Time allowed under Invitation to Apply

by Michael Scott

It is important that applicants do what they can to prepare their immigration applications throughout the process. In terms of provincial nomination submissions, be familiar with the process beginning with the online submission of an expression of interest. Ensure that you have met all the requirements, then submit your online interest and wait and pray for a good outcome.

Be aware that the application itself has a shelf-life of one year. What you may not be aware of is that the next potential step requires some preparation on your part. If you are successful in your Express Entry or provincial nomination submission you will receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA). This invitation is open but time sensitive. You have normally only 60 days to comply. This seems like a generous amount of time to respond but some circumstances or systemic delays are beyond your control.

Applicants for Express Entry or provincial nominations require documents to be complete. Police certificates, in particular, are tricky and can take a long time to obtain and a failure to comply within the 60-day period can put your application submission into jeopardy. Most applicants point to this requirement as one of the biggest challenges of the ITA. The Express Entry uses the federal standard for police certificates, and you are responsible for submitting a police certificate for every country you spent six months or more time living in after the age of eighteen. For some countries the time required may be days while others are months. The entire time is important because Canada has the due diligence to ensure that all applicants are checked for criminality as well as security and medical reasons. The applicant has 60 days in total, but the time required may exceed this amount of time.

What are your options if you cannot obtain all the necessary required documents? It is possible to decline the invitation to apply by responding to the request and explaining the delay is outside of your control. You should state that you are applying from a country that requires an official request letter from IRCC to obtain a police certificate. IRCC will review your request and determine if your request is justified. Many applicants who worked in the Middle East are challenged by the system because they are not readily able to obtain a police clearance for the time they spent working in the area because they left behind a debt or utang. The applicants in such cases should have cleaned up their financial history before returning to their home country.

The example is pertinent because it is something faced by many applicants who returned to the Philippines, for example, and did not clear up their debts. The ideal solution is not to leave behind such a problem. The other suggestion is that those who have submitted an online expression of interest should be aware of the potential problem and attend to the debt while they are waiting for an invitation to apply. You can still submit your online profile but also work on clearing up any potential problem. The solution for those with unpaid debt or those who want to avoid processing delays is to start collecting the required documents before being invited to apply. If you want to avoid the disappointment, start early and face the challenges before any 60-day deadline. It is unfortunate for the applicant to await word about their application only to face the additional challenge of missing documents.

In all cases the solution is an honest disclosure of the efforts you have made to obtain all documents, such as contacts you have made with the foreign government and the efforts to comply. This does not mean that IRCC will grant additional time but at least you have a reason to make the request and let them decide if it is reasonable. IRCC, or the MPNP in the case Manitoba, will make the final decision about granting you more time. This is part of what immigration authorities refer to as procedural fairness. Good luck with your submissions and my hope is that you are prepared for the challenge of documentation that follows the online submission. The process is more than an initial submission and requires follow up and preparation.

Michael Scott is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC, R525678) who has 30 years of experience with Immigration Canada and the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program. He currently works as a licensed consultant with Immigration Connexion International Ltd. Contact him at 204-691-1166 or 204-227-0292. E-mail: mscott.ici@gmail.com.