Study Permit Delay FAQ - Winter 2026

Guidance for Students Transitioning from a Canadian High School to Post-Secondary or Transferring Institutions

On June 24, 2025, IRCC confirmed two key updates affecting students who are transitioning from a Canadian High School to Post-Secondary Studies or Transferring from one Designated Learning Institution to another.

IRCC is prioritizing applications for students transferring between post-secondary Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs). If you’re transferring to York University from another DLI, you must have an approved study permit before beginning your studies. The good news is that IRCC is prioritizing these applications and working to speed up their processing.

Students transitioning from a Canadian high school to post-secondary education in Canada may begin their post-secondary studies while their study permit extension is still in process, as long as their application was submitted before their current study permit expires.

Waiting for your study permit? We're here to help!

We understand that delays in study permit processing can be stressful—especially as the start of the term approaches. This page is here to support you with guidance, helpful tips, and resources to help you navigate your options while you wait.

Check the status of your application

IRCC processing delays may be affecting the approval of your study permit. While we recognize the impact these delays can have, it is unfortunately not possible for York to influence individual processing times or contact IRCC on your behalf.

Use the IRCC Application Tracker to check the status of your application.

For the latest application processing time estimates, please visit IRCC's website.

How to defer your admission

Deferring means postponing the start of your program to a future term. If you are concerned that your study permit may not be approved in time to begin your studies in Winter 2025, you may wish to defer the start date of your program to a later term.

Undergraduate programs: If you do not receive your study permit approval by December 23, 2025, you are encouraged to delay the start of your studies. Please review instructions on this page to defer your admission.
Exchange Students: If you are an incoming exchange student experiencing visa/study permit delays, please contact exchange@yorku.ca.

Graduate programs: If your study permit isn’t approved one month before your program start date, contact your graduate program office for the possibility of deferring the start of your studies until a later term. This gives programs time to update admissions for a possible Summer or even Fall 2026 start if needed. Graduate students (all except Schulich and Osgoode) are recommended to arrive within the first week after classes begin to ensure you can successfully begin your studies and meet all course requirements. Arriving more than one week after classes begin will require review and approval by the FGS Associate Dean, Students.
Schulich School of Business graduate students, please contact Schulich International Relations (intlrelations@schulich.yorku.ca) for information on arriving late.
School of Continuing Studies: If your study permit isn’t approved two weeks before your program start date (January 8, 2026), contact your program office for the possibility of deferring the start of your studies until a later term. See the SCS FAQ page for more information.

Note: A deferral may not be possible for all programs.

What happens after you submit a deferral request

1) Receive your updated Letter of Acceptance

Once your deferral request is processed, your updated Letter of Acceptance (LOA) will be available for download in MyFile. Please allow 10 business days for deferral requests to be processed.

2) Enrolment deposit and paid tuition fees

If you defer your admission to a future semester, your enrolment deposit and any tuition paid to your student account will remain in your student account as a credit towards future tuition. If you are interested in receiving refunds instead, you must follow the instructions listed on the Student Financial Services website.

3) Course enrolment

Undergraduate programs: Please contact your faculty’s Academic Advising office if you need any assistance with your new course enrolment.

Graduate programs: Contact your graduate program office for guidance.

School of Continuing Studies: Contact cpehelp@yorku.ca for assistance.

Arriving late for undergraduate student housing

Please visit the Housing and Conferences website for more details about Move-In and other important info.

If you will not be arriving in time for the first day of your classes, you must inform Housing & Conference Services by email at undergradres@yorku.ca. Any incoming resident who does not check into their room by the first day of classes and has not notified Housing & Conference Services of their late arrival will lose their room reservation and will incur a no-show fee of $500 to their student account.
If you wish to cancel housing reservations, please fill out the application cancellation form on Housing Services website.

Students moving into the Quad student housing should contact the Leasing Office with any questions about their stay. They are available by phone at (416) 736-7823.

Deadline to add and drop courses

The deadline to add and drop courses for Fall and Winter Terms can be found on the 2025/2026 Fall/Winter Important Dates under “Add/Drop Deadline”.

What happens if I do not defer my admission and remain enrolled in courses?

If you do not receive your study permit approval by the end of the month before your program start, we strongly encourage you to defer your admission to a future term.

If you choose not to defer and remain enrolled in courses, please be aware of York’s tuition fee refund policy and deadlines. Not attending classes or failing to show up does not mean you are automatically withdrawn from your courses. To be eligible for a 100% tuition refund for the Winter 2026 term, you must drop your courses by January 10, 2026. You can find all course fee refund deadlines on the Student Financial Services website.

Distance / Online Learning

All online studies completed outside Canada are excluded from the time that counts toward the length of the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP).

Full and reduced facilitation measures that permitted online learning to count toward the PGWP ended on August 31, 2022 and December 31, 2023, respectively.

What if my study permit is refused

Please see the FAQ section below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Unfortunately, universities cannot intervene to expedite the process of study permit/visa applications for individual students. Please use the IRCC application tracker to monitor the status of your application closely.

If you do not receive your study permit approval by the end of month before your program start, we strongly encourage you to defer your admission to a future term.

If you have reserved housing and will not be arriving in time for the first day of your classes, you must also inform Housing & Conference Services by email at undergradres@yorku.ca. Any incoming resident who does not check into their room by the first day of classes and has not notified Housing & Conference Services of their late arrival will lose their room reservation and will incur a no-show fee of $500 to their student account.

For Undergraduate Students

If you will be arriving within a week or so of the start of the term, you may contact each of your professors explaining your situation and ask for possible accommodations (i.e. make-ups after arrival, virtual participation). We recommend that you consider deferring if you think you will arrive after the first week of classes.

For Graduate Students

Graduate students (all except Schulich and Osgoode) are recommended to arrive within the first week after classes begin, to ensure you can successfully begin your studies and meet all course requirements.

For Schulich School of Business graduate students, please contact Schulich International Relations (intlrelations@schulich.yorku.ca) for information on arriving late.

For School of Continuing Studies Students

The School of Continuing Studies requires you to be in Canada to start your program. While arriving a couple weeks late may not impact your PGWP eligibility, SCS reserves the right to determine its own policy regarding late arrivals. If you have further questions, please contact cpehelp@yorku.ca.

If your study permit has ALREADY BEEN APPROVED:

You will receive a new Decision Letter and Acceptance/Visa Letter in your MyFile account after your deferral request is approved by the Admissions Office.
You should carry your new Letter of Acceptance/Visa Letter with you when you travel to Canada, and inform the officer upon arrival that you have deferred your admission to a later term due to a delay in obtaining your study permit.

If your study permit is STILL IN PROCESS:

You will receive a new Decision Letter and Acceptance/Visa Letter in your MyFile account after your deferral request is approved by the Admissions Office.
Once you receive your new admission letter, you are advised to write a short letter to IRCC to let them know you have deferred your admission due to the delay in obtaining your study permit. You can submit your letter and updated admission letter via IRCC webform.

If your study permit has ALREADY BEEN APPROVED:

If your application has been approved, you must submit a new study permit application, and pay new fees.

If your study permit is STILL IN PROCESS:

If your application is still in process, you can submit your new letter of acceptance and new Provincial Attestation Letter using the IRCC webform.

If you have deferred your admission to a future term, you will not be able to enrol in Winter 2026 classes. You will have to wait until your new start date to begin classes. Generally, we recommend that you defer the start of your studies if you believe you will arrive in Canada after the first week of classes. Missing more class time may make it difficult to keep up with your studies.

You may come to Canada so long as you have a valid study permit and visa or eTA and meet the Canadian government’s entry requirements, but we recommend timing your entry to allow only the time you need to settle in before classes start.

Note: if you are planning to work part-time, you are not allowed to work until you start your studies.

At York, most first year courses are planned to be in-person. If your program offers suitable courses for your first semester online, you may start your studies virtually from outside of Canada. However, please keep in mind the following risks:

Your study permit may not be approved and if that happens, you may not be able to reverse 100% of the tuition fees depending on when you receive your refusal. See the tuition refund table for details.
The time spent outside of Canada studying online will not count toward your future Post-Graduate Open work permit.

No. Even if you hold a valid visitor visa or Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), you must wait until your study permit is approved before traveling to Canada if a study permit is required for your program of study. Entering Canada with the intention to study without a valid study permit may result in being denied entry or being admitted only as a visitor, which does not permit studying. If you arrive in Canada before your study permit is approved, you will be required to leave the country to finalize the permit process once it is approved, and you will not be allowed to attend classes.

There is no set time frame for you to arrive in Canada before you begin your studies. You should just arrive to give yourself a reasonable amount of time to prepare for the start of school.

If you intend to re-apply, a new Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) may be required*. Please follow the steps below to request a new PAL and to receive additional application support:

[NOTE: Graduate (Master's and PhD) students coming to York University and applying for study permit on or after January 1, 2026, will no longer require a PAL.]

Fill out the study permit refusal advising request form.
If you do not receive a response after 5 business days, please attend a virtual drop-in advising session to speak with one of our International Student Advisors or send us a follow-up email at iadvisor@yorku.ca. Find schedule and zoom links of virtual drop-in advising sessions by searching “international student advising” on Events Calendar.
Join our Study Permit Refusals Webinar to learn more. Find schedule and zoom links by searching “study permit refusal” on Events Calendar.

If you do not intend to re-apply, contact the Student Support Advising team at contactssa@yorku.ca and provide a copy of your refusal letter. They will assist you with the refund of your enrolment deposit.

To proceed with withdrawing your offer and requesting a deposit refund, here are the steps you should follow:

Withdraw Your Offer: Please notify the admissions office or the appropriate program contact in writing that you will not be attending. If you’ve already enrolled in courses, be sure to drop them through the Registration and Enrolment Module (REM) as soon as possible. Not attending classes or failing to show up does not mean you are automatically withdrawn from your courses. To be eligible for a 100% tuition refund for the Winter 2026 term, you must drop your courses by January 10, 2026.
Cancel Housing Reservation: If you have reserved housing and will not be arriving, you must notify Housing & Conference Services. Any incoming resident who does not check into their room by the first day of classes and has not notified Housing & Conference Services of their late arrival will lose their room reservation and will incur a no-show fee of $500 to their student account.
Request a Refund: You can submit a refund request through the Student Financial Services – Refunds page. If you need any assistance, the best person to contact is the Student Support & Advising at contactssa@yorku.ca.
- If your study permit was refused, you may be eligible for a full refund of your deposit. You’ll need to upload a copy of the refusal letter.
- If you are withdrawing for personal reasons, refund eligibility will depend on the timing and the refund schedule. The deposit is generally non-refundable unless exceptional circumstances apply.