This scenario comes up when someone receives an ITA (Invitation to Apply) while single, then gets married within the 60-day application window and wants to include their new spouse.
What group members advised:- Check that your CRS score stays above the relevant cutoff after adding your spouse. Adding a spouse changes your CRS calculation, so confirm the new combined score still meets or exceeds the cutoff for your ITA round before proceeding.
- If your score remains eligible, get married and add your spouse to the eAPR before submitting, rather than applying alone and adding them afterward. Members were consistent on this: adding a spouse before submission is simpler, because adding them after the fact typically requires much more extensive evidence to prove the marriage and relationship are genuine.
- Update your Express Entry profile to reflect your new marital status and include your spouse's information as part of the same application.
Takeaway: if you're getting married during the 60-day post-ITA window, doing so — and adding your spouse to the same application — before you submit is the path group members found smoother, since retroactively adding a spouse after submission comes with a heavier evidence burden.