Express Entry Guide · Updated October 2026
You got the invitation. The 60 days after ITA are now running, and you must prove every single thing you claimed in your profile.
By Aria Sterling · Checked against IRCC rules
Sixty days sounds generous until you start chasing other people for paper. Police certificates can take weeks. Employers go on holiday. Medical clinics book out. The applicants who run into trouble are rarely lazy; they simply start the wrong documents first.
This guide gives you a week-by-week 60 days after ITA checklist built around one rule: start everything that depends on someone else in week one, and leave everything you control yourself until later. It also covers the two decisions people get wrong most often — whether to decline, and what to do when a document will simply not arrive in time.
Evidence line: we checked IRCC’s Express Entry pages and Help Centre answers on invitations, completeness checks and document requirements, plus public forum threads in which applicants described their own 60-day runs. This is general information, not legal advice.
Quick answer: From the date on your invitation, you have 60 calendar days to submit a complete permanent residence application. The 60 days after ITA deadline does not pause for weekends, holidays, slow mail or a busy employer. Start police certificates, your medical exam and reference letters in week one; fill in forms and scans in week two; keep the last week as a buffer for re-scans and surprises, not for first attempts.
Key takeaways
The 60 days after ITA rule, in plain terms
An invitation to apply (ITA) is valid for the 60 days after ITA, counted from the date IRCC issues it. Inside that window you must either submit a complete application or decline the invitation. There are only those two safe exits.
Declining is not a punishment. Your profile goes back into the pool and you can be invited again in a later round, although nobody can promise that will happen. Letting the invitation expire is worse: the invitation lapses and your profile is removed from the pool, so you must build a new profile from scratch and wait for a new invitation.
Submitting an incomplete application is the worst of the three options. IRCC checks completeness first, before it looks at whether you qualify. An application that fails that check is rejected as incomplete, the fees are refunded, your profile number stops being valid, and you are back to creating a new profile — the same outcome as expiry, except you also lost weeks of work. If your score has fallen, or a key document cannot possibly arrive, declining beats submitting and hoping.
Warning:
Do not submit on day 60 and assume the portal will behave. Uploads fail, scans are rejected for size, and payment pages time out. Treat day 53 as your real deadline and keep the last week for fixes.
The Week-by-Week 60 Days After ITA Checklist
The table below is our suggested order of work. The 60-day deadline is IRCC’s; everything else in the timing column is our rough guide, not IRCC’s.
When | Do this | Why now |
|---|---|---|
Days 1–2 | Accept the ITA; re-check your score against your round’s cutoff; screenshot your profile answers | Catches a score drop or a wrong answer before you spend money on documents |
Week 1 | Apply for every police certificate; book the medical exam; ask every employer for a reference letter | These depend on other offices and people, and they cause most deadline failures |
Week 2 | Gather proof of funds letters and statements; order translations with affidavits | Banks and translators also take time, and statements must cover the right period |
Weeks 3–4 | Complete every form; scan everything in colour at readable resolution; build your final PDF | This is the work you control, so it can safely come second |
Week 5 | Page-by-page audit against your personal document checklist; get a second pair of eyes on it | Most completeness failures are one missing file, not a weak case |
Weeks 6–8 | Chase stragglers; write letters of explanation where a document is genuinely delayed; submit by day 53 | Buffer time is for surprises, not for starting a police certificate |
Days 54–60 | Fix only: re-scan, re-upload, pay, submit — or decline if the application cannot be completed | Never start a new document chase in the final week |
Source note: the 60-day deadline and the decline/expire consequences are IRCC’s rules. The weekly order is our suggested plan, not IRCC text.
Check Your Score Before You Spend a Dollar
Before you pay for a medical exam or a translation, confirm that the score IRCC will assess still matches the round that invited you. Birthdays, an expiring language test, a changed family situation or a corrected work history can all move your score after the invitation. That check protects the 60 days after ITA from being spent on an application that cannot succeed.
As a general rule, your application is assessed against the cutoff of the round that invited you. If your recalculated score has fallen below that cutoff, IRCC’s own guidance leans toward declining rather than applying and hoping. There is one exception worth checking: IRCC has a public policy that can cover points lost because of a birthday falling between the invitation and submission. If a birthday is the only reason your score dropped, read that policy before you decline — but do not assume it covers other kinds of score drops, such as a corrected work history or an expired test.
Run the numbers in our CRS calculator with the corrected details before you decide, and compare the result with the cutoff on the latest draws and cutoffs page. A five-minute check here can save a refused application later.
When a document will be late in the 60 days after ITA
Sometimes a document genuinely cannot arrive in the 60 days after ITA. A police authority may take months, or a former employer may be unreachable. That does not automatically mean you must decline, but it does mean you need a paper trail.
For each delayed document, include a letter of explanation that says what you requested, when you requested it, from whom, and what proof you have — a receipt, a payment confirmation, a tracking number or a copy of your request. Vague statements like “I am waiting for my certificate” carry little weight. Dated proof that you acted in week one carries much more.
There are limits to this. A letter of explanation cannot replace a document that is central to your eligibility, and IRCC may still find the application incomplete. That is why the letter is a backup plan, not a strategy: start the document in week one, chase it in weeks three and five, and only rely on the letter for the genuinely stuck items.
Tip:
Keep every receipt, email and tracking number from week one in one folder. If you later need to explain a delay, you will already have the evidence instead of trying to reconstruct it under pressure.
Real Cases From Public Threads
Real case: the police certificate that took longer than the deadline (2021)
An applicant described applying for a police certificate from a country where processing ran well past 60 days. They submitted on time with a letter of explanation, the application receipt and proof of their request, rather than waiting and letting the invitation expire. No outcome was reported.
The lesson is not that the letter guarantees acceptance — it does not. The lesson is that proof of effort, started early, is the only version of this story that gives IRCC something to work with.
Real case: the employer letter chased for five weeks (2020)
Another applicant reported spending most of the 60 days waiting on a former employer for a duties letter, while the rest of the application sat ready. They eventually submitted with the letter included, but described the final week as a scramble over scans and forms that could have been finished a month earlier.
Our arithmetic on this one is simple: if the letter had been requested on day two instead of in week three, the same delay would still have hurt, but the rest of the file would have been finished and calm.
Real case: medical booked late, result nearly expired (2022)
A candidate booked the medical exam in the first week but then delayed submission for other documents, and worried about the result’s validity window. Medical results are usually valid for 12 months, so a result obtained early in the 60 days is normally fine — the risk comes when processing drags on for many months afterwards, in which case IRCC may ask for a new exam. No outcome was reported.
Real case: score dropped after a birthday, declined, re-invited later (2021)
One thread described a candidate whose score fell after a birthday between invitation and submission. Rather than apply below the cutoff, they declined and stayed in the pool. They later reported receiving a fresh invitation. That outcome is one person’s story, not a promise — but it shows why declining is a real option, not a failure.
Six mistakes people make with the 60 days after ITA
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get an extension to the 60-day ITA deadline?
No. IRCC does not extend the 60-day deadline for a late police certificate, a slow employer or a medical booking. If you cannot submit a complete application in time, declining the invitation is usually safer than submitting an incomplete one. The 60 days after ITA deadline does not pause for slow documents.
What happens if my ITA expires?
Your invitation lapses and your profile is removed from the pool. You must create a new Express Entry profile and wait for a fresh invitation. There is no way to revive an expired invitation. That is why the deadline deserves a calendar reminder on day one, and a decision — submit or decline — well before the final week.
Should I decline my ITA if my score dropped below the cutoff?
Usually yes. Your application is assessed against the cutoff of the round that invited you, so applying with a score below that cutoff risks refusal without a refund of the processing fee. Check the birthday public policy first if a birthday caused the drop.
Which documents should I start in week one?
Police certificates, your medical exam booking and employer reference letters. These depend on other people and other offices, so they cause most deadline failures. Forms and scans you control can wait until week two. Start these three first because every one of them can stall for reasons outside your control, from a slow police authority to an employer who takes weeks to sign a letter. Starting these in week one is the whole point of the 60 days after ITA plan.
Can I submit with a receipt if my police certificate is late?
You can submit a letter of explanation with proof that you applied, such as a receipt or tracking number, and explain the delay. IRCC may accept it, but acceptance is not guaranteed, so start the certificate on day one. Keep the receipt, the application reference and any correspondence, because a bare claim without proof of the application carries little weight.
How long is a medical exam valid?
Medical results are usually valid for 12 months. If your result expires while IRCC is still processing your file, IRCC may ask you to take a new exam, so book the medical close to your submission date. The timing matters twice: too early and it may expire mid-processing, too late and it squeezes the rest of your deadline.
Final Thoughts
The 60 days after an ITA are a project management problem more than an immigration knowledge problem. The rules are few and strict, the documents are many, and the only real enemy is starting the slow items late.
If you take one habit from this guide, make it this: on the day the invitation arrives, apply for every police certificate, book the medical exam and email every employer — before you touch a single form. For anything risky — a score below the cutoff, a document that cannot arrive, a changed family situation — talk to a licensed consultant (RCIC) or lawyer before you submit, not after a refusal letter arrives. That single habit is what the 60 days after ITA reward most: early action on slow documents.
Sources
This guide was checked against official IRCC sources and real applicant reports. This is general information, not legal advice. For your own case, talk to a licensed consultant (RCIC) or lawyer.
Last reviewed: October 29, 2026
