Study Permit Canada 2026: Complete Guide
Study Permit Canada 2026 is not the same application it was in 2024. IRCC made five significant rule changes in under 18 months — PAL requirements, two-stage approval for some institutions, tighter intent-to-leave scrutiny, and updated proof-of-funds thresholds. The core is still a Letter of Acceptance plus funds plus biometrics, but the surrounding requirements shifted enough that older guides create real refusal risk. This page covers the full 2026 picture, from eligibility to landing at the airport.
What is a Canadian study permit
What is a study permit?
A study permit is the IRCC document that authorizes a foreign national to study at a DLI in Canada. It is the permission to study. It is not the permission to enter the country, and it is not a visa.
You receive a letter of introduction once IRCC approves you. You present that letter at the port of entry, and a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer issues the actual study permit on arrival. The permit carries the conditions of your stay printed on the document itself. Most applicants also need a separate entry document, a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) or an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), depending on nationality. The study permit never lets you cross the border on its own.
Study permit vs study visa vs TRV vs eTA
Four documents get conflated in day-one conversations: the study permit, the TRV, the eTA, and the colloquial "student visa." They are not interchangeable, and IRCC does not officially use "student visa" at all.
A study permit is what lets you enrol at a DLI and remain in Canada as a student. A TRV is a counterfoil placed in your passport that lets you board a flight or cross a land border; citizens of visa-required countries need one in addition to the study permit. An eTA is an electronically linked authorization for citizens of visa-exempt countries, usually issued automatically with a study permit approval. The "student visa" you read about on non-IRCC sites is shorthand for the study permit plus whichever entry document you need. When you see "student visa," mentally substitute "study permit plus TRV or eTA," because the two live in separate IRCC systems and are decided separately.
Who needs a study permit, and who does not
Do you need a study permit?
You need a study permit if you are a foreign national and your course of study in Canada runs longer than six months. Programs of six months or less generally do not require one. A handful of narrow exemptions and edge cases sit around that line.
The six-month rule has a planning trap inside it. If your program will finish within the six months of your authorized visit and you intend to leave at the end, you can study on a TRV or eTA alone. The risk is the program that might extend. If you arrive on a visitor status to take a short course and then decide to continue, you generally cannot convert to a study permit from inside Canada, so a short-course visitor who later enrols in a full program often has to leave and re-apply from abroad. The strategic move, when there is any chance your studies will run past six months, is to apply for the permit before you arrive. Applying early costs a fee; converting later can cost a semester.
Minor children, researchers, and other exemptions
Minor children of a parent who is a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or holder of a work or study permit do not need their own study permit for kindergarten through grade 12. The custodianship and K-12 rules for children studying in Canada are their own topic, covered in the study permit for minor children guide. Visiting researchers at certain federal institutions and a few other categories may study without a permit under specific conditions. The exemptions are narrow, and I do not recommend relying on one without confirmation from IRCC or an RCIC. Even when the law lets you skip the permit, a study permit makes you eligible for on-campus work and for post-graduation options later, so it often pays to hold one anyway.
What changed for 2026
What changed for study permits in 2026?
Five policy changes between late 2024 and early 2026 reset how a study permit application is built. If your last reference for this process predates late 2024, every item below touches your file. The eligibility test did not change; the cost, the documents, the stream, and the cap did.
Here are the five, with the dates that govern them:
The Student Direct Stream (SDS) closed on November 8, 2024. The fast-track stream for applicants from fourteen designated countries is gone, and everyone now files under the slower Regular stream.
Master's and PhD students at public DLIs were exempted from the PAL on January 1, 2026. The exemption does not reach private DLIs, undergraduate programs, or college diplomas.
Proof of funds moved to a dynamic Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO) model on January 27, 2026. The dollar figure can now shift while your file is open, rather than holding for a year.
The co-op work permit was removed on April 1, 2026. Students whose programs include a mandatory work placement now do that work on the study permit itself, provided the work is essential to the program.
Prerequisite-course permits are now capped at the prerequisite length plus 90 days. If you are admitted on the condition that you finish ESL or upgrading courses first, your initial permit runs only that long, and you apply for an extension once the main program admits you.
The 2026 cap, in real numbers
The cap is the operational reality behind every 2026 timeline. IRCC's 2026 international student cap sets 309,670 study permit application spaces for applicants who require a PAL or territorial attestation letter, which is the ceiling on how many such applications IRCC will accept for processing this year. IRCC plans to issue up to 408,000 study permits in total, counting 155,000 to newly arriving students and 253,000 extensions, roughly 7% fewer than the 2025 issuance target of 437,000. Of the issuance target, up to 180,000 permits are expected to go to PAL-required applicants, distributed to provinces by population.
What this means for you is timing, not eligibility. Fewer spaces plus a slower Regular stream plus a moving financial target is exactly why a 2026 application takes longer to assemble and submit than one filed in 2024. The applicant who starts late files into a tighter cap.
Are you eligible for a study permit?
The four-part eligibility test
IRCC's eligibility framework has four parts, and all four have to pass. You need an acceptance at a DLI, proof of funds, no inadmissibility on criminal, medical, or security grounds, and a demonstrated intent to leave at the end of your authorized stay. Fail any one, and the file is refused.
Three of those four are documentary, and one is judgment. Acceptance means a Letter of Acceptance from a school on the official DLI list, designated at the time you apply; verify the school's status on the DLI list before you start, not after. Proof of funds means first-year tuition plus the LICO-derived living-expense amount for your family size. Inadmissibility can come from a criminal record, including foreign convictions, a medical result that triggers excessive demand, or a security concern.
The fourth part, intent to leave, is where most refusals are decided. The officer is reading whether you have shown that you will leave Canada at the end of your authorized period. Weak ties to your home country, a vague academic plan, or no clear reason why this program in Canada fits your career all push toward a finding that intent is not satisfied. This is dual-intent territory, and it confuses people: you are allowed to hope to stay in Canada one day, but you must still satisfy the officer that you will leave if your status ends. The study permit refusal reasons and reapply guide breaks the intent finding down in detail, because it is the hardest part of the file to fix after a refusal.
The three documents every applicant needs
What documents do you need for a study permit?
Every study permit application starts from three documents: a Letter of Acceptance, a Provincial Attestation Letter or Quebec CAQ where required, and proof of funds. Without all three, where they apply, the file is incomplete, and IRCC returns or refuses it.
Letter of Acceptance (LOA)
Your LOA is the formal admission letter from your DLI. It must carry the school name and DLI number, your full legal name, the program name, the start and end dates, and the tuition for at least the first year. A conditional offer is accepted, but the conditions have to be stated clearly. The single most common LOA defect I see is a DLI number on the letter that does not match the institution's number on the official list, often because the student copied an old letter or a campus used the wrong code. An officer cross-checks that number against the IRCC list, so a mismatch reads as a document problem before anyone assesses your funds.
Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) or Quebec CAQ
If your DLI is outside Quebec and you are not in the exempt master's, PhD, or public-DLI category, you need a PAL issued by the province where the DLI sits. If your DLI is in Quebec, you need a Certificat d'acceptation du Québec (CAQ) from the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration (MIFI). What this means is the PAL is a federal-cap allocation letter, while the CAQ is Quebec's own selection authority under the Canada-Quebec Accord. They are functionally similar and legally distinct. A 2026 detail worth knowing: a joint program offered by more than one DLI needs only one PAL, not one per institution. The full provincial breakdown, including who is exempt and how to request the letter, sits in the Provincial Attestation Letter guide.
Proof of funds
Proof of funds means showing first-year tuition plus the LICO-derived living-expense amount for your family size, in money that is genuinely yours, liquid, and transferable to Canada. Acceptable forms include a Canadian-bank Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC), a Canadian bank account in your name, a student or education loan, scholarship or school-funding letters, and a sponsor letter backed by bank statements. The mechanics, the GIC banks, and the sponsor-letter rules live in the proof of funds for a study permit guide.
Proof of funds in 2026: what IRCC now expects
How much money do you need for a study permit in 2026?
The proof-of-funds figure for a single applicant outside Quebec is now set by a dynamic LICO model rather than a fixed annual number, as of January 27, 2026. The baseline that took effect on September 1, 2025 was $22,895 for a single applicant, a roughly 75% jump from the old $10,000 floor, and that figure is now a moving target tied to Statistics Canada's LICO updates.
The strategic point is not the dollar amount; it is that the amount can move while your file is open, and Quebec runs a separate, higher table of its own. Confirm the current figure on the IRCC financial-support page on the day you start your application, not the day you began your research. Here is the part competitors leave out: a "sufficient" balance is not enough on its own. Officers read proof-of-funds documents for liquidity and source. Fixed-term deposits with no early-withdrawal terms, third-party money with no sponsor letter, and a large balance that appeared in your account the week before you applied are all flagged. Trust me, I have watched otherwise-strong files refused because the money was real but could not pass the liquidity-and-source test. The proof of funds for a study permit guide covers document mechanics, the participating GIC banks, and sponsor-letter templates.
How to apply for a study permit, step by step
What is the study permit application process?
Applications from outside Canada are filed online through your IRCC Secure Account using form IMM 1294E. Paper applications survive only for narrow accessibility exceptions. The online channel is the standard route, and the steps below are the 2026 sequence.
Confirm your three core documents. Gather your LOA, your PAL or CAQ if required, and your proof-of-funds documents. Add your passport, two photos meeting IRCC's photo specifications, and any country-specific documents your visa office requires.
Create or sign in to your IRCC Secure Account. At canada.ca, set up the account with a Sign-In Partner (a Canadian bank login) or a GCKey username and password. This is what you use to file, pay, and receive messages from the visa office.
Complete IMM 1294E. This is the Application for a Study Permit Made Outside of Canada. It asks for your personal information, DLI and program details, funds, travel history, and study plan. Save often, and verify every field, because a typo in your name or passport number causes processing delays.
Pay the fees. The study permit fee is $150 and biometrics is $85. If you must give biometrics at a Visa Application Centre (VAC) abroad, you also pay a country-specific VAC service fee. Pay online through your account at submission.
Submit your application online. Attach every supporting document, the LOA, the PAL or CAQ, proof of funds, the passport biographical page, photos, a study plan if requested, and custodianship documents for minors, then pay and submit. You receive an Acknowledgement of Receipt with your application number.
Give biometrics within 30 days. Most applicants aged 14 to 79 give biometrics once every 10 years. IRCC issues a Biometrics Instruction Letter after you submit, and you have 30 days to attend a VAC, an Application Support Centre, or a port of entry. Prior biometrics within 10 years are reused.
Complete a medical exam if required. A medical exam is required if your stay exceeds six months, if you lived in or visited certain designated countries for more than six months in the past year, or if your program leads to work in healthcare, education, or childcare. A result is valid for 12 months, and you must use a panel physician on IRCC's approved list.
Wait for the decision. Your IRCC Secure Account portal displays a sequence of status labels as the file moves through review. On approval, you receive the letter of introduction to present at the border.
What replaced the Student Direct Stream?
Nothing replaced SDS; it closed on November 8, 2024, and every applicant now files under the Regular stream regardless of country. SDS used to give applicants from fourteen designated countries faster processing, often four to six weeks, in exchange for paying the full proof-of-funds amount upfront through a GIC and submitting upfront medical and language results.
If you would have used SDS, you now file IMM 1294E with the standard document set. The Regular stream does not demand the upfront GIC or the prepaid tuition receipt, but both remain among the strongest single signals you can put in a file, so many well-prepared applicants still include them by choice. Regular processing is, on average, slower than SDS was, and it varies sharply by country. The only reliable estimate for your situation is IRCC's processing-times tool for your visa office, checked on the day you submit.
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Fees, biometrics, and processing time
What does a study permit cost in 2026?
The federal government cost for a single applicant is roughly $235: $150 for the study permit application and $85 for biometrics, paid online through your IRCC Secure Account. VAC service fees are separate and vary by country. The $150 application fee is not refunded if you are refused. The $85 biometrics fee covers fingerprints and a photo that stay valid for 10 years, so a prior collection within that window is reused, though the fee may still apply depending on the application type.
The government cost is the small part of the picture. Public reviews of Canadian immigration consulting firms routinely flag service fees of $9,000, $12,000, or more stacked on top of the government's $235. Mirzoyan Immigration uses a transparent flat-fee model published at the consultation, so the fee you see is the fee you pay. The contrast matters because the predatory end of this market preys on exactly the applicants a study permit refusal hits hardest.
Why this guide does not quote a single processing time
A single average for "study permit processing time" is misleading, because the real number depends on the visa office assigned to your file, that office's current volume, the completeness of your file, whether biometrics and medical are done, and whether your file is pulled for extra review. The same submission filed from two countries can produce very different timelines. The only number worth acting on is the one IRCC's processing-times tool returns for your visa office on your submission day, not a forum thread's average.
A wait longer than the tool's estimate usually means one of three things: your file is in extra eligibility or background review, biometrics or medical were not completed in time, or the office is handling higher-than-normal volume. The IRCC webform is appropriate only once your file passes 30 days beyond the tool's published estimate with no portal status change. A webform filed before that adds no information and slows the queue.
Can you apply from inside Canada?
The four inland eligibility lanes
You can apply for a study permit from inside Canada only if you fall into one of four specific lanes; otherwise you apply from outside Canada. The most common misconception is that a visitor can convert to a study permit while in Canada. Generally, you cannot.
The four lanes are narrow and worth stating plainly. One: you currently hold a valid Canadian work or study permit, the usual case being a study permit holder switching DLIs or extending. Two: you are the spouse, common-law partner, or dependent child of a current work or study permit holder. Three: you were admitted to a DLI on the condition that you complete prerequisite courses, and you finished those prerequisites in Canada on a study permit; remember the 2026 rule that your initial prerequisite permit runs only the prerequisite length plus 90 days. Four: you are a minor child completing an authorized stay who now needs a permit for the next stage of school. Outside these lanes, a visitor or eTA holder must apply from abroad and re-enter on the new permit. The pandemic-era pilot that briefly allowed visitor-to-student conversions ended on March 31, 2025.
The Internal Logic of an IRCC Officer
When an officer opens a study permit file, they are not asking "is this a good student?" They are testing a narrower question under section 216 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations: has this applicant shown they meet the requirements and that they will leave Canada at the end of the authorized stay? Everything in the file is read against that, and the officer's first moves are predictable once you know them.
The officer reads for a coherent story before reading for documents. The study plan, the program choice, the applicant's age and prior education, the funds, and the home-country ties are weighed together, not in isolation. A 32-year-old with a master's degree applying for a second-year undergraduate diploma in an unrelated field draws scrutiny, not because any single document is wrong, but because the choice does not cohere. Here is the strategic twist most applicants miss: the officer is not looking for the strongest academic profile, they are looking for a logical one. A modest applicant with a clear, well-explained reason for studying this program in Canada often clears the bar that a stronger-on-paper applicant with a vague plan does not.
The officer also reads proof of funds for source and movement, not just for a number that clears the threshold. A balance that meets the figure but materialized last week, or sits in an instrument that cannot be moved to Canada, or belongs to someone who has not signed a sponsor letter, reads as a number arranged for the application rather than money that supports a life. The actionable fix is to assemble funds early and document their history, so the account shows seasoning rather than a sudden deposit. Where a file carries any of these risks, this is exactly the point a study permit consultant earns the fee, by stress-testing the story and the funds before an officer does.
Red Flags & Procedural Fairness Letters (PFL)
A Procedural Fairness Letter is IRCC's formal notice that the officer has a concern serious enough to refuse the file, paired with a defined window, usually 30 days, to respond before the decision lands. A PFL is not a refusal. It is a last chance to fix something, and the quality of the response often decides the file. Three triggers fire most of the study permit PFLs I see.
Proof-of-funds that fail the source-and-liquidity test. The most common trigger is not "too little money," it is money the officer cannot trust. A lump-sum deposit with no transaction history behind it, third-party funds with no sponsor letter and no relationship evidence, or funds locked in a non-transferable instrument all draw a PFL questioning whether the funds are genuinely available. The failure pattern is rarely fraud; it is an applicant who gathered just enough cash just in time and could not show where it came from. The fix is seasoning and a paper trail, assembled months before filing.
A study plan that does not connect program, history, and intent to leave. When the study plan reads like a template, lists no clear link between the program and the applicant's career, or gives no concrete reason to return home, the officer fires a PFL on dual intent or refuses on intent to leave outright. This is the hardest trigger to answer after the fact, because it is a judgment about credibility, not a missing document. The defensible study plan names the specific program, the specific reason it is in Canada and not at home, and the specific home-country ties the applicant will return to.
A DLI or PAL mismatch at intake. A Letter of Acceptance whose DLI number does not match the official list, a PAL from the wrong province, a PAL submitted by an applicant who is actually in the exempt graduate category, or an expired or wrong-cap-year attestation letter all stall the file at intake before the substantive review even starts. Officers check the DLI number character by character and the PAL against the cap year of submission. Submitting an old letter, or the wrong attestation entirely, is a common and entirely avoidable trigger. When a refusal has already happened, the recourse and the GCMS-notes route sit in the study permit refusal reasons and reapply guide.
Strategic Trade-off Matrix: study permit options
A study permit file is not one decision; it is several. Apply now or wait for the next intake. File from outside Canada or, if you qualify, from inside. Use a Canadian-bank GIC as your proof of funds or document a regular bank balance and sponsor funds. Each choice carries its own risk, appeal exposure, financial timing, and processing trajectory. The table below lays the main options side by side so you can read them against your own facts rather than against whichever path sounds easiest. None of these is a "better" option in the abstract; the right one depends on your status, your country, and your timeline.
If your file carries genuineness or funds risk, the route choices above interact, and the wrong combination is what turns a borderline file into a refused one. The study permit refusal reasons and reapply guide walks the recourse side in full, and a consultation is the fastest way to map these options onto your facts.
| Option | Strategic risk | Appeal / recourse rights | Financial timeline | Processing trajectory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apply from outside Canada (IMM 1294E) | Standard route, open to everyone. Country-specific visa office determines scrutiny and timeline. | No appeal right. A refusal is met by GCMS notes plus a reapplication, or judicial review at the Federal Court on legal error only. | $150 + $85 = $235 federal, plus a country VAC fee. Proof of funds must be in place at filing. | Regular stream since SDS closed. Varies sharply by country; check the IRCC tool on filing day. |
| Apply from inside Canada (Guide 5552) | Only four narrow lanes qualify. Status running out mid-file is the classic trap; a visitor generally cannot use this route. | No appeal right. Same GCMS-notes-plus-reapplication or Federal Court route as outside-Canada files. | Same $235 federal cost. Maintained status during processing can let you keep studying or working if already authorized. | Processed in the single Canadian intake queue. Convenient when eligible, not automatically faster. |
| GIC as proof of funds | Lowest funds-scrutiny risk. A Canadian-bank GIC is the cleanest single source an officer can verify. | Not a recourse question. Reduces the chance of a funds-based PFL in the first place. | Full amount locked in a Canadian GIC before filing, released to you in instalments after arrival. | Strong signal that can shorten back-and-forth; favoured by well-prepared Regular-stream files. |
| Bank balance plus sponsor funds | Higher funds-scrutiny risk. Source, seasoning, and a signed sponsor letter all have to hold up. | Not a recourse question. A weak paper trail here is a leading cause of a funds-based PFL. | No locked GIC, but months of statement history and sponsor documentation are needed up front. | Workable when documented early; a sudden deposit or unsigned sponsor funds invites delay. |
| Apply now vs wait for next intake | The 2026 cap is finite. Waiting risks the application-space ceiling closing for your province and level. | Not a recourse question. Timing affects access, not appeal rights. | Same fees either way. A later filing may face a different LICO figure as the dynamic model updates. | Earlier filing sits in a less-constrained cap; late filing competes for fewer remaining spaces. |
What each IRCC portal status means
Reading your IRCC Secure Account status labels
Your IRCC Secure Account portal shows a sequence of status labels as the file moves through processing, and the labels are not all self-explanatory, which is why applicants paste them verbatim into forums asking what they mean. Here is what each one signals.
"Application received" means your file is in the queue for assignment, with no action needed on your part. "Eligibility review: under review" means an officer has started assessing you against the four-part framework; no action unless IRCC sends a PFL. "Background check: processing" means security and criminality checks are running against your information, often in parallel with eligibility, and these can clear quickly or stretch for weeks depending on the country. "Final decision: in progress" means eligibility and background are complete and the file is moving to a yes or no, often for less than a day. "Decision made" means a decision has issued: an approval with a letter of introduction, or a refusal with a summarized reason, after which you can request GCMS notes to read the officer's full reasoning. Use the webform only once you are more than 30 days past the processing-times tool's estimate with no status change.
What happens at the port of entry
Getting your permit at the border
Your study permit is issued by a CBSA officer at the port of entry, not before. The document IRCC sent after approval is a letter of introduction, not the permit itself. It carries your case number, the visa-office details, and the notation that you were approved, and you present it on arrival.
CBSA may send you to secondary inspection, a more detailed review of your documents and purpose of travel. Carry your LOA, your PAL or CAQ if applicable, your proof of funds, and your letter of introduction in your hand luggage, never in checked baggage. I have seen students delayed at Toronto Pearson because their LOA sat in a suitcase that had not reached the carousel. After inspection, the officer prints your study permit and hands it to you, listing the DLI you may study at, your program end date, and your work authorization. Read it immediately. If anything is wrong, the wrong DLI, the wrong work-authorization box, flag it with the officer before you leave the inspection area, because correcting an error after departure is far harder than correcting it at the desk.
Conditions on your study permit
What rules come with the permit?
Your study permit carries conditions printed on the document, and you must comply with all of them throughout your stay. A non-compliance finding can lead to a removal order, a refusal of future applications, or loss of post-graduation eligibility.
The core conditions are enrolment and progress. You must be actively enrolled at the DLI named on your permit and registered for the current term in good standing; an unauthorized leave, dropping below part-time without telling your DLI, or stopping studies is a breach. You must make satisfactory academic progress; repeated failures or withdrawals can trigger DLI reporting to IRCC. Work authorization is printed on the permit: most full-time students may work off-campus up to a set weekly cap during sessions and full-time during scheduled breaks, with on-campus work generally unlimited, and the current numbers, the post-April-2026 rules, and the on-campus and off-campus distinctions sit in the international student work hours guide. If you change schools, you update IRCC through the Designated Learning Institution Student Transfer process, and a move to a different study level may require a new permit and a new PAL; the change school or program on a study permit guide walks the transfer and when a fresh application is triggered.
After approval: your roadmap
What comes after the permit is issued?
Approval is the beginning, not the end. The questions you face next, extending, working, graduating, moving toward PR, each have their own guide, and this section is the routing index so you land on the right one.
If your program runs past the date on your permit, apply for a study permit extension at least 30 days before expiry; that guide covers maintained status and the inland process. When you graduate, a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) is the bridge from studying to skilled Canadian work, and from there to permanent residence. Most PGWP holders qualify for Express Entry's Canadian Experience Class after a year of skilled work, and the streams, the timing, and the bridging options are mapped in the PGWP to PR pathways guide. Plan the sequence early, because the gaps between study permit, PGWP, and PR are where status problems happen, and a gap is far cheaper to prevent than to repair.
What if you are refused?
How common are refusals, and what can you do?
Roughly one in two study permit applicants is refused in the current environment. IRCC's published approval rate fell from about 60% in 2023 to about 48% in 2024, and 2026 has not reversed it. A refusal is not the end. You can answer it with a careful reapplication that responds to the officer's specific concerns, once you know what those concerns were.
The three most common refusal categories are predictable, and they are the same three the officer-logic and PFL sections above describe. Proof-of-funds insufficiency comes first: lump-sum deposits with no history, third-party funds with no sponsor documentation, or money in non-transferable instruments. Intent-to-leave failures are second, and the hardest to fix, because they turn on a credibility judgment and demand a substantive study plan plus demonstrated home-country ties. Study-plan weakness is third: a plan that does not connect the program, the career, and the reason for studying in Canada. You can reapply immediately, but reapplying with the same package produces the same outcome, so the first move is to request your GCMS notes and answer the actual reasoning. The study permit refusal reasons and reapply guide walks GCMS notes, category-specific responses, and when judicial review is the right call instead.
Book a study permit consultation with Mirzoyan Immigration Services
Reach a Licensed Immigration consultant Today
Book a free 15-minute FREE assessment call, or call 1-888-636-2122.
Every consultation is with Narek Mirzoyan, RCIC # R1005184, or Vahe Mirzoyan, RCIC # R514223. Not an intake coordinator.
Key Takeaways
- A Canadian study permit authorizes study at a Designated Learning Institution. It is not a visa, and it is not an entry document; you still need a TRV or eTA to cross the border.
- Three documents drive every application: the Letter of Acceptance, the PAL or Quebec CAQ where required, and proof of funds, which moved to a dynamic LICO model on January 27, 2026.
- Five 2026 changes reset the process: SDS closed, master's and PhD students at public DLIs are PAL-exempt, proof of funds is now dynamic, the co-op work permit was removed, and prerequisite-course permits are shorter. Know which ones touch your file.
- The 2026 cap sets 309,670 study permit application spaces and a 408,000 issuance target, about 7% below the 2025 target of 437,000, so a later filing competes for fewer spaces.
- Mirzoyan Immigration is RCIC-led (Narek Mirzoyan R1005184, Vahe Mirzoyan R514223), uses a transparent flat fee, and reviews funds, study plan, and DLI and PAL details before you submit, so the issues that cause most refusals are caught at the front end.
Frequently Asked Questions
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A study permit is the document IRCC issues that authorizes you to study at a Designated Learning Institution in Canada. "Study visa" is not an IRCC term. What people usually mean is the combination of a study permit plus a TRV or eTA, which are the separate entry documents. The study permit is permission to study. The TRV or eTA is permission to enter.
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You need a study permit if you are a foreign national and your course of study in Canada runs longer than six months. Programs of six months or less generally do not require one. Minor children of Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or work or study permit holders can attend K-12 without their own permit. Visiting researchers and some short courses have narrow exemptions.
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The federal fee is $150 for the study permit plus $85 for biometrics, paid online through the IRCC Secure Account. If you give biometrics at a Visa Application Centre abroad, an additional VAC service fee applies that varies by country. The total government cost for a single applicant is roughly $235 plus the country-specific VAC fee. Tuition, proof of funds, and any RCIC service fee are separate.
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You can apply from inside Canada only if you fall into one of four eligibility lanes: you hold a Canadian work or study permit, you are the spouse or dependent of a permit holder, you completed prerequisite courses at a DLI in Canada, or you are a minor child completing an authorized stay. Visitor-visa holders generally cannot convert to a study permit from inside Canada. The pandemic-era pilot ended on March 31, 2025.
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A refusal is not the end. You can request your GCMS notes to read the officer's specific reasoning, address the cited concerns in a careful reapplication, or pursue judicial review in narrow cases. The most common refusal reasons are insufficient proof of funds, an unsatisfied intent to leave at the end of the authorized stay, and a weak study plan. The study permit refusal reasons and reapply guide walks GCMS notes, reapplication strategy, and when judicial review fits.