Part-1 covered the process of entering the Express Entry pool till getting the Invitation to Apply. Once we get the ITA, we have 60 days (as of Oct-2018) to submit the application of PR after completing the personalized checklist from CIC. A general idea of checklist is given below.
- Checklist for making the application to Permanent Residence (All scanned documents MUST be of original document and NOT of photocopied documents)
- Marriage license/Certificate
- Scanned copy of the original of marriage license certificate) -only for the principal applicant.
- Passport
- Scanned copy of the front and back pages with all the stamped pages
- Required for all the applicants
- Medical checkup (Click the link to know more about Medical checkup requirement)
- To be done at a clinic designated by CIC, locally.
- The provisional medical certificates can be collected the same day, which must be scanned(originals) and uploaded later, during the application process.
- Police Clearance Certificates (Click the link to know more about PCC)
- Indian PCC - We chose to get the Indian PCC from India itself and not through Indian embassy in Singapore. The PCC was issues by the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) in my hometown in India. If you have renewed the passport in the last 10 years or so at the PSK (and not abroad), they would have your record and the PCC will be issued in the first visit itself. If not, the process has to go via a manual police verification followed by the PCC issuance (need to be collected in person at the PSK), which can take almost a month. The originals need to be scanned and uploaded during the application process.
- Singapore PCC - As mentioned by CIC, the Certificate of Clearance need not be obtained upfront, from Singapore Police Force, at this stage. As and when the application review proceeds, a few months after we submit the final application, CIC sends a letter requesting the PCC from Singapore. We need to provide this letter (mandatory) to appeal to Singapore Police to provide PCC. However, we found that if you're a single applicant you can get the Singapore PCC upfront by just providing the ITA letter, but require this request letter from CIC for your dependents.
- Employement Records
- For all the past jobs, we presented a scanned copy of the original relieving letter bearing HR Head's signature, on company's letter head, citing our full name, designation, duration in the company etc. In addition, we also scanned our last salary slips in each job with the last drawn salary details. For the present job, we got a letter from the company's letter head citing our employement status with the currently drawn salary. Its a good idea to prepare this before the ITA itself, as this good be time consuming depending on your career path.
- Educational Records
- We provided scanned copies of the original degree certificates, original transcripts and the ECA report from WES.
- Proof of funds
- As Proof of the funds that we have claimed in the application to enter the pool, we showed both of ours savings bank account details in Singapore, for the last six months. The monthly account summary, with each page stamped had to be requested at the bank. Since this fund covered the claimed amount, we did not show any other source of income. A guideline to the fund requirement is mentioned here.
- Digital Photo
- The requirement for the digital photo and the hardcopy (required later, while stamping the visa in the passport) is provided here. Sticking to specifications is highly suggested to avoid any delays while processing.
- Birth certificate
- This was required only for the child. Scanned copy of the original document was uploaded.
- Cover Letters
- Whenever we felt that a little description is needed to explain the uploaded documents, we always wrote section-wise cover letters(as a first page of the scanned document(s) pdf), which we felt will help the reviewing officer overcome any confusion.
- Finally, in the cover letter section at the top level, we wrote a letter citing our application giving a brief introduction to who we are and what we are and why we think obtaining a Permanent Residence in Canada is important to us.
- Submitting the application and AoR
- We submitted our completed PR application in February'17 and received the Acknowledgement of Receipt (AoR) on the same day. And the wait began.... In part-3, we'll cover the different steps from getting the AoR till we got the PR card.
