IRCC quietly released the 2026 study-permit cap on 25 December: 309,670 application ‘spaces’ will be available nationwide, down seven per cent from 2025. Provincial governments will learn their allocations in January and must decide how to distribute them among designated learning institutions (DLIs). Once a province’s quota is exhausted, students who still need a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) will be locked out until the next cycle.
The federal cap, first introduced in 2024 to curb explosive temporary-resident growth, has already cut international-student numbers from over one million to about 725,000. Ottawa’s 2026-28 Immigration Levels Plan aims to keep temporary residents below five per cent of Canada’s population by 2027.
For applicants unsure how these shifting limits affect them, VisaHQ provides step-by-step visa and permit assistance, including real-time updates on PAL availability and document-submission windows. Their Canada hub (https://www.visahq.com/canada/) connects students, employers and mobility advisers with expert support so they can prepare compliant applications before provincial quotas close.
![Ottawa caps 2026 study-permit applications at 309,670, provinces to get quotas in January]()
Universities and colleges now face a zero-sum game. Institutions that over-recruit early risk exhausting their share, leaving late-cycle applicants stranded. Several provinces say they will prioritise health-care and engineering programs linked to labour shortages, further squeezing business, MBA and liberal-arts seats that historically drew large overseas cohorts.
For employers, a tighter cap means a smaller pool of Post-Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) holders. Mobility managers should revisit graduate-recruitment targets, confirm that sponsored employees can still obtain PALs, and consider shifting tuition assistance to provinces with unused quota. Students already in the pipeline should secure acceptance letters quickly and monitor real-time utilisation dashboards expected in Q2 2026.
Education agents predict some candidates will divert to the U.K. and Australia, both signalling looser caps for the 2026 academic year. Canada’s reputation for predictability, they warn, now hinges on whether provinces administer the new quotas transparently.
The federal cap, first introduced in 2024 to curb explosive temporary-resident growth, has already cut international-student numbers from over one million to about 725,000. Ottawa’s 2026-28 Immigration Levels Plan aims to keep temporary residents below five per cent of Canada’s population by 2027.
For applicants unsure how these shifting limits affect them, VisaHQ provides step-by-step visa and permit assistance, including real-time updates on PAL availability and document-submission windows. Their Canada hub (https://www.visahq.com/canada/) connects students, employers and mobility advisers with expert support so they can prepare compliant applications before provincial quotas close.
Universities and colleges now face a zero-sum game. Institutions that over-recruit early risk exhausting their share, leaving late-cycle applicants stranded. Several provinces say they will prioritise health-care and engineering programs linked to labour shortages, further squeezing business, MBA and liberal-arts seats that historically drew large overseas cohorts.
For employers, a tighter cap means a smaller pool of Post-Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) holders. Mobility managers should revisit graduate-recruitment targets, confirm that sponsored employees can still obtain PALs, and consider shifting tuition assistance to provinces with unused quota. Students already in the pipeline should secure acceptance letters quickly and monitor real-time utilisation dashboards expected in Q2 2026.
Education agents predict some candidates will divert to the U.K. and Australia, both signalling looser caps for the 2026 academic year. Canada’s reputation for predictability, they warn, now hinges on whether provinces administer the new quotas transparently.
