Express Entry document checklist after an invitation to apply
Quick answer
After an invitation to apply you have a fixed deadline to submit a complete permanent residence application. The items that take the longest are police certificates from every country where you have lived six months or more since age 18, and the immigration medical examination. Start both immediately rather than waiting until the rest of the file is ready.
Create my checklist
Tick whatever is true of you and the situation-dependent items narrow to your circumstances. Nothing is sent anywhere and no contact details are needed.
Generally required
- Valid passportBiographical pages, and every page containing a stamp or visa.
- Digital photo meeting IRCC specifications
- Proof of current immigration statusWhere you are living outside your country of citizenship.
Program-specific
- Police certificatesFrom every country where you have lived six months or more since age 18. Often the longest lead time in the file.
- Immigration medical examinationCompleted by an IRCC panel physician.
- Language test results used in the profileMust still be valid.
- Educational credential assessment report
- Employment reference letters for every claimed periodLetterhead, title, duties, hours, dates, salary, signature and contact details.
- Proof of fundsOfficial bank letters covering the required period, where funds are required for your program.
- Digital photographs for each family member
Situation-dependent
- Marriage certificate, or proof of a common-law relationship
- Spouse's passport, language results and credential assessment
- Divorce or annulment certificate from a previous marriage
- Birth certificates and custody documents for dependent children
- Canadian status documents and records of Canadian employment
- Police certificates from each additional country of residence
- Written explanation of a previous refusal
- Business ownership, registration and income documents
May be requested
- Use of a representative form, where a licensed representative acts for you
- Statutory declaration where an official document cannot be obtained
- Translation and translator's affidavit for any document not in English or French
- Additional proof of relationship or of claimed Canadian connections
Where applications most often go wrong
- • Starting police certificates late and missing the submission deadline
- • Submitting bank statements instead of the official bank letter required as proof of funds
- • Uploading untranslated documents
- • Leaving a former employer off the file because the reference letter was hard to obtain
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Copy a plain-text summary with the estimate disclaimer and the official source attached.
This checklist is a preparation aid. The document requirements that govern your application are those on the official IRCC document checklist generated for that application at the time you submit it.
Related resources
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