Can I Study on a Work Permit Without a Study Permit?

IRCC's page for workers lists two conditions: you hold a valid work permit, and the study program is 6 months or less. If your work permit is valid, you are authorized to study for up to 6 months or until your work permit expires, whichever comes first.

You do not apply for a study permit to use it. IRCC said on September 9, 2026 that it would begin notifying eligible work permit holders that week, and named tradespeople, nurses and laboratory technicians as examples of the workers it has in mind, for short licensing, education or training programs.

Short programs of 6 months or less were already exempt from the study permit requirement. The regulation behind that exemption adds a condition: the course has to be completed within the period of stay you were authorized when you entered Canada.

The temporary public policy lifts that one condition for anyone who holds a valid work permit. It was signed on August 5, 2026, took effect 30 days later, and expires on December 31, 2027. Every other eligibility and admissibility requirement still applies.

IRCC's notice is direct: full-time studies still require a study permit. So does any program longer than 6 months.

The measure is about training alongside your job, in IRCC's words while continuing to work. Your work permit and its conditions carry on as before. Students on a study permit have their own work rules, set out in the guide to off-campus work hours.

The exemption lasts until the work permit it relies on expires, or until the public policy expires or is revoked, whichever comes first. Plan the course so it finishes before the expiry date on your permit. If that date is close, deal with the permit first: the guide to working while an extension is processed covers the timing.

A separate temporary measure covers construction apprentices, and unlike the 6-month rule it is requested. You must meet all three conditions when you request the exemption and when the decision is made: a valid work permit, a job in an eligible construction occupation, and an apprenticeship agreement registered with the provincial or territorial apprenticeship and certification authority.

IRCC says the measure is not a new pathway for workers to come to Canada. It changes nothing about who can get a work permit, and it does not turn a short course into a study permit.

The length of the program against the 6-month limit, whether it is full-time, and the course end date against the expiry date on your work permit. If a longer program is the plan, we look at whether a study permit fits alongside your work and your route to permanent residence.