AFTER THE COURSE

Renewing your PAL: When, how, and what if it already expired

Last reviewed July 15, 2026

A PAL is valid for five years, and renewing it is a simpler rerun of the original application: same form family (or the online portal), updated personal-history answers, a new photo, the renewal fee - and no course retake, ever. The single most important habit is starting early, because an expired licence turns ordinary gun ownership into a legal problem overnight.

Here’s the renewal process, the lapse scenario, and the related card problems (lost, stolen, name change) in one place.

Renewing on time: the normal path

The RCMP mails or messages renewal notices in the months before expiry. From there:

1. Apply as soon as you’re notified - online through the RCMP portal (fastest, validates as you type) or on the renewal form. Renewing early costs nothing: the new licence runs five years from issue.
2. Update what’s changed - address, partner information, and the personal-history questions now cover the years since your last application. The same honesty rules apply as the original application; if the interval included legal trouble, read the criminal-record guide before answering carelessly.
3. New photo and fee - same photo standards as before; the renewal fee is set by regulation (current amounts).
4. Keep possessing normally while a timely renewal processes. Renewals aren’t subject to the 28-day first-licence wait, but processing volume is real - another argument for the early start.

Restricted privileges renew on the same application; your registered firearms carry over untouched.

If your PAL has already expired

This is the situation to avoid, and the one to handle carefully if you’re in it:

• Possession without a valid licence is a criminal offence. The Firearms Act has provided limited grace where a renewal was filed before expiry - rules that have changed over the years - but an expired licence with no renewal filed has no such cover.
• Don’t buy, use, or transport anything. The immediate goal is regularizing your status, and any transaction makes it worse.
• Call the Canadian Firearms Program first: 1-800-731-4000. Explain the lapse and follow their direction. The CFP deals with lapses routinely, and a self-reported, promptly-fixed lapse is a different conversation than a discovered one.
• Your course report still stands whatever happens - even a long lapse never sends you back to the classroom.

Lost, stolen, or damaged cards

The licence exists in the RCMP’s system, but you need the physical card for purchases:

• Lost or damaged: request a replacement from the CFP.
• Stolen: report to your local police as well as the CFP - a stolen identity document is a police matter, and if firearms were taken with it, reporting the theft to both is a legal requirement, not just good practice.

Keep your file current between renewals

Two updates don’t wait for renewal time:

• Address changes must reach the CFP within 30 days - including moves between provinces, which have extra steps for restricted firearms.
• Name changes should be reported with documentation, so your card matches your ID at the gun counter.

Renewal is the easy part of the licence lifecycle precisely because the hard parts - the course and first application - never repeat. Know someone still at step one? Point them to a CFSC course nearby; everything after that gets easier.