How to Fill Out and Submit Form IMM 5710: Fees and PGWP Notes

Form IMM 5710 is the application Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) uses when you want to extend a work permit, apply for your first work permit from within Canada, or change the conditions on the permit you already hold. You fill it out as an interactive PDF, validate it to generate the barcodes at the end, and upload it through your IRCC secure account with your supporting documents and a $155 processing fee. Most applicants also pay an $85 biometrics fee, and open work permit applicants pay an extra $100.

When You Use IMM 5710

The form covers three situations: extending a work permit that is about to expire, applying for an initial work permit while you are already in Canada on another status such as a visitor or student, and changing conditions on your current permit, for example switching employers. International graduates applying for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) use the same form, as do people seeking a Bridging Open Work Permit or a spousal open work permit.

You must hold valid temporary resident status when you apply. If your status has already expired, IMM 5710 on its own is not enough. You need to apply for restoration of status at the same time, and you have 90 days from the day you lost status to do so. After 90 days, you have to leave Canada and apply from abroad.¹

What to Gather Before You Open the Form

Pull everything together first. If a required document is missing when you submit, IRCC returns the application and you lose whatever processing time you had built up.

A photocopy of the biographical page of your passport or travel document. The passport must stay valid for at least the length of the work permit you are asking for.²
A copy of your most recent Canadian immigration document, whether that is a work permit, study permit, or visitor record.
Digital photographs sized at least 420 by 540 pixels, between 60 KB and 240 KB, in JPEG format, taken against a plain white or light background. If you scan a printed photo, use a minimum of 600 pixels per inch.
Your Unique Client Identifier (UCI), which appears on previous IRCC documents in either a four-four format (0000-0000) or a two-four-four format (00-0000-0000).³
Your seven-digit Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) number if the job requires one. If the position is LMIA-exempt, your employer submits an offer through the IRCC Employer Portal and gives you the offer number, which starts with “A” followed by seven digits.²
An employment contract or offer letter showing the employer’s name and address, your job title, salary, and hours of work.⁴

Most applicants between 14 and 79 also need to give biometrics. The fee is $85 per person, capped at $170 for a family applying together.⁵ You are exempt if you already gave biometrics for a permanent residence application that is still in progress, or if you fall into a specific exempt category such as diplomatic status.⁶ After you submit and pay, IRCC emails a biometrics instruction letter, and you book an appointment at a designated Service Canada office.⁷

A medical exam is not required for everyone. You will need one if the job puts you in close contact with vulnerable populations, such as health-care and clinical lab work, school and childcare staff, and in-home caregivers. Certain applicants who have spent six or more consecutive months in a designated country in the year before applying also need one.⁸

Filling Out the Form

Open IMM 5710 in Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher, on a desktop or laptop. A phone, tablet, or browser-based PDF viewer will not run the form’s built-in logic, and the barcodes at the end will not generate correctly.⁴

Personal Details

Enter your family name and given names exactly as they appear on your passport, even if there is a spelling error. Do not substitute initials. If your passport has no given name, leave the field blank rather than typing “N/A” or an asterisk. If the gender you select differs from what appears on a current Canadian immigration document, you have to include a separate Request for a Change of Sex or Gender Identifier form with your application.

Employment Details

The form asks for the employer’s full name and address, the Canadian work location (province, city, and street address), the job title, a description of duties, the expected employment dates, and either the LMIA number or the LMIA-exempt offer of employment number. Co-op work permit applicants list their designated learning institution as the employer.⁴

Residence History

List every country where you lived for more than six months during the past five years, with accurate date ranges and your immigration status in each. Gaps and inconsistencies here are a common source of processing delays.

Validate

Once every field is complete, click the “Validate” button at the top or bottom of the form. The software scans for missing information and generates barcodes at the end of the document that encode all your answers for IRCC’s intake system. Save the validated file. That is the version you upload.⁴

Errors That Slow Things Down

IRCC notes that filling out the form electronically reduces the errors that delay processing. The frequent ones are mundane:

Name mismatches, whether from using initials or not matching the passport exactly.
Opening the form in a browser PDF viewer or on a phone, so that fields malfunction and barcodes fail to generate.
Leaving the LMIA or offer of employment field blank, or entering the wrong format.
For out-of-status applicants, forgetting the specific instructions: select “Other” as current status, type “Out-of-status – restoration” in the text field, and leave the “From” and “To” date boxes blank.
For PGWP applicants, submitting after the study permit has already expired. The study permit must still be valid on the day you apply.⁴

Submitting the Application

Almost everyone applies online. Paper applications are accepted only if you are also applying for a temporary resident permit, if a disability prevents you from using the online system, or if the online portal is having technical problems.⁹

Log in to your IRCC secure account and start a new application. The portal builds a document checklist based on your answers. Upload the validated IMM 5710 PDF and each supporting document into the correct slot. A document uploaded into the wrong category can be treated as missing.

Fees

You pay through the portal with a credit or debit card. Every amount is non-refundable, even if IRCC refuses the application.

Work permit processing fee: $155 per person.¹⁰
Open work permit holder fee: an additional $100 for open work permits, including PGWPs and Bridging Open Work Permits.¹¹
Biometrics fee: $85 per person, $170 family maximum.⁵
Restoration fee, if you have lost status: $246.25 on top of the regular work permit fee, for a total of $401.25.¹⁰

A PGWP applicant who needs biometrics pays $155 plus $100 plus $85, for $340. An employer-specific extension without biometrics is just the $155.

After You Submit

Once payment goes through, IRCC posts a confirmation to your secure account with a receipt and an application number. Keep the receipt. It is your evidence that you applied before your permit expired.

Maintained Status

If you submitted before your current work permit expired, you have maintained status (sometimes called implied status). You can keep working under the same conditions as your original permit, meaning the same employer and same job, until IRCC decides your new application.¹²

One condition matters. Maintained status under section 186(u) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations requires that you have “remained in Canada.” Leave the country while on maintained status and you lose the authorization to work; you would need a valid work permit or a new port-of-entry letter to re-enter and resume working.¹³

Processing Times

Wait times shift with IRCC’s inventory and staffing. As of early 2026, in-Canada work permit applications have been running roughly eight months or longer. Check the current estimate for your specific application type using IRCC’s online processing time tool.¹⁴ The posted estimate reflects how long IRCC expects the process to take for an application received today and already includes time for biometrics collection.

The Decision

If IRCC approves the application, an immigration document is sent to you and the decision appears in your secure account.⁹ If it is refused, IRCC provides reasons, and you can request your file notes through an access-to-information request for a fuller explanation.

Notes for PGWP Applicants

PGWP applicants use IMM 5710, but the timing rule is specific. You have 180 days from the date you receive confirmation that you completed your program to submit the application, and this clock runs from the confirmation date, not from your last day of classes. Your study permit must still be valid when you apply.¹⁵

Eligibility depends on the program itself: at least eight months long (or 900 hours for Quebec programs) at a PGWP-eligible designated learning institution, with full-time status maintained every semester except possibly the last. Time spent studying online from outside Canada after August 31, 2024, does not count toward the PGWP duration, and at least 50 percent of the program must have been completed in-person within Canada.¹⁶

1
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Restore Your Status and Get a Work Permit
2
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Work Permit: Applying From Inside Canada
3
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. What Is a UCI?
4
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Application to Change Conditions, Extend My Stay or Remain in Canada as a Worker (IMM 5710)
5
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Biometrics
6
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Biometrics: Who Needs to Give Their Fingerprints and Photo
7
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Biometrics: Where to Give Your Fingerprints and Photo
8
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Medical Exams for Visitors, Students and Workers
9
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Guide 5553 – Applying for a Work Permit Inside Canada
10
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Application Fees
11
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. How Much Does a Post-Graduation Work Permit Cost?
12
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Can I Keep Working if My Permit Expires? How Do I Prove It?
13
Justice Laws Website. Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations – Section 186
14
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Check Current IRCC Processing Times
15
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Post-Graduation Work Permit: How to Apply
16
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Post-Graduation Work Permit: Who Can Apply