Canada’s permanent residence application fees are going up on April 30, 2026 — and that deadline is less than four weeks away. If you are working toward PR from outside Canada or abroad and your application is nearly ready, acting before that date could save your family hundreds of dollars.

The increase was confirmed in the Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 160, Number 14, published April 4, 2026. IRCC has also posted an official notice on Canada.ca with the full updated fee schedule.

What Fees Are Changing — and By How Much

These are biennial adjustments tied to the Consumer Price Index, authorized under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. Here is what changes at 9:00 a.m. Eastern on April 30, 2026:

• Right of Permanent Residence Fee: $575 → $600 per person
• Federal Skilled Worker / Provincial Nominee — Principal applicant: $950 → $990
• Dependent child (most programs): $260 → $270
• Business class — Principal applicant: $1,810 → $1,895
• Family Reunification sponsorship: $85 → $90
• Protected Persons — Principal applicant: $635 → $660

For a family of four applying under the Federal Skilled Worker stream — two adults and two dependent children — the total fee increase works out to approximately $95 between now and April 30. Small per person, but real money when you add it up across a family, and certainly avoidable if your application is in good shape.

Who This Affects

The April 30 fee change applies across almost every PR stream:

• Express Entry (Federal Skilled Worker, Federal Skilled Trades, Canadian Experience Class)
• Provincial Nominee Program (all streams — OINP, PEI PNP, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, etc.)
• Atlantic Immigration Program
• Family sponsorship (spouses, partners, parents, grandparents)
• Business immigration
• Protected persons / Convention refugees

If you are a national currently working in Canada on a work permit, waiting for a PNP nomination, or sponsoring a family member — check where your application stands today.

Steps to Take Before April 30

Not every applicant will be able to submit in time, and that is fine — the fee difference is meaningful but not catastrophic. What you want to avoid is scrambling to submit an incomplete application just to beat the deadline, only to have it returned. Here is how to think through your situation:

Step 1 — Check your application completeness. Log into your IRCC secure account and review every document requirement for your stream. A missing police certificate, an expired medical, or a gap in your employment history will cause delays that no deadline rush is worth.

Step 2 — Confirm your documents are current. Many supporting documents have validity windows. Police certificates from outside Canada are typically valid for six months from the date of issue. Medical exams are valid for 12 months. If yours are expiring soon, factor that into your timeline.

Step 3 — Have your fees ready to pay. IRCC requires payment at the time of submission through a credit card, debit card, or prepaid card. If you are submitting on behalf of multiple family members, make sure you have the full amount available on a single payment method — partial payments are not accepted.

Step 4 — Review, then submit. If your RCIC or immigration consultant has reviewed your application and confirmed it is ready, submit before April 30 at 9:00 a.m. EDT. Do not wait until April 29 — portal slowdowns during high-traffic periods are common near deadlines.

Step 5 — If you are not ready, do not rush. A rushed, incomplete submission that gets returned or refused costs far more than a $40 fee increase. If your application needs another few weeks of preparation, it is better to take that time.

What If You Have Already Received an ITA or Nomination?

If you have received an Invitation to Apply (ITA) through Express Entry or a nomination from a provincial program, the clock on your submission deadline is already running — usually 60 days from the ITA date for Express Entry. In that case, your priority is meeting the ITA deadline, not the fee deadline. Talk to your RCIC about whether the two timelines align in your case.

A Note on the TR-to-PR Pathway

If you are a temporary foreign worker waiting on IRCC’s expected one-time TR-to-PR pathway — confirmed in the 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan for up to 33,000 spots — full eligibility criteria and the application portal have not yet been published as of this writing. We are monitoring for official details and will post an update as soon as they are available. If the portal opens before April 30, the new fee schedule would apply to those applications.

The Bottom Line

April 30 is a real, confirmed, Canada Gazette-published deadline — not a rumour. If your permanent residence application is close to ready, it is worth making a focused push over the next three weeks to submit at the current fee rates. If you are not sure whether you are ready, that is exactly the kind of question an RCIC can help you answer quickly.

At Bison Immigration Consulting, we work with clients from outside Canada and across abroad who are navigating every stage of the PR process — from initial Express Entry profiles to final document preparation and submission. If you want a second set of eyes on your application before the April 30 deadline, we are here.

Email us at hello@bisonimmigration.com for a personalized assessment of your options.