This page reflects IRCC's public policy notice and CIC News reporting, current as of October 2026. Temporary public policies like this one can be changed, narrowed or revoked by IRCC without notice, so confirm your own eligibility directly on canada.ca before relying on it to study without a permit.
- Work permit holders can study in a program of six months or less without a separate study permit, effective September 4, 2026
- Study authorization under the exemption ends whenever the work permit expires, whichever comes first
- Workers in Quebec no longer need a Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ) to study under this exemption, also effective September 4, 2026
- The policy is scheduled to run until December 31, 2027, and IRCC can revoke it at any time without notice
- The policy it replaces, clarified by IRCC in December 2024, applied only to workers whose permit application was received on or before June 7, 2023, and expired June 27, 2026
- About 1.5 million people held work-permit-only status in Canada as of June 30, 2026, against about 630,000 holding study permits
What does the September 2026 study-without-a-permit policy allow?
As of September 4, 2026, a temporary public policy from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada lets a foreign national who holds a valid work permit study in Canada without also applying for a study permit, as long as the program of study is six months or less in length. There is no separate application, no second set of fees and no added processing wait for the study side of things: the work permit itself is what authorizes the study.
The policy also carries a Quebec-specific piece: workers studying in Quebec under this exemption do not need a Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ) from the Ministere de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Integration, also effective September 4, 2026. And under the temporary measure, a worker does not need to meet any study-related conditions that might otherwise sit on their work permit.
The trade-off is that the exemption is tied tightly to the work permit. If the work permit has already expired, or it will expire before the study program finishes, the exemption does not apply and a study permit is required instead.
Who qualifies for the exemption?
Eligibility is simple on paper: hold a valid work permit, and keep a study program to six months or less. The policy does not single out a particular work permit stream, a particular occupation or a particular date of application, which is a meaningful change from the rule it replaces (more on that below).
What matters in practice is timing. Authorization to study under this policy lasts only until the work permit expires, whichever comes first against the end of the study program. A worker whose permit is close to its expiry, or who is mid-renewal, needs to check that the permit (not just a pending application) will cover the entire length of the course before enrolling without a study permit.
How is this different from the policy it replaced?
This is not the first time IRCC has let work permit holders study without a separate permit. An earlier temporary policy, which IRCC clarified in operational instructions on December 6, 2024, allowed the same kind of exemption, but only for workers whose work permit application, or a renewal application, had been received by IRCC on or before June 7, 2023. Anyone who applied for a work permit after that date did not qualify and needed a full study permit even for a short course. That earlier policy was set to expire June 27, 2026.
The September 2026 policy removes the application-date cut-off entirely. Any valid work permit holder can now use the exemption, regardless of when their permit application was filed, and the new version is scheduled to remain in effect until December 31, 2027, subject to being revoked without notice at any point before then.
In scale, this matters: IRCC reported that roughly 1.5 million people held work-permit-only status in Canada as of June 30, 2026, compared with about 630,000 study permit holders. Many of those work permit holders would have applied well after June 2023 and so would not have qualified under the old, narrower policy.
What should Saskatchewan work permit holders do next?
For temporary foreign workers and provincial nominees in Saskatchewan who are already here on a valid work permit, this removes a real obstacle to short-term upskilling. A six-month-or-less English or French language course, an occupational certificate, or a short college program tied to a SINP priority sector no longer has to wait on a separate study permit application and its own processing time.
Two things are worth checking before relying on this. First, confirm your work permit's actual expiry date against the course end date: if the permit runs out even a day before the course finishes, the exemption does not cover you. Second, because this is a temporary public policy and not a permanent rule, verify current eligibility directly on canada.ca before enrolling, since IRCC can narrow or withdraw it without advance notice.
Workers who are also mid-process on a bridging or extension application, such as those covered by the flexibility SINP nominees gained for work permit bridging in 2026, should treat their underlying work permit status, not just a pending application, as the thing that determines whether this study exemption applies to them. A work permit review can confirm where you stand before you commit to a program.
Frequently asked questions
Can work permit holders study without a study permit in 2026?
Yes. Under a temporary public policy that took effect September 4, 2026, a foreign national who holds a valid work permit can study in a program of six months or less without also obtaining a study permit, as long as the work permit stays valid for the full length of the study period.
Who qualifies for the study-without-a-permit exemption?
Anyone holding a valid work permit qualifies, provided the study program is six months or less and finishes before the work permit expires. The policy no longer limits eligibility to workers who applied for their permit before a specific date, which an earlier version of the policy did.
How is the September 2026 policy different from the earlier rule?
An earlier temporary policy, clarified by IRCC in December 2024, only covered work permit holders whose application or renewal application was received on or before June 7, 2023, and it expired June 27, 2026. The September 2026 policy removes that application-date restriction and is scheduled to run until December 31, 2027, though IRCC can revoke it at any time without notice.
Sources: IRCC, public policy allowing some work permit holders to study without a study permit; reporting from CIC News (September 2026 and December 2024). This article provides general information, not legal advice.