Since September 1, 2026, the amount an international student must prove to get a federal study permit has gone up. For any application submitted on or after that date, a single applicant must show at least $23,448 in financial resources, plus $6,318 for each accompanying family member, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
This amount is meant to prove you can cover your living expenses while studying, on top of tuition and transportation — it is one of the documents required for the federal study permit. The figure is revised periodically to track the cost of living; this is not the first time it has gone up, and it will not be the last.
Important: this federal amount does not apply if you are studying in Quebec. To get a Certificat d'acceptation du Québec (CAQ), the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration sets its own thresholds — $24,617 for a single person as of January 1, 2026, according to Québec.ca. Two authorities, two amounts, two effective dates: do not mix them up when putting your file together.
Who this affects. If you are studying, or planning to study, somewhere else in Canada — or preparing the file for a child or family member who is going to study outside Quebec — it is the federal amount of $23,448 that applies to the study permit application. If the studies take place in Quebec, the CAQ threshold matters first, and the federal study permit follows with its own separate document requirements. Our guide to the CAQ and study permit walks through the order of steps and the documents to gather.
Good to know for newcomers. Before you pull together your bank statements, check first which of the two amounts applies to your situation — mixing up the federal threshold with the CAQ one is a common mistake that delays otherwise complete files.
