Attestation Letter Requirements

A PAL must be written and signed by a provincial or territorial government and contain the following information:

• The student’s full name, as it appears on a valid passport or identity document

• The student’s date of birth

• The student's current residence address

• The designated learning institution (DLI) name (this is the primary/main institution name)

• The student’s ID / Student Number

The following fields are added by the Ontario Attestation Letter Service when the letter is created:

• Unique PAL ID – This format has been agreed upon with the MCU and the OUAC for consistency and uniqueness across the province

  • First part: ON24 (For the next calendar year, it will be ON25)

  • Second part: 01 (OCAS code) or 02 (OUAC code)

  • Third part: A library will generate a unique set of characters with letters (caps only) and numbers (excluding 0, o, l and 1)

• Date of Issue

• Effective / Expiry Date: January 21, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EST

Note: The expiry date isn’t enforced or validated by OCAS or IRCC. It’s a "soft" recommendation to encourage applicants to use their PAL in a timely manner.

We’ve attached samples of a generated PAL in English and French. See the Attachments section in the upper-right corner.