COPR and eCOPR

On your COPR you will find a "Valid to" date. If you are still outside Canada, this is the date that counts most. That is when your travel document stops being valid. You must arrive in Canada and become a permanent resident no later than that day.

The port of entry is simply the spot where you first come into Canada, like an airport or a land border. You need to show your COPR there before the "Valid to" date printed on it, so plan your trip with that date in mind. At the border or airport, you hand your COPR to an officer with the Canada Border Services Agency.

After that step is done, your COPR works as proof of permanent resident status until the permanent resident card, usually called the PR card, reaches you.

The eCOPR is simply the COPR in electronic form. If you are in Canada when your application is approved, you confirm your status through the PR confirmation portal. Being physically present in Canada is required to confirm your status by this route.

When your application is approved and you are in Canada, two emails arrive from the government. The first asks you to reply with a few basic details. Because of a mailbox problem in December 2024, some people may have gotten that first email twice.

Some handy details can make things go smoothly:

• A new temporary password can take up to 24 hours to arrive.
• For a short moment, the portal must open your photo library to let you pick the photo to upload.
• If something on your COPR is wrong, you need to ask for it to be corrected.
• An immigration representative, in other words, an immigration consultant or lawyer, can, for a fee, guide you through the portal process.

For your first PR card, a digital photo of you has to be uploaded. Your photo must meet the requirements below:

Uploading and verifying your photo:

1. In the portal, go to Step 2: Documents required.
2. Attach your photo file.
3. Select Apply so the portal can verify the photo.

Your photo must measure between 715 × 1000 and 2000 × 2800 pixels and be no larger than 4 MB.

In most cases, applying for your first PR card is not something you have to do. Send a mailing address in Canada and a photo no later than 180 days after you land, and the card will come by mail. Should those details be missing, you will have to apply for the card yourself.

Right now, a first PR card takes about 30 days to process, and that figure may shift.

Travel is fine, but the trip back needs proper paperwork. Whether you come back by plane, train, bus, or boat, a valid PR card must be shown. If you must leave before the card arrives, you will have to request a permanent resident travel document. That is a separate document allowing a permanent resident without a card to come back to Canada.

Even once your PR card arrives, it makes sense to store your COPR somewhere secure. It could come in handy for changing details on your PR card or backing other applications.

COPR also shows up in paramedic licensing, and there it refers to a licensing test rather than anything to do with immigration. In British Columbia, anyone applying for a paramedic licence as a Primary Care Paramedic (PCP) or Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP) has to pass two tests: the COPR written exam and the BC jurisprudence exam.

• If you started a PCP program before 1 March 2016, you don't take the COPR exam. Instead, you take the written and practical exams set by BC's Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board (EMALB), plus the BC jurisprudence exam.
• The exam takes place four times each year at multiple sites, and the COPR website normally lists the schedule about twelve months in advance.
• The provider of the exam collects the exam fee, while the licence fee is paid to the province when you register in BC.
• There is no need to purchase additional textbooks, the materials from your training can be used to prepare.