Express Entry Document Checklist (2026): Every Document You Need for Your e-APR
Your Express Entry document checklist is the set of documents you upload inside the 60 days after your invitation to apply: your passport, language results, an educational credential assessment, work reference letters, proof of funds, police certificates, an immigration medical exam, and your civil-status documents. IRCC builds you a personalized version once you complete the form, so no two applicants see exactly the same list.
Why the Express Entry document checklist decides whether you keep your ITA
An invitation to apply is valid for 60 days only, and the system will not let you submit until every document on your checklist is attached. Miss one, and there are two very different failures. If a required document is simply absent, your application is returned as incomplete, your fees are refunded, and you go back to the pool (the completeness requirement itself comes from section 10 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations). If a document is present but weak (a reference letter that does not show your duties, a translation with no certified stamp), your file passes the intake check and can still be refused later, after months of processing. That is why the checklist, not the CRS score, is where invited candidates most often lose ground. The official starting point for what you need is IRCC's own Express Entry documents page.
The Express Entry document checklist at a glance
Here is the core document checklist for Express Entry that applies to most candidates. Your personalized list may add or remove items based on your answers.
Document | Who needs it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Passport or travel document | Every applicant | Renew it if it expires within 6 months of applying |
Language test results | Every applicant | Must still be valid when you submit the e-APR |
Educational credential assessment (ECA) | Federal Skilled Worker applicants, or anyone claiming points for foreign education | Not required for Canadian credentials |
Proof of work experience (reference letters) | Anyone claiming skilled work experience | One letter per employer, with duties, hours and salary |
Proof of funds | Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades applicants | Canadian Experience Class applicants are exempt |
Police certificates | You and each family member 18+ | For every country lived in 6 months in a row in the last 10 years |
Immigration medical exam (IME) | Every applicant and family member | From an IRCC panel physician |
Civil-status documents | As they apply to you | Marriage, divorce, birth, death or adoption certificates |
Source: IRCC, Apply for permanent residence through Express Entry. Verified September 2026.
Documents you gather while your profile is in the pool
Some documents feed your Express Entry profile long before an ITA. You need information from your passport, language test results and ECA just to create a profile and calculate your score, and you should have your Express Entry profile built accurately from the start because those numbers carry into the application. You do not upload most of these at the profile stage, you enter the information, but you want the underlying documents in hand so you can move fast when the invitation lands. If you hold a provincial nomination or a written job offer, those documents belong here too.
The two documents that take the longest to obtain are police certificates and work reference letters. Both are outside your control, so start them the day your profile enters the pool, not the week your ITA arrives.
Documents you upload after your ITA (the e-APR)
Once you accept the invitation and complete the online form, IRCC generates a personalized document checklist for your permanent residence application. Beyond the documents you used for your profile, most applicants also upload:
police certificates for each qualifying country
proof of funds (unless you are exempt, see below)
a birth certificate for each dependent child you declared
Use of a Representative form (IMM 5476) if you hired a representative
a common-law union form (IMM 5409) if your marital status is common-law
a marriage certificate if you are married, or a divorce certificate and legal separation agreement if divorced
a death certificate if you are widowed, or an adoption certificate for an adopted dependent child
You only submit items such as proof of relationship to a relative in Canada, digital photos, other-name declarations or the IMM 5475 if IRCC includes them in your personalized checklist. Uploading everything the form allows is not the goal, matching your checklist exactly is.
Proof of funds: how much, and who is exempt
If you are invited under the Federal Skilled Worker Program or Federal Skilled Trades Program, you must show settlement funds. If you are invited under the Canadian Experience Class, or you are authorized to work in Canada and hold a valid job offer, you do not. Here is the current proof of funds requirement by family size.
Family size | Funds required (CAD) |
|---|---|
1 | $15,263 |
2 | $19,001 |
3 | $23,360 |
4 | $28,362 |
5 | $32,168 |
6 | $36,280 |
7 | $40,392 |
Each additional member | $4,112 |
Source: IRCC, Proof of funds for Express Entry (table updated July 7, 2025). Verified September 2026. IRCC updates these amounts yearly, so confirm the current figure before you rely on it.
You prove the money with official letters on each bank's letterhead showing your name, the institution's contact details, your outstanding debts, and, for every account, the account number, the date it was opened, the current balance and the average balance over the past six months. You cannot use equity in real property and you cannot borrow the money. One trap catches exempt candidates: the system asks everyone for a proof-of-funds document, so if you are Canadian Experience Class or job-offer exempt, you must upload a short letter stating why you are exempt, or the checklist stays incomplete.
Police certificates: which countries, and when they must be issued
IRCC asks for a police certificate for you and each family member 18 or older, for every country where any of you stayed six months in a row or longer during the last 10 years. Time spent in Canada and any period before you turned 18 do not count, though an officer can still ask for more certificates from any point in your adult life. The police clearance certificate process is slow in many countries, which is the other reason to start early.
Two timing rules trip people up. For the country where you live now, the certificate must be issued no more than six months before you submit your application. For any other country, it must be issued after the last time you stayed there for six months in a row, and an expired certificate from that category is still accepted. One more detail rejects otherwise-complete files: police certificates must be colour scans of the original. A certified true copy or an unauthorized copy will get your application rejected.
What officers actually check (the part generic checklists skip)
A checklist tells you which boxes to fill. It does not tell you what an officer does with what you upload, and that is where applications quietly fail. IRCC's internal Express Entry intake guidance, released under the Access to Information Act, sets out the standard officers actually apply. Treat the following as how officers are trained to assess, and confirm any current rule against the official pages, but it is the difference between a document that is present and one that survives.
On a work reference letter, that guidance expects the letter to be on company letterhead, to show the company's full contact details, and to carry the name, title and signature of your immediate supervisor or a personnel officer. It must list every position you held there with the job title, your duties and responsibilities, whether the role was full or part time, the dates you worked, your hours per week, and your annual salary plus benefits. A letter that lists a job title and dates but no duties is the single most common weak document invited candidates upload.
In practice, the reference letter is where an officer decides whether your declared work experience is real, and a letter that skips the duties or the supervisor's signature is the one that turns a strong profile into a procedural fairness letter.
Two related points follow from the same guidance. If you are claiming Canadian work experience, the officer expects T4 slips and CRA notices of assessment for the years you claim, and where the experience is Canadian, your spouse or common-law partner must submit their tax documents too. If any part of your experience is self-employment, articles of incorporation or other proof of ownership, evidence of income, and third-party proof of the services you provided are required, because self-declared duties or an affidavit are not accepted as proof of self-employed work.
Translations, certified copies and civil-status documents
Any document not in English or French needs a translation. IRCC accepts a translation stamped by a certified translator, together with a scan of the original or a certified true copy the translator worked from. Only where a certified translator is not available can you instead use an affidavit sworn by the translator. A family member, your representative, or anyone in the process of being certified cannot do the translation or take the affidavit.
Your civil-status documents track the marital status you declared: a marriage certificate if married, a divorce certificate and legal separation agreement if divorced, a death certificate if widowed. There is a nuance the officer guidance adds that saves paperwork: where your spouse or former spouse is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, the marriage, divorce or separation documents are generally not required, and a common-law declaration (IMM 5409) does not apply if your partner is Canadian or a permanent resident. When IMM 5409 is required, it must be notarized, and the IMM 5476 representative form is signed by the principal applicant only.
The immigration medical exam
An immigration medical exam from an IRCC panel physician is required for permanent residence, and your family members must complete one even if they are not coming to Canada with you. If you have never had an exam, get it after you are invited, as close as possible to the day you apply online, so the results are valid both when you submit and when you land. If you completed an IME within the last five years for another application and you currently live in Canada, you may not need a new one, provide the information printout, the IMM 1017B form, or your IME number. Book only one appointment.
What gets an e-APR returned as incomplete
Most rejected applications are not refused on the merits, they are returned as incomplete because a required document was missing or in the wrong form, under the completeness rule in section 10 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. Before you submit, confirm you have avoided these:
A required document is missing entirely, with no letter of explanation in its place
A police certificate uploaded as a certified true copy or a photocopy instead of a colour scan of the original
A translation with no certified stamp and no affidavit
A reference letter with no duties, no hours, or no supervisor signature
Language test results that expired between your profile and your e-APR
No proof-of-funds exemption letter when you are Canadian Experience Class or job-offer exempt
A civil-status document that does not match the marital status you declared
A worked example: a family of four, 60 days on the clock
Consider a Federal Skilled Worker candidate in Burnaby with a spouse and two children, invited at a score just above the cutoff. Their proof of funds requirement is $28,362, shown through bank letters that include the six-month average balance for each account. They need police certificates for Canada and for the one country they lived in for eight months during a past posting, an ECA that is still valid, IELTS results that have not expired, a reference letter for each skilled job that spells out duties, hours and salary, and an immigration medical exam for all four family members. None of that can be produced overnight, and the 60-day clock does not pause. The candidates who submit comfortably are the ones who ordered the police certificate and requested the reference letters while their profile was still in the pool. In Metro Vancouver, where many applicants come through the Canadian Experience Class after a post-graduation work permit, the most common surprise is the opposite one: they are exempt from proof of funds but still have to upload the exemption letter to complete the checklist.
Not sure whether your reference letter shows the duties an officer looks for? That is a 30-minute question you can put directly to Ansari Immigration's licensed RCIC ($80).
Which document on this list is hardest for you to gather? Share it in the comments, and keep it general, for advice on your own file a consultation is the place for specifics.
Frequently asked questions about the Express Entry document checklist
What documents do I need for Express Entry?
At a minimum: a passport, language test results, an ECA if you are claiming foreign education, work reference letters, proof of funds (unless you are exempt), police certificates, an immigration medical exam, and your civil-status documents. IRCC gives you a personalized checklist once you complete the online form.
Do I need a birth certificate for Express Entry?
You need a birth certificate for each dependent child you declare in your application. You do not need your own birth certificate unless IRCC lists it in your personalized document checklist.
Is an upfront medical required for Express Entry?
An immigration medical exam is required for permanent residence. If you have never had one, IRCC recommends getting it from a panel physician after your invitation, as close as possible to the day you apply, and providing the printout or IMM 1017B when you submit.
Is an ECA mandatory for Express Entry?
An educational credential assessment is required if you apply through the Federal Skilled Worker Program, or if you want points for education you completed outside Canada. It is not required for Canadian credentials.
How many pay stubs do I need for Express Entry?
Pay stubs are not on IRCC's required list. Canadian work experience is proved with T4 slips and CRA notices of assessment, and foreign experience with a reference letter, though an officer can request pay stubs during processing.
Do I need a police certificate for Express Entry?
Yes, for you and each family member 18 or older, for every country you stayed in six months in a row during the last 10 years. Time in Canada does not count, and an officer can still request more.
Related Posts
How to Create an Express Entry Profile in Canada: a step-by-step walk through building the profile the documents on this checklist support.
Express Entry Reference Letter: What IRCC Requires: the exact components a work reference letter needs to survive an officer's review.
Express Entry Proof of Funds 2026: How Much You Need and Who Is Exempt: the settlement-fund figures, the bank-letter rules, and the CEC and job-offer exemptions.
Why work with Ansari Immigration
You pay for a straight answer, not a pitch: Ansari Immigration tells you if a document weakens your file before you submit, not after a refusal. Express Entry representation is a flat CAD $3,000, all family members included, quoted upfront, and every file is handled personally by the firm's licensed RCIC (R709304), regulated by CICC. No juniors, no call centers.
If there is an Express Entry document you are unsure about, ask us in the comments, we read every one.
This article is for general information only. It is not legal advice. Program criteria, requirements, processing times, and selection approaches can change without notice. Always confirm details on official government websites or consult a licensed Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) for advice specific to your situation.
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