Apply for Canada study permit online in 2024: Step by Step

I’ll be giving you an exact step-by-step guide on how you can get your study permit yourself and come to Canada. Including Top 5 Canada Student permit Rejection Reasons you should know.

Note that you don’t need a lot of money to come to Canada. Here are 3 Steps to get a scholarship in Canada for International Students

If you are still having doubts about whether to study in Canada or not I’ll just say this. Canada is not just about the best education system in the world, studying here is the easiest way to get Canadian Permanent Residence.

Table of Content

Canada Study Permit: FAQs for international students

Canada student visa vs Canda study permit

In order to study in Canada, you will need to obtain a Canadian study permit, which serves as per Canadian Student Visa for the duration of your stay.

In easy terms

A student visa is used to facilitate travel permissions between the home country and Canada for the duration mentioned in the study visa.
A study permit will allow you to study in Canada & also allow you to do a part-time job in Canada by obtaining an SIN (Student Identification Number) from your institute.

Where do we get a student visa and study permit?

A student visa needs to be applied from the home country and you should have it before you travel.

A study permit is received at the immigration point on arrival in Canada.

How to obtain a study permit?

Tell the immigration officer that you have come to study in Canada.

Provide the letter of introduction which you would have got from the Canadian visa office during your application for a study permit. And Letter of acceptance from DLI (Designated Learning Institute)

How a change in study program impacts the study permit and student visa?

If a student gets the study visa for May intake but then for some reason gets delayed and opts for the September intake program, then how it impacts the study permit and student visa?

Since your visa is valid for one year, you can travel to Canada with the same study visa.

However, you should have a September intake offer from a college or university. At the immigration point, you will get a study permit for the duration of your program as per the new offer letter.

Study visa has to be extended by submitting a study permit at the visa office in Canada

Study permit: required documents

First of all you need to understand that a study permit is a document you can apply for online. All you need to do is to fill out an application form online and for that you’ll need five documents.

a letter of acceptance
financial support documents
a valid passport
a digital photo and
a letter of explanation

Letter of acceptance

Let’s talk about the letter of acceptance. It’s fairly easy to get it. It’s what your college would provide you saying you got accepted into the college or university.

Financial support documents

Basically, it’s anything that proves that you have enough money to cover your studying in Canada and also your living expenses. This could be

your bank statements for the past six months.
Proof of a student loan.
The bank draft.
Proof of funding from a person or
A scholarship

Now let’s talk about the funds.

On the official website, it says you need to have at least $10,000 per year but in my experience, you need to have more. When I applied first with that amount of money, I got rejected. So I strongly suggest that you increase that requirement.

You need to keep in mind that if you have a family you need to increase that amount by at least $5,000 per person per year.

Passport & Digital photo

That’s fairly easy you just need to have a valid passport that would last you for as long as you will be in Canada. Also, you’ll need to provide a digital photo.

Letter of explanation

Here is one trick you need to keep in mind.

Clearly state that you intend to come back to your own country.

If you were a high school student, it’s pretty easy you can just say. I just finished school and I want to come to Canada.

But if you studied somewhere else before or worked for 20 years somewhere or the intended field of study is different where you worked then there might be some questions. You need to explain it thoroughly.

For example, if you worked as a baker for the past 20 years and now you want to come to Canada and study nuclear engineering for instance.

It’s gonna be quite suspicious.

Be sure to have a good explanation and reasoning behind why you are studying in Canada. And how this will benefit you your future in your home country.

Here are Best tips to Make a Successful Letter Of Explanation for Canada Study Permit. Samples included.

Tutorial: How to apply for Canada study permit online?

I’ll be walking you through the forms. Here is how you apply for Canada study permit online.

Go to official website

First go to https://www.cic.gc.ca/ and click English. or you can directly go here. Study Permit – Apply Now and skip this step.

Scroll down to services and information. Here click Study.

It will take you to the page named “Study in Canada as an international student”. As the name suggest, you will find important information for international students. Here also you need to scroll down to “Applying for a study permit” and click “Get a study permit”.

On the next page, select “How to apply”.

Now scroll down to “Get the instructions” where you have to specify that you are applying from “Outside Canada”. Also select “Online” option to apply for your study permit.

You will see a list of instruction emerges at the bottom. Read them as they provide important information about the procedure. At the end of the instructions you find button to create an account or sign in.

Create IRCC account with GC Key

Next, you need to create a GC key account. The procedure is simple. Click the register button.

You can clearly see the instruction on the next page to create your IRCC secure account with GC key.

Start new application

After login you will be to see the dashboard. Here select “Apply to come to Canada”.

Complete a personal reference code

You have to complete a personal reference code. Here select the option, ” Visitor visa, study and/or work permit”.

As you can see below, you have to fill the form to find out if you’re eligible to apply.

Based on your answers, the system will verify your eligibility. And you will get the result at the end of this Questionnaire.

Complete and review your study permit application

There will be few more questions to answers. Some of them can be seen below. You need to complete and review your study permit application in this step.

Upload required documents

Once you have reviewed your application, you need to upload supporting documents. Here are this list of required documents.

Here the Evidence of work requirements and studies can be just your acceptance letter that verify you have a co-op course.

Pay your fees and submit

You have to pay the fees for your visa. And depending on the country where you from your application fee varies. Once you fill out all the forms, upload all the documents and you would just submit everything.

Canada Study permit processing time

In around one week you will get a letter asking you to submit your biometrics which can be done at one of their verified centers.
After two weeks you will get a letter saying that you need to come for a medical exam. And don’t worry it’s just something simple a medical exam to verify that you’re all safe to come to Canada. Don’t be scared of that.
And then in around two to four weeks, you will get a letter from them asking to submit your passport. At this point, my friend throw a party