After you receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA), your permanent residence application must include police certificates for you and family members aged 18 or older, for each country where any of you stayed 6 months in a row or longer in the last 10 years. You also need an upfront immigration medical exam from an IRCC panel physician, taken after the invitation but before you apply. You have 60 days from the ITA to submit, so both are worth planning early.
Police certificates
Who and which countries
- IRCC's online system asks for certificates for you and your family members who are 18 or older.
- It asks for every country you or a family member stayed in for 6 months in a row or longer during the last 10 years.
- You don't need certificates for any time before age 18 or for time spent in Canada.
- After you apply, an officer may ask for additional certificates from any time in your life since you turned 18.
IRCC gives an example: several separate 4-month stays in one country don't trigger the system's request, but an officer may still ask for that certificate, so you could submit it upfront to avoid delays.
When the certificate must be issued
| Country | Issue-date rule |
|---|---|
| Where you currently live | Issued no more than 6 months before you submit your application |
| Any other country | Issued after the last time you stayed there for 6 months in a row or longer. An expired certificate is accepted if it meets this rule and isn't for your current country |
- Upload colour scans of the original certificates. IRCC says certified true copies or unauthorized copies won't be accepted and will result in rejection.
- Some countries only issue a certificate with a request letter from IRCC. In that case IRCC tells you what to upload in the police certificate field so it can send you instructions.
- IRCC suggests asking for certificates as soon as your profile is in the pool, because they can take a long time.
If you can't get one in time
If a certificate isn't ready by the 60-day deadline, IRCC lets you upload a letter of explanation and proof of your best effort — for example a confirmation or payment receipt, a delivery notice, a tracking number, or an explanation from the issuing agency. If the officer isn't satisfied you made your best effort, the application may be rejected as incomplete.
The immigration medical exam (IME)
- Timing: for Express Entry, IRCC says you must get the medical exam after you receive your invitation to apply, but before you apply. This is the upfront medical exam.
- Who does it: only a doctor on IRCC's list of panel physicians. Your own doctor can't do it. Contact a panel physician directly — IRCC doesn't send you documents to take the exam.
- Family: your family members must also have a medical exam, even if they aren't coming with you.
- What you upload: the panel physician gives you an information printout sheet or an IMM 1017B Upfront Medical Report form; you provide one of them when you apply online.
- One booking only: IRCC says not to book more than one IME appointment.
- Who decides: the panel physician doesn't make the final decision — IRCC does.
If you've had an exam before
IRCC has extended a temporary public policy, until October 5, 2029, that may exempt some people in Canada from another IME. You may be exempt if you already live in Canada, completed an IME in the last 5 years, and that exam showed low or no risk to public health or safety. In that case you provide your previous IME number (or unique medical identifier). If IRCC can't use your old results, it will send instructions after you apply.
What to bring and pay
Bring proper identification (IRCC strongly recommends your passport), glasses or contact lenses if you wear them, reports for any existing medical conditions, and a list of your medications. You pay the panel physician's fees and any tests at the appointment, and IRCC says those fees aren't refunded if your application is refused. Vaccination offered at the exam is voluntary.
For the rest of the document list, see our after-ITA checklist and the profile and ITA timeline.
Sources: IRCC — Police certificates (Express Entry), IRCC — How to get a police certificate, IRCC — Medical exam for permanent residence applicants, IRCC — Find a panel physician, IRCC — Apply for permanent residence. Confirm your own requirements in your IRCC account and on canada.ca.