Import filled forms
Start from the form that is already filled
Choose a previously filled IRCC form — a fillable PDF, a flattened copy, a scan or a photo — and Lexova places its answers into the form you have open, matched by meaning and held to the form's own rules. Only empty questions are filled, the file is read, not stored, and your team reviews every answer before anything is submitted.
80 answers imported into this form. Review each one before submitting — the old form may be out of date.
14 empty questions will be filled. 11 answers already in this form differ from the old PDF. Keep what is in the form, or replace it with the PDF's answers?
See it in action
Import a filled IRCC PDF. Skip re-typing.
Transcript
A client brings an IRCC form filled last year. Open the form, press Import a filled PDF, choose the file. Lexova reads it, never stores it, and matches each answer by meaning. Only empty questions are filled. Where the PDF disagrees, you decide. Then review every answer.
The video starts only when you press play; nothing is downloaded before that.
A returning client rarely arrives empty-handed. There is last year's IMM 5708, a scanned IMM 5257 from the first visa, the PDF of the study-permit application that came before today's work-permit extension. Almost everything the new form asks is already written down — and retyping it is slow, and it is where a passport digit gets transposed. In Lexova, the representative opens the form in the case workspace, presses “Import a filled PDF” and chooses the old file. Its answers land in the open form, question by question. What was already typed is never replaced without asking, and signatures, declarations and consents stay behind, because the applicant gives those again.
How it works
Press “Import a filled PDF”
On any unlocked IRCC form of the case workspace, the button sits beside “Download this form (PDF)”. Your team chooses the old form: a PDF, a scan or a photo, up to 4 MB — whatever software produced it.
Read exactly, or read from its pages
A fillable IRCC PDF is read exactly, from the form's own data, with its codes turned back into words. A flattened PDF, a scan or a photo is read from its pages by Lexova AI. Either way the answers are matched to the open form by meaning, so an older version of the form — or a different IRCC form, such as an IMM 5708 feeding an IMM 5710 — works.
Only empty questions are filled — then you review
Each answer is held to the form's own rules before it is placed. Only empty questions are filled; where the PDF disagrees with what is already typed, Lexova asks you: “Keep the form's answers” or “Replace with the PDF's”. A message then states how many answers were imported and asks you to review each one before submitting — the old form may be out of date.
Why it matters
Far less retyping
Names, dates, passport details, addresses and history tables arrive in the form in one step — typically under a minute per form for a fillable PDF.
Held to the form's own rules
A list answer must be one of the form's options, a country one of IRCC's names, a date a real date. An answer that does not fit is dropped — never “fixed” into something the old form did not say — and the question stays empty for you.
Nothing replaced without asking
The import fills empty questions only. When the old PDF and the open form disagree, you decide which to keep before anything changes.
Read, not stored
The old form is read to fill the new one and is not kept on the case. Signatures, declarations and consents are never carried over: the applicant gives those again on the new form.
Frequently asked questions
Which files can I import?+
A previously filled IRCC form as a PDF — fillable or flattened — or a scan or a photo of it, up to 4 MB per file, whatever software produced it. A filled IRCC form is usually under 1 MB; if a scan is heavier than 4 MB, save it at a lower quality and try again.
Does it have to be the same form, or the same version?+
No. The answers are matched to the open form by meaning, not by position: an older version of the same form works, and so does a different IRCC form — the name, date of birth and passport on an IMM 5708 fill the same questions of an IMM 5710. Questions the old form never asked simply stay empty.
What is not imported?+
Signatures, declarations and consents — never. In this version, the dependants section and the military-service section are not imported either: enter those in the form. And any answer that does not fit the form's rules is dropped rather than adjusted.
Does the import replace the representative's review?+
No. A fillable PDF is read exactly from its own data; a scan or a photo is read from its pages by Lexova AI, and a reading can miss or misread an answer. In both cases the old form may be out of date. The representative reviews every answer, and the form then goes through the same validation and submission checks as one typed by hand.
What happens to the file I choose?+
It is read, not stored: the file is used to fill the form and is not added to the case's documents. If you also want the old form on file, upload it to the checklist as you would any other document.
Who can use it, and on which plans?+
The firm's staff, on any unlocked form of a case, on the Premium plan and up. Clients and employers do not see the button.
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