What to Do If You Didn’t Receive an Invitation to Apply in Express Entry

How to act if your Express Entry profile expires before being selected

Introduction

While many individuals receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence in Canada (PR), many others may find that their Express Entry profile expires before being invited.

As of April 2024, there were over 200,000 candidate profiles in Canada’s federal Express Entry pool. This volume means not every candidate will be invited within their profile’s 12-month validity.

This post explains what happens when your profile expires, how to create a new one, and what steps to take to stay in the pool.

Will my information be saved after my Express Entry profile expires?

Short answer: no. Once your Express Entry profile expires, the system does not retain any of the data it contained.

Express Entry profiles are valid for 12 months from the date they are created — this expiration date is displayed within the candidate’s online account. IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) had initially planned to retain expired profile information but later determined that this was not technically feasible at this time.

Therefore, once the profile expires, your entire submission is erased, and you will need to re-enter your information manually if you want to create a new profile.

What should I do before my profile expires?

If you realize your Express Entry profile is about to expire — and you still wish to remain in the pool — IRCC recommends creating a new profile.

Additional tips from IRCC:

• Save your profile information in advance (e.g., take screenshots, save PDFs or copies of what you submitted).
• This will help speed up re-entry and reduce mistakes when reapplying.

How can I create a new profile in Express Entry?

Creating a new Express Entry profile is identical to creating the original one, but you must follow specific rules:

• A candidate cannot have more than one active profile in the Express Entry system.
• Therefore, if your old profile is still visible (but about to expire), you must first delete it before creating a new one.

How to withdraw your profile from the Express Entry pool:

To remove your profile, follow these steps:

1. Log into your IRCC secure account.
2. Navigate to the section “View submitted applications” on the homepage.
3. Click the “Withdraw profile” link.
4. Under the heading “What would you like to do today?”, click the “Continue” button beneath the warning message.

This confirms that you want to remove the profile.

What happens after I submit a new profile?

Once you create a new Express Entry profile:

• You will receive a new Express Entry profile number.
• You will also receive a new Job Seeker Validation Code.

This code is required for:

• Linking your Express Entry profile to Canada’s Job Bank;
• Showing that you are an active candidate in the system;
• Applying to eligible job openings that match your NOC.

Conclusion

• Express Entry profiles are only valid for one year. Once expired, they are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
• To remain active in the system, create a new profile before or after expiration.
• You must delete the previous profile first — you are only allowed one active Express Entry profile at a time.
• Always save your submitted data, including your CRS score breakdown, work history, and test results, to avoid re-entering everything from scratch.

📌 Managing your profile actively and being aware of expiration dates is essential for staying competitive in the Express Entry system.