Study in Canada

It is an arrangement where a private career college delivers a public institution’s curriculum. The marketing often reads like you are enrolling with the public institution. You are not.

These programmes are excluded from the post-graduation work permit, with two dated exceptions: within the same province, a programme started on or before 15 May 2024 may still qualify, and across provinces the cut-off is 31 January 2023. Anything later does not.

If a recruiter is vague about which institution issues your credential, treat that as the answer.

For applications submitted from 1 September 2026 outside Quebec, a single applicant must show $23,448 for living costs, and that is on top of tuition and travel. Add $29,192 for two people, $35,888 for three, and $6,318 for each person beyond seven.

Quebec sets its own amounts on a January cycle, starting at $24,617 for one person.

The figure rises every 1 September in line with the low income cut-off, so the next change is due 1 September 2027. Applications already in the queue are judged against the amount in force when they were submitted.

No, and saying so will hurt you. IRCC requires proof you can pay without working in Canada. An application that leans on future earnings is arguing against its own financial case.

Refusal data bears this out. In 2025, 59% of study permit applications were refused, and the grounds most often cited were that the officer was not satisfied the applicant would leave at the end of their studies, followed closely by personal assets and financial status. Refusals citing insufficient funds for living expenses rose 12 points in a single year.

Work while you study by all means, up to 24 hours a week in term. Just do not build the funding plan on it.

Most applicants do. It must be valid on the day you apply, not the day your programme starts, and one from a previous cap year cannot be used.

From 1 January 2026 there is a significant new exemption: master’s and doctoral students in degree-granting programmes at public institutions no longer need one, which also takes them outside the application cap. All three conditions must be met, so a graduate programme at a private institution is not exempt.

You need a new letter if you change schools, change level of study, or restore your status. The exception is moving from a post-secondary programme to a graduate degree at a public institution.

IRCC does not impose a language test requirement for a study permit. Your institution sets its own admission standard, commonly IELTS Academic, TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, the Duolingo English Test or CAEL, and French institutions use TEF, TCF or DELF-DALF.

The test that catches people out comes later. A post-graduation work permit needs CLB 7 for degree holders and any other university programme, or CLB 5 for college and other non-university programmes, in all four abilities. It must be IELTS General Training or PTE Core, not the Academic versions you used for admission, and results must be under two years old.

The Student Direct Stream, which had its own language and GIC requirements, ended on 8 November 2024. Everyone is now processed as a regular applicant.

Not freely, and this changed on 8 November 2024. Post-secondary study permits now name your institution, and you must apply for a new permit to move. You need a new letter of acceptance, a letter of explanation and, since 22 January 2025, a new attestation letter.

As a rule you must have the new permit in hand before you start at the new school. The narrow exception applies where your previous institution closed, discontinued your programme, was suspended or lost designation.

IRCC now advertises a 60 day processing standard for these extensions if you flag that you are changing institution. Moving without telling IRCC is the worst option: your old school reports you as not enrolled and the permit can be cancelled.

Often, yes, and by more than people expect. Since 15 February 2024 a master’s degree of at least 8 months earns a full three year post-graduation work permit even though the programme ran under two years. A two year college diploma earns three years too, but takes twice as long and carries the field of study test that degrees are exempt from.

Add the attestation letter exemption for graduate study at public institutions from 2026, and the fact that graduate tuition averages $24,028 against $41,746 for an undergraduate degree, and the arithmetic often favours the master’s.

It will not suit everyone. Admission is harder and the academic demand is real. But it deserves a proper look before you default to a diploma.

The post-graduation work permit is the bridge. It gives you open work authorisation for up to three years, and what you do with it decides whether you stay.

Twelve months of skilled Canadian work in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 opens the Canadian Experience Class. Work in TEER 4 or 5 builds no immigration capital at all, however long you do it, so the job you take in your first months matters more than most graduates realise.

Our post-graduation work permit page covers the eligibility tests in full, including a checker.

Not always, and we will tell you when you do not. If you are heading to a public university for a degree, the four choices on this page are straightforward and you can verify them yourself.

Where advice pays for itself: any private or partnership institution, any non-degree credential where the CIP code is arguable, a heavily online programme, a change of school mid-study, or a funding picture that is unusual in any way. Those are the files where an hour of advice is cheaper than a year of the wrong programme.

Mary Ogenyi-Igoche is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, RCIC R731653. Every engagement starts with a written retainer and a fixed fee.