How to Fill Out IMM 5669: Personal History, Addresses, and Signing

To fill out IMM 5669, the Schedule A Background Declaration, you account for every month since your 18th birthday (or the past 10 years, whichever is shorter) covering where you lived, worked, studied, belonged, and served, using full names with no abbreviations and no gaps, then validate and sign the PDF before uploading it with your permanent residence application. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) cross-checks what you write against your police certificates, employment letters, and other documents, and a single unexplained gap can send the package back. A false or incomplete answer can be treated as misrepresentation under section 40 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which carries a five-year bar from Canada.¹

Who Files a Separate Copy

Three people connected to a permanent residence application each complete their own IMM 5669: the principal applicant, the spouse or common-law partner, and any dependent child aged 18 or older. This holds even for family members who are not coming to Canada. A spouse abroad who has no plans to relocate still submits one. An adult child listed on the application who lives independently in another country still submits one. Missing any required declaration is one of the fastest reasons a package gets returned as incomplete.²

The form is used across most permanent residence streams: Express Entry, provincial nominee programs, family class sponsorship, the Atlantic Immigration Program, and humanitarian applications. Some temporary resident applicants also have to complete it when background concerns arise.

What to Gather Before You Open the PDF

The form covers a long stretch of your life at a monthly level of detail. Pulling records together first prevents the guesswork that later shows up as discrepancies against your other documents.²

Every residential address with move-in and move-out dates by month and year. Old leases, utility bills, and bank statements help reconstruct the timeline.
Every job: employer name, title, a brief description of duties, and precise start and end dates. Periods of unemployment, travel, study, or retirement need to be listed too, with what you were doing.
Every school after primary: name, city, country, dates attended, field of study, and the certificate or diploma received. Write “N/A” for the certificate if none was issued.
Every membership: political parties, social organizations, youth or student groups, trade unions, and professional associations. If you have never belonged to any, write “I have never been a member of an organization or association” rather than “N/A.”
Any government position (civil servant, judge, police officer, security organization employee): country, level of government, department or branch, and activities.
Any military or paramilitary service: country, branch, rank, unit, dates, and duties. If none, write “NONE.”

Spell everything out. IRCC’s instructions tell applicants not to use abbreviations anywhere on the form, so write out organizations, departments, and titles in full.²

Working Through the Form

Download the current version of the fillable PDF from the IRCC website. Older copies floating around on third-party sites may be out of date and can trigger a return.

Personal History (Question 8)

This is where most applications run into trouble. Account for every month from your 18th birthday, or the past 10 years if that period is shorter, starting with your most recent activity and working backward. Enter your occupation or job title for each period, and add a short description of duties when the title is not self-explanatory.²

Non-working periods still need entries. Use “unemployed,” “studying,” “travelling,” “retired,” or “in detention” as appropriate. When you were outside your country of nationality during any period, note your immigration status in that country. Even a single unaccounted month can slow processing or send the file back.

Addresses (Question 12)

List every address where you have lived since your 18th birthday or over the past 10 years, whichever is shorter. The same no-gaps rule applies. Temporary addresses count if you were somewhere for a stretch while travelling. IRCC uses these addresses to determine which countries you need police certificates from, so the list needs to line up with what those certificates will show.

Education, Memberships, Government Positions, Military Service

These sections follow the same rules: no abbreviations, no date gaps, and a separate sheet attached if you run out of space. The memberships section is broader than many applicants assume. It includes social clubs, student organizations, and trade unions, not only formal professional associations. For government positions and military service, use the full name of the department or unit, name the country, and describe your role clearly.²

Supporting documents you attach in another language need a certified English or French translation, an affidavit from the translator, and a certified copy of the original. Translations by family members, by you, or by software or AI tools are not accepted.³

Validating and Signing

Before you print or upload, click the validate button built into the PDF. Validation checks that required fields are filled and flags any that are missing. Skipping this step is an easy way to miss a blank field that will get the whole application returned.

How you sign depends on submission method. For an online application, type your full name into the designated blue signature field; that acts as your digital signature. For a paper submission, print the form, sign and date it by hand, and scan a high-quality PDF. An unsigned paper form comes back.²

By signing, you certify that you understand the questions and that your answers are complete, truthful, and correct. That certification is what any later misrepresentation finding rests on.

Submitting and Staying Reachable

Most applicants upload the completed IMM 5669 through the IRCC Permanent Residence Portal or their Express Entry account, alongside the rest of the package. The system issues an acknowledgement of receipt once the upload succeeds.

Keep the portal account active after you submit. If significant time passes during processing, an officer may ask for an updated Schedule A or additional documents. Slow responses can delay processing or lead to the file being closed, so answer requests promptly.⁴

If You Have a Criminal Record

The form asks directly about past criminal activity, and your police certificates will surface any convictions regardless of what you write. Hiding a conviction is worse than disclosing one, because concealment adds a misrepresentation finding on top of any inadmissibility.

A record does not automatically bar you from Canada. Depending on the offence and how much time has passed since you finished your sentence, you may qualify for criminal rehabilitation or be deemed rehabilitated. That is a separate process with its own forms, but the disclosure on Schedule A has to be accurate either way.⁵

Why Accuracy Matters

Section 40 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act makes a foreign national or permanent resident inadmissible for directly or indirectly misrepresenting or withholding material facts that could affect administration of the Act. The consequence is a five-year period of inadmissibility, during which you cannot apply for permanent residence or enter Canada. The five years run from the date of a final determination if the finding is made outside Canada, or from the date a removal order is enforced if it is made inside Canada.¹

Misrepresentation does not require an intent to deceive. A wrong date, a forgotten short-term job, or an address listed in the wrong city can be treated as misrepresentation if it is material. The protection is simply thoroughness: check every entry against your passport, employment records, and other supporting documents before you sign.

If IRCC Comes Back With Questions

When an officer spots inconsistencies (dates that don’t match between your Schedule A and an employment letter, addresses that conflict with a police certificate, unexplained gaps), IRCC will usually send a procedural fairness letter before making a negative decision. The letter names the specific concern and gives you a deadline, generally between 7 and 30 days, to respond with explanations or evidence.

A procedural fairness letter is not a refusal. It is the chance to correct the record. If the problem was an honest mistake, explain clearly what happened and attach documents that support your version. If information was missing, supply it with proof. Ignoring the letter or answering vaguely almost always leads to refusal, so treat the deadline as firm and the response as one of the most important documents in the file.

1
Justice Laws Website. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act – Section 40
2
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Schedule A: Background / Declaration Form (IMM 5669)
3
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. What Language Should My Supporting Documents Be In?
4
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. How Can I Avoid Delays or Refusals in Processing My Application
5
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Rehabilitation for Persons Who Are Inadmissible to Canada Because of Past Criminal Activity