Canada offers a path for international students following UK study ban

The UK government will soon be ceasing the issuance of study visas to nationals of four countries: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan.

This marks a first-of-its-kind implementation, following rocketing levels of asylum claims made by students of these nationalities between 2021 and 2025 (+470%) once in the UK.

Canada, however, continues to welcome all eligible applicants of all nationalities to study in the country—providing a viable alternative to those affected by this nationality-based study visa issuance ban.

Discover your options to study in Canada

The Home Office of the UK announced this course of action on March 4, noting that the “visa brake” will come into effect on March 26.

Most individuals are required to apply for a study permit online, from outside Canada.

This article will cover

• How those impacted by the UK study visa ban can obtain a study permit in Canada; and
• How to take advantage of the study-to-permanent residence (PR) route after graduating.

How to study in Canada

International students—including those from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan—can obtain legal authorization to study in Canada through the following six-step process detailed below.

Step 1) Enroll in a designated learning institution (DLI) and obtain a Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from the institution you plan to attend.

Step 2) Obtain a Provincial or Territorial Attestation Letter (PAL/TAL) from your DLI (if required). This letter is generally provided once you accept the admission offer and make a partial or full tuition payment.

A PAL/TAL confirms you’ve been allocated a space to study in that province/territory.

Certain individuals don’t need a PAL/TAL, such as master’s or doctoral degree students attending publicly funded DLIs.

Step 3) Ensure you can show Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that you have sufficient finances to cover—without working while in Canada—your tuition fees, living expenses (for yourself and accompanying family members (if applicable), and transportation to and from Canada.

These funds must be readily available and be enough to cover the first year of your studies—and if your study program is more than a year in length, you must inform IRCC how you intend to pay for the full duration of your studies.

Those applying for a study permit on or after September 1, 2025, are required to have this much money to cover living expenses based on family size:

These amounts do not factor in tuition or transportation costs.

Note: The amount of financial resources required to study in Quebec differs—starting at $24,617 for a single applicant.

Step 4) Prepare the documents that you will need to submit with your study permit application, which will include:

• The LOA given to you by your DLI;
• The PAL/TAL given to you by your DLI (if applicable);
• Proof of identity—a copy of a valid passport/travel document and two recent passport-size photos (for yourself and each accompanying family member);
• Police certificate(s) (if requested by IRCC);
  • As these may take some time to acquire, obtaining them in case they are requested can prevent delay application processing delays.
• Proof of funds, shown with documents such as proof of payment for the first year of tuition/housing, proof of a student/education loan, bank statements (last four months), etc.; and
• Medical exam results (required by IRCC for nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan).

While not required, IRCC recommends including a letter of explanation (LOE) to strengthen your study permit application. In it, describe your reasons for choosing Canada as your study destination and demonstrate that you understand the duties and expectations associated with being an international student there.

Other documents may be required depending on your personal situation, such as a photocopy of your marriage license, use of a representative form, or Quebec Acceptance Certificate—if you plan to study in Quebec. Other country-specific documents may be required

All documents not in English or French must be accompanied by an English or French translation, an affidavit from the translator, and a certified photocopy of the original document.

Step 5) Read through the instruction guide, consult the study permit document checklist to ensure all required documents are accounted for, and fill out the application form for study permits made from outside Canada (Guide 5269, IMM 5483, and IMM 1294, respectively).

Step 6) Submit your complete study permit application, with all required documentation attached (including the document checklist itself), as well as the family information form (IMM 5707).

At this stage, you must also pay your study permit processing fee ($150 per person) and biometrics fee ($85 per person, $170 for two or more family members). Keep the receipt and attach it to your application (and keep another for your personal records).

Individuals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan who have not given biometrics in the past must do so when applying for a study permit. However, you can only give biometrics after IRCC sends you a letter to do so—at which point you may go to your local Visa Application Centre (VAC) to do so.

IRCC advises that If there is no VAC in the country or territory that you are applying from, services can be availed from any other VAC.

Note: Under the “Temporary public policy for nationals of Sudan in Canada as temporary residents – Further extension,” certain Sudanese nationals already in Canada may be eligible to extend or renew their study permit without fee payment.

Discover your options to study in Canada

Current study permit processing times

Processing times for study permits are country-dependent.

Here are the processing times for applications submitted from the countries affected by the UK study visa ban, as of March 11, 2026:

IRCC processing times are estimates, not guarantees or maximums.

As of January 1, 2026, individuals pursuing a doctoral degree who submit an online study permit application from outside Canada may be eligible for an expedited processing timeline of about two weeks. Accompanying family members of these applicants can also receive expedited processing on their applications.

Study to permanent residence pathway

Studying in Canada offers a popular pathway to permanent residency (PR) through Express Entry—the country’s primary economic immigration pathway.

Provided that you graduated from an eligible school and program, after your studies are completed, you can transition to a closed work permit or open work permit, such as a post-graduation work permit (PGWP) to start building work experience in Canada. The PGWP is specially designed for international graduates to gain experience in the Canadian labour market.

To qualify for a PGWP, you must ensure you enroll in a PGWP-eligible study program prior to applying for a study permit and that you meet field of study and language requirements as needed. The maximum validity of a PGWP is three years.

After accumulating at least one year of Canadian work experience, you can become eligible for Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws under Express Entry—provided you meet all other program requirements.

IRCC regularly holds CEC draws—15 in 2025 and four thus far in 2026—inviting candidates with competitive Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores to apply for PR.

Canadian work experience is lauded under the CRS, allowing candidates to gain up to 80 points for five or more years of Canadian experience (through the Core/Human Capital factors section) and 100 points through the Skills Transferability factors section, when combined with foreign work experience, language, or education.

Further, by studying in Canada, candidates can gain up to 30 points under the Additional Points section of the CRS—which can make or break whether one receives an Invitation to Apply (ITA).

The cut-off scores for CEC draws over the period of January 1, 2025, to March 12, 2026, have ranged from 508 to 547. Over this period, IRCC issued 59,850 ITAs through CEC draws.

Express Entry candidates who accumulate work experience in a category-eligible occupation can also qualify for category-based draws—which generally have much lower CRS cut-off scores than other draw types (CEC, Provincial Nominee Program).

Occupational categories generally require you to have 12 months of full-time (or equivalent part-time) experience in a single eligible occupation within the last three years. This can be non-continuous and gained in Canada or abroad—unless otherwise stated.

IRCC also holds French-language category draws, for which candidates must demonstrate they meet a Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) level 7 across all language abilities.

Since January 1, 2025, IRCC has conducted 24 category-based draws, through which a total of 81,391 ITAs were issued.

Additionally, many of Canada’s provinces have specially designed provincial PR pathways for students who graduated from local schools, through their Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs). International graduates can submit candidate profiles to both a PNP and the Express Entry system at the same time, allowing them to maximize their chances of settling in Canada.

In 2026, Canada aims to admit 109,000 new permanent residents to Canada through the Express Entry system—with notional targets of 110,000 for 2027 and 2028.

See your eligibility for all Express Entry streams and categories