Express Entry and the electronic application for permanent residence

This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.

Foreign nationals are not charged a fee when they create an Express Entry profile in their MyCIC account. There is also no fee for them to register for the Government of Canada’s Job Bank.

Foreign nationals must, however, pay the cost recovery fee when they submit their electronic application for permanent residence (e-APR), as well as the Right of Permanent Resident Fee (RPRF) when their application is approved.

Cost recovery for electronic application for permanent residence

Applicants must pay the cost recovery fee when they submit their electronic application for permanent residence (e-APR), as part of their complete application. Applicants must pay their cost recovery fee by credit card through their MyCIC account.

When an application is received, the processing office will promote the APR in the Global Case Management System (GCMS), and the fee will be allocated to the application.

Adding a dependant after application for permanent residence

When a foreign national adds a spouse, common-law partner or dependant to their application after submitting their e-APR, the processing office must manually update the addition in GCMS. This will trigger within GCMS the appropriate cost recovery fees for the dependant(s). The processing office must then request the appropriate fees from the applicant or refund fees where applicable.

The applicant must pay the additional cost recovery fee through e-payment on the CIC website and will have the option to pay with either credit or debit card.

Right of permanent residence fee

Applicants are encouraged to pay the right of permanent residence fee (RPRF) when they submit their e-APR. To pay at this stage, applicants must pay their RPRF by credit card through their MyCIC account. If they do so, the RPRF will be set to “complete” in GCMS when their application is loaded into GCMS.

In all other situations, the processing office will advise the applicant that their application has been processed and that visa(s) will be issued if the applicant submits the correct RPRF. The permanent resident visa(s) will not be issued until the RPRF(s) have been paid.

An RPRF collected after APR must be paid through e-payment on the CIC website. The applicant will have the option to pay with either credit or debit card.

Fee repayments

Once an application is accepted as complete, the processing fee will not be repaid, including if an application is withdrawn at the applicant’s request or repaid.

When an APR is rejected as incomplete, the processing office must repay the processing fee.

The RPRF must be repaid if it was paid at the time of e-APR and the application is rejected as incomplete, withdrawn at the applicant’s request, refused, or the visa is not used (i.e., the applicant never lands in Canada).

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