Documents · India to Canada

Every document Canada asks you for, and where to get it in India

Applications are refused over paperwork far more often than over eligibility. These pages cover what each document has to be for Canada to accept it, which office in Gujarat issues it, and the things people produce that get an application rejected rather than delayed.

Read and checked by Jay Sharma, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant R710507, licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Figures verified 3 September 2026. Requirements read off IRCC's own document checklists on that date.

The short answer

A Canadian application asks an applicant in India for a different set of documents depending on the route. Express Entry needs a credential assessment, proof of funds and police certificates. A study permit needs an acceptance letter and a provincial attestation letter. A super visa asks almost everything of the host in Canada instead.

By application

What your application asks for

Express Entry

Permanent residence through the federal skilled worker, trades or Canadian experience programs.

Passport
Renew it before applying if it expires within six months, because a permit cannot outlast it.
Always
Language test results
IELTS, CELPIP, TEF or TCF, and the result has to be under two years old when it is used.
Always
Educational credential assessment
Required for the Federal Skilled Worker Program, and to claim points for education outside Canada.
Usually
University transcripts
Sent by your university to the assessing body.
Usually
Proof of work experience
A reference or experience letter from each employer you are claiming points for.
Always
Proof of funds, permanent residence
Not needed under the Canadian Experience Class, or with a valid job offer and authorisation to work in Canada.
Usually
Police clearance certificate
One for every country you have lived in for six months or more since turning 18.
Always
Immigration medical exam
After the invitation to apply, not at the profile stage.
Always
Consistent names across documents
A degree, a passport and a marksheet that disagree about a name have to be reconciled before filing.
Always
Written job offer
Only if you have one.
Sometimes
Provincial nomination
Only if a province has nominated you.
Sometimes

What it does not ask for

Property, land or gold. IRCC says plainly that equity in real property cannot be used as settlement funds.
Money borrowed from another person, which is the line the gift-deed folklore actually comes from.
A police certificate for time spent in Canada, or for any period before you turned 18.

IRCC — Immigrate through Express Entry: Get your documents ready

Study permit

A permit to study at a designated learning institution in Canada.

Letter of acceptance
From the designated learning institution. Always required on a study permit.
Always
Provincial attestation letter
A Quebec Acceptance Certificate instead, if you are studying there.
Usually
Passport
Renew it before applying if it expires within six months, because a permit cannot outlast it.
Always
Passport photographs
Two, with the name and date of birth on the back of each.
Always
Proof of funds, study permit
Enough to cover tuition and living costs for the first year, plus travel.
Always
Letter of explanation
Recommended by IRCC rather than required.
Usually
Immigration medical exam
If you are staying more than six months, have recently been in certain countries, or plan to work in particular jobs.
Sometimes
Police clearance certificate
Only where IRCC asks for one.
Sometimes
University transcripts
Sent by the university to the assessing body, which most Gujarat universities will do directly.
Usually
Consistent names across documents
A degree, a passport and a marksheet that disagree about a name have to be reconciled before filing.
Always

What it does not ask for

A police clearance certificate as a matter of course. IRCC asks for one only in some cases.
A medical exam for a course shorter than six months, unless another trigger applies.

IRCC — Study permit: Get the right documents

Super visa

A visa for the parents and grandparents of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, giving five years on each entry.

Passport
Renew it before applying if it expires within six months, because a permit cannot outlast it.
Always
Invitation letter
Written and signed by your host, and it has to declare the family size the income test is measured against.
Always
Your host's notice of assessment
The Canada Revenue Agency document that proves the income behind a super visa invitation.
Always
Proof of your host's status
A citizenship document, PR card or status card for the child or grandchild inviting you.
Always
Proof of your relationship
The host's own birth certificate is what proves it.
Always
Health insurance policy
Super visa only. It cannot be bought from an Indian insurer, whatever you are told.
Always
Immigration medical exam
With a panel physician IRCC has approved, which is not the same as any hospital.
Always

What it does not ask for

A police clearance certificate, in the ordinary case.
Proof of settlement funds. The income test applies to your host in Canada, not to you.

IRCC — Super visa: Forms and documents

By document

Every document, and where it comes from

Who you are

6 documents

Passport
Renew it before applying if it expires within six months, because a permit cannot outlast it.
From: A Passport Seva Kendra or Post Office PSK
Passport photographs
Two recent photographs, with the name and date of birth written on the back of each.
Consistent names across documents
A degree, a passport and a marksheet that disagree about a name have to be reconciled before filing.
Birth certificate
Proof of date of birth and parentage, which many Gujarati applicants born before the 1990s do not have.
Apostille or attestation
Legalisation of an Indian document for use abroad. Which of the two you need is decided by the destination country.
From: The Ministry of External Affairs, through an authorised agency
Marriage certificate
Needed wherever a spouse is included, and for the relationship itself on a sponsorship.

What you studied and did

8 documents

Language test results
IELTS, CELPIP, TEF or TCF, and the result has to be under two years old when it is used.
Educational credential assessment
A report saying what an Indian degree is worth in Canadian terms. Only the highest credential needs one.
University transcripts
Sent by the university to the assessing body, which most Gujarat universities will do directly.
From: Your university, not your college
Letter of acceptance
From the designated learning institution. Always required on a study permit.
Provincial attestation letter
A PAL or TAL from the province, needed in most cases, and usually issued only after tuition is paid.
Proof of work experience
A reference or experience letter from each employer you are claiming points for.
Written job offer
Only if you have one. Check it against the public employer lists before you rely on it.
Provincial nomination
Only if a province has nominated you.

Money

3 documents

Proof of funds, permanent residence
Bank letters showing settlement funds you can legally access, on the letterhead of each institution.
Proof of funds, study permit
Enough to cover tuition and living costs for the first year, plus travel.
Your host's notice of assessment
The Canada Revenue Agency document that proves the income behind a super visa invitation.

Police

1 document

Police clearance certificate
One for every country you have lived in for six months or more since turning 18.
From: A PSK, a district police station, a consulate or BLS

Health

2 documents

Immigration medical exam
With a panel physician IRCC has approved, which is not the same as any hospital.
Health insurance policy
Super visa only. It cannot be bought from an Indian insurer, whatever you are told.

Your host in Canada

4 documents

Invitation letter
Written and signed by your host, and it has to declare the family size the income test is measured against.
Proof of your host's status
A citizenship document, PR card or status card for the child or grandchild inviting you.
Proof of your relationship
For a super visa, the host's own birth certificate is what proves you are their parent.
Letter of explanation
Recommended on a study permit: why this course, and that you understand the conditions of the permit.

Why this cluster exists

A wrong document is a refusal, not a delay

Most advice about Canadian paperwork written in India repeats rules that IRCC has never published. Police certificates expire after six months. Money has to sit in the account for six months. A gift has to be under half the total. None of those are requirements, and each one costs somebody a delay or a fee they did not owe.

The requirements that do exist are stricter than the folklore in places nobody warns about. A notarised copy of a police certificate has the application rejected outright. Equity in a house cannot be counted towards settlement funds at all. A super visa insurance policy from an Indian insurer cannot be accepted, whatever the insurer says.

Every page in this section states the rule, links the government page it comes from, and carries the date it was last read. Where the honest answer is that IRCC does not require something, it says that too, because that is the half of the answer nobody publishes.

Questions applicants ask

Which documents do I need for a Canadian visa from India?

The documents you need depend on which application you are making, and the lists differ more than people expect. Express Entry asks for a passport, language test results, an educational credential assessment, proof of work experience, proof of funds and police certificates for every country you have lived in for six months or more. A study permit asks for a letter of acceptance, a provincial attestation letter, proof of funds and photographs, and asks for a police certificate only in some cases. A super visa asks almost nothing of the applicant and a great deal of the host in Canada, including a notice of assessment and an invitation letter that declares the family size. Working from the wrong list is the most common reason a first application costs more than it needed to.

Does an Indian police clearance certificate expire after six months?

An Indian police clearance certificate does not expire after six months, and the rule that produces that belief is about something else. IRCC requires a certificate for the country where you currently live to have been issued no more than six months before you submit the application. For a country you have left, the certificate has to have been issued after the last time you lived there for six consecutive months or more, and no time limit applies at all. So for a Gujarati applicant still living in India the six-month window is real, and for the same person applying from Canada their Indian certificate has no expiry, even when one is printed on it.

Do I need to keep money in the bank for six months before applying?

You do not need to keep money in the bank for six months before applying, and IRCC has never published that rule. What it does require is a bank letter that states, among other things, the average balance for the past six months of each account. That is a disclosure requirement about the letter rather than a holding period for the money, and the difference matters: a recent deposit is not disqualifying, it simply has to be explainable. What IRCC does say is that the funds must be legally available to you, that you cannot use equity in property, and that you cannot borrow the money from another person.

Will IRCC accept a notarised copy of my documents?

IRCC will not accept a certified true copy or a notarised copy of a police certificate, and it rejects the application rather than asking you to resubmit. What it wants is a colour scan of the original certificate. This catches Indian applicants more than most, because attesting and notarising copies is the normal way to submit documents to almost any Indian authority, so producing a notarised set feels like the careful thing to do. On a Canadian application it is the thing that ends it.

Your document set

Send us what you have and we will tell you what is missing.

We check a document set against the checklist for your actual route, name what will be rejected and why, and say where in Gujarat to get the replacement. It is the cheapest stage of a file to fix.

Every Canadian file is reviewed by Jay Sharma, licensed to represent you before IRCC as RCIC R710507 and verifiable on the CICC public register. That is the difference between advice and representation.

Three fields · about 30 seconds

This section is general information about what documents have to be, not advice about your application. Requirements and the practice of the offices that issue these documents change without notice. A Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant may represent you before IRCC. Last checked 3 September 2026.