What Happens After an Express Entry ITA? Your 60 Days, Step by Step

Getting an ITA feels like the finish line. It isn’t. It’s the start of the part where most Express Entry applications are actually won or lost, because now everything you claimed has to be proven.

The first week

• Check your score again. Recalculate your CRS with your real documents. If anything has changed since you created your profile, such as an expired language test or a new job, your score must still be at or above the cut-off of the draw you were invited in.
• Order police certificates now. Some countries take weeks or months. You need one for every country where you lived for six months or more since age 18.
• Book your medical exam with an IRCC panel physician, as close as possible to the date you’ll apply, unless you’ve done one in the last five years for another application and live in Canada.
• Request your reference letters from every employer whose experience you claimed.

What you need to prove

• Work experience. Reference letters with your job title, dates, hours, salary and main duties. The duties must match the NOC code you claimed, in your own employer’s words.
• Language. Your test results must still be valid on the date you submit.
• Education. Your Educational Credential Assessment for foreign education, or your Canadian diploma and transcripts.
• Proof of funds. Unless you were invited under the Canadian Experience Class, or you’re authorized to work in Canada and have a valid job offer. Officers look at the history of the funds, not just the balance today.
• Civil documents. Passports, birth certificates, and marriage, divorce or common-law evidence.

Submit or decline?

If you can’t prove a claim, for example an employer won’t give a reference letter and you have no other evidence, take time to recalculate. If your score falls below the cut-off without that claim, declining is usually the right call. You go back into the pool and can be invited again. If you let the 60 days run out, your profile is removed and you have to start a new one.

What happens after you submit

1. You receive an acknowledgment of receipt.
2. You give biometrics, if IRCC asks for them.
3. IRCC checks your eligibility, then your medical, criminal and security admissibility. It may ask for more documents.
4. If you’re in Canada and your work permit is ending, you may be able to apply for a bridging open work permit once your application has passed the completeness check.
5. When everything is approved, IRCC issues your confirmation of permanent residence and you become a permanent resident.

If you’d like a second pair of eyes before you submit, my DIY Application Review is built exactly for this stage. The Express Entry page explains what else I help with.