Study permits
Study Permits, From School Choice to Approval
Before I ever became an immigration consultant, I spent twenty years placing international students into Canadian schools, colleges and universities. I have read thousands of study plans and seen exactly where they fail. That experience is now on your side of the table.
Why study permits get refused
Most study permit refusals come down to three things: a weak study plan that does not explain why this program and why Canada, doubts about money, and doubts that the student will respect the terms of their stay. All three are fixable, if you address them before you apply rather than after a refusal letter arrives.
The 2026 rules, briefly
Canada now caps the number of study permit applications it accepts each year, and most college and bachelor’s applicants need a Provincial Attestation Letter before applying. Master’s and doctoral students no longer need one as of January 2026, and children in primary and secondary school are exempt entirely. Rules move quickly, and I keep this page and my practice current.
What I do
From first choice to approval
- Assess your real chances before you spend money on tuition deposits.
- Help you choose a program that fits both your education goals and your longer immigration plan, including how it affects a future Post-Graduation Work Permit.
- Prepare and submit the application: study plan, financial evidence, family ties, every form.
- Handle extensions, status changes and PGWP applications when you graduate.
- Analyze refusals and build the second application properly. See my page on refusals.
Studying as a path to permanent residence
For many of my clients, a study permit is chapter one of a bigger story: program, graduation, work permit, permanent residence. The chapters have to be planned together. A cheap one-year program chosen in a hurry can close the doors you will want open in year three. This is the planning conversation I have with every student client, and it is the part most applicants discover too late.
Your child is under 18?
Minor students have their own rules, starting with custodianship. I run a custodianship agency in Toronto and have supported more than two thousand young students.
Need help choosing the school itself?
School and program selection is what my education company, CanStart Group, has done for twenty years. We can combine the two: they find the right program, I handle the immigration side.
Related services
Custodianship
Declarations and real care for minor students in Toronto.
Work Permits
PGWP and the step from graduate to Canadian work experience.
Refusals
Study permit refused? Find out why and reapply properly.
Planning to study in Canada?
Start with an honest look at your chances, before deposits and before forms.