Documents for Canadian immigration: what do you need?

Names, dates and family composition are especially important here

Depending on your situation, you may need:

• passport or other travel document;
• birth certificate;
• national identity card;
• marriage certificate;
• divorce papers;
• death certificate of the previous spouse;
• adoption documents;
• documents on name change;
• documents for children;
• documents for family members who are traveling with you or staying outside of Canada.

Main rule:

information about the family must be consistent in all forms and documents.

If the name, date of birth, or marital status are listed differently, this does not always indicate a problem. But the discrepancy needs to be noticed before filing, and not hope that no one will see it.

Check the availability of the document and its validity period

The passport confirms identity and is used in the application itself.

Before serving, check:

• first and last name spelling;
• date of birth;
• passport number;
• date of issue;
• validity period;
• Pages with visas and stamps if your program requires them.

For Express Entry, IRCC recommends that you renew your passport if you have less than 6 months remaining at the time of application.

If the passport changes after profile creation or after submission, the data must be updated where required by the process.

When scanning:

• do not trim the edges;
• do not close the number;
• do not cut stamps;
• do not skip the back if there is information on it.

A diploma and an assessment of foreign education are two different things

A diploma confirms that you have graduated from an educational institution.

But some immigration programs additionally need to understand how foreign education compares to Canadian education.

For this purpose, Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) is used.

ECA is not automatically required for every person and for every degree.

You need to check separately:

• does your program require it?
• which diploma to evaluate;
• who has the right to conduct an assessment;
• Is the result still in effect?
• whether the name and educational information match the application.

The next page goes into detail about ECA.

Disassemble ECA

You need exactly the test that your program accepts

In Canadian immigration, it is not possible to confirm a language with a regular certificate from a language school or a university diploma if the program requires an official test.

Depending on the program, the following may be used:

• IELTS General Training;
• CELPIP-General;
• PTE Core;
• TEF Canada;
• TCF Canada.

Before serving, check:

• whether the program accepts this particular test;
• is there a result in all four skills;
• whether the validity period has expired;
• Is the result number entered correctly?
• does the name match other documents?

If the language result must be valid both on the submission date and at another stage of the process, this must be taken into account in advance.

One line on a resume is usually not enough

The immigration program may require confirmation of:

• employer name;
• period of work;
• position;
• number of hours;
• payment;
• responsibilities;
• place of work;
• legality of working in Canada, if that matters.

For Express Entry, an employer's letter of experience and responsibilities is one of the main ways to verify experience.

The most important part:

actual responsibilities must correspond to the declared profession according to the NOC.

The job title itself does not guarantee anything.

If a standard letter from the employer is not enough or cannot be obtained, depending on the situation, the following may additionally help:

• employment contract;
• pay sheets;
• tax documents;
• company documents;
• other independent evidence of work.

It is impossible to say in advance that the same combination will suit everyone.

Different countries have different rules for obtaining

IRCC uses these certificates to check whether there are criminal history circumstances that may affect admission to Canada.

IRCC’s official term is police certificate. In Russian, this refers to a certificate confirming a criminal record or its absence.

The rules depend:

• from the program;
• from age;
• from the country;
• on how long you were there;
• from when the certificate was issued.

For Express Entry, the system usually requests such certificates from the applicant and family members over 18 years of age for countries where the person has been for 6 consecutive months or more within the last 10 years.

As a standard, Express Entry does not require such a certificate for time spent in Canada and for periods under 18 years. But IRCC may request additional documents later.

The main thing:

Do not request a certificate based on a random set of instructions from a forum. Use the IRCC page for the specific country concerned.

Some inquiries take a long time

If it takes weeks or months to receive a document, it is better to take this into account in advance.

For Express Entry, IRCC recommends that you think about such certificates after creating your profile.

If, after the invitation, the certificate does not arrive in time for submission, IRCC may allow the following to be temporarily attached instead:

• explanatory letter;
• evidence that you requested the document in a timely manner.

For example:

• receipt;
• order confirmation;
• tracking number;
• official response from the authority.

This does not automatically mean exemption from the certificate.

The officer himself evaluates whether your attempts were sufficient.

The amount and form of confirmation depend on the program

Some programs require you to show money for moving and settling down.

Others provide exceptions.

Therefore, you cannot take one amount from an article and consider it correct for everyone.

Need to check:

1. do you need confirmation of funds?
2. what amount is valid now;
3. how many family members are taken into account;
4. what document needs to be used to confirm the money;
5. are these funds actually available to you?
6. Are there any major recent additions that require explanation?

We deliberately do not record the amount on the overview page because it changes.

Knowing a language does not mean you can translate yourself

For Express Entry, IRCC explicitly states that the translation must not be done by:

• the applicant himself;
• a member of his family;
• his representative or consultant.

Therefore the option:

“I know English well, I’ll translate the diploma myself”

doesn't fit.

If the translator is not certified, you need to check separately whether IRCC allows this option and what translator affidavit is required.

These are different things

Online submissions often include a scan of the original.

But in some situations a certified copy may be required.

This is a copy that an authorized person has compared with the original and confirmed its conformity.

There is no need to certify every document “just in case.”

This does not automatically make the package stronger.

First you need to look at what a specific instruction requires.

A good scan should be readable without guesswork

Before downloading please check:

• all four edges of the page are visible;
• nothing is cut off;
• the text is read;
• seals and stamps are visible;
• the pages are in the correct order;
• reverse side added if information is there;
• the translation can be easily compared with the source document.

The main thing is not a beautiful PDF.

The main thing:

so that the officer sees a complete and readable document.

File sizes and accepted formats vary between filing systems and should be checked immediately prior to uploading.

You need order first of all.

IRCC does not establish one file naming system for all applications.

But inside your working folder it is better to use friendly names.

For example:

01_Passport.pdf

02_Marriage_Certificate.pdf

03_ECA.pdf

04_Language_Test.pdf

05_Work_Experience_Employer_A.pdf

06_Police_Certificate_Germany.pdf

This helps:

• do not download the old version;
• do not confuse the documents of the spouses;
• quickly check for completeness;
• see what exactly has changed.

Avoid files like:

final-final-new2-really-final.pdf

It helps explain the situation, but does not replace mandatory proof.

The official English title is Letter of Explanation (LOE). From now on we will simply call it an explanatory letter.

It may be useful if you need:

• explain the discrepancy;
• explain why the document is not yet available;
• link several documents to each other;
• explain the unusual situation;
• show attempts to obtain the required certificate.

But an explanatory letter does not automatically correct a weak package.

The logic should be like this:

first the strongest possible documents, then an explanation where without it it is really impossible to understand the situation.

Some documents take time, others may become outdated

It's usually worth thinking about:

• passport renewal;
• language test;
• ECA;
• letters from former employers;
• certificates from countries where receiving documents takes a long time;
• evidence and archival documents from other countries.

But you can’t get everything in advance.

For example:

• medical examination in different programs takes place at different stages;
• some certificates have a validity period;
• financial documents must reflect the current situation.

Therefore, a good preparation plan answers two questions:

what do you need to get?

and

by what point should this be ready?

This table is intended to help guide you, but does not replace the official list of your submission.

Document verification is especially important if:

• the employer's letter is non-standard;
• responsibilities are difficult to match with NOC;
• there were several employers;
• there is self-employment;
• education or ECA is questionable;
• a police certificate is difficult to obtain;
• there was a refusal before;
• older statements had different dates;
• name changed;
• complex history of addresses and travel;
• family documents from several countries;
• there are large or unusual movements of funds;
• there is no required document;
• the rules for translation or certification are unclear;
• The deadline for submission is near.