Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has published the 2026 study-permit cap: 309,670 application “spaces” will be available nationwide. Provinces will receive allocations in January and must decide how to distribute them among designated learning institutions (DLIs). Students who need a provincial attestation letter (PAL) will not be able to submit a federal application once their province’s quota is exhausted.
The cap—first introduced in 2024 to arrest explosive growth in temporary residents—has already driven international-student numbers down from more than one million to roughly 725,000. Ottawa’s 2026–28 Immigration Levels Plan aims to push that figure below five per cent of Canada’s population by 2027. At the same time, issuance targets for new study permits will fall seven per cent next year to 408,000, with only 155,000 for first-time entrants.
Amid these shifting requirements, third-party services such as VisaHQ can streamline the process for both students and employers. Through its Canada portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/), VisaHQ monitors PAL availability in every province, pre-screens documentation, and files study-permit applications the moment a quota window opens, helping applicants avoid the disappointment of missing out under the new cap.
![Canada Caps 2026 Study-Permit Applications at 309,670 Slots]()
Business schools and colleges that rely heavily on overseas enrolment now face a zero-sum environment: a DLI that over-recruits early risks exhausting the provincial quota, shutting out late-cycle applicants. Institutions are scrambling to introduce earlier offer deadlines, while several provinces are signalling they will prioritise programmes linked to labour-market shortages such as health care and engineering.
For employers, the downstream effect is a smaller co-op and post-graduate work-permit (PGWP) talent pool. Mobility teams should recalibrate graduate-recruitment targets, especially in sectors that rely on PGWP holders for entry-level roles. Companies sponsoring employees to study in Canada must verify seat availability before committing tuition support.
Students already in the pipeline should obtain acceptance letters quickly and monitor provincial PAL portals daily. Those shut out may pivot to the U.K. or Australia, both of which have signalled more generous caps for 2026. Immigration advisors expect IRCC to publish real-time utilisation dashboards in Q2 2026, but caution that internal reallocations between provinces are unlikely.
The cap—first introduced in 2024 to arrest explosive growth in temporary residents—has already driven international-student numbers down from more than one million to roughly 725,000. Ottawa’s 2026–28 Immigration Levels Plan aims to push that figure below five per cent of Canada’s population by 2027. At the same time, issuance targets for new study permits will fall seven per cent next year to 408,000, with only 155,000 for first-time entrants.
Amid these shifting requirements, third-party services such as VisaHQ can streamline the process for both students and employers. Through its Canada portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/), VisaHQ monitors PAL availability in every province, pre-screens documentation, and files study-permit applications the moment a quota window opens, helping applicants avoid the disappointment of missing out under the new cap.
Business schools and colleges that rely heavily on overseas enrolment now face a zero-sum environment: a DLI that over-recruits early risks exhausting the provincial quota, shutting out late-cycle applicants. Institutions are scrambling to introduce earlier offer deadlines, while several provinces are signalling they will prioritise programmes linked to labour-market shortages such as health care and engineering.
For employers, the downstream effect is a smaller co-op and post-graduate work-permit (PGWP) talent pool. Mobility teams should recalibrate graduate-recruitment targets, especially in sectors that rely on PGWP holders for entry-level roles. Companies sponsoring employees to study in Canada must verify seat availability before committing tuition support.
Students already in the pipeline should obtain acceptance letters quickly and monitor provincial PAL portals daily. Those shut out may pivot to the U.K. or Australia, both of which have signalled more generous caps for 2026. Immigration advisors expect IRCC to publish real-time utilisation dashboards in Q2 2026, but caution that internal reallocations between provinces are unlikely.
