Got Your ITA - A list of documents that you will now have to submit

Hi, I got my ITA and I am in the process of submitting my documents. I figured I’d post the basic list of documents which CIC asks for. You might need different documents from these based on what you have filled in your EE profile. This list shows up for me when I try to submit my ITA application. Hopefully this will help you in gathering your documents well in advance. :slight_smile:

1. Document: Marriage License/Certificate
If you were married in Canada:
You must have a marriage certificate issued by the province or territory where the marriage took place.

If you were married outside Canada:
The marriage must be valid under the law of the country where it took place and under Canadian law.

A marriage performed in an embassy or consulate must comply with the law of the host country where it took place, not the country of nationality of the embassy or consulate.

2. Document: Passports/Travel Documents (Multiple)
You must submit a legible copy of your valid travel document which you will use to travel.

If you have a passport, you must provide a copy of:
the page that shows your birth date and country of origin, and any pages with stamps, visas or markings.

If you do not have a passport and must use another travel document, it must be issued by a government and include your:
name,
date of birth,
document number,
citizenship or residency status,
photo, and
expiry date (if applicable).

3. Document: Proof of medical exam
You require a medical exam. Learn how to get an upfront medical exam. In order to submit your online application, you will need to upload the information printout sheet or the IMM 1017B Upfront Medical Report form. Your doctor will give you one of these forms when you complete your medical exam.

If you cannot get a medical exam before the deadline to submit your work permit application, you may submit proof that you have a scheduled an appointment.

4. Document: Education (diplomas/degrees)
You must provide proof that you completed your post-secondary education. Examples of proof of education include a diploma and/or degree. Examples of post-secondary education are:

Trade/apprenticeship
Training in a specific trade, such as carpentry or auto mechanics;
Training in a profession that requires formal education but not at the university level (for example, dental technician or engineering technician); or
Training not at the university level for which a certificate/diploma is awarded.

Bachelor’s degree
This is an academic degree awarded by a college or university to those who completed an undergraduate curriculum (also called a baccalaureate). Example: a Bachelor of Arts, Science or Education.

Master’s degree
This is an academic degree awarded by a graduate school of a college or university.

Ph.D.

This is the highest university degree, usually based on at least three years of graduate studies and a thesis. Normally, you must have completed a Master’s degree before a Ph.D. can be earned.

5. Document: Employment Records
You must provide proof of work experience for your current job and for each past position you listed. Proof must include a reference letter from your employer and pay stubs, if you have them. The reference letter must:
be an official document printed on company letterhead
include your name, the company’s contact information (address, telephone number and e-mail address), the signature of your immediate
show all positions held while employed at the company
include these details: job title, duties/responsibilities, job status (if current job), the dates you worked for the company, the number of work hours per week and your annual salary plus benefits.
You must scan all documents for this period of employment and save them as one file. (You must create a separate file for each period of employment.)

6. Document: Police Certificates (Multiple)
You must provide a police certificate for every country, region or territory, other than Canada, in which you have spent 6 months or more. A police certificate is a copy of your criminal record, or a declaration of the absence of any criminal record.

Example: If you visited, worked or lived in a country for two months, left for a few years, then returned for four months, that counts as spending six months there. In this case, you would need a certificate.

Police certificates are different in each country and territory and may be called police clearance certificates, good conduct certificates, judicial record extracts, etc. They are issued by police authorities or government departments and used by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to determine a person’s admissibility to enter Canada.

Certain countries will not issue a police certificate, or provide the certificate directly to you. If this applies to you please provide a letter of explanation in lieu of a police certificate.

You will be advised if you are required to obtain a police certificate for Canada.

Police certificates need to be a scan of the original police certificate(s) in color. Certified true copies, unauthorized copies, or visibly altered police certificates are unacceptable and will result in the application being rejected as incomplete.

Once you have applied for a Police Certificate from a country, it is beneficial to upload evidence that you have applied in order to ensure that your application is not rejected as incomplete (examples of proof might include payment receipts, tracking numbers, etc.)

7. Document: Proof of Means of Financial Support
Temporary Residents
If you are visiting Canada, you must prove that you can support yourself and the family members who will be with you while you are in Canada. Provide as many of these documents as you can:
your bank statements for the past four months
a bank draft in convertible currency
pay stubs
an employment letter
proof of assets or business
proof of payment of tuition and accommodation fees
tax reports, declarations or statements
proof of a student/education loan from a financial institution
a letter from the person or institution providing you with money
proof of funding paid from within Canada, if you have a scholarship or are in a Canadian-funded educational prog
proof of a Canadian bank account in your name if money has been transferred to Canada

Express Entry - Permanent Residents
If you are applying for permanent residence in Canada, you must provide an official letter issued by your financial institution indicating your financial profile. This must:
list of all your bank (chequing and savings) and investment accounts, the account numbers, dates each account was opened and the balance of each account over the past six months,
list all outstanding debts, such as credit cards and loans,
be printed on the letterhead of the financial institution, and include your name and the contact information of the financial institution (address, telephone number and e-mail address).

8. Document: Digital photo
Fe size
The final fe size of the photo must be at least 35mm x 45mm.
The photographs must show a full front view of the head and tops of shoulders, with the face in the middle of the photograph.
The size of the head, from chin to crown, must be between 31mm and 36mm.
Digital dimensions are often expressed in pixels or DPI (dots per inch). The physical dimensions in pixels must be at least 420 x 540.
Quality/resolution
If an existing photo is being scanned, the minimum resolution must be 600 pixels per inch.
File format
The file may be submitted in JPEG or JPEG2000 format.
The final size of the image should ideally be 240 kB (kilobytes), but not less than 60 kB.
The image must be in colour (24 bits per pixel) in RGB colour space, which is the common output for most digital cameras.

P.S: In our case, items 1 and 7 need to be provided only by the primary applicant (as it covers both of us). The rest of the items are required for the primary applicant as well as the spouse.

18 Likes

Thank you, this list helps a lot.

1 Like

Regarding finance, did you go to a separate financial institution / accountant to get all your banks, loans, summarized? Also, did banks provide the average balance for past 6 months? Or did you just get the current balance on their letter head and provide last 6 months statements?

Does having a mortgage and car loan impact the application in anyway? Just curious!

For my bank account, we sent a message to the bank and they provided the 6 month average on their letterhead.
For the credit cards, we have provided the most recent statements to show the balance.
For our investment (401k) accounts, we are providing the 1 year statements showing how the investments have grown.
We are also providing a summary of all our accounts on an additional page. We aren’t going to any accountant.

I don’t think the mortgage or loan should impact the application. They just want to see that you have enough funds to support yourself and are not in too much debt. We don’t have any loans so I am not sure what documents need to be submitted in this case.

2 Likes

Thanks @mrandmrs

Hi there, I am writing in regards to the number 1 document mentioned which is Marriage Certificate. I am basically waiting for my IELTS test date, but I have a question about Marital Status; I currently live in the US and currently separated with my wife as dissolution of marriage will follow. So i am not sure what marital status i should put in my application since we are not moving to Canada together. Should I go with ‘Single’ as my marital status? Because I believe I would have had all I needed to submit my application with CIC before final divorce

I would say be entirely accurate. If you are legally married then choose that if you have completed the legal process and have the documents in hand to prove your status change then choose divorced. Anything else can be considered misrepresentation and you can be a serious issue.

That status is unrelated to who is traveling with you to Canada. You don’t have to include your spouse on the application if you don’t want to. You can select her an non-accompanying spouse so your points will be calculated as single. When you complete the legal process then inform CIC of the change of marriage status so you don’t have to comply with the requirements for an non-accompanying spouse.

Hi,
I am beginning to file for Express Entry and my lawyer asked me to furnish all these documents. Is this common? I thought I needed all this ready only after I get a ITA. Do lawyers require this even to file for Express Entry?

Also, can you please comment on whether I need to provide W2 and employment letters going back 5-8 years. How detailed does the duties and responsibilities need to be?

  1. IELTS results (in color)
  2. Confirmation letter of employment must list your duties. Please email me a draft of that letter (or just the list of duties) for my review before you ask your employer to sign it.
  3. I need confirmation letters of employment for each position you held. You can follow your company letter but it MUST include a detailed list of your duties.
  4. For each job you had, we need your employment contracts (signed).
  5. For each job you had, all your W2 (taxes).
  6. For each job you had, paystubs from the start, middle and end of employment.
  7. For you current job, all your paystubs for the past 12 months.
  8. You must undertake a medical examination with a specific doctor called a Panel Physician. Please take an appointment as soon as possible and keep all receipt.
    Please email me the eMedical form you will received. http://www.cic.gc.ca/pp-md/pp-list.aspx
  9. Bank Statements for the past 6 months. I only need one bank account, for the past 6 months, reflecting a current available balance of at least $12,475 CAD. It can be a checking or a saving account – not an investment/credit account.
    10.Digital picture of yourself: from shoulders up and white background.

Hi @hsriniva,

Out of all these, you would only need the IELTS results (#1) and ECA evaluation (not in the list) done before submitting your EE profile. Your lawyers may be expecting you to get an ITA soon after submitting the profile and thus might be asking for the rest of the documents as well.

After ITA, experience letters stating your roles and responsibilities (#2 and #3) are required for all companies that you worked for. #4, #5, #6 and #7 are not mandatory. If you have these, you can provide them. We provided only 3 pay stubs of the most recent employer along with employment letters from all employers.

In order for us to do our medical exams (#8), we had to take a copy of our ITA. We got it done at Fortis in India and they specifically asked us to get the printout of our ITA. Other hospitals may allow it before ITA. Also, once your medical test is done, your one year PR landing validity begins so it is ideal to do it once you receive your ITA. If your score is above 450 and you know that you will be able to get through in the next EE draw then there’s no harm in getting the medical tests before ITA.

For finances (#9), we got the 6 month statement on the bank’s letterhead and we also provided a list of our credit card statements plus our retirement accounts. When submitting the documents for ITA, it asks to list your debts, if any so it is ideal to list the credit cards too. We also made a summary sheet of our finances and provided that to show that we had more than adequate funds to support ourselves in Canada.

There’s no harm in having your picture (#10) available :slight_smile:

3 Likes

The lawyer probably wants you to start collecting all documents because some of them may take time. From #2-#7, CIC expects the reference letter with job duties and responsibilities with all details. In the worst case if you don’t have any other documents you’ll need atleast this letter (per job), or a letter of explanation stating why you weren’t able to get one and proof that you tried. Ideally you need to collect as many as you can from #2-7 (per job). #1,2,8,9, 10 are required. Except the medical test, I would recommend starting to work on all documents asap (You can take medical test before or after ITA, but the later the medical test the longer your visa expiration date).

1 Like

Thanks for complaining this helpful list.
Tactical Question regarding ‘proof of funds’.
We are applying with my wife as the primary applicant since she has a higher score. We have a joint checking account but all our credit cards are issued in my name.
So my question is - For the purpose of proof of funds, I have obtained a stamped bank statement of our joint checking account. But do I need to go ahead and collect all my credit card statements too? Even though they aren’t in my wife’s name (ie Primary applicant’s name).

Hope that makes sense

No credit cards can be excluded.

You don’t have to submit credit card statements. It’s your choice. I did for one of my card but I don’t think it matters.

,
No punctuation in your message. So, Confirming that you said - No credit cards can be excluded ie. include all your credit cards, (even though they’re in the spouse’s name)

I think he meant you can exclude all credit cards, or any credit cards you like, it’s your wish. I had multiple credit cards and I only submitted one of their statements and it didn’t matter as far as anyone can tell.

I see one of the mandatory document as Birth certificate in IRCC. Whether Passport is fine to prove our date of birth?

You dont need birth certificate, passport is enough.

Do we really need to scan each and every page of passport with any stamp or sign? in addition to first and last page

If I remember it says first 3 and last 2 pages.

if you read the first post on this thread it says:
“If you have a passport, you must provide a copy of:
the page that shows your birth date and country of origin, and any pages with stamps, visas or markings.”