Canada Study Permit Holders
How many study permits Canada has issued each year — by country of citizenship, study level (post-secondary / secondary / other), province of study, and type of institution (college, university, language school). See the impact of the January 2024 study permit cap on volumes by country.
Study permits issued, year by year
Every study permit that first became effective in the calendar year. Watch for the 2020 dip (COVID border closures), 2023 peak, and the sharp 2024–2025 decline from the national study permit cap. 2026 is partial (Feb, Jan, Mar).
Study level breakdown
Post-secondary (college, university, career college) is by far the largest category. The volume of secondary-level permits has stayed roughly flat — almost all of the post-pandemic surge was at the post-secondary level.
Top source countries (all-time)
Total study permits issued since 2015, by country of citizenship.
Where students study (institution type)
Permits by Designated Learning Institution category, all-time.
Top source countries over time
Annual study permits issued for the five largest source countries. India dominates the chart — but watch how India's 2023 surge and 2024 drop both exceed the other countries by an order of magnitude.
Where students study by province
Province of the Designated Learning Institution (DLI), not destination after graduation.
All-time permits by province
Cumulative 2015 – present
2025 permits by province
Most recent complete year
Year shown: 2025. Provinces with suppressed counts (0–5) are omitted.
Applying for a Canadian study permit in 2026?
Refusal rates are up — SOP quality, PAL/TAL handling, and proof of funds are scrutinized more than ever. Get a structured eligibility read from our team before you submit.
About this data
Counts are by the year in which a study permit first became effective — not the total number of permit holders living in Canada in that year. IRCC suppresses cells with counts 0-5 and rounds others to the nearest 5. The Student Direct Stream (SDS) ended on 8 November 2024; all study permits now use the regular stream. Canada also introduced a national study permit cap in January 2024 — visible as the sharp drop in 2024-2025 totals.
Counts are by the year in which each study permit first became effective, not the number of permit holders living in Canada that year.
Source & licence
Original dataset: Temporary Residents: Study Permit Holders — Monthly IRCC Updates.
Published by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Released under the Open Government Licence — Canada.
Data last refreshed by Halani from canada.ca for 2026 reporting.