Why uploading each file separately does not work
IRCC’s guidance for this situation says a field keeps one file; uploading several to that same field leaves only the last upload saved. Combine documents required in that field into one file first. This does not mean combining every category in your application.
Identify your actual application account
The per-file limit is 4 MB in the IRCC secure account and 5 MB in the IRCC Portal. These are different accounts. Return to the account for your application and check the requirements shown for that upload field; do not switch accounts to obtain a larger allowance.
IRCC secure account — official sign-in guidance
Prepare and merge the required documents
Read the document checklist for that field. For JPG/PNG photos, use Images to PDF first and check orientation and complete edges. This does not perform OCR or guarantee a smaller file. For existing PDFs, open Merge PDF directly.
Select at least two ordinary PDFs. Use the displayed file-order controls, rotate if necessary, then create and download the merged file. The merge tool accepts up to 40 files, 30 MB total input and 200 PDF pages. Check that supporting pages, translations and explanations are present; follow your application’s required order.
Check the merged size before submitting
Merging does not apply the application’s size limit. If the output exceeds the field limit, choose Continue to compression, set a target in the new page and click Compress; or download and open compression yourself. Outputs above 30 MB cannot be passed directly to compression.
Review actual file size, page count, order and legibility, then upload to the matching field in your original account. Creating a download does not submit anything to IRCC; complete the subsequent submission steps shown in your account.
Supported documents and privacy
This workflow is for ordinary supporting-document PDFs. PDFMinto compression does not support encrypted PDFs, interactive forms or digitally signed PDFs. Do not alter required forms, signatures or barcodes to make compression possible. Keep the originals and follow the application instructions for special files. The merge tool also rejects annotations (including links) and attachments.
Image conversion and merging run in your browser without uploading files. On the compression page, clicking Compress uploads the PDF for server processing with temporary private Vercel Blob storage. Normal download completion or failure triggers cleanup, with daily expired-task cleanup as a fallback. Read the compression page’s privacy notice before uploading.