Including the ones an agent would rather you did not ask.

No. You can apply to institutions and for a study permit yourself, and many students do. Every official form is public and free to access, and no fee to us or anyone else is required by the government.

An advisor earns their place when the choice is genuinely complicated: an unusual academic background, a credential that needs assessment, a program whose work permit eligibility is not obvious, a tight timeline, or a family that wants someone accountable in the destination country. If your case is straightforward and you have time, say so and we will tell you.

No, and nobody can. A study permit is a decision made by an immigration officer against criteria that include your funds, your academic history, your stated purpose and your ties to home. Anyone who guarantees approval is either lying or planning to submit something false on your behalf, which puts a refusal and a misrepresentation finding on your record for years.

What can be done is to make the application as strong and as complete as it truthfully can be, and to tell you honestly when it is weak.

No. We advise on study and school placement only. In Canada, immigration advice and representation may be given only by a lawyer in good standing with a provincial or federal association, or by a consultant registered with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.

We will explain how the study path generally connects to work permits and residency streams, because that is public information you need in order to choose a program. When your situation requires an opinion on your immigration file, we refer you to the official register rather than improvising.

We explain our fees in writing before any work starts, and we tell you which costs are ours and which are paid directly to an institution or the government. Application fees, permit fees, biometrics and language tests are paid by you to those bodies and are not refundable if an application is unsuccessful.

If a fee is ever requested from you in cash to an individual rather than to an organisation with a receipt, that is not how this industry should work.

A designated learning institution, or DLI, is a school a province has approved to host international students. A study permit can only be issued for study at a DLI, and each one has a DLI number that appears on your application.

An acceptance letter from a school that is not designated will not produce a permit. Check the status before you pay a deposit, not after. It is the first thing we verify on any shortlist.

Since 2024, most study permit applications must include an attestation letter from the province or territory where you will study. It confirms you are counted within that province's allocation of international students.

You do not request it yourself. The institution requests it once you have accepted your offer, which is why accepting early matters. Some graduate level applicants are exempt from the requirement, and the exemptions have been revised more than once, so confirm the current position for your intake.

Yes, and this catches people out. Quebec runs its own selection layer. If you will study in Quebec for longer than six months you generally need a Quebec Acceptance Certificate, the CAQ, issued by the province, before applying for the federal study permit.

That means two applications in sequence, two sets of fees, and a longer timeline. Quebec also publishes its own financial requirement figures, which differ from the federal ones.

You must demonstrate that you can pay first year tuition, living costs for yourself and any accompanying family, and return travel. The living cost figure is set by IRCC, is updated annually, and increased substantially in recent years. Quebec sets separate amounts.

Form matters as much as amount. A common approach is a Guaranteed Investment Certificate held with a Canadian bank, which releases funds to you in instalments after arrival. Money that appears in an account shortly before applying, with no history and no explainable source, is a frequent cause of refusal even when the balance is sufficient.

The institution decides which tests it accepts and what score it needs, so the answer depends on your shortlist. Commonly accepted tests include IELTS Academic, TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, CAEL and CELPIP, and some institutions accept others.

Two practical points. Scores usually expire after about two years, so sitting the test far too early wastes it. And an institution's minimum is a minimum, not a target: a higher score widens your options and strengthens the permit application.

It varies by country of application, time of year, and how complete your file is. IRCC publishes current processing times by country, and that tool is the only reliable answer at any given moment.

Plan against the published time plus a margin, and do not book flights until you have an approval. Peak season for September intakes is the slowest period of the year.

Generally yes, if your study permit carries the work condition and you are enrolled full time at a DLI in an eligible program. Off-campus work during an academic session is capped at a set number of hours per week, and that cap has been changed more than once recently in both directions. Full-time work is normally allowed during scheduled breaks.

Check the condition printed on your own permit and the current rule for your term before accepting a job. Working beyond what you are allowed can cost you your status and your future work permit, which is a far higher price than the extra shifts are worth.

Usually not by the study permit alone. Where a co-op or internship is a required part of the program, a separate co-op work permit is normally needed, and it is best applied for at the same time as the study permit rather than months later.

This is one of the most common avoidable delays we see. A student is accepted onto a placement and then cannot start it.

Eligibility for a spouse or partner to receive an open work permit has been narrowed and now depends on the level and type of your program. Do not plan a household budget around two incomes until that eligibility is confirmed for your specific program.

Accompanying school-age children can generally attend school in Canada, with the details set by the province. Both family members and their applications should be planned at the same time as yours, not afterwards.

No. Study creates a realistic pathway, not an entitlement. The usual route is to graduate, obtain a post-graduation work permit, gain skilled Canadian work experience, and then apply through Express Entry or a provincial stream, each of which has its own competitive thresholds that move with demand.

For college diplomas and certificates, work permit eligibility now depends on the field of study, which makes program choice an immigration-relevant decision years before any application. That is exactly why we check it at shortlist stage.

You receive reasons, and in many cases you can apply again with the weakness addressed, most often funds, purpose of study, or ties to your home country. A refusal is not automatically fatal to a future application, but a pattern of them is harder to overcome, and a misrepresentation finding is far worse than a refusal.

Where a refusal raises questions about your immigration record rather than your school application, that is the point where a licensed consultant or lawyer should take over, and we will say so.

It is possible, and it has conditions and reporting obligations attached, including notifying IRCC when you change designated learning institutions. Changing between program types can also affect your later work permit eligibility.

Treat it as a decision with consequences rather than an administrative detail, and check the current requirements before you withdraw from anything.