Most foreign nationals need a study permit to study in Canada. A study permit is different from a visitor visa or electronic travel authorization (eTA), and many applicants also need one of those travel documents depending on their citizenship.
If you are planning to study in Canada, your study permit application is more than an admission letter. You may need to show that your program makes sense, that you have financial support, that you understand your responsibilities as a student, and that your application is complete.
This service is for students who want a stronger, better-organized application before submitting to IRCC.
Most foreign nationals need a study permit to study in Canada. A study permit is different from a visitor visa or electronic travel authorization (eTA), and many applicants also need one of those travel documents depending on their citizenship.
As an international student with a valid study permit, you can work up to 24 hours per week off-campus during regular academic sessions and full-time during scheduled breaks (winter, spring/summer). You may also work on-campus without a work permit.
A study permit application should clearly explain why you want to study in Canada, why the program makes sense for your goals, and how you plan to support yourself during your studies. RA Migration helps students prepare organized applications that connect education, finances, background, and future plans in a clear way.
We understand that study permit refusals can happen when the application is incomplete, unclear, or not supported with enough evidence. Our team helps review your documents, identify possible weaknesses, and prepare your file carefully before submission.
If studying in Canada is an important step for your future, RA Migration can help you prepare your application with clarity and attention to detail.
A PAL, or TAL in territories, is a letter from the province or territory confirming your place within its allocation under the federal study permit cap. Most new study permit applicants must include one.
Exemptions exist, and they change. Certain graduate-level applicants, some in-Canada extension applicants and a few other categories have been exempt at various points. Because both the cap and the exemption list are adjusted periodically, confirm your own category against current IRCC guidance rather than relying on what applied to someone who applied last year.
You must show tuition for the first year plus living costs for yourself and any accompanying family members, and the living-cost threshold is set by IRCC and updated regularly.
The figure was raised substantially in recent years and is reviewed annually, so check the current amount rather than an older one. Equally important is the nature of the funds: officers look for money that is genuinely available to you and reasonably explained. A large deposit that appears shortly before filing, with no explanation of its source, tends to raise questions rather than settle them.
Eligible full-time students at designated learning institutions can generally work on campus, and off campus within an hourly limit during study terms, with full-time hours permitted during scheduled breaks.
The off-campus hourly cap has been changed more than once, so confirm the current limit before relying on a number. Your study permit must carry the condition authorizing off-campus work, and you must remain enrolled full time and be actively studying. Exceeding the limit is a breach of your conditions with consequences well beyond the extra hours.
The most common grounds are unconvincing financial evidence, a study plan that does not appear to make sense for the applicant, and doubt that the applicant will leave Canada at the end of their studies.
The study plan is where applications are most often won or lost. An officer is asking why this program, at this school, at this stage of your career, and why it makes sense given what you have already studied or done. A program that looks like a step backwards, or that has no obvious connection to your history, needs that connection explained rather than left for the officer to infer.
Family members can apply to accompany you, but the work and study rights that come with that have narrowed.
Spousal open work permit eligibility now depends on your program of study rather than on your student status generally, and many students’ spouses are no longer eligible. Accompanying children may attend school. Because your funds requirement rises with each family member included, plan the financial evidence around the full group from the start.
Not always. Programs of six months or less that you will complete within your authorized stay generally do not require a study permit.
There is a practical reason to get one anyway. Without a study permit you cannot work on or off campus, and you cannot extend your studies from inside Canada if you decide to continue. If the short program might lead to a longer one, applying for the permit up front avoids leaving and re-applying later.
RA Migration serves clients across Ontario and Quebec, online and in person from our Burlington office, with Arabic-speaking service.
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