Merge several PDFs into one file
I write these guides from the experience of preparing real filings, not as a lawyer or an immigration adviser. Every figure I quote links to its official source with the date I checked it. If something here is out of date, write to me and I will fix it.
Many portals want a single file. Others simply handle it better. Merging is easy, but the order and the weight are what decide whether it gets accepted.
Why they ask for one file
An official opening a case file would rather turn pages than open fourteen windows. When an application says "attach a single document containing all supporting material", it is not a quirk of the system: somebody is going to read it straight through.
There are also portals that limit the number of attachments rather than, or as well as, the weight. If you get five slots and have fourteen documents, merging is the only way.
And there is a practical reason: when every document goes separately, it is easy for one to not get uploaded. In a single file, either everything is there or nothing is.
Order matters more than you would think
If the application specifies an order, follow it literally. A requirement saying "attach, in the order indicated, the police certificate and then the professional degree" is describing how the person reading it will work through it. Changing the order forces them to hunt, and hunting produces questions.
If no order is given, this one works nearly always:
- The official form, if there is one
- Identification: passport, national ID
- The main documents supporting the application
- Supporting annexes: letters, certificates, financial evidence
In other words, most mandatory to most incidental. The reviewer finds what they are looking for in the first pages.
Keep together what belongs together
An apostilled degree is not one sheet: it is usually the apostille, the original document and the sworn translation. Those three travel as a block. Separating them inside the merged file, even with all of them present, makes it look like something is missing.
The same applies to both sides of an identity document, or a contract and its signed annexes. If they would be stapled on paper, they go consecutively in the PDF.
How to merge here
- Load all the files at once. The load order is the final order.
- Review the list and remove anything that should not be there.
- Open Check pages on anything you suspect is sideways and straighten it.
- Press Download as one merged PDF.
You can mix PDFs and photos in the same merged file. JPG, PNG and HEIC images become A4 pages before merging, so the final document is uniform and printable.
The problem that appears after merging
Combining ten documents gives you a file weighing what all ten weighed. If each was two megabytes, the result is twenty, and that is where portal limits break.
Which is why you set the limit before merging, not after. The counter at the top shows the running total while you work, so by the time you press download you already know it fits. Merging first and compressing afterwards forces you to compress one enormous file in a single pass, and that is the route that wrecks scans.
When not to merge
If the application wants one file per document, with specific names, do not merge anything. This is more common than it sounds, especially in portals that assign each attachment to a particular slot in the case file. Uploading a merged file into the passport slot makes the system record the wrong document.
And if nothing says otherwise and the portal accepts unlimited attachments, you do not need to merge either. Separate, well-named files are easier to correct later: if one comes back, you replace that one rather than the whole package.
Common questions
Can I mix PDFs and photos in the same merged document?
Yes. JPG, PNG and HEIC images are converted into A4 pages before merging, so the final file is uniform.
What order do the documents end up in?
The order you loaded them in. To change it, remove them and load them again in the right sequence.
What if the merged file is too heavy for the portal?
Set the portal limit before merging. The counter shows the total while you work, so the final file already fits.
Are my documents uploaded anywhere to merge them?
No. Merging happens inside your browser, same as compression.