PEI Implements Federal Study Permit Changes to Students From Abroad
International students wishing to study at an Island post-secondary institution will be receiving provincial documentation to include as part of their federal application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Following the federal announcement(link is external) earlier this year, the Province received notification that it is expected to introduce a new provincial attestation letter (PAL) system to administer its 2,000 allocation of new student study permit applications for the period of January 22, 2024 – January 22, 2025.
The PAL system will require post-secondary institutions to confirm each prospective student intending to study on the Island with the Province. Once validated, the Department of Workforce, Advanced Learning and Population will provide the academic institution with the PAL to then distribute to prospective international students as part of their federal student permit application.
“PEI post-secondary institutions have been longstanding partners to not just deliver high quality education to learners from near and far, but they have also been instrumental in growing a healthy and sustainable Island workforce. We know that the federal cap on new prospective international students will have operational impacts to our academic institutions, but we won’t know the full extent of them until later this year. While we work with our higher learning institutions to implement the federal policy, our current and future learners must continue to have access to high quality education opportunities here on the Island.”
– Workforce, Advanced Learning and Population Minister Jenn Redmond
The Island’s allocation of 2,000 new student study permit applications has been prioritized to the three public post-secondary institutions. The allocation will provide College de l’Ile, Holland College and the University of Prince Edward Island with 105, 710, 1185 PALs respectively to new prospective international students. Once a post-secondary institution has reached the maximum of their allotment, no new PALs will be considered until a new allotment is provided by the federal government.