Express Entry Documents Translation: What IRCC Needs Translated After an ITA, and How to Upload It

One line in IRCC's Help Centre is worth reading before you upload anything: if you put several files into the same document field, "only 1 (the last one you upload) will be saved." Upload a police certificate, then its translation, then the affidavit, and the officer opens an affidavit describing two documents that are not there.

After an invitation to apply (ITA) you have 60 days to submit. The translation rule is short; the failures sit in the package around it: a missing original, an affidavit that names nothing, a reference letter translated without its hours.

Below: which documents need translating, what IRCC accepts, how to build each upload, what officers check, and a checklist.

Which Express Entry documents need a certified translation?

Any document you upload that is not in English or French, for you and for every family member. The rule is the same for the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Program and provincial nominees. Your personalized checklist decides which documents you upload.

No translation needed: the ECA report, language test results, provincial nomination documents and the medical exam, all issued in English or French. If your diploma and transcripts needed translating, that was done earlier, for the ECA; see our ECA step-by-step guide.

Express Entry does not cover Quebec, which selects its own skilled workers; see Quebec immigration documents.

What does IRCC accept as a translation for Express Entry?

A translation stamped by a certified translator, or one accompanied by an affidavit from the person who translated it. IRCC defines the first: "A certified translator is a member in good standing of a professional translation association in Canada or abroad," confirmed "by a seal or stamp that shows the translator's membership number." Someone still working toward certification does not qualify.

IRCC says to use the affidavit option "only if a translation cannot be completed by a certified translator," and sets its terms:

• It names both documents. "Both the translated document and the original document the translator worked from must be referred to in the affidavit."
• It is sworn, not just signed. The translator swears before an official "authorized to administer oaths in the country where they live": in Canada a notary public, commissioner of oaths or commissioner of taking affidavits; elsewhere a notary public or equivalent. That official "must be proficient in English or French."
• Stamps and seals count. Any that "aren't in English or French must also be translated."

You, your family, representatives and consultants may not translate, even if qualified as lawyers, notaries or translators; you and your family also may not take the affidavit. IRCC's family list runs from parents and siblings to aunts, nieces and first cousins. See our guides to IRCC translation requirements and certified translation vs sworn affidavit.

How do you upload a translation in Express Entry?

Merge the original, translation and affidavit into one file for that document's field. IRCC is explicit: "You can only upload 1 file per field."

1. Scan the original in full, every page and both sides. If the translator worked from a certified photocopy, upload that copy instead.
2. Merge in reading order: original, translation, affidavit.
3. Stay under 4 MB. The IRCC secure account accepts .jpg, .png, .doc, .tiff and .pdf, and IRCC suggests saving scanned PDFs at 150 DPI or less.
4. Scan police certificates in colour. IRCC requires "a scan of the original police certificate(s) in colour," and "certified true copies and unauthorized copies are unacceptable."

What must a translated reference letter show?

Everything IRCC's completeness check looks for, exactly as the employer wrote it. IRCC's operational instructions say the letter "should be an official document printed on company letterhead" showing your name, the company's address, phone and email, and the name, title and signature of your supervisor or personnel officer. For each position: title, duties, job status if current, dates, weekly hours, and annual salary plus benefits.

The officer reads your duties and hours only in the translation. For the Federal Skilled Worker Program you must show the actions in the NOC lead statement and "most of the main duties listed," and IRCC counts no more than 30 hours a week toward the 1,560-hour minimum.

A translator cannot add what the letter lacks; if hours or duties are missing, get a corrected letter. For self-employment, "self-declared main duties or affidavits are not acceptable proof," so business registration, income records and client documents carry the claim, each translated. See reference letters and pay stubs.

Which police certificates need translating, and when should you order them?

Every certificate not issued in English or French. You need one for yourself, your spouse or partner and each dependent child 18 or older, for every country other than Canada where that person spent "6 months or more in a row within the last 10 years." Time before age 18 does not count.

Timing is the trap. The certificate for your current country must be issued "no more than 6 months before the date you submit your application," and one from a country you left must postdate your last six-month stay there. IRCC suggests requesting them "as soon as your profile is in the pool."

Get the right certificate before translating it. IRCC's Brazil page says "Only national certificates issued by the Brazilian Federal Police are accepted." For Mexico, the Constancia de datos registrales comes from the Fiscalía General de la República, and in IRCC's words "you will need to have your certificate translated and certified."

If a certificate cannot arrive in time, upload a letter of explanation and proof of your efforts, such as a receipt or tracking number, in that country's police certificate field. IRCC accepts this only in exceptional circumstances and calls it "not a guarantee of acceptance." See police certificate translation.

What should a translated bank letter for proof of funds show?

The details IRCC asks the bank to print. Federal Skilled Worker and Skilled Trades applicants need official letters on the institution's letterhead listing every current account with its number, opening date, current balance and "average balance for the past 6 months," plus debts such as credit cards and loans.

Canadian Experience Class applicants, and applicants authorized to work in Canada with a valid job offer, are exempt. Because "the system currently asks all applicants to provide a proof of funds document," they upload a letter explaining the exemption instead.

Amounts stay in the original currency. IRCC's table, updated July 7, 2025, starts at CA$15,263 for one person, and IRCC says it updates the numbers "every year." If the bank left out the six-month average, no translation can supply it; ask for a new letter. See bank statements and proof of funds.

Civil documents and names

Marriage, divorce, death, birth and adoption documents follow the same rule: complete translations, with reverse sides and every registrar's note. For a divorce, IRCC wants the divorce certificate and, "if available," the legal separation agreement.

Names should match each person's passport and stay identical across every certificate. Give your translator the passport data page of everyone named.

Why Express Entry files get rejected over translations

At the completeness check, an office "determines only whether the required documents are included," and an application missing a mandatory document, such as proof of work experience or a police certificate, "will be rejected as incomplete." Validity is judged later, and a complete application "can, however, be refused if the processing office does not have enough information on file." Either way, you need a new Express Entry profile to be invited again. The usual causes:

• Overwritten uploads: original and translation uploaded separately, so only one survives.
• No original in the file, so the officer has nothing to compare.
• An affidavit that names nothing, or a signed statement with no oath, commissioner or seal.
• A translation by a spouse or cousin who is a professional translator.
• A summarized reference letter that drops duties or hours.
• A certified true copy of a police certificate instead of a colour scan of the original.
• One name, three spellings across passport, translations and forms.

Officers may also "request a retranslation by a different certified translator at any time."

Checklist: Express Entry translations before you submit

Questions people ask