A pilot program is being launched in Canada

A new pilot project may soon be advantageous to individuals who have endured rejections of their Canadian study permits.

The Study Permit Pilot Project, which is intended to simplify the process of requesting judicial review of rejected study permit applications, has been unveiled by the Federal Court of Canada. It is scheduled to debut on October 1.

Under the Pilot, individuals who submit applications for leave and judicial review of their study permit refusal may finish the entire process in less than five months, compared to the current processing time of 14-18 months. 

A leave and judicial review application is a procedure in which an individual requests permission from the Federal Court of Canada to review an immigration decision.

Typically, a judge determines whether to grant an applicant leave (permission) to proceed with judicial review. If this leave is granted, the case for judicial review is heard and evaluated on its merits. Under the new Study Permit Pilot Project, leave and judicial review requests will be evaluated concurrently.

Opting into the pilot program does not incur additional fees; however, filing for leave and judicial review costs $50.

Who is eligible?

Suppose a student has applied for a study permit and received a refusal letter from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). In that case, they may be eligible for the Study Permit Pilot Project. Additional criteria consist of:

• The prospective student (the Applicant) and IRCC opt for the pilot initiative.
• Both parties agree on the underlying facts, as demonstrated by the application materials submitted to IRCC by the Applicant, which include the comprehensive reasons for the IRCC decision.
• The case’s facts/issues—whether it be the initial study permit application, the refusal from IRCC, or both—being uncomplicated (e.g., no factual or legal issues of inadmissibility or national security and no request for a certified question);
• The applicant is not required to request an extension to submit the Application for Leave.
• The parties are refraining from utilizing affidavit evidence, which is prohibited under this new pilot project. Affidavits are utilized to introduce new evidence.

To apply under this new pilot program, study permit petitioners from within Canada must wait 15 days from the date they receive a refusal to their study permit application. Applicants who are not residing in Canada have 60 days from the date of their study permit application refusal to apply.

How to submit an application

All documents must be submitted online using the court’s electronic filing system. To participate, petitioners must apply for Leave and Judicial Review using Form IR-1 and reference the Pilot Project in three specific locations on the application. Additional information is available here.

A judge will determine the application and notify the applicant following the submission of documents.

What are the reasons for the Federal Court and IRCC’s implementation of these measures?

In their press release, the Canadian Federal Court identified an increase in judicial review and leave requests as a significant factor in the commencement of their joint pilot with IRCC.

“The Federal Court is on course to receive 24,000 immigration filings by the end of December.” That figure is approximately four times the average annual workload the Court encountered in the five years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2024, Canada’s immigration department implemented new policies to address affordability and housing stock pressures by decreasing the number of temporary residents (those with a study, work, or visitor visa) currently in the country.

In January, IRCC announced the first-ever limitation on international students, restricting the total number of newly issued study permits to 485,000 in 2024. This modification, which was initially a temporary policy, applied to most undergraduate and college students. 

Master’s and PhD students were exempt from these restrictions. Following this new limit, the federal government subsequently allocated international student allocations to each provincial and territorial government.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller conducted a press conference on September 18th to reiterate his dedication to the international student limit and to introduce several supplementary measures, including:

• Reducing the number of newly issued study permits by 10% from 2024, resulting in 437,000 new study permits in 2025.
• Incorporating master’s and PhD students into the revised objectives;
• Including a language eligibility criterion in the issuance of Post-Graduation Work Permits (PGWPs) to international graduates, which is determined by their level of study;
• Restricting the eligibility of PGWPs for college students to those who are enrolled in a program associated with a high-demand employment sector and
• Restricting the eligibility of Spousal Open Work Permits (SOWPs) for the spouses of master’s students by the duration of the educational program.