IRCC Document Uploads: File Size Limits and Formats

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has several online application systems, and the file size limit depends on which one you use. There's also one rule that trips up many applicants: each upload field holds only one file. If you upload a second file into the same field, only the last one is kept.

This guide gives you the limits as the IRCC Help Centre listed them when we checked in September 2026, and shows how to build one clean, small PDF for each field.

File size limits by account

According to the IRCC Help Centre ("Is there a file size limit for documents I upload to my account?"), the limit per file is:

Account or portal	Limit per file
IRCC secure account	4 MB
IRCC Portal	5 MB
IRCC Portal – new version	5 MB
Online citizenship application	4 MB
Permanent Residence Portal	4 MB
Asylum portal	4 MB

These numbers have changed before. IRCC's own size-reduction page still says the limit can be "as low as 2 MB" depending on the application. Always compare with the limit shown next to the upload button. If you're not sure, aim below the lowest figure you see.

Accepted formats by account

The Help Centre page "What file formats can I upload to my account?" lists:

• IRCC secure account: .jpg, .png, .doc, .tiff, .pdf
• IRCC Portal: .jpg, .png, .doc, .docx, .tiff, .pdf
• Online citizenship application: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tif, .tiff, .pdf
• Asylum portal: .jpg, .png, .tiff, .doc, .docx, .pdf
• Permanent Residence Portal: .pdf for application forms and supporting documents, plus .jpg, .jpeg, .doc, .docx, .png

PDF is accepted everywhere, and it's the only format that easily holds several pages. So for most documents, a PDF is the safest choice.

The one-file-per-field rule

IRCC's Help Centre says it plainly: "You can only upload 1 file per field." If a field asks for proof of employment and you have a reference letter, three pay stubs and a contract, all of that has to become one file. The same goes for passport pages, proof of funds, police certificates with translations, and so on.

IRCC suggests combining PDFs into a single PDF. For photos, it suggests putting them into a document or PDF at low resolution (150 DPI or less) to stay within the size limit.

Step by step: build one PDF per field

1. Collect everything for the field. Write down what goes into it and in what order. The most important document goes first (for example, the reference letter before the pay stubs).
2. Turn paper into PDF. For paper documents, use Scan to PDF with your phone camera. Crop each page with the four-corner tool and use the grayscale or black-and-white filter for text documents. Use the original color filter for passports or anything with colored stamps.
3. Turn photos into PDF. If you already have photos (JPG, PNG or WEBP), JPG to PDF puts them into one PDF in the order you choose. You can set the page size to A4, Letter or the image's own size.
4. Merge into a single file. Open Merge PDF, add every PDF for that field, drag them into order and download one PDF. Merging copies the pages without recompressing them, so quality doesn't drop at this step.
5. Shrink to the limit. Run the merged file through Compress PDF. With the "Compress to X KB" mode you can type a target just below your account's limit, such as 3800 KB for a 4 MB account. The tool lowers image quality step by step until it's under the target. It shows the size before and after, and it tells you if it couldn't reach the target.
6. Check it. Open the final PDF and zoom in on names, dates, passport numbers and stamps. If anything is hard to read, compress less and remove any pages you don't actually need.

All of these tools run in your browser, so your passport scans and bank statements stay on your device.

IRCC's own size tips, briefly

IRCC's page "My documents are too large to upload" suggests:

• saving PDFs again with a lowest-file-size option,
• scanning or saving images at a lower resolution, such as 96 DPI,
• cropping empty space around images,
• converting TIFF and PNG files to JPG,
• removing unnecessary images and formatting from Word files, or saving them as PDF.

Compressing a finished PDF, as in step 5, does the same job as the first tip without re-scanning anything.

Naming and ordering tips

IRCC doesn't publish a naming rule on these pages, but clear names help you check your work before you submit:

• Name by content and person: passport-bio-page-applicant.pdf, proof-of-funds-2026.pdf, employment-acme-2021-2024.pdf.
• Keep a translation right after the document it translates, in the same PDF.
• Put pages in reading order, and turn sideways pages the right way up before merging.

Common mistakes

• Uploading several files into one field. Only the last one is saved, and the others are silently replaced.
• Using the wrong limit. A file that fits a 5 MB portal can fail on a 4 MB account.
• Unreadable compression. Staying under the limit isn't enough if an officer can't read the dates.
• Missing pages. Proof of funds and employment letters often have a second page with the signature. Count pages before uploading.

If the upload fails

Check the account type and its limit, confirm the extension is one your account accepts, and re-compress with a slightly lower target. If a merged PDF is still too big even at the strongest reasonable setting, it probably has too many color scans. Re-scan the text pages in grayscale and merge again.

Checklist

• The right limit for your account, checked on the upload screen.
• One PDF per field, with pages in logical order.
• Every page readable after compression.
• Accepted extension (PDF works everywhere).