What happens if your profile in Express Entry changes after receiving ITA?

At times it is possible that your profile in Express Entry changes after you have received the ITA - Invitation to Apply for Canada PR Visa. Consequently, your score under Comprehensive Ranking System will also change accordingly. Such candidates are however required to maintain their Canada PR Visa eligibility.

Types of changes profile and consequences for an erroneous profile

After a draw under Express Entry wherein several candidates are offered ITAs for Canada PR Visa, there are still chances that the candidate who has received an ITA witnesses a change in their profile. These changes can have a significant influence on the score under CRS. The reason is that scores under CRS are frozen only after they file their EPAR.

For instance, a candidate who has received an ITA can witness a change in their education/career, get older in age by a year, get wedded or their results for language test can expire. All this can occur prior to the submission of their EPAR.

Maintaining an accurate profile with all updated data is crucial in case your profile alters for any reason. It is because omitting vital details or false information is grounds for IRCC for rejecting applications. Further, it can find such applicants to be inadmissible to Canada or even completely ban them from filing an application for immigration to Canada for 5 years.

Updating a profile in Express Entry after getting an ITA

For avoiding the consequences of false/inaccurate profile information, candidates who are applying through any of the 3 programs under Express Entry can follow the below process for updating their profile after receiving the ITA.

Fundamentally, before getting the ITA, it is possible for candidates to make alterations to their profile in Express Entry without any requirement of explanation. But this is not possible after receiving the ITA.  The reason is that at this moment the profiles of the candidates are formally recorded in the GCMS - the Global Case Management System.

Thus, at this juncture, applicants are required to either:

• Upload extra supporting documents for verification of alteration in the situations (career change, marriage, etc) for ensuring that the profile continues to remain accurate, or
• Send an LOE – Letter of Explanation to the Government of Canada if it is not feasible to collate the necessary supporting documentation

The LOE permits the applicant to offer an explanation that while they attempted to collate all the necessary documents within the expiry of their ITA (60 days), it was not possible for them to do so.

LOEs are individually assessed on the basis of the specific case and accepted or rejected at the discretion of the Immigration Officer reviewing the case.

The influence of profile changes on the CRS score of the candidate

One more impact of the change/s in the profile is that the CRS score of the candidate gets altered. It can influence their chances of getting the ITA in the subsequent draw in Express Entry.

The CRS score of the candidate can increase or decrease in several ways according to the diverse profile elements.

For example, applicants who get an authentic job offer, improve scores on language tests, get higher educational credentials, or increase relevant work experience will receive extra points. This will also increase their prospects of receiving ITA for a Canada PR Visa.

Profile variation and eligibility for Canada PR Visa

A few changes to the profile including those occurring after receiving ITA can result in making candidates ineligible even if they were earlier eligible for Canada PR Visa. It must be noted here that this is possible because their profile in Express Entry is not locked till they file EPAR with IRCC.

For instance, the validity of language test results is 2 years. If the period of 2 years ends before submission of EPAR, the candidate loses eligibility for Canada PR Visa. Similarly, a candidate may no longer fulfill the income criteria specified by IRCC about their evidence of funds that are modified annually according to 50% of the cut-off totals for low-income.

Managing changes to the profile

Evidently, changes to the profile at any step will result in extra time for IRCC in order to once again assess the eligibility and suitability of a candidate for a PR Visa under Express Entry. Thus, changes to the profile after receiving ITA can increase the time required for processing the PR application of the candidate.

So it is vital that candidates in Express Entry make all possible efforts for submitting necessary documents and updates to their profile in a timely way. It will assist in minimizing delays in processing applications.