Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has changed the deadline to respond to an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residence from 90 to 60 calendar days.
If a candidate was invited to apply before June 26, 2018, he or she still has 90 days to submit a complete application for permanent residence to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). All candidates invited to apply after June 26, 2018, will have 60 days to submit an application to IRCC.
Any individual interested in immigrating to Canada through the three programs — Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC), Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC) or Canadian Experience Class (CEC ) — managed under the Express Entry system must first submit a complete profile to the Express Entry pool.
Express Entry candidates who meet the minimum requirements to one of the three programs are automatically entered into the Express Entry pool. There, candidates are ranked according to their Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score and the highest-ranked candidates are issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA) through regular invitation rounds.
Receiving an ITA after June 26, 2018
Candidates who receive an ITA after June 26, 2018 will have 60 calendar days take one of the following steps:
- Submit a complete online application for permanent residence including providing all supporting documentation up front.
- Decline the ITA in their online account.
For candidates who do not respond to the ITA by taking one of the steps mentioned above, the ITA will expire and the candidate's profile will be removed from the Express Entry pool. To re-enter the pool, the candidate must submit a new Express Entry profile to IRCC.
To learn more about this update, read our latest CICNews story.
Find out if you are eligible to enter the Express Entry pool with our free assessment form.