How to Apply for Your Canada Study Permit

Introduction

Congratulations if you’ve gotten your letter of acceptance and are now trying to figure out how to go about the study permit application, what website to use, and how to create the questionnaire until you get to the point of uploading all the necessary documents. It’s not that easy. For this guide, the old portal is used, the one most applicants still rely on (reportedly around 95% of them). There aren’t a lot of differences between the old and new portal, so if you still want to use the old one, this guide covers exactly how to create your account from beginning to end. For those using the new portal, some of this may not apply.

Creating Your IRCC Account

Signing In or Signing Up

Go on Google or in your browser and type in IRCC login, and mostly it’s going to bring up the canada.ca website. Click on sign in to your IRCC account. For those that already have an account, you can register here, but you can also register after clicking on sign in with GCKey. That option is for those who already have an account, and they can sign in with a username. For new persons, the best option is to click on sign up, then click on accept.

Creating Username and Password

Create a username. For the purpose of this example, GradNest001 is used, then click continue. The next step is to create a password. Make sure you pick something that you can remember, and write it down. If the password is okay, they will say continue.

Setting Up Recovery Questions

Next are the recovery questions. First pet name, memorable person, memorable date, these should be whatever you will remember. There is also an option to add an email now, but if you don’t want to, you can add it later or skip it. Once everything is ready, click on continue.

Accepting Terms and Conditions and Creating Your Profile

Read through the terms and conditions, then click on accept. Next, they will ask you to create a name, your given name and surname, followed by your email address. Then they will ask for your preferred language, English or French depending on your preference.

Next come the security questions, pick any of your choice, first month of the year, second month of the year, last month of the year, whatever question you think you can remember, because anytime you want to sign in they will ask one of these questions. It’s better to fill in something you can actually remember. Then they will ask which country you are applying for.

Starting Your Study Permit Application

Initial Questions About Your Application

Once you have this set up and saved, the next step is to click on apply to come to Canada. You don’t need a reference code if you’re applying for the very first time, so just click on visit study permit. If you’re doing Express Entry, you go through a different option. What would you like to do in Canada, study. How long are you planning to stay, temporarily, more than 6 months. What’s the code of your passport, and your current country of residence. Then it asks whether you have a family member who is a permanent resident, and your birthday.

Eligibility and Additional Questions

Then it asks whether you are a lawful permanent resident of the United States, and whether you have been accepted to a designated institution. It also asks your marital status, and your country or province or territory of destination, this is wherever province your school is located. After these questions, it will tell you whether you’re eligible for a study permit, and you click continue. Then it asks some more questions to determine which documents to bring out for you, and you click continue.

Questions About Work Permits and Scholarships

Do you have a valid work permit and need a visa. Are you an ESL student. Is work an essential component, if you’re applying for a college or university and there is an internship component in your study, this will be yes, but if not it’s no, and you will see it in your admission letter if it is required. Are you a spouse, common law partner, or child of a skilled worker, if your spouse already has status in Canada as an international student, you can click yes. If you’ve gotten any kind of scholarship, such as a Commonwealth scholarship or other government funded scholarships, click yes, otherwise click no and continue.

Adding a Family Member

Are you accompanying a family member, this is no for those applying for the first time on their own. Have you ever been arrested, if that’s actually yes, that’s a problem. Have you done a medical exam, if you plan to do an upfront medical you click yes, but if you don’t want to do an upfront medical before submitting your application, click no.

Do you want to submit an application for a family member, this is where you submit an application for a family member, for example adding your spouse for a work permit or applying for your children. If it’s just you, click no, but if there’s a family member, click yes. For a spouse, you would select the country and the country that offers the travel document, then click next. It also asks whether the family member is a permanent resident of the United States, the family member’s relationship to you, their date of birth, and where the family member will be staying.

Fingerprints and Fees

Then it asks why the family member is applying, for example an open work permit if you want to apply for one with your spouse, or visitor if applicable. Have they committed any crime. Have they done an upfront medical. Have they done their biometrics, this would be no for a first time family application. Then there are fees, and you confirm you will be paying fees for your family member. There’s also a question about giving access to anyone to your application.

Have you done your fingerprints, if you’ve already done this for a Canada visitor’s visa before, you can use that, but if not, click no. There are fees associated with the application, and you confirm you’ll be paying them. There’s also a question about scanning your documents, and an application fee that you can pay by card. You can review your answers to make sure everything is correct, and modify anything that’s wrong before moving on to click continue. Then they give you some other information, and you click continue.

Document Checklist

Applicant Documents

This is where you get your document checklist, the forms you need to download. Click on the form and it will download. Sometimes it may not open directly, so you may have to go to your download folder to open it. Once you fill everything out, you validate it, and then upload it. This includes your international passport and your letter of acceptance.

Family Representative Form

This form is for those adding a family member and acting as a representative for them. If you’re a single person, you won’t have this form.

Financial Support Documents

Proof of major financial support, all your bank statements, pay stubs, letter of sponsorship, and similar documents. The digital photo needs to meet the Canada standard, a white background.

Digital Photo and Medical

If you clicked yes for upfront medical, it will ask you to upload the medical card. If you clicked no, it won’t ask you to upload this, and you can wait for IRCC to request it later if you prefer.

Family Information Form

Download this form to fill in your family information, your father, your mother, your siblings, and other details. There’s also an optional document for your travel history and other information. Client information is where you include your letter of explanation, police report, education credentials, letter of recommendation from work, family pictures, and any other documents not already covered elsewhere in the main application. This applies to those applying alongside a spouse or children.

Spouse’s Documents

If your spouse is applying for a spouse open work permit, and you’re a single person, this won’t apply to you. Download and fill out the work permit application form, and your spouse will also fill out the family information form listing their siblings and other details, along with the purpose of travel. For the spouse open work permit, write a letter stating that your spouse is following you since you’ve gotten admission into the school, a short letter explaining why your spouse is accompanying you. Then there’s the digital photo, and proof of upfront medical if your spouse has done one.

Final Steps and Payment

You can also fill out the TRV form, and if possible your spouse can write a letter of explanation stating why they are accompanying their spouse, talking about what they’re currently doing, along with education credentials, letter of reference if they’re working, and company or corporate affair registration if applicable. Once everything is complete, the next step is to pay the application fee. You won’t be able to move on to payment until everything is filled out.

Conclusion

The forms are not very difficult to fill out once you download them. Just take your time going through each section of the checklist, upload everything accurately, and make sure your application fee is paid before moving on. Once that’s done, you should be just fine.