The Cost to Immigrate to Canada: Fees, Funds, and Budgeting

"How much does it cost to immigrate to Canada" has two answers, and people usually only budget for the first one. There are the fees you pay the government, which are fixed and knowable — and then there's the money you have to prove you already have before you'll be approved at all.

Miss the second one and the first doesn't matter.

Government fees

For applicants going through Express Entry — or a provincial nominee stream, which uses the same fee structure — there are two main charges from IRCC:

A spouse or partner becoming a permanent resident pays their own processing fee and RPRF. Dependent children pay a processing fee but are not charged the RPRF.

These amounts rose on April 30, 2026 — the RPRF from $575 to $600, and the economic-class processing fee from $950 to $990. IRCC adjusts these periodically to track inflation, so confirm the current figures before paying.

Biometrics

Nearly everyone applying for permanent residence between the ages of 14 and 79 must give fingerprints and a photo:

• $85 per person
• $170 maximum for a family applying together

You pay this even if you've given biometrics before for a previous application.

Proof of funds: the big one

This isn't a fee — nobody takes this money — but it's the requirement most likely to derail an application, and the amount dwarfs the fees.

Most candidates must demonstrate they have enough money to settle:

• The required amount is based on family size, counting your spouse and dependants even if they stay behind.
• The table is revised annually, pegged to 50% of Canada's low-income cut-off figures.
• The funds must be liquid and unencumbered — real estate doesn't count, and borrowed money isn't accepted.
• Exemptions apply, most notably to Canadian Experience Class candidates and to people already authorized to work in Canada with a valid job offer.

I'm deliberately not quoting a dollar figure here. The amount changes every year, and figures circulating on third-party sites frequently disagree with each other. Check the current table on the official IRCC page linked at the bottom — this is not a number to take from a blog post.

The costs nobody lists

None of these are charged by IRCC, but all are unavoidable parts of the real budget:

• Language test — IELTS, CELPIP, PTE Core, TEF or TCF. Paid to the test provider. If you retake it to improve your CLB level, you pay again.
• Educational Credential Assessment — charged by the designated assessing organization, not the government.
• Medical exam — paid directly to the IRCC-approved panel physician; prices vary widely by country.
• Police certificates — fees set by each country you've lived in.
• Certified translations — for any document not already in English or French.
• Landing and settlement costs — flights, temporary accommodation, deposits, and the gap before your first paycheque. Not required to be proven, but very real.

Budget in three scenarios

Rather than chasing one number, it's more useful to build three:

1. Minimum — government fees, biometrics, and the required proof of funds.
2. Realistic — add language test, ECA, medical, police certificates, translations, and a modest arrival buffer.
3. Safe — add a genuine cushion for retaken tests, delays, and a longer job search than you expect.

The gap between scenario 1 and scenario 3 is usually large enough to change your timeline, which is exactly why it's worth writing down.

And later: citizenship

Worth knowing when planning long-term. Once you've been a permanent resident long enough to qualify, an adult citizenship application currently costs $530 processing plus $123 right of citizenship — $653 total. That's years away, but it's the end of the same road.

Fees come after the invitation

One sequencing point that saves people from over-planning: you don't pay the main processing fees until after you've been invited to apply. And you only get invited if your CRS score clears the cut-off.

So the budget question is downstream of a more immediate one — is your profile competitive at all?

👉 Calculate your CRS score for free and find out whether you're on track to need this budget.

For the documents behind these costs, see the Canada immigration requirements checklist. For the whole process, see how to immigrate to Canada.

Official sources

• Citizenship and immigration application fee list
• Notice: permanent residence fees increasing April 30, 2026
• Biometrics
• Proof of funds (current table)

Educational content. Fees and settlement-fund amounts change periodically — always confirm current figures with the official sources above before budgeting or paying.