Canada has finalized the provincial and territorial allocations for study permits to be issued to international students in 2025. For 2025, IRCC plans to issue a total of 437,000 study permits, which represents a 10% decrease from the 2024 cap.
In 2024, IRCC capped the number of study permit applications that could be accepted for processing to keep our program strong and help ease the strain on housing, health care and other services. This measure has reduced the number of international students coming to Canada by about 40% and also eased pressures in rental markets with high student populations.
Since the introduction of the cap last year, most study permit applicants have been required to submit a provincial attestation letter or territorial attestation letter (PAL/TAL). This requirement now extends to master’s and doctoral students, as well as most applicants applying from within Canada.
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The existing study permit holders applying for an extension at the same designated learning institution (DLI) and at the same level of study are exempted from submitting a PAL/TAL. DLIs, provinces and territories are not allowed to carry over unused allocation spaces or PAL/TALs from the previous cap year.
The breakdown of study permits for 2025 by student cohort is as follows:
Of the 437,000 study permits expected to be issued in 2025, 120,724 are expected to come from PAL/TAL-exempt students, while 316,267 are expected to come from PAL/TAL-required groups.
Considering growth in the graduate international student sector has been sustainable, the decision to include this cohort under the cap was a preventative measure to ensure the number of graduate international students remains well managed. As such, provinces and territories are expected to issue the same number of study permits to graduate students in 2025 as they did in 2023. In other words, each province’s and each territory’s 2025 graduate student sub-allocation is based on the number of study permits that they respectively issued to graduate students in 2023.
With the coming-into-force of new regulations in November 2024, DLIs are now required to participate in student compliance reporting, as well as the letter of acceptance verification process. Failing to do so could result in a DLI being suspended for a period of up to one year, during which it won’t be able to receive new international students.