Canada raises the study-permit money threshold to C$23,448 from 1 September

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has raised the amount of money an international student must prove they have before Canada will issue a study permit. From 1 September 2026, a single applicant outside Quebec must show C$23,448 in living-expense funds, up from C$22,895. IRCC published the full updated table on its financial-support page on 28 August, three days before the change applies. The threshold rises for every additional family member, and it is separate from tuition and travel costs.

Background

Canada reviews this figure once a year and moves it on 1 September. The amount is not arbitrary: IRCC ties it to 75% of Statistics Canada's Low Income Cut-Off, the LICO, for a large urban centre. Statistics Canada released its latest LICO table on 29 April 2026, putting the one-person figure at C$31,264. Three-quarters of that is C$23,448. Last year's adjustment was much larger, taking a single applicant from C$20,635 to C$22,895, a jump of roughly 11%. This year's increase is 2.4%.

What exactly changed

This is a straight uplift of the cost-of-living table, applied by the date the application is submitted rather than by the date the course starts. Applications filed up to and including 31 August 2026 are assessed against the old amounts. Applications filed on or after 1 September 2026 are assessed against the new ones. The table covers all provinces and territories except Quebec, which sets its own financial-capacity test through the Certificat d'acceptation du Québec. IRCC is explicit that these amounts cover living expenses only. An applicant still has to show first-year tuition and the cost of transport to and from Canada on top, without counting on earnings from a job in Canada.

Who it affects

Anyone submitting a study permit application from 1 September is measured against the new figures, whether they are applying for a first permit or bringing family. A single student heading to a programme with C$30,000 in annual tuition now needs to document roughly C$55,000 once tuition, living expenses and return travel are added together. A student bringing a spouse and one child sees the living-expense component alone rise from C$35,040 to C$35,888. Students bound for Quebec are outside this table and follow the provincial requirement instead. Some universities moved ahead of IRCC: the University of Toronto and the University of Windsor were publishing C$23,448 in their international-student guidance before the department updated its own page.

What to do now

If your application is nearly ready, the date you press submit decides which figure you are held to. Filing before 1 September locks in the lower amount. If you are not ready, plan around the new numbers rather than the ones in older guidance, because insufficient or poorly documented funds remain one of the most common reasons IRCC refuses a study permit. Acceptable proof includes bank statements, a Guaranteed Investment Certificate, student loan documentation and scholarship or funding letters. Money that arrives in an account days before filing invites questions about where it came from, so build the paper trail early. Our Canada country guide (/country-guides/canada) covers the wider picture, and the field guide section on money and banking (/field-guide/money-banking-payments) explains why proving funds and moving them are two different problems.