The hard part is not the application. It is choosing an institution and a programme that still leave you with a right to work when you graduate, because four ordinary-looking decisions quietly settle that before you ever file a form. This page is about getting those four right.
A designated learning institution is one a province has approved to host international students. It is the minimum, not the goal. Separately, each programme carries a flag saying whether it leads to a post-graduation work permit, and that flag sits at programme level.
The trap is the public-private partnership. A private college teaching a public institution’s curriculum is excluded from the work permit unless the programme started on or before 15 May 2024 within the same province, or 31 January 2023 across provinces.
Two other risks are worth knowing. A school can lose its designation, and applications naming it are then refused with no refund. A school can also be suspended for non-compliance, in which case new applications are returned and fees refunded.
Since 1 November 2024 the credential you finish with decides whether a second test applies. A bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree is exempt from the field of study list whatever the subject.
Everything else is tested: college diplomas and certificates, and university certificates that are not degrees. The programme’s six digit CIP code must sit on IRCC’s eligible list, which has 1,107 codes and is frozen for all of 2026.
The quiet catch is that the exemption is about the credential, not the institution. A non-degree certificate from a university carries the field of study test and the higher CLB 7 language band, which is the worst combination available.
Eight months is the floor. Below that there is no post-graduation work permit at all. In Quebec the equivalent measure is 900 hours.
Between 8 months and 2 years, the work permit generally matches the length of the programme. At 2 years or more you reach the maximum of 3 years.
One exception is worth planning around. Since 15 February 2024 a master’s degree of at least 8 months attracts a full three year permit even though it ran under two years. A one year master’s can therefore buy more working time than a two year diploma.
For study permits applied for from 1 September 2024, at least half the programme must be completed in class in Canada. Cross that line and there is no work permit.
Even below the line, time spent studying from outside Canada is deducted from the length of the permit, and online study from abroad after 31 August 2024 never counts at all.
Note the distinction people miss. The fifty per cent rule is a work permit rule, not a study permit rule. A heavily online programme can be perfectly legal to study and still leave you with nothing to work on afterwards.
Canada took in 61% fewer new international students in 2025 than in 2024, and the number of study permit holders in the country fell from about 928,000 to 691,000. That is the context for every decision on this page. The programme still matters, but so does applying into a system that is deliberately smaller.
These amounts are for living costs only. Tuition and travel are assessed on top, and the figures apply to applications submitted from 1 September 2026 outside Quebec.
| Just you | $23,448 |
|---|---|
| Two people | $29,192 |
| Three people | $35,888 |
| Four people | $43,572 |
| Five people | $49,419 |
| Six people | $55,736 |
| Seven people | $62,054 |
| Each additional person | $6,318 |
IRCC raises this every 1 September in line with the low income cut-off, so the next change is due 1 September 2027. Quebec runs its own scale on a 1 January cycle, starting at $24,617 for one person.
Annual averages for international students, 2025 to 2026, at public degree-granting institutions.
| Undergraduate, national average | $41,746 |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate, Ontario | $49,802 |
| Undergraduate, Newfoundland and Labrador | $18,867 |
| Graduate, national average | $24,028 |
| Graduate, Ontario | $28,624 |
| Graduate, Newfoundland and Labrador | $6,964 |
Statistics Canada, in constant June 2025 dollars. Note two things: a master’s degree is often cheaper than an undergraduate degree, and the survey covers universities and degree-granting colleges only. There is no national figure for college diploma tuition, so ask the institution in writing.
You may work while you study, and the rules are more generous than most applicants realise. What you must not do is treat that income as part of your funding plan. IRCC requires you to show you can pay without working in Canada, and an application that says otherwise argues against itself.
Until this year, a required co-op or internship needed its own work permit. From 1 April 2026 post-secondary students no longer need one. Your study permit carries the work condition instead, provided the placement is a requirement of the programme, you have a letter from the institution confirming that, and the placement is half the programme or less.
Two details. Secondary school students still need a co-op work permit, and it is free. And if you already hold one, it stays valid for its full term, so there is nothing to do.
There is also a proposal under consultation that would let students work while waiting on a study permit extension, and graduates work while waiting on a post-graduation work permit. It is not law, it has no implementation date, and nobody should plan around it.
No, and this is the mistake that costs the most. Designated means a province has approved the school to host international students. It says nothing about whether your programme leads to a post-graduation work permit.
That is a separate flag, applied at programme level. A single institution can run one programme that qualifies and another that does not. Before you accept an offer, ask the institution to confirm in writing that the specific programme is PGWP eligible, and get the six digit CIP code while you are at it.
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.
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