Do I Need a Provincial Attestation Letter for My Study Permit?

A provincial attestation letter, or territorial attestation letter, is a letter from the province or territory where you plan to study. It confirms there is a space for you under that year's study permit cap. The province issues it, but you get it through the school you plan to attend. IRCC describes it as usually required for a study permit.

The school decides its own process. IRCC says that in most cases you need to accept your offer and pay tuition, in part or in full, before the school will give you the letter. Quebec works differently: you need a Quebec Acceptance Certificate, and it must carry the line confirming you have a place in Quebec's share.

Students at preschool, primary school or secondary school up to grade 12. Students in a degree-granting master's or doctoral program at a public designated learning institution, starting January 1, 2026. Students at a federally designated military college. Quebec vocational programs leading to a DVS, AVS or STC. Exchange students who pay no tuition to the Canadian school. Global Affairs Canada scholarship holders. Students at a school in the Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot with an acceptance letter naming them under that pilot. People exempt under a public policy that is part of a migration response to a crisis, or under the temporary measures to reunite families of Indigenous people separated by Canada's border.

People already in Canada in one of these situations: extending a study permit at the same school and the same level; under a removal order that cannot be carried out; holding a temporary resident permit valid for six months or more; a protected person; or with a permanent residence application filed on humanitarian grounds, under a public policy, or as a spouse or common-law partner in Canada.

Being exempt does not mean sending nothing. IRCC says you must include proof that you fit one of the exemptions, and the officer confirms it during review.

The letter goes in with the study permit application, not afterwards. Every applicant needs their own, even when a family applies together. Ask your school how to request it; IRCC does not issue it.

A letter is tied to the school that arranged it and to the cap year it was issued in. A 2026 letter is valid until December 31, 2026 unless it shows an earlier date. It has to be valid on the day you apply, not on the day classes start. You cannot apply with a letter from a previous cap year.

You can reuse a valid letter only if your earlier application was withdrawn before a decision, or was never accepted for processing and the fee came back. Once an application is approved or refused, that letter is used up.

The letter has expired. Your last application was approved or refused. You are changing schools, a rule in force since January 22, 2025. You are moving from secondary to post-secondary, or from graduate level down to post-secondary. You are extending at a different school or level. Or you are restoring your status as a student, even at the same school and level.

One move that does not need a new letter: going from a post-secondary program into a degree-granting master's or doctoral program at a public school.

Whether the letter matches the school and program on the acceptance letter, whether it is still inside its cap year on the filing date, and whether a claimed exemption is one IRCC actually lists. A refused study permit means a new letter before any reapplication, so the school timeline matters as much as the IRCC one.