If you hold PCCs that don't show an explicit expiry date but are more than a year old, the key question isn't the certificate's age — it's whether anything has changed since it was issued:
- Confirm you haven't returned to that country for 6+ months since the PCC was issued. If you haven't gone back (or your total time there since hasn't crossed the 6-month threshold again), the existing PCC generally still reflects your record accurately.
- Make sure the PCC covers your last date of stay, not just an earlier period. IRCC wants a certificate that speaks to your record up to when you left — if your PCC was issued mid-stay rather than after your final day, it may be considered incomplete even if not technically 'expired'.
- When in doubt, get a fresh one for your home country. Home-country PCCs get extra scrutiny, so if you have any doubt about coverage, it's worth requesting a new one before submitting.
Since PCCs don't have a universal validity window the way some documents do, the practical test IRCC applies is whether your circumstances (residence, recent travel) have changed since issuance — not simply how old the paper is.