Migratio Canada · Guides · Find consultants · For consultants

IMM 5562, Supplementary Information: Your Travels: what the form asks and where it goes wrong

IMM 5562 is IRCC's travel history form for permanent residence applications. The principal applicant completes it, including the sections for a spouse or common-law partner and for each dependent child aged 18 or older, whether or not they come to Canada. It asks for every trip outside your country of origin or residence in the last ten years, or since your 18th birthday if that was less than ten years ago.

IMM 5562, "Supplementary Information: Your Travels", is a short form with a heavy job: it asks you to write out your international travel over a long period. People tend to underestimate it because it has few questions. The difficulty is not the wording, it is the memory work, and the fact that the form is signed off as part of an application where every answer has to be truthful.

This guide describes what IRCC's form page says about IMM 5562 (form version July 2024, page date 26 June 2025) and what IRCC's spouse and partner sponsorship package page (page date 19 August 2026) says about where it sits in an application. It explains what each part asks and the slips that cause trouble. It does not tell you what to write for your own travel history, and it does not say whether the form applies to you. Your program's instruction guide on IRCC's site decides that.

Who completes IMM 5562 and which applications use it

IRCC's form page says the form is completed by the principal applicant. The same page says the principal applicant must complete all sections, including the ones for a spouse or common-law partner and for each dependent child over 18, whether or not those family members travel with the principal applicant to Canada. That last point catches people out. A spouse who is staying behind, or an adult dependent child who is not applying to come yet, still has a section that the principal applicant fills in.

IMM 5562 is a permanent residence form. IRCC's form page links to the Permanent Residence Portal and says the form comes in two versions: a digital version inside the portal and a PDF for paper applications. It tells you to check your program's instructions to see which one to use. It does not list the programs that use the form. For one family sponsorship route, IRCC's spouse, common-law partner and conjugal partner package page lists it as a form the principal applicant completes online, marked as applying only "if it applies". Other programs may handle it differently, so the instruction guide for your own program is the document to check, and the checklist inside your application is the final word.

If you cannot apply online and need accommodations, including for a disability, IRCC's form page says you can ask for an alternative format of the form and the application package. The page points to your program's instruction guide for how to do that.

This is a different form from the travel and background questions inside the temporary resident forms. Visitor, study and work applications carry their own background sections. IMM 5562 is a standalone supplement to a permanent residence application. The Generic Application Form, IMM 0008, and Schedule A, IMM 5669, are separate forms in the same family of documents. Each has its own guide on this site.

What each question asks

The form is organised around your travel, your spouse or partner's travel and your adult children's travel. IRCC's page describes it this way.

Question 1 asks for your name. You enter your full family name and all your given names exactly as they appear on your passport or on the official documents you will use to obtain it. IRCC says not to use initials. This sounds trivial, but names are the field where applications most often collect small differences, because the same person may be written three ways across a passport, a school record and an old visa.

Question 2a asks you to list your trips. The period is the last ten years, or since your 18th birthday if that is less than ten years ago. The page says the trips to list are those outside your country of origin or residence. It also says to include all types of trip, and it gives tourism, business and training as examples. There is no minimum length. A long weekend in a neighbouring country is a trip. Read the question on the form itself for its exact wording, because that wording controls.

Question 2b is the same exercise for your spouse or common-law partner. You enter their full name as it appears on their passport or on the documents used to obtain it, without initials, and you list their trips over the same period and with the same trip types.

Questions 2c, 2d and 2e repeat it for each dependent child who is 18 or older. Each child's full name is entered as it appears on their passport or the documents used to obtain it, without initials, followed by their trips.

For anyone who did not travel in the period, the form has a "did not travel" selection. IRCC's page says to select it if you did not travel outside your country during the period. It exists so that a blank is never ambiguous. A blank section and a "did not travel" answer mean different things to the person reading the form.

Working out the ten-year window

The window has two limits. It goes back ten years, and it stops at your 18th birthday if you turned 18 less than ten years ago. A 24-year-old therefore covers six years, not ten. The same rule applies separately to each family member. A spouse who is 45 covers ten years. A dependent child who is 19 covers one year.

The form's own dates should be worked out from the date you complete it, because the window moves. A form started in one month and finished in another does not change what has to be listed in a way that matters much, but the safest habit is to check the end date when you finish and make sure no trip falls between the last one you listed and the day you submit. If you travelled while the application was being prepared, list those trips too, and be ready to explain them.

Where the memory work gets hard is the middle of the ten years. People remember the big trips and the recent ones. The trips that disappear are short business trips, transit stays long enough to leave the airport, trips taken on a different passport, and trips taken when you were living in a third country. If the instruction is to list every trip outside your country of origin or residence, those all belong in it.

Things that can help you reconstruct a history are documents you already hold: passports (including expired ones), visa and entry stamps, boarding passes and e-tickets, booking confirmations, bank and card statements, employer travel records and old calendar entries. Nothing on IRCC's page says you must attach them to this form. They are for your own use, so that what you write is accurate. Keep the passports. IRCC's other forms and guides repeatedly refer to passport details, and an officer who has a passport in front of them can see the stamps.

Extra space, and how to add lines

A long travel history will not fit in the lines printed on the form. IRCC's page gives two answers depending on the version you use.

In the digital version, you add lines with the + button. In the PDF paper version, you print an additional page containing the relevant section, complete it, and submit it with your application. IRCC says to print your name and the form's title on that additional page. That small instruction matters: a loose page with a list of dates and no name on it can be separated from your file.

Tidy entries are easier to read and easier to check. Use the same date format throughout, give the country for each trip, and do not mix the principal applicant's trips with the spouse's. If a trip was shared, it still appears in each person's own section, because each section is read as that person's history.

What the form does not ask, and why accuracy matters anyway

IMM 5562 is a list. It does not ask you to explain each trip, and it does not ask for evidence of any single trip. That can make it feel low-stakes. It is not, for two reasons set out in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The first is s.16(1), the duty to answer truthfully. A person who makes an application "must answer truthfully all questions put to them for the purpose of the examination". Every line of IMM 5562 is an answer to a question put to you.

The second is s.40, misrepresentation. Under s.40(1)(a) inadmissibility follows "for directly or indirectly misrepresenting or withholding material facts relating to a relevant matter" that "induces or could induce an error in the administration of this Act". The consequence under s.40(2)(a) is that the person "continues to be inadmissible for misrepresentation for a period of five years" counted from the relevant event. The period starts from different points depending on whether the determination is made outside or inside Canada. Our guide on the five-year misrepresentation bar sets out how that works.

The risk with a travel history is less about invention and more about omission. A trip left off because it was short, embarrassing, to a country that might raise questions, or simply forgotten is a withheld fact in the eyes of the Act if it is material. Whether any particular omission is material is a legal question that only IRCC, and ultimately a court, decides. What you control is the care you take to list every trip you can establish, and the consistency between this form and the others in your package, such as the residence and travel questions in IMM 0008 and the background questions in Schedule A.

If you realise after submitting that a trip was left off, do not wait for IRCC to ask. How to correct an application is a decision for a regulated adviser or lawyer who can see the whole file.

Common mistakes

These are slips that follow directly from the instructions above. They are not a statistic about how IRCC decides cases. - Using initials for any name. IRCC's page says not to. - Leaving the spouse or adult child section blank because that person is not coming to Canada. The page says to complete all sections whether or not they accompany you. - Writing "none" or leaving a gap instead of selecting "did not travel" when a person did not travel. - Counting only trips taken for tourism. The page names tourism, business and training and asks for all trip types. - Dropping short trips, transit stays and trips on an older passport. - Listing trips to Canada only, or trips that were refused or cancelled. Read the form's question to see exactly what it asks for. If a question is unclear, the instruction guide for your program is the place to resolve it. - Using a different name spelling from the one on the passport. - Running out of lines and squeezing a long history into a note on another form, instead of adding lines or a printed additional page with your name and the form title. - Filling the form in once and never revisiting it before submission, so the end of the period is out of date.

Cost, signatures and getting help

IMM 5562 has no fee of its own. The fee belongs to the application it is part of. The IRCC fee list (page date 21 September 2026) is the place to read the current fee for your program, and our overview of Canadian immigration fees explains how to read it. Fees are indexed and can change, so check the list on the day you pay.

The form is a supplement to forms that you sign or declare elsewhere in the package. Read your program's instruction guide for where signatures and declarations are required.

You can complete IMM 5562 yourself. If someone else will prepare or advise on your application for a fee, Canadian law limits who may do that. Under IRPA s.91, paid representation and advice on an immigration application is restricted to authorized people, which in practice means licensed immigration consultants, lawyers and Quebec notaries in good standing. A representative is declared on IMM 5476, and our guide to that form explains it. You can check any consultant's licence on the College's public register, and our guide shows how. To find a regulated adviser, use the adviser directory on this site, which lists advisers and links to the official register so you can verify them yourself.

Questions people ask

How far back does the IMM 5562 travel history go?

IRCC's form page says to list all trips outside your country of origin or residence in the last ten years, or since your 18th birthday if that is less than ten years ago. The same window applies to a spouse or partner and to each dependent child aged 18 or older.

Do I need to fill in my spouse's travel history if they are not coming to Canada?

IRCC's form page says the principal applicant must complete all sections, including those for a spouse or common-law partner and each dependent child over 18, whether or not they accompany you.

What do I do if I did not travel at all?

The form has a 'did not travel' selection for each person. IRCC's page says to select it if you did not travel outside your country during the period. It avoids leaving the section blank.

How do I add more trips if the form runs out of space?

In the online version you add lines with the + button. On paper you print an additional page with the relevant section, complete it and submit it with your application, with your name and the form title on that page.

Is there a fee for IMM 5562?

The form has no fee of its own. The fee belongs to the application it forms part of. Read the IRCC fee list for the current amount for your program.

What happens if I leave out a trip by mistake?

IRPA s.16(1) requires truthful answers and s.40 makes misrepresenting or withholding material facts a ground of inadmissibility with a five-year period. Whether an omission is material is for IRCC to decide. Speak to a regulated adviser or lawyer who can review your whole file before you decide how to correct it.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-09.

Related guides

  • IMM 0008, Generic Application Form for Canada: a section-by-section walkthrough — IMM 0008 is the core form for most permanent residence applications. It lists the principal applicant, their family members and their dependants. Every family member must be declared, including those who are not applying and those whose whereabouts are unknown. A paper form with missing or unreadable barcodes, or without a signature and date, is returned unprocessed.
  • IMM 5669 Schedule A, Background/Declaration: what each question asks and how gaps are treated — IMM 5669 (Schedule A) records your identity, parents, education, personal history since age 18 or the last 10 years, organizations, government and military service and addresses. IRCC says not to leave gaps in time, not to use abbreviations, and that an unsigned paper form is returned. Anyone 18 or over in the application completes their own.
  • IMM 5406, Additional Family Information: who must list whom, and why leaving someone out matters — IMM 5406 collects details about your parents, spouse or partner, children and siblings. IRCC says it is "very important" to list all your children, including married, adopted, stepchildren and those in an ex-partner's custody, and to answer every question, using N/A where one does not apply. The online version is certified when you click the complete button, and the paper version is signed in Section D.
  • Misrepresentation in Canada: The Five-Year Inadmissibility Rule — Under section 40 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, misrepresenting or withholding a material fact that induces or could induce an error makes a person inadmissible for five years, and during that time a foreign national cannot apply for permanent residence. The five years run from the final determination if it was made outside Canada, or from the day a removal order is enforced if it was made in Canada.
  • IMM 5476, Use of a Representative: what the form asks and how it is submitted — IMM 5476 tells IRCC that someone may act for you on an application, paid or unpaid. You complete the applicant sections, your representative signs their own declaration, and a paid representative must give their membership ID from the College, a law society or the Chambre des notaires. The same form is used to cancel or change a representative.
  • Spousal Sponsorship in Canada: Inland vs Outland, Eligibility and the Process — A Canadian citizen or permanent resident who is 18 or older and lives in Canada can sponsor a spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner or dependent child. Spouses and common-law partners can be sponsored in the 'in Canada' class (IRPR s.124) or the family class from outside; the choice depends on residence and status, and the appeal rights differ.
  • How to check an RCIC licence on the College's Public Register — Search the consultant on the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Public Register (register.college-ic.ca). Only people with an "Active" status and "Yes" in the "Entitled to Practise" column may legally give you immigration advice for a fee. Then contact them using the details on the register, not the ones in an ad or a message.
  • Canadian Immigration Fees 2026: The IRCC List, Explained — The IRCC fee list (date modified 21 September 2026) sets the government fees for most applications: for example $100 for a visitor visa, $150 for a study permit, $155 for a work permit, $1,590 for an economic permanent residence application including the $600 right of permanent residence fee, and $653 for an adult citizenship application. Medical exams, language tests, police certificates and representative fees are not on it.