The 60-day eAPR countdown — week-by-week
The clock starts on the ITA issue date. This is the sequence that keeps every document ready in time — starting with the one that gates every other document: the NOC verification.
✓ Day 1 action
Week 1 — Day 1 to 7 (the highest-leverage week)
- Verify your NOC against your real duties before touching the reference letter →
- Order police certificates from every country lived in 6+ months since 18 →
- Email employers requesting reference letters with the exact IRCC-required fields →
- Confirm proof-of-funds account is above threshold and has 6 months of history →
Week 2–3 — Forms and scheduling
Week 4–6 — PCC arrivals and letter revisions
- Chase any late-arriving PCCs (India PSK, US FBI, Nigeria Force CID are the usual slow ones)
- Review received reference letters — duties must mirror the NOC lead statement
- Request rewrites from employers whose letters have duty mismatches
- Attend the upfront medical exam (results upload within 2 weeks)
Week 7 — Assembly
- Scan every document — colour, both sides, no cropping or watermarks
- Certified translations for anything not in English or French
- Rename files clearly: 'ReferenceLetter_Employer_2021-2024.pdf'
- Populate all portal fields; save often; do not submit yet
Week 8 — Final review and submit
- Read every uploaded document end-to-end one final time
- Verify NOC one last time before submission →
- Pay the $1,365 fee (+ spouse/dependant fees)
- Submit. Save the confirmation PDF and AOR letter.
What IRCC actually checks
What surprises most applicants: IRCC officers compare your reference letter duty lines word-by-word against the official NOC duty list. Generic phrases like “managed projects” or “supported the team” fail this check every time.
Why Week 1 decides everything
Every downstream task depends on the reference letter being right. And the reference letter can only be right if the NOC underneath it is right. If you're in Week 5 and your letter comes back with duties that don't fit the claimed NOC, you're out of runway to rewrite it. That's why we push the NOC check to Day 1 — it's the one hour of work that protects the other 59 days.
Day 1 has one job
Verify the NOC. Everything else — letters, PCCs, medicals, Schedule A — depends on it.
FAQ
- How long do I actually have after an ITA?
- 60 calendar days from the ITA issue date to submit the complete eAPR. Miss it and the invitation expires — you re-enter the pool and wait for another draw.
- Can I get an extension?
- No. The 60 days is hard. You can decline the ITA (returns you to the pool with your profile intact) or submit an incomplete application (almost always refused).
- What's the single fastest thing I can do this week?
- Verify your NOC. It's the one item that gates the reference letter, which is the longest employer-dependent lead time on the list.
- What if my reference letter comes back with wrong duties?
- You have two options: get it rewritten (weeks) or decline the ITA and rebuild the profile with the correct NOC. Submitting the wrong letter under time pressure is what causes refusals.
Last updated: July 2026