Canada’s New Study Permit Rules for 2026: What International Students Should Know

As of February 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has updated how it processes study permit applications – and the news is mostly good if you’re enrolling in certain programs. These changes affect something called provincial or territorial attestation letters (PAL/TAL), a document many students had to get from provincial authorities when applying for a study permit. The latest instructions simplify some of these requirements, especially for those in joint programs or pursuing a master’s or PhD. Here’s a breakdown of what’s changed and what it means for you as a prospective student.

First, a quick explainer: What on earth is a provincial/territorial attestation letter? Essentially, it’s a formal letter from a province or territory confirming they approve of your study plans there. Starting in early 2024, Canada began requiring these letters for most post-secondary study permit applications. Why? Because the Canadian government wanted to manage the massive influx of international students and the pressure on housing and services in student-heavy cities. By involving provinces in the approval process, they can coordinate and avoid overburdening local infrastructure.

For example, if you applied to a college in Ontario, you needed Ontario’s attestation letter attached to your visa application. No letter, no processing – IRCC would flat-out return your application and refund your fees. This was a big change that caught some students off guard last year, leading to delays for those who missed the memo. It added an extra step: you get accepted to a school and you secure a letter from the province.

One significant tweak IRCC announced on February 6, 2026: if you’re in a joint academic program that involves more than one school or even multiple provinces, you now need only one attestation letter instead of several.

Old rule (pre-2026): Say you were doing a collaborative degree that spends Year 1 at a college in Alberta and Year 2 at a university in British Columbia. Previously, you had to get a letter from Alberta’s government and another from BC’s government, plus possibly letters from each institution’s province if different. It was double or triple the paperwork.

New rule (2026 onwards): Only one provincial/territorial letter is required for the entire joint program. It doesn’t matter if your program crosses provincial lines or institutions – a single attestation covering the whole program suffices. This is a relief for students in joint programs (common in some MBA or engineering link programs, for example) because it streamlines the process. Fewer documents to chase means one less worry during your application prep.

If you think this sounds niche, it might be more common than you realize: some students do a year at one campus and transfer to another, or a program might be jointly offered by, say, a college and a university (one providing the coursework, the other granting the degree). Now, you won’t need to request multiple governments to sign off on your plans – one letter does the job.

Another positive change: if you’re coming for a Master’s or PhD at a public university in Canada, you are exempt from needing a provincial attestation letter altogether. This had been hinted at in late 2025 and is now reflected in the official instructions.

That’s right – graduate students in academic (public) institutions can breathe a bit easier. For example, if you got accepted to a Master’s program at the University of Toronto or a PhD at UBC, you no longer have to obtain an Ontario or BC attestation letter to apply for your study permit. The reasoning here might be that graduate students are often fewer in number and tied to research roles (and perhaps seen as less of a strain on undergraduate housing resources), so the government decided to simplify their process.

Note: The exemption specifically mentions publicly-funded DLIs at the master’s and doctoral level. If you are doing a Master’s at a private college (which is rare in Canada, but some private institutions exist), don’t assume you’re exempt. Always verify if your school and program qualify for the no-letter rule.

The IRCC update also clarified a few scenarios that students often wonder about:

In plain terms, if you’re going to Quebec for vocational training that’s classified as secondary school level (even if you’re an adult student), you don’t need a provincial attestation letter. Quebec has its own process involving the CAQ (Quebec Acceptance Certificate), and an attestation of CAQ issuance from Quebec’s immigration ministry (MIFI) will satisfy IRCC. However, students at CEGEPs (Quebec’s colleges) still require PAL/TALs, since CEGEP diplomas are post-secondary.

The new instructions apply to applications received from January 1, 2026 onward. If you submitted your study permit application in late 2025, the old rules still apply to that application. IRCC will assess it under the instructions that were in force at the time you applied.

This means if you’re preparing an application now (in 2026), make sure you follow the new guidelines – they could save you some headaches (like not chasing multiple letters). But if you had an application returned or are reapplying, double-check what went wrong – it might be that under last year’s rules you needed something that now you don’t, or vice versa.

Also remember, since January 22, 2024, the requirement for these letters has been in force for new study permit applications for postsecondary programs. There’s no flexibility on this: if you need a letter and don’t include it, IRCC will not process your file. They’ll send it back and refund you, which is basically a refusal in practice (though without prejudice to reapply). That can set you back by months. So it’s better to get it right the first time.

These letter requirements and adjustments are part of a broader context: Canada is rethinking how many international students it brings in, at least for now. After years of explosive growth in study permits, the government introduced a sort of cap by involving provinces and by setting targets in the Immigration Levels Plan.

For instance, the target for new international student admissions in 2025 was 305,900, but for 2026 the target is 155,000 – basically halving the intake. That’s a dramatic shift. From January through November 2025 (the latest data available), Canada admitted about 105,870 new study permit holders. This suggests they were slowing approvals to stay within the new limits. The public reason for these changes has been to ease the housing crisis and ensure students aren’t struggling with high rents and strained public services.

What does this mean for you? Potentially, more competition and stricter scrutiny on applications. When there’s a lower target, you want your application to be absolutely solid, because there might be less “wiggle room” for mistakes or omissions. It also means Canada might be prioritizing certain types of students – perhaps those in high-demand fields or higher levels of study (hence making it easier for grad students by removing the letter hurdle).

On the positive side, policy tweaks like the ones in 2026 show that IRCC is listening to feedback about unnecessary red tape (like the redundancy of multiple letters) and trying to fine-tune the system. They’re making it easier in some ways (less paperwork for some students) while focusing on quality over quantity in student intake.

Embarking on your study abroad journey is exciting, and a little bureaucratic homework goes a long way. By understanding Canada’s latest study permit requirements, you can avoid pitfalls and set yourself up for success. Fewer letters and clearer rules are a step in the right direction – now it’s up to you to use them to your advantage on your path to a Canadian education.

Until next time,