April 27, 2015
Life after an Express Entry Invitation for PR
The excitement of receiving an Invitation to Apply (“ITA”) for Permanent Residence (“PR”) under the new Express Entry (“EE”) system quickly dissipates once applicants realize the work that is required afterwards. Similar to the EE profile, all information and documents related to a PR application under the EE system has to be entered and uploaded through an applicant’s online EE account. All information and documents must be submitted within 60 days of receiving an ITA.
PR applications under the EE system consist of mainly two components – biographical information and the various documents that Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (“CIC”) requires to be uploaded via an applicant’s EE account.
Biographical Information
CIC has eliminated the requirement for applicants to complete traditional application forms; and repackaged the way they require this information to be submitted. Applicants are now required to complete “boxes” where all information is entered into the EE system. The method of collecting the biographical information is similar to that of the EE profile stage. In fact, once an ITA is issued, the online system automatically transfers some of the information entered by the applicant for their EE profile into the applicable sections of their PR “profile”.
It is important to note that the information required by the new online PR system is must more cumbersome than its paper counterpart. In particular, with both previous address and travel histories, exact dates are now required. Previously only the month and year were requested. For those who have had frequent addresses and travel histories, it’s recommended that they start combing through their passport stamps and previous tenancy leases now to document exact dates of moves and travels.
Document Checklist
Only after all the online biographical information that has been entered is complete; a “personalized” document checklist is generated. This checklist will be based on the information entered by an applicant earlier in the EE profile as well as the biographical information stage of the process. Some of the typical documents that will be requested are listed below:
- Employment Documents for all employers listed in your EE profile for both you and your spouse (if applicable). This includes items such as letters of employment, paystubs, tax documents;
- Copies of passport bio-page and stamps;
- Education Diplomas/Degrees and transcripts;
- English Language Tests;
- Education Credential Assessments (if applicable);
- Proof of Medical Examination having been completed;
- Police Clearances for any country you have lived in for more than 6 months since the age of 18 for both you and your spouse (if applicable);
- Proof of settlement funds in the form of bank statements/letter indicating financial profiles for the past 6 months; and
- Digital Photo.
60 Day Deadline
The most important thing to remember is that all of the online PR requirements need to be completed within 60 days of receiving an ITA. Given the extensive information and document required once an ITA is issued, we highly recommend that applicants start on information/document collection even before an ITA is issued. After all, if you are unable to gather the necessary information/documents in the 60 days provided, there is no guarantee that you will be issued another ITA.
For more information on Express Entry, please click here.
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