Latest Updates – Study Permit

Study permit proof of funds rises to $23,448

• Status: In effect
• Effective date: September 1, 2026
• Streams affected: Study Permit
• Who this affects: Anyone submitting a study permit application on or after September 1, 2026, including extensions. A single applicant outside Quebec must show $23,448 for living expenses. A family of two must show $29,192.
• Who this does not affect: Applications submitted before September 1, 2026. Those are assessed at the previous amount of $22,895 for a single applicant. Students destined for Quebec are also not covered, because Quebec sets its own requirement.
• What to do now: Add tuition and travel costs on top of the living-expenses amount. Check your family-size amount before you apply.
• Official source: IRCC, “Study permit: Proof of financial support” (canada.ca)
• Last verified: October 27, 2026

2. 2026 study permit cap and PAL/TAL rules

• Status: In effect
• Effective date: Calendar year 2026
• Streams affected: Study Permit
• Who this affects: Applicants who need a provincial or territorial attestation letter (PAL/TAL). IRCC will accept up to 309,670 such applications in 2026 and expects to issue up to 408,000 permits in total (155,000 new arrivals and 253,000 extensions). A PAL/TAL issued in 2026 is valid until December 31, 2026. An earlier year’s letter cannot be reused.
• Who this does not affect: Master’s and doctoral students at public designated learning institutions (exempt from January 1, 2026), primary and secondary students, extensions at the same institution and study level, and Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot participants.
• What to do now: Confirm in writing from your institution whether you need a PAL/TAL before you apply.
• Official source: IRCC notice, 2026 provincial and territorial allocations under the international student cap: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/2026-provincial-territorial-allocations-under-international-student-cap.html
• Last verified: October 27, 2026

3. 2027 study permit cap not yet confirmed

• Status: Proposed
• Effective date: To be announced
• Streams affected: Study Permit, PGWP planning
• Who this affects: Students planning to apply for 2027 intakes. The 2026–2028 Levels Plan lists a planning target of 150,000 new arrivals for 2027. It can be adjusted in the 2027–2029 Levels Plan, which is due by November 1, 2026.
• Who this does not affect: Applications for 2026 intakes, which follow the 2026 rules above.
• What to do now: Don’t plan around a 2027 allocation until it is published. Check that your program’s field of study is eligible for a post-graduation work permit before you commit.
• Official source: IRCC 2027–2029 Immigration Levels Plan (to be added once published)
• Last verified: October 27, 2026

4. Working while studying

• Status: In effect
• Effective date: Current rules
• Streams affected: Study Permit
• Who this affects: Eligible students may work off campus up to 24 hours per week during regular academic sessions, if their study permit conditions allow it. Eligible post-secondary students no longer need a separate co-op work permit for a mandatory internship or work placement in their program.
• Who this does not affect: Students whose study permit conditions do not authorize off-campus work.
• What to do now: Check the conditions printed on your own study permit.
• Official source: IRCC, “Work off campus as an international student” (canada.ca)
• Last verified: October 27, 2026

Disclaimer under every post: General information only, not advice on an individual case.

Before publishing, open the canada.ca pages named in updates 1 and 4 and paste in the exact links. I confirmed those two updates from the SFU, Moving2Canada and Gertler Law Office pages, not from the canada.ca pages themselves.

Which stream next?

No. What shows depends on where the update is displayed.

On the post itself: everything appears exactly as you paste it into the post body, with all nine fields. For clean formatting, paste each field as its own line with the label in bold.

On the stream page and hub page: the Posts or Loop Grid widget only shows the title, date, excerpt and “Read more”. The fields are not shown in the list unless you build them in.

To make Status and the key line visible in the list:

1. Title: start with the status, for example In effect: Study permit proof of funds rises to $23,448.
2. Excerpt: fill in the post’s Excerpt box with “Who this affects” in one sentence. Without a manual excerpt, WordPress cuts the first words of the post body instead.
3. Widget: in the Posts widget, turn on Title, Date, Excerpt and Read More. Set the category to Study Permit and the number of posts to 3.