canadavisasstudy permitspolicy
Canada sets 2026 study permit cap at 408,000
Canada will issue up to 408,000 study permits in 2026 — 155,000 to newly arriving international students and 253,000 as extensions for people already studying there. That’s according to an IRCC notice published November 25, 2025. The figure is 7% below the 2025 target and 16% below 2024’s, continuing the government’s push to shrink the temporary resident share of Canada’s population below 5% by the end of 2027.
What changed
IRCC has set the 2026 national target at 408,000 study permits and broken it into cohorts. Master’s and doctoral students at public designated learning institutions (DLIs) get 49,000 of those permits; kindergarten-to-grade-12 students get 115,000; other exempt applicants get 64,000. The remaining 180,000 permits go to applicants who require a provincial or territorial attestation letter (PAL/TAL) — international students outside those exempt categories, mostly in undergraduate and college-level programs.
Because not every PAL/TAL application succeeds, IRCC has set aside 309,670 application spaces nationally for 2026, distributed by province and territory based on population and each jurisdiction’s historical approval rate. Ontario has by far the largest allocation (104,780 application spaces, targeting 70,074 permits issued), followed by Quebec (93,069 spaces / 39,474 permits) and British Columbia (32,596 spaces / 24,786 permits).
The most significant single change for 2026: as of January 1, master’s and doctoral students enrolled at a public DLI no longer need a PAL/TAL at all. IRCC says a full list of qualifying public DLIs and programs will be published on its website. Other PAL/TAL-exempt groups for 2026 include K-12 students, certain government priority and vulnerable cohorts, and existing study permit holders extending at the same DLI and study level.
Who it affects
- New applicants to undergraduate, diploma, and college-level programs, who mostly still need a PAL/TAL from the province or territory where they’ll study.
- Master’s and PhD applicants to public DLIs, who are now PAL/TAL-exempt from January 1, 2026.
- Students renewing a permit at the same institution and study level, who remain exempt as before.
- Applicants to Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, which hold the largest — and most competitive — provincial allocations.
What you should do
- Check with your intended institution whether your program still requires a PAL/TAL before you apply — the rules now differ by study level.
- If you’re applying to a public DLI master’s or doctoral program, confirm the institution is on IRCC’s forthcoming eligible list rather than assuming the exemption applies automatically.
- Apply as early as possible in your province’s allocation cycle. Once a province’s PAL/TAL spaces for the year are used up, new applicants have to wait for the next cycle.
- Compare provinces and institutions on our Canadian institutes page if a tighter allocation in your first-choice province is a concern.
What hasn’t changed
The overall PAL/TAL system introduced in 2024 is still in place for most applicants, and the study permit application process itself is unchanged. See our Canada visas overview for the general application steps.