ENROLMENT REQUIREMENTS: STUDYING AND WORKING IN CANADA
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced changes to the International Student Program starting January 1, 2026, including new rules for Provincial Attestation Letters (PALs).
Graduate students (Master’s or PhD) at public institutions will be exempt from the PAL requirement starting January 1, 2026. In addition, PhD students and their accompanying family members may also qualify for expedited processing, 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 IRCC website). It is your responsibility to ensure that you meet IRCC’s eligibility requirements to work on or off campus.
SFU 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.
- 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 (“FEP”) or Field School (outbound exchange and field school), or
- Undergraduate and Graduate students enrolled in a full-time co-operative education placement (“Co-op”), 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 SFU and Langara, Douglas and Kwantlen, or
- Graduate students enrolled full time under the Western Deans Agreement, in any given term, or
- Visiting International Graduate Research Students (see more information) enrolled in “Grad 800”, 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