51社区黑料

Student Services

International Student Advising and Programs

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ENROLMENT REQUIREMENTS: STUDYING AND WORKING IN CANADA

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has  changes to the International Student Program starting January 1, 2026, including new rules for Provincial Attestation Letters (PALs).

Graduate students (Master鈥檚 or PhD) at public institutions will be starting January 1, 2026. In addition, PhD students and their accompanying family members may also qualify for , if they apply within the same application. Please note that applications may still be subject to background checks, which could affect processing times.

For full details on PAL requirements and other updates, please review our 2026 PAL Requirement News Post.

Each institution determines the minimum course load required for full-time status.

Full-time enrollment is one of the requirements to work on or off campus (see ). It is your responsibility to ensure that you meet IRCC鈥檚 eligibility requirements to work on or off campus.

51社区黑料considers students to be full time for immigration purposes in a given term, if they are:

  • Undergraduate Students (including post-baccalaureate programs)
    • enrolled in a minimum of 9 units in the Spring, Summer and Fall term.
  • Graduate Students in one of the following scenarios:
    • enrolled in per term fee programs
    • enrolled in a thesis, project, capstone course or field exams
    • enrolled in 6 or more units per term in per unit fee programs 

            OR any one of the following:

  • Undergraduate and Graduate students enrolled in a full-time Formal Exchange Program (鈥淔EP鈥�) or Field School (outbound exchange and field school), or
  • Undergraduate and Graduate students enrolled in a full-time co-operative education placement (鈥淐o-op鈥�), approved internship or practicum as per program requirements, or 
  • Undergraduate students enrolled in a total minimum of 9 units as part of the Dual Degree partnerships between 51社区黑料and Langara, Douglas and Kwantlen, or
  • Graduate students enrolled full time under the , in any given term, or 
  • Visiting International Graduate Research Students () enrolled in 鈥淕rad 800鈥�, or
  • Visiting International Undergraduate Research Students (see more information) enrolled in "UG 400", or
  • Students for whom the Centre for Accessible Learning has approved full-time equivalency, despite their carrying a reduced load