"My test expires between ITA and eAPR — am I in trouble?"
The two-year validity rule is simple to state and brutal when mistimed. Here is IRCC's actual wording and what it means at each stage. Verified on canada.ca, July 5, 2026.
The rule
IRCC: your test results "must be less than 2 years old when you complete your Express Entry profile, and submit your application for permanent residence." Two checkpoints, not one. The test's own 2-year validity is measured from your results date.
What that means in practice
| Moment | Does the test need to be valid? |
|---|---|
| Creating / completing your EE profile | Yes |
| Sitting in the pool waiting for a draw | Profile stays active only while your results stay valid — an expiring test can deactivate scores in your profile |
| Receiving an ITA | The scores that earned the ITA must have been valid then |
| Submitting your PR application (eAPR) | Yes — valid on the day you submit |
| IRCC processing after submission | No — expiry after submission doesn't invalidate it |
The safe planning rule: if your results will be within ~3 months of expiry when you expect an ITA, book a retake before you need it — you get up to 60 days to submit an eAPR after an ITA, and an expired test discovered at that point is unfixable in time.
The citizenship exception
For citizenship applications the calculus is different: IRCC accepts language results as proof even if they have "expired," and the requirement is only CLB 4 in speaking and listening. An old IELTS or CELPIP result that is useless for Express Entry can still carry a citizenship application. Don't retest for citizenship without checking first.
Retaking on a deadline?
Target exactly the skill that's short — check what each skill needs in the CLB converter — and practise in real exam conditions:full timed IELTS mocks, PTE Core tasks,CELPIP practice.