Documents needed to immigrate to Canada

Documents needed to immigrate to Canada

To settle in Canada, you must be accepted into one of the available immigration programs. The objective of these immigration programs is to allow you to obtain permanent residence in Canada.


You must therefore be prepared, from the start of your project, to be able to provide the documents and information that are requested by the Canadian authorities in the framework of the immigration programs.

In this article, I will present you the documents to prepare to immigrate to Canada.


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1. The passport


To immigrate to Canada, you must travel with a valid passport. To do this, your passport must meet the following requirements

• Be a legal document
• Must not be expired.
• Be one of the passports accepted by the Canadian authorities.
• Have at least six months of validity remaining after the date you apply for permanent residence.
• Contain at least one blank page on which your Canadian visa can be affixed.

Therefore, you must ensure that your passport meets all these requirements.

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2. Identity and civil status documents.

• These documents are used to prove your identity and current civil status. These include
• National identity cards
• Residence permit or residence card. If you live outside your home country,
• Birth certificate,
• Marriage certificate if you are married.
• Divorce certificate if you are divorced.
• Death certificate. If your spouse or child has died,
• And any other legally accepted document proving your identity and civil status.

Please note that all these documents must be presented in English or French. Therefore, you must have them translated into English or French by a certified translator before applying for an immigration program.

3. Language tests
To immigrate to Canada, you must demonstrate that you have the minimum level of English or French language proficiency. Your proficiency in English or French is assessed according to Canadian benchmarks. These include the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLC).

To demonstrate your proficiency in English or French, you must therefore take at least one of the language tests recognised by the Canadian authorities. The tests currently recognised for French are

• TEF Canada Test d'évaluation de français,
• TCF Canada Test de connaissance du français
• TEFAQ, Test d'évaluation du français adapté pour le Québec
• TCF Québec Test de connaissance du français pour le Québec
• DELF Diplôme d'études en langue française
• DALF Diplôme approfondi de langue française.

The currently recognised tests for English are

• IELTS General Training, which is the international English language testing system.
• CELPI, which is the Canadian programme for assessing English language proficiency.

It is not necessary to take all of these tests. The two most commonly used tests are TCF Canada for French and IELTS General Training for English.

To give yourself the best chance, it is recommended that you take both the English and French language tests.
And at the time of your immigration application, the language test you took must be less than two years old.

4. Evaluation of your educational credentials.

Immigration programs in Canada generally require a minimum level of education. You must therefore prove that you have this level of education. Therefore, if you do not have a Canadian educational credential, you must have your educational credentials from outside Canada assessed as equivalent. This equivalence is done by means of an evaluation of the diplomas. This evaluation must be done through an organisation recognised by the Canadian authorities.

You can only have your highest diploma evaluated. Furthermore, your diploma must be in French or in English. If it is not, you must first translate it with a certified translator before having it evaluated. Finally, at the time of your immigration application, the evaluation report of your degree must be less than 5 years old.

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5. Letters of employment.

When you want to immigrate to Canada as a worker, you must prove your work experience. To do this, you must have a letter of employment for each experience you wish to document. Each letter of employment must meet the following requirements:


6. Family sponsorship

First, we have the Family Sponsorship Program, which allows people with family or friends living in Canada to be sponsored for immigration.

7. Quebec Experience Class

The Quebec Experience Class allows international students and foreign workers with study or work experience in Quebec to settle permanently in the province.

• Be written on paper for the company,
• Be signed by the person in charge.
• Mention the company's complete contact information.
• Bear the official seal of the company.
• Specify the period of your employment.
• Specify the positions you held and the length of time you held each.
• Mention your main responsibilities and tasks related to each position.
• Specify your total annual salary and benefits.
• And finally, specify the number of hours you worked per week.
• You should contact your former employers and your current employer to obtain their letters of employment.

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8. Bank letter

To immigrate to Canada, you must show that you have enough money to settle in the country.

This is demonstrated by a bank letter. It depends mainly on the number of members of your family to show that you have enough funds to support yourself. You must therefore present a bank letter. This is a document put in your favour by each bank or financial institution where your money is held. To be accepted as proof of holding funds, the bank letter must meet the following conditions

• Be printed on the letterhead of the financial institution,
• Include the full contact details of the financial institution,
• Mention your full name,
• List the outstanding debts and finally,
• Specify the bank account numbers, opening dates, current balance and average balance of the last 6 months.

You should therefore contact your bank to issue this letter for you if you do not currently have the minimum funds required. It is therefore necessary that you prepare yourself to improve your financial situation. Alternatively, you may be exempt from providing such proof of sufficient funds if you have a valid job offer from a Canadian employer.

9. Police certificate (Certificate of non-conviction).

Canada conducts criminal background checks on people who wish to settle in Canada. This is done by means of a police certificate.

The police certificate is a statement that you do not have a criminal record and if you do, the police certificate is a copy of your criminal record according to your current place of residence. This police certificate could be called something else, such as an extract from the criminal record, a certificate of good conduct or a police check certificate. You should therefore contact the competent authorities in your current place of residence to request this police certificate. Furthermore, your police certificate must be issued in English or French. If it is not, you must have it translated into English or French by a certified translator. This police certificate may be requested at the beginning or end of your immigration process. Also, when you apply for immigration, this police certificate must be less than three months old.