The Landing Process in Canada: How to Become a Permanent Resident

Landing is the moment you officially become a permanent resident of Canada. After years of applications, it is the final and shortest step, but the details matter, and the process has changed. Most people who are already in Canada now land online, without a trip to the border. This guide explains what landing means, the documents involved, how virtual landing and port-of-entry landing work, and exactly what to do once you have landed.

Key Facts About the Landing Process

• What it is: the final step where your status becomes permanent resident.
• Two ways to land: virtually through the Permanent Residence Portal if you are in Canada, or at a port of entry if you arrive from abroad.
• The key document: the Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR), issued electronically as an eCOPR for those landing inside Canada.
• Deadline: you must land before your COPR expiry date, which IRCC will not extend.
• After landing: IRCC mails your PR card, and your eCOPR proves your status in the meantime.
• Travel caution: a printed eCOPR does not let you board a flight back to Canada.

What Does "Landing" Mean?

Landing is the administrative step that changes your status to permanent resident. Before landing, you are a temporary resident or a foreign national with an approved application. On your landing date, you become a permanent resident of Canada, with the rights and responsibilities that come with it. Landing is not a new application. It is the confirmation of a decision IRCC has already made in your favour.

What Is the Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR)?

The Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) is the document IRCC issues once your permanent residence application is approved. If you are outside Canada, it usually arrives on paper and you present it when you enter. If you are inside Canada, it is issued electronically, called an eCOPR, through the Permanent Residence Portal. Either version finalizes your status.

Two details are important. First, a COPR is not a travel document. If your nationality requires a visa, you will also receive a permanent resident visa in your passport to travel to Canada. Second, every COPR has an expiry date, usually tied to your medical exam or passport validity, and you must land before it passes, because IRCC will not extend it. Our detailed guide to the COPR covers the document in depth.

The Two Ways to Land in Canada

How you land depends on where you are when IRCC approves your application:

• Virtual landing, for applicants already in Canada with valid status. You confirm your details online through the Permanent Residence Portal and receive an eCOPR, with no border trip or interview.
• Port-of-entry landing, for applicants arriving from abroad. You present your documents to a border officer when you enter Canada.

Virtual landing has replaced the old practice of flagpoling, where inland applicants used to drive to a border and re-enter to complete their landing. For most people in Canada, that trip is no longer necessary.

How Virtual Landing Works, Step by Step

Virtual landing is done entirely through the Permanent Residence Portal after IRCC approves your application. The process generally runs like this:

1. Watch for IRCC's emails. You will receive messages from an address ending in cic.gc.ca, first asking for basic information, then letting you know IRCC is ready to confirm your status.
2. Use the right account. Do not create your own portal account, as this causes delays. If you applied through the Permanent Residence Portal, use that same account. If not, IRCC creates one for you and emails a username and temporary password.
3. Confirm you are in Canada. In the portal, select the confirmation of permanent residence option and declare that you are physically in Canada. IRCC cannot confirm your status while you are abroad, and declaring you are in Canada does not by itself make you a permanent resident yet.
4. Provide your Canadian address and photo. Enter the Canadian mailing address where your PR card will be sent, and upload a photo that meets the specifications, which IRCC uses to produce your first card.
5. Receive your eCOPR. Once IRCC reviews and accepts your details, it uploads your eCOPR to the portal. This can take up to a few weeks. The moment your eCOPR is issued, you are officially a permanent resident.

You must complete this step yourself. A representative cannot confirm your status for you, and you must tell IRCC if you leave Canada before your status is granted. You can read the official instructions on the Government of Canada's confirm your permanent residence page.

How Landing at a Port of Entry Works

If you are outside Canada when your application is approved, you land at a port of entry, either an airport or a land border. You travel to Canada with your passport, your paper COPR, and your permanent resident visa if you needed one to travel. A Canada Border Services Agency officer verifies your documents, confirms you are admissible, and completes your landing, at which point you become a permanent resident. As with virtual landing, you must arrive before your COPR and visa expiry dates.

What to Do After You Land

Your eCOPR or signed COPR is valid proof of your permanent resident status while you wait for your PR card. As soon as you land, you can start setting up your life in Canada:

• Apply for a Social Insurance Number (SIN) at a Service Canada location, which lets you work legally and pay taxes.
• Register for provincial health coverage, since each province has its own process and possible waiting period.
• Update your employer if you were previously on a work permit, as your permanent residence now authorizes your work.

Getting Your PR Card

You do not apply separately for your first PR card. IRCC starts producing it automatically once you provide your Canadian address and an acceptable photo during landing, and it mails the card to that address, usually within a few weeks to a few months. The card is valid for five years. If you did not give a Canadian mailing address when you landed, use IRCC's online address tool within 180 days, or you may have to apply and pay for a new card. Later, when the card nears expiry, you handle a separate PR card renewal. You can review the current requirements on IRCC's PR card page.

Can You Travel Right After Landing?

Be careful here. A printed eCOPR does not let you board a commercial flight, train, bus, or boat to return to Canada. To travel internationally and come back by a commercial carrier, you generally need your physical PR card, or a Permanent Resident Travel Document applied for from outside Canada. The simplest approach is to avoid international travel until your PR card arrives.

Your Rights and Responsibilities as a Permanent Resident

Once you land, you can live, work, and study anywhere in Canada, access public healthcare, and enjoy most rights of citizens apart from voting and holding certain offices. In return, you take on a residency obligation: in general you must be physically present in Canada for at least 730 days within every five-year period to keep your status. Permanent residence is also the main pathway to Canadian citizenship, once you meet the physical-presence and other requirements. Status can be lost for failing the residency obligation or for serious criminality, so it is worth understanding these rules from day one.

How You Reached Landing: From Approval to Permanent Resident

Landing sits at the end of a longer journey. Most permanent residents arrive here through economic programs such as Express Entry, family sponsorship, or a provincial stream. Whatever the route, the final stretch has the same shape: approval, then your COPR, then landing, then your PR card. If you want the full picture of the status you are stepping into, our overview of Canadian permanent residence explains the benefits and obligations in detail.

How SEP Immigration Can Help

Landing is short, but a missed email, an expiring COPR, or a wrong portal account can stall it at the finish line. SEP Immigration, led by Sepehr Falahati (CICC and IRB member R533959), helps you complete your landing correctly and move confidently into life as a permanent resident.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Immigration processes and timelines change. Confirm current details on canada.ca, or with a licensed representative, before you act.