Express Entry Document Checklist: Profile and Application
The documents Express Entry applicants commonly need, split into what you use for your profile and what you upload after an invitation to apply.
The Celpip Plus team
Checked against IRCC's own pages, linked in each section
No public list can tell you exactly which documents your Express Entry application needs. IRCC builds that list for you. After you get an invitation to apply and complete the online application form, the system gives you a personalized document checklist. The checklist in your IRCC account is the authority, and if it differs from anything here, follow the checklist.
What this guide can do is show you the documents IRCC says most applicants deal with, and when. Some you need before you can create a profile at all. Others only matter after an invitation, when the clock is running. Knowing which is which lets you start the slow ones early. IRCC's own overview is its Express Entry documents page.
What documents do I need to create an Express Entry profile?
When you create a profile, you enter information from your documents rather than uploading them. IRCC says you may need information from some or all of these:
- a passport or travel document
- language test results
- proof of Canadian education, or an educational credential assessment (ECA) if you are applying through the Federal Skilled Worker Program or want points for education outside Canada
- a written job offer from a Canadian employer, if you have one
- proof of work experience, such as a reference or experience letter
- a provincial or territorial trade certificate of qualification, if you have one
- proof of funds
- police certificates
- a provincial nomination, if you applied through the Provincial Nominee Program
Check your passport's expiry date now. If it expires within 6 months of the date you apply, IRCC says to renew it and update the passport details in your application. IRCC has separate rules for Venezuelan passports, set out on the same documents page.
Two items on that list have expiry rules that can lead to refusal: language results and the ECA.
How long are language test results valid for Express Entry?
IRCC says your language test results must be less than 2 years old on the day you create your profile and on the day you submit your application. Results that expire in between lead to a refused application. If your test date is close to that limit, our advice is to book a new test before you create the profile rather than hope an invitation comes quickly.
IRCC accepts these tests for Express Entry:
- CELPIP-General
- IELTS General Training
- TEF Canada
- TCF Canada
- PTE Core
Your scores are converted to Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) levels, and those levels decide your eligibility and a large share of your points. Before you build your profile, check your CLB levels from your English test scores so you know which programs you meet.
Do I need an ECA?
You need an educational credential assessment if you are applying as the principal applicant under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, or if you want points for education completed outside Canada. If your education is Canadian, you use proof of that education instead.
IRCC says the ECA must be less than 5 years old when you create your profile and when you submit your application, and that an expired ECA leads to refusal. The assessment has to come from one of the organizations IRCC designates, which are named on its education assessment page. Some occupations use a professional body instead.
Do I need proof of funds?
Most applicants do. IRCC says you don't need proof of funds if you apply under the Canadian Experience Class, or if you are authorized to work in Canada and have a valid job offer.
Everyone else shows funds with official letters from each bank or financial institution where they hold money, on the institution's letterhead and with the account details IRCC lists. The money must be legally yours and available to you. IRCC doesn't accept equity in a home or borrowed money.
The amount depends on the size of your family and IRCC updates it each year, so we don't print it here. Use the current table on IRCC's proof of funds page.
Which police certificates do I need?
IRCC asks for police certificates for you and for each family member aged 18 or older. You need one from every country where you stayed for 6 months in a row or longer in the last 10 years. Time before age 18 and time spent in Canada don't count.
For the country you live in now, the certificate must be dated within 6 months before you submit your application. IRCC asks for colour scans of the originals. If you can't get every certificate in time, IRCC accepts a letter of explanation with proof that you tried.
Some countries are slow to issue a certificate, and some certificates need a translation. Our advice is to request them as soon as you create your profile. The IRCC translation requirements guide covers who can translate one.
What happens after I get an invitation to apply?
IRCC says your invitation to apply is valid for 60 days only. In that time you complete the online application form, upload your documents and submit.
Once you complete the online form, the system generates your personalized document checklist. IRCC says most applicants will need to upload police certificates and proof of funds, among other documents. You also need an immigration medical exam from a panel physician, and IRCC suggests getting it as close as possible to the date you apply online.
The system won't let you submit until every mandatory field is complete and every required document is uploaded. For the exact list and IRCC's step-by-step instructions, go by the checklist in your account and IRCC's apply for permanent residence page.
How do you get the files ready?
With a deadline running, upload problems cost real time. Each field in your account keeps one file, so several bank letters or statements for one field need to become one PDF; you can merge them into one PDF in your browser. A merged file is often over the limit, and you can compress the PDF to 4 MB or lower. Before you start uploading, run the whole batch through the IRCC file checker to catch size, format and password problems.
The IRCC document upload guide explains the upload and submit steps, and the IMM form validation guide covers forms that won't validate.
Frequently asked questions
IRCC asks for a certificate from each country where you stayed for 6 months in a row or longer in the last 10 years. Time before you turned 18 and time spent in Canada don't count. The same rule applies to family members aged 18 or older.
IRCC says your invitation to apply is valid for 60 days only. The application, with every required document, has to be submitted within that time.
In your IRCC account. IRCC says the system gives you a personalized document checklist once you've completed the online application form after your invitation.
No. IRCC says you don't need proof of funds if you are applying under the Canadian Experience Class, or if you are authorized to work in Canada and have a valid job offer.
Generally not. IRCC says that after you submit, you can upload more only if IRCC asks for them through a message in your account. For a document IRCC did not ask for, use the IRCC web form.
CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training, TEF Canada, TCF Canada and PTE Core. The results must be less than 2 years old when you create your profile and when you submit your application.