Canada Study Permits for Prerequisite Programs: 2025 Update to Validity and 90‑Day Rule

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IRCC has tightened how long study permits can be issued for prerequisite (pathway) programs: officers must now issue them for the program length plus only 90 days, not plus 1 year.

What IRCC changed on Dec 22, 2025

• IRCC updated its program delivery instructions to say that study permits for prerequisite programs must match the duration of the prerequisite program + 90 days.​
• Before this, officers often issued permits for program length + 1 year for these students; the new wording aligns practice with regulatory amendments that came into force in November 2024.​

How prerequisite program permits now work

• A prerequisite or pathway program is usually short‑term preparation (e.g., English upgrading, math or science prerequisites) that a student must finish before starting their main diploma/degree.​
• Under the new instructions, the study permit for that stage is meant to cover:
  • The actual time needed to finish the prerequisite program, and
  • A 90‑day buffer to either extend status for the main program, change status, or leave Canada.​

Why IRCC reduced the buffer

• The one‑year extra validity after a short prerequisite program allowed long periods in Canada without active study or clear progression, which IRCC sees as inconsistent with the purpose of a study permit.​
• Cutting that post‑study window to 90 days is part of broader tightening: it reduces “idle” time on a study permit and pushes students to either move into their main program quickly or regularize their status another way.​

When a study permit is required

• A study permit is required if a foreign national will take academic, professional, vocational or other education/training for more than 6 months at a designated learning institution (DLI) in Canada.​
• Short activities that are not considered “studies” for IRPA purposes and do not need a study permit include:
  • Pre‑school (pre‑kindergarten)
  • General interest or self‑improvement courses
  • Distance learning taken from outside Canada
  • Audited (no‑credit) courses
  • Provincial settlement and integration courses, including Quebec francization, which IRCC treats as settlement, not language study.​

Who is exempt from needing a study permit

IRCC lists several groups that can study without a study permit, despite taking courses in Canada.​

• Minor children inside Canada: Certain minors are study‑permit exempt; officers apply specific minor‑children guidelines.​
• Families/staff of accredited foreign representatives: Dependants and private staff of properly accredited diplomats and international organization representatives are exempt; they receive acceptance counterfoils from Global Affairs Canada instead of study permits.​
• Members of designated foreign armed forces (VFA): Military and designated civilian personnel from Visiting Forces Act countries can attend any length of training without a study permit and also benefit from exemptions from passport, TRV, eTA and medical requirements, though civilians must still meet those document rules.​
• Short‑term courses ≤ 6 months: Any foreign national may attend a course or program of 6 months or less without a study permit, full‑time or part‑time, as long as it finishes within their authorized stay.​
• Registered Indians under the Indian Act: Registered or entitled‑to‑be‑registered Indians do not need a study permit.​
• Temporary public policies:
  • Construction‑sector apprentices (IMP public policy, Feb 26, 2025–Feb 26, 2027) can complete eligible apprenticeship training without a study permit.​
  • Certain workers holding or extending work permits whose applications were received on or before June 7, 2023 can study without a study permit until June 27, 2026, under a separate public policy.​

In these public‑policy cases, if the study program goes beyond either the work permit validity or the policy expiry, the foreign national must obtain a study permit for continued studies.​

Short‑term courses and later study

• Even when a study permit is not required for a course of 6 months or less, IRCC must accept and may issue a study permit if the student applies; having one can make it easier to extend or change conditions from inside Canada for further studies or on‑campus work.​
• Study permits can only be issued for DLIs; short‑term programs at non‑DLIs can be taken as a visitor, but no study permit can be issued for those institutions.​

Subsequent programs and status

• Foreign nationals in Canada without a study permit who later want to do a longer program typically must apply for a study permit from outside Canada, not by just extending visitor status.​
• IRCC stresses that the 6‑month exemption cannot be used to complete a full long program “one course at a time” without ever holding a study permit; extensions purely to keep doing short segments of a longer program are not allowed.​

Key scenarios (including prerequisite 90‑day examples)

IRCC uses scenarios to show when a study permit is or isn’t needed.​

• Less‑than‑6‑month program at a post‑secondary DLI: no permit required, but later in‑Canada applications may not be possible without one.​
• Less‑than‑6‑month program at a non‑DLI: no permit possible at all, student must come as a visitor.​
• One‑semester Grade 12 exchange (4 months): no study permit required, but visa‑required nationals still need a TRV.​
• Full 10‑month Grade 12 (non‑exchange): study permit required, because total duration exceeds 6 months.​
• 4‑month university exchange with on‑campus work goal: a study permit is required to work on campus, even though the studies alone could be done without one.​
• One semester at a college/university (4 months) where the letter of acceptance is for a 2‑year program: study permit required, because the program itself is longer than 6 months, even if the student only intends to attend part of it.​

Prerequisite program scenarios with the new 90‑day rule

• 4‑month ESL prerequisite + 4‑year degree at a DLI:
  • IRCC says the student should be counselled to get a study permit (or SX‑1) up front.
  • The permit for the ESL prerequisite must now be issued only for ESL length + 90 days, not plus 1 year.
  • After successful completion, the student may apply from inside Canada for a new study permit for the 4‑year program under R215(1)(f)(iii).​
• 8‑month ESL prerequisite + 4‑year degree at a DLI:
  • A study permit must be issued for the ESL length + 90 days only, and the student can later extend from inside Canada once they prove they passed the ESL prerequisite.​

These two scenarios are exactly where the Dec 22, 2025 program delivery update applies, replacing the old “program + 1 year” officer practice with a strict “program + 90 days” cap for prerequisite‑stage permits.​

Special notes: workers studying without study permits

• Under the June 27, 2023–June 27, 2026 public policy, some valid work‑permit holders and certain R186(u) implied‑status workers can study without a study permit; their work permits may still carry a generic “no study unless authorized” condition, but the public policy itself counts as the authorization.​
• These workers must apply for a study permit if they want to continue a program that runs beyond either their work permit expiry or the public policy end date, and Quebec waives the CAQ requirement for such workers during this measure.

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