FIDERA LAW
Canadian immigration law

Study in Canada

Study in Canada

Choosing the program is the immigration decision.

The post graduation work permit no longer follows automatically from graduating. It carries a language requirement, and for college and other non degree programs a field of study requirement, and both are tested at the end when nothing can be changed. Everything else on this route is manageable. That one is not.

The four things What changed How we can help

Where this route stands

Studying in Canada is still one of the most reliable routes to permanent residence, and it is also the route the government has changed most aggressively. Every year since 2024 has brought a restriction, and two of them decide whether the degree you are about to pay for leads anywhere at all.

In force since 1 November 2024 · verified 19 August 2026

Check the work permit rules before you choose the program

The post graduation work permit used to follow almost automatically from graduating at an eligible institution. It now carries a language requirement, and for college and other non degree programs a field of study requirement tied to a published list of codes.

Both are tested at the end, when you apply for the permit, and neither can be fixed then. A student who enrols in a program whose field is not on the list, or who cannot reach the language level, completes the credential and then discovers there is no work permit behind it. Choosing the program is therefore the immigration decision, not an educational one, and it is the point at which advice is worth most.

  • The cap is two separate numbers. Up to 408,000 permits issued in 2026 across new arrivals and extensions, and only 309,670 applications accepted into processing from students who need an attestation letter. Ontario's intake share is 104,780 against an issuance target of 70,074.
  • The money moved twice. From $10,000 to $20,635 on 1 January 2024, and to $22,895 on 1 September 2025 for a single applicant. It is indexed annually and excludes tuition and travel.
  • Master's and doctoral students at a public institution need no attestation letter in 2026. That flipped twice in two years, so it is worth stating with its date rather than as a general rule.
  • You cannot change institution on the same permit. Since 8 November 2024 a new permit must be approved before you start, and since 22 January 2025 that needs a new attestation letter.
  • Working while you study does not build the experience that counts for permanent residence. Experience gained while studying full time, including a co-op placement, is not counted for the Canadian Experience Class. The clock effectively starts on the post graduation work permit.
  • The Student Direct Stream is gone. Closed on 8 November 2024, along with Nigeria Student Express. Any page still advertising twenty day processing through it is describing something that no longer exists.
  • Check the institution and the program on the official list before you pay a deposit. the government's list of designated learning institutions tells you whether a school is designated at all, whether the specific program is eligible for a post graduation work permit, and which graduate programs need no attestation letter. All three are properties of the program rather than of the school's reputation, and none of them can be inferred from a glossy prospectus.
  • The post graduation work permit is available once in a lifetime. Not once per credential. If you have already held one after finishing an earlier program, a second study program will not produce another, however long or advanced it is. Anyone planning to study again should decide what the plan is for before enrolling, because the work permit will not be there at the end of it.

Everything that changed, with dates

What changed on this route since 2024, newest first, verified 19 August 2026
In forceChangeStill current
1 April 2026The co-op work permit was abolished for post secondary students. A required work placement no longer needs its own permit, and pending applications were withdrawn by the departmentYes
1 January 2026Master's and doctoral students at a public institution became exempt from the attestation letter again, having been brought inside the requirement a year earlierYes
1 January 2026The eligible fields of study for the post graduation work permit were frozen for the calendar year, so no field is added or removed during 2026Yes
1 September 2025The proof of funds figure rose to $22,895 for a single applicantYes
4 July 2025The 178 fields of study removed from the eligible list nine days earlier were put backYes
22 January 2025A new attestation letter became required when changing school, and in most cases when changing level of studyYes
21 January 2025Spousal open work permits were restricted to the spouses of master's students on programs of sixteen months or longer, doctoral students, and a listed set of professional degrees and pilotsYes
15 November 2024Off campus work during academic sessions moved from twenty hours a week to twenty fourYes
8 November 2024Changing institution on the same study permit ended. A new permit must be approved firstYes
8 November 2024The Student Direct Stream and Nigeria Student Express closedClosed
1 November 2024The post graduation work permit acquired a language requirement, and a field of study requirement for non degree programsYes
1 September 2024Online study from outside Canada stopped counting neutrally. At least half the program must be completed in class in Canada, and offshore study time is deducted from the permit lengthYes
15 February 2024Master's graduates became eligible for a three year permit whatever the program lengthYes
22 January 2024The national intake cap and the attestation letter requirement beganYes
1 January 2024The proof of funds figure rose from $10,000, where it had sat since the early 2000s, to $20,635Superseded

Anything written about studying in Canada before 2024 describes a different system. The figure most often still quoted wrongly is $10,000 for proof of funds, which has been wrong since the start of 2024.

The four things to get right

The permit

The study permit itself

Eligibility, the conditions you live under once you hold it, changing schools, work hours, and what a refusal leaves you with.

See requirements → The money

Proving you can pay

The current figures by family size, what they exclude, what evidence is accepted, and a calculator.

See requirements →
The letter

Attestation letters

Who needs one in 2026, who is exempt, why a refusal uses it up, and why one from last year is worthless.

See requirements → The point of it

After you graduate

The field of study and language requirements, how long a permit you get, and how the experience turns into permanent residence.

See requirements →

What we look at before a study plan is committed to

Whether the program you have chosen leads anywhere, because a credential that fails the post graduation work permit rules is a very expensive way to spend two years. Whether the money will satisfy an officer. And whether the plan survives the changes this route has seen every year since 2024.

01 / Start here

Strategy consultation

A paid session that tests your record against this route and the alternatives, checks how your work is classified, and tells you plainly where you actually stand.

02 / Review

Lawyer review, you file

You prepare and submit; we review the classification, the evidence and the documentation before it goes in, and flag what would be questioned.

03 / Representation

Full representation

We build, document and file the matter as your lawyer of record, and carry it through to the federal permanent residence stage.

Every matter begins with the strategy consultation. If you instruct us within six months of that consultation for a lawyer review or for full representation, the consultation fee is credited against that work. One credit per person.

Book a strategy consultation Email us

Frequently asked questions

Is there still a cap on study permits?

Yes, for 2026, and there are three numbers rather than one, which is where the confusion comes from. The department expects to issue 408,000 study permits in total, counting new arrivals and extensions and every cohort. Of those, 180,000 are expected to go to students who need an attestation letter. Against that 180,000 it will accept 309,670 applications into processing. So the figure to compare 309,670 against is 180,000, not 408,000, and the department publishes both in the same table. It accepts far more applications than it expects to approve, because not every application succeeds. Ontario's share of the intake is 104,780 applications against an issuance target of 70,074, which is the same relationship at provincial scale.

Who does not need an attestation letter in 2026?

Master's and doctoral students at a public institution, which changed on 1 January 2026 and is the most useful exemption to know. Also students in preschool, primary or secondary school, exchange students who pay no tuition to the Canadian institution, students at a federally designated military college, certain scholarship holders, and existing permit holders extending at the same institution and the same level of study.

How much money do I have to show?

For applications made on or after 1 September 2025, $22,895 for a single applicant for the first year, on top of tuition and on top of travel to and from Canada. It rises with family size, and it is indexed annually, so it will change again.

Will I be able to work after I graduate?

Not automatically, and this is the biggest change to this route in a decade. The post graduation work permit now has a language requirement, and for college and other non degree programs it also has a field of study requirement tied to a published list of codes. Choosing a program without checking both is the single most expensive mistake available on this route, because it is discovered at graduation when nothing can be done about it.

Can my spouse work while I study?

Only in defined cases since 21 January 2025. Your program has to be a master's of sixteen months or longer, a doctorate, one of a listed set of professional degrees, or one of a small number of named pilot programs. The broad entitlement that existed before that date, where the spouse of almost any full time post secondary student could get an open work permit, is gone.

Can I switch schools once I am here?

Not on the same permit, since 8 November 2024. You must apply for and be approved for a new study permit before you start at the new institution, and since 22 January 2025 that application needs a new attestation letter. There is a narrow exception that lets you start while the application is pending, and all three of its limbs must hold. You must not have left Canada since receiving the new acceptance letter, you must still meet the conditions of your existing permit, and the change must be because your former institution closed, discontinued the program, was suspended or lost its designation. Travelling home over the summer is enough to put you outside it.

Is there an appeal if a study permit is refused?

No. There is no formal appeal from a temporary residence decision. The realistic options are a fresh application where something has genuinely changed, or an application to the Federal Court for leave and judicial review, which tests the decision for legal error rather than rehearing the merits. There is also a practical trap. A refusal uses up your attestation letter, so reapplying needs a new one, from the current year's allocation.

How long does it take?

We do not print a number. Use IRCC's processing times tool. The one published service standard we can source is sixty days for a study permit extension where you are changing to a new post secondary institution.

Where to look next

Read this first

After you graduate

The language and field of study requirements that decide whether a program leads to a work permit, and what remains if that permit is already used.

See requirements → Where it leads

Federal Express Entry

How Canadian work experience becomes permanent residence, and why the experience has to come after graduation rather than during it.

See requirements →