An Invitation To Apply (ITA) is offered to any candidate in the Express Entry pool who has been selected to apply for immigration to Canada by IRCC, through the Express Entry immigration selection system.
ITA’s are issued on a priority basis when IRCC performs a draw from the Express Entry pool, which is made up of candidates who have made an expression of interest in immigrating to Canada. (your Express Entry Profile)
An ITA should never be confused with initial eligibility to enter the Express Entry pool, nor should it be confused with a job offer from a Canadian employer or a PNP certificate. The ITA is an auto-generated letter issued to qualifying Express Entry candidates through their Express Entry profiles.
Only candidates eligible to immigrate to Canada by meeting the minimum entry criteria of a federal economic immigration program may enter the Express Entry pool, where they are ranked according to the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The CRS ranks candidates under the following components:
There are a total of 1,200 points available under the Comprehensive Ranking System.
The government of Canada issues Invitations to Apply to certain candidates in the Express Entry pool according to their ranking by publishing a minimum CRS cut-off score at the time of the draw and notifying those candidates who have been invited to apply for permanent residence.
Candidates who receive an ITA are presently required to submit the supporting documents along with their application, along with government processing fees, these are:
Dependent on which program a candidate was issued an ITA and the information provided in an Express Entry profile, the following documentation may be required:
Note: Candidates presently have 60 days to apply after they receive an ITA, rather than 90 days, as was previously the case. Candidates who have received an Invitation To Apply before June 26, 2018 will continue to have 90 days to submit a complete application.
It is important to note that from the date the ITA is issued there is a 60-day period in which to apply and submit all supporting documents. IRCC has indicated that no extensions will be granted.
Because of this limited time period, candidates are encouraged to begin collecting these documents and ensuring they are in good order before an Invitation To Apply for Canadian permanent residence is issued. If a candidate misses the 60-day deadline, the Invitation To Apply for permanent residence that was issued to him or her is no longer valid and he or she will have to re-enter the Express Entry pool.
If the information provided by the potential candidate turns out to be false, this is known as misrepresentation and, depending on the nature and severity of the false claim, carries penalties. The purpose of the misrepresentation provisions is to ensure that applicants provide complete, honest, and truthful information in every manner when applying for entry into Canada, and to ensure the integrity of Canadian immigration programs.
A potential candidate who has been found to have provided false information going into the Express Entry pool can be banned from re-entering the pool for five years. Therefore, it is hugely important to provide accurate and correct information always.
An applicant may be found inadmissible to Canada due to misrepresentation for directly or indirectly misrepresenting or withholding material facts relating to a relevant matter that induces or could induce an error in the processing of his or her application. The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the application is truthful and that the supporting documents are genuine, and he or she may be found to have misrepresented him or herself whether or not that misrepresentation was intentional.
The scope of misrepresentation is not limited to such cases. In cases of possible misrepresentation, the applicant may be given the opportunity to respond to concerns raised about his or her application.
The original profile information will remain for 60 days after the Invitation To Apply is issued. Candidates will have this length of time to submit a complete and accurate application along with all supporting documents. The submission of the complete application is considered the acceptance.
Once all portions of the document checklist are uploaded and complete, applicants are given the option to submit an application. The option to submit is not available until after all fields are accounted for. An Acknowledgment of Receipt (AOR) will be automatically issued once the file is submitted. IRCC will review the application and determine whether or not it is both complete and eligible. IRCC aims to complete this process within six months of the applicant having submitted his or her application.
If no application is made by that time, it will be deleted. Candidates who do not decline an Invitation To Apply and who do not apply within 60 days will see that the Invitation To Apply will expire. At this point, candidates who still wish to immigrate to Canada through Express Entry will have to complete and submit a new Express Entry profile and be accepted to the pool again in order to be considered in future rounds of invitations. To re-enter the pool, candidates will have to still meet the minimum criteria.
Applicants who decide to decline an ITA will have their profiles placed back into the Express Entry pool to be considered in future rounds of invitations, as long as they still meet the minimum criteria of a federal economic immigration program.
There are no guarantees that applicants will receive another ITA at a later stage. Declining an invitation, however, does not have a negative effect on whether or not applicants could be invited to apply at a later date.
Contact Manuleaf Immigration for more information on draws from the Express Entry pool that have taken place, including details regarding:
