Canada Immigration News: IRCC Increases Express Entry Invitations for 2026

An invitation to apply is what a candidate receives when they are selected in a round of invitations. It arrives as a message in the candidate's account, telling them which program they have been invited under and what to do next.

The invitation is not the application. It opens a window in which one can be submitted.

Sixty days, and what happens if they pass

IRCC states that an invitation to apply is valid for 60 days only, and the application must be submitted within 60 calendar days.

If the invitation expires, it is not simply reissued. IRCC states the profile is removed from the pool, and to be considered in future rounds the candidate has to fill out and submit a new Express Entry profile, meet the eligibility requirements, and be accepted into the pool again.

Declining is treated differently from letting it lapse. A candidate who declines is put back into the pool and considered in future rounds if still eligible, though IRCC adds there is no guarantee of being invited again.

What the 60 days is actually for

Four steps: complete the application form, upload documents, pay the fees, submit. The document stage is where the time goes.

There is a detail worth knowing. IRCC does not publish a single fixed document list. The system generates a personalised document checklist once the online form is complete, so the list is not knowable in full until the form is done. Items IRCC names include police certificates, proof of funds, an immigration medical exam completed by a panel physician, and vital documents such as birth, marriage or divorce certificates where they apply. Language test results and the educational credential assessment come from the profile stage.

On the medical exam, IRCC advises that a candidate who has never had one should get it after being invited, and that the results must be valid when the application is submitted. That is one of the items most likely to consume the window.

The practical reading

Police certificates from multiple countries and a medical exam are not same-week tasks. Candidates who treat the invitation as the moment to start gathering documents are working against a fixed clock; those who have the predictable items ready before a round runs are not.

Our Express Entry page covers what goes into a profile in the first place.