Your IRCC document checklist: eleven questions, then the list that fits your case

A permanent residence application is rarely lost on the score. It is lost on the documents: one missing, one arriving too late, and the file waits. The document checklist tells you today what you have to gather in your own case.

You will find it in the Prepare my file area, at /en/check-list.html#docs . It is free and nothing is sent anywhere.

Eleven questions, and the list changes

There is no universal list. The one for a single applicant who has never left Cameroon has nothing in common with the one for a father of three who spent two years in Ivory Coast and holds a provincial nomination. So the tool asks eleven questions before it builds anything.

Where you are: preparing a profile, or invited. Which stream you are applying under: federal skilled worker, Canadian experience class, skilled trades, provincial nominee, or you do not know yet. Your family situation, and whether your partner comes with you or stays behind. Your dependent children. Your language test, taken or not yet. Your educational credential assessment: received, pending, not requested, or not applicable because you studied in Canada. Your experience, outside Canada, in Canada, or both. Then four questions that bring out documents few people think of: since turning 18, have you lived six months or more in a row in another country, do you have a Canadian job offer, do you have a sibling or relative who is a Canadian resident or citizen, and are you using a representative.

While an answer is missing, the button tells you so and stays inactive. Answer everything, then click Build my checklist.

What you get

The list comes out sorted into families: identity and civil status, language, education and credentials, work experience, funds and finances, security and health, IRCC forms, and your specific situation. It covers the passport, birth certificates, proof that a previous marriage is properly over, language results, the credential assessment and transcripts, a reference letter from each employer, proof of funds, police certificates, the medical exam, forms IMM 5669, 5562, 5406 and 5476, and certified translations.

Each item carries three things: its name, a line saying exactly what is expected, and a warning about what goes wrong in practice. For the passport, for instance, a document expiring in under a year complicates everything, because the visa cannot outlast it: renew it before filing, not after.

Tick, measure, print

Every item has a tick box. You tick as you gather, and the page keeps count: the percentage, the number of documents obtained out of the total, and how many are still missing. The gauge stays red below halfway, turns amber, then green when everything is in.

Four buttons sit with the list. Print, to carry it home or to the office. Edit my profile, if your situation changes, for instance when the invitation arrives. Erase everything, to start again. And a button that opens WhatsApp with your progress already written into the message, if you want to talk it through with an adviser.

Without an account, your answers and ticks stay in your browser and vanish on reload. With a free account they are kept from one visit to the next, which is what you want, because assembling a file takes months, not an evening.

Where to start

The order matters more than people think. Two items drive the whole calendar, and they are the ones the page flags: the credential assessment and the police certificates. They are requested from outside bodies, the delays are not yours to control, and a file that is 90 per cent ready still waits.

Start them first. Check your passport validity straight away. Then turn to the language test, the one element you can still improve by your own work. The rest, civil status records, employer letters, bank statements, comes faster and can follow.

One last word on what this tool is. It follows the requirements IRCC publishes on canada.ca together with our daily practice, it helps you organise yourself, but it does not replace a review of your file: every situation has its own quirks. Immigration Voyages is not affiliated with IRCC or the Government of Canada. Build your list here: /en/check-list.html#docs