in this case. Remember, if you are a permanent resident in Canada, you do not need a study or work permit.