A study permit is refused far more often on money and motive than on grades. The officer has to believe you can pay for the year, that the programme makes sense for you, and that you will leave when it ends. Everything else is paperwork.
Our charges include applicable taxes. Disbursements are extra and billed at cost — itemized upfront, in writing, never hidden.
From $3,388.87 taxes included
Study permits are issued under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and its regulations. Three findings have to go your way: you are accepted at a designated learning institution, you have enough money for tuition and living costs without working, and you are a genuine temporary resident who will leave at the end of your authorised stay.
That last one causes most refusals. Officers weigh your ties at home, your family situation, your travel and immigration history, and whether the programme is a sensible next step given what you have already studied and earned. A 34-year-old with a decade of experience enrolling in a first-year diploma gets read sceptically, and the file has to answer that scepticism head-on.
Dual intent is lawful. Wanting permanent residence later does not make you a bad temporary resident. But you have to say it properly, in a way that shows you understand the permit ends and you have a plan either way. Files that pretend the thought never crossed their mind read as evasive.
For applications made on or after 1 September 2025, a single applicant studying outside Quebec must show $22,895 for living costs for the first year, on top of first-year tuition and travel. Add roughly a fixed amount for a spouse and for each dependent child. IRCC adjusts the living-cost figure every 1 September in line with Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off, so check the number in force on the day you apply.
Proof can be bank statements, a Guaranteed Investment Certificate, an approved education loan, a scholarship or documented support from a sponsor. What matters is the story the statements tell. A balance that appeared six weeks ago from nowhere is worse than a smaller balance held for two years. If a relative is funding you, the file needs their statements, their income, and a signed undertaking — not a one-line letter.
Most applicants also need a provincial or territorial attestation letter from the province where the school sits, obtained through the institution. From 1 January 2026, master's and doctoral students at public designated learning institutions are exempt. Quebec runs its own system and issues a CAQ. Applications filed without a required attestation letter are returned or refused, not held.
A study permit is not a visa. It is the document that lets you study; a temporary resident visa or an eTA is what lets you board the plane. Both are issued together when you are approved, and both have to be valid.
Students in an eligible post-secondary academic, vocational or professional programme may work off campus up to 24 hours a week during a regular academic session, and full time during scheduled breaks, without a separate work permit. Working beyond what your conditions allow is a status problem, not a payroll problem, and it surfaces later when you apply for a post-graduation work permit or permanent residence.
You must remain actively enrolled and making reasonable progress. Designated learning institutions report enrolment to IRCC. Stopping attendance, or dropping to part time without an authorised reason, puts you out of compliance even though nobody sends you a letter about it.
Apply to extend before your current permit expires and you keep studying on maintained status while the extension is processed. Let it expire first and you have a restoration problem with a short window and a fee, plus a gap you will have to explain for years.
Changing institutions is not a notification. Since 8 November 2024, a post-secondary student whose study permit names a designated learning institution must apply for — and be approved for — a new study permit before transferring to a different school. Do not assume a transfer inside Canada is administratively free.
If your application is refused, you generally have three options: reapply with the gap fixed, ask for reconsideration, or apply to the Federal Court for leave and judicial review within 60 days of being notified for a decision made outside Canada. Reapplying is usually faster and cheaper, but only if you know what the officer actually objected to. Our flat fee for this work starts at $3,388.87, taxes included, with government fees billed separately at cost.
For applications on or after 1 September 2025, a single applicant outside Quebec must show $22,895 for first-year living costs, on top of first-year tuition and travel money. A spouse and each dependent child add fixed amounts. IRCC reindexes the living-cost figure every 1 September, so confirm the current number before you file. Quebec sets its own thresholds. Beyond the amount, officers look at how long the money has been there and where it came from — a lump sum that landed last month invites questions the rest of your file then has to answer.
Most study permit applicants do. It comes from the province or territory where your designated learning institution is located, and the school requests it on your behalf — you cannot apply for one directly. As of 1 January 2026, master's and doctoral students at public designated learning institutions no longer need one. Quebec applicants deal with the CAQ instead. If a required attestation letter is missing, the application does not sit in a queue waiting for it; it is returned or refused.
Yes. Dual intent is expressly permitted — you can intend to become a permanent resident and still be a genuine temporary resident. The point is that you must satisfy the officer you will leave if the permit ends and no other status is granted. Denying an obvious intention reads as dishonesty; stating it alongside a concrete plan reads as candour. How you frame it matters more than most applicants realise, which is why it belongs in a lawyer-drafted letter of explanation rather than a template.
Usually reapply, but only after you know the real reason. Since July 2025 IRCC often includes the officer's decision notes with study permit refusal letters; if yours did not, an access-to-information request will get the file notes. If the refusal turned on a fixable gap — thin funds, a weak explanation of your programme choice — a corrected reapplication beats litigation. If the officer misread the evidence or ignored something material, judicial review is the remedy, and the clock is 60 days from notification for a decision made outside Canada.
You breach a condition of your permit. There is no fine and often no immediate consequence, which is exactly the trap — it surfaces when you apply for a post-graduation work permit, an extension, or permanent residence, and it can support a finding of non-compliance under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. If it has already happened, say so and get advice before your next application. Concealing it converts a compliance problem into a misrepresentation problem, which carries a five-year bar.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.