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Last verified: June 2026 · Source: justice.gc.ca← Back to Law Explorer
IRPRPART 8 Refugee ClassesDIVISION 5 Protected Persons — Permanent Residence
r.178

Identity documents

🍁 In Simple Terms

Fleeing a country rarely leaves you with a clean passport, so this opens two alternatives. You can file any identity document issued abroad before you came to Canada. If conditions in your country genuinely make documents impossible to get, and you can explain why in a verifiable way, you can swear a statutory declaration about your identity, backed by one from someone who knew you or your family before you arrived, or from an official of an organization that works with people from your community. The substitute is accepted only if it is genuine, identifies you, and is credible.

Affects: Immigration applicants (economic, family, humanitarian)
Legal Text: IRPR Regulation 178

(1)An applicant who does not hold a document described in any of paragraphs 50(1)(a) to (h) may submit with their application (a)any identity document issued outside Canada before the person’s entry into Canada; or (b)if there is a reasonable and objectively verifiable explanation related to circumstances in the applicant’s country of nationality or former habitual residence for the applicant’s inability to obtain any identity documents, a statutory declaration made by the applicant attesting to their identity, accompanied by(i)a statutory declaration attesting to the applicant’s identity made by a person who, before the applicant’s entry into Canada, knew the applicant, a family member of the applicant or the applicant’s father, mother, brother, sister, grandfather or grandmother, or(ii)a statutory declaration attesting to the applicant’s identity made by an official of an organization representing nationals of the applicant’s country of nationality or former habitual residence.

In Practice
Official Source: Justice Canada: IRPR r. 178 (authoritative, may differ from this display)
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