Renewing your Immigration Documents
Need more time to complete your studies?
Your CAQ and Study Permit are expiring soon and you haven’t completed your program?
Don't worry, simply apply for an extension before your documents expire!
Start the process of renewing your documents as soon as possible – we recommend 6 months before expiration. This will allow you the time needed to prepare, collect support documents, complete the appropriate applications and hopefully not stress too much.
PLEASE REMEMBER: YOU MUST UPLOAD YOUR RENEWED IMMIGRATION DOCUMENTS AS SOON AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE.
Your responsabilities as an international student
- You are responsible for maintaining your immigration status and obeying immigration regulations during your stay in Canada.
- You must maintain full-time status throughout your studies:
- Always verify that your immigration documents (passport, CAQ, study permit, TRV or ETA) are accurate and still valid. NOTE: Your CAQ and study permit do NOT always have the same expiry date.
- Upload your immigration as soon as you get them or submit them in person at the ISO.
- Keep your contact information in your student service centre up to date as ISO may contact you with regards to your immigration documents.
Some students must include a provincial attestation letter (PAL) with their study permit applications.
The following students do NOT need to provide a PAL:
• You are applying to study in a master’s degree or doctoral degree program or
• You are currently in Canada and applying from within Canada and one of the following situations applies to you:
o You’re applying for a study permit extension.
o You have a work permit.
o You are a visiting or exchange student.
o You’re a Refugee Claimant.
o You’re the family member of a foreign national who lives in Canada and is one of the following:
- a study permit holder
- a work permit holder
- a temporary resident permit holder with a permit that’s valid for at least 6 months
- a member of armed forces in another country under the Visiting Forces Act
• an accredited foreign government representative
Please see IRCC website for the full list of exemptions.
If you do not meet any of the criteria above, then you need a PAL.
In Quebec the CAQ acts as your PAL if it contains the following statement:
“Cette lettre d’attestation confirme que le demandeur dispose d’une place dans la part du Québec de la répartition des demandes de permis d’études ou en est exempté". In English "This attestation letter confirms that the applicant has a place in Quebec’s share of the distribution of study permit applications or is exempt from it”.
If you require a PAL and your CAQ does not contain the above statement, please complete the MIFI’s webform to request that your CAQ be updated.
Renew your CAQ
Please note that these are general instructions and you should follow them as they apply to you.
The CAQ application is submitted completely online, however it still needs to be completed in 2 separate steps, the first step is to submit the online application and the second step is to submit all the supporting documents online to Immigration Quebec as per the checklist generated by your online application.
Go to https://www.quebec.ca/en/education/study-quebec/temporary-selection-studies, fill out and submit the application.
Once the application is complete, you will be asked to set up an account where you will make the payment and complete the application. It currently costs $120.00 Canadian dollars to process a CAQ renewal.
Once you have submitted and paid for your application, you will then be able to download the personal checklist from your online account (usually after 24 hours of submitting your application).
A colour-scan of the biographical information page of your current and signed passport. If your signature is not on the biographical page, make sure to also include the signature page.
The minimum amount to be shown is the sum of your tuition fees, health insurance, travel expenses and living expenses for one year. More information about financial capcity is available here and here.
You can demonstrate your financial capacity by any/all of the following:
1. Letter of confirmation of student loan, or/and
2. Letter from your bank showing your name and how much money you have in your bank account or if you receive funds on a regular basis provide bank statements for the last three month
3. Letter from your sponsor showing willingness and ability to provide financial support*
- Declaration of financial support signed by your sponsor
- Letter of ability should be an employer’s letter, bank letter or statements
*If the financial documents are from your parents, you can email them the declaration form, which they can sign and then email it back to you along with the bank statements or bank letter. To prove financial capability, Immigration Québec is expecting to see that you have enough funds for 1 year tuition + living expenses for 1 year ($15,078.00 Canadian dollars) if you are asking to extend your CAQ for a year or more. Please note that the document must be signed by hand.
Unofficial transcripts:
For the transcript please follow the instructions listed on here Unofficial transcript request form*
- Please allow up to 3 business days for delivery of your transcript.
- A $5.80 (CAD) fee will be charged to your account.
*Please note that you must login to Concordia Office 365 to submit your request. Instructions can be found on Office 365 Education - students.
Letter of attestation showing your status as a Full time student for all terms:
This can be obtained online from your student center https://www.concordia.ca/students/your-sis/attestation-letter.html. Should you have questions about the letter of attestation, please contact students@concordia.ca.
(select "all terms" and "credits completed/required to complete" on your request)
Curriculum evaluation:
This document is only issued when a student is in their final year or final term. The reason this would be needed is if a student is part-time in their final term then it acts as a supporting document or if a student is exceeding their number of credits then it can be helpful as well.
You can request a letter online *
- Please allow up to 10 business days for delivery of your letter.
- A $20 (CAD) fee will be charged to your account for any letter request.
*Please note that you must login to Concordia Office 365 to submit your request. Instructions can be found on Office 365 Education - students.
Account summary:
You can print from your student center. This document will show how much tuition you have to pay for the upcoming terms (you must be registered for future terms for the amount to show).
Letter from supervisor (for Masters student in a thesis based program and for PhD students only):
This letter needs to indicate the date you are expected to complete your thesis. The letter should confirm that you are working with your supervisor and when he/she expects you to finish your thesis. If the supervisor is not available then your department GPD can write this letter on their behalf.
Explanation letter(s):
Explanations letters are recommended when there has been a gap in your studies, when you did not maintain a full-time status or when you discontinued or failed too many courses. Make sure they have clear subject lines, headings, and supporting documents that corroborate your explanations, such as:
- Study plan, basically explaining why you need to extend your CAQ.
- Letter explaining why you took a leave of absence or studied part-time
- Letter explaining any F grades or discontinued courses during any terms
Your explanation letter must be signed by hand (blue ink recommended) and dated.
Create an Arrima account and uplaod all your documents.
When the CAQ is approved you will receive an online approval letter and you can use this document to apply for your study permit renewal.
Please make copies (or scan) of all the documents that you submit as you will also need them for the Study Permit application.
Renew your study permit
Once your have received your onlinne CAQ approval letter, you can start to renew your study permit with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Here's how!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION IF YOU ARE APPLYING TO EXTEND YOUR STUDY PERMIT
There are currently two IRCC portals that can be used to apply for a study permit. However, only one of the portals is the correct portal if you are applying to extend your study permit from inside of Canada. Please ensure that when applying to extend your study permit from inside of Canada you are applying through the correct portal. If you apply through the incorrect portal, you will not benefit from maintained status and you may be de-registered from your courses.
Please watch this video tutorial that explains how to correctly apply to extend your study permit from inside Canada.
This image below also shows you how to proceed, once you have logged into your GCKey account, to ensure that you apply through the correct portal. If you are applying to extend your study permit from inside of Canada, click on “Apply to come to Canada”. Do not click on “applying using the IRCC Portal”, which leads you to a different portal that is meant exclusively for first-time study permit applicants from outside of Canada.
Completing the electronic questionnaire will create your personal checklist for the application you are submitting and you should see the following on the checklist:
- IMM5709 (SP) Complete the form, validate and save it locally onto your computer. Upload the form onto your IRCC secure account.
- CAQ – upload CAQ (or proof that it is pending if you have not yet received it)
- Letter of acceptance. Combine the following documents into 1 pdf:
- unofficial transcript (1)
- letter of attestation (2)
- curriculum evaluation - this only applies to students in their last year or term (3)
- letter from supervisor - this applies only to Master's and PhD thesis students (4)
- your Concordia University offer of admission – all pages
- Passport (scan and upload your passport, make sure you include the main page with all your information and any other pages that have entry/exit stamps)
- Proof of means of financial support
- Photo (scan and upload a recent photograph 35mm x 45mm)
(1): Unofficial transcripts: please follow the instructions listed on here Unofficial transcript request form*
- Please allow up to 3 business days for delivery of your transcript.
- A $5.80 (CAD) fee will be charged to your account.
*Please note that you must login to Concordia Office 365 to submit your request. Instructions can be found on Office 365 Education - students.
(2): Letter of attestation: this can be obtained online from your student center https://www.concordia.ca/students/your-sis/attestation-letter.html , to confirm your full-time/part-time status. If you are having a hard time with the letter request, you can email students@concordia.ca with a request for the letter of attestation, on the letter you need to ask for all terms along with credits completed/required to complete on your request.
(3): Curriculum evaluation – this request has to be done online by submitting a Degree letter request*
- Please allow up to 10 business days for delivery of your letter.
- A $20 (CAD) fee will be charged to your account for any letter request.
*Please note that you must login to Concordia Office 365 to submit your request. Instructions can be found on Office 365 Education - students.
(4): Letter from supervisor – this letter needs to indicate the date you are expected to complete your thesis. The letter should confirm that you are working with your supervisor and when he/she expects you to finish your thesis. If the supervisor is not available then your department GPD can write this letter on their behalf.
If you have previously done biometrics for a Canadian Visa application in the last 10 years then you do not need to do this; if not then you will pay $85 and will receive instructions to do the biometrics.
*Biometrics are not currently required as in-Canada applications are being exempted from this requirement. However, if you are still asked to pay for it, you can pay and do not need to do anything. The fees will be refunded back to you.
Once the documents* have been uploaded you will be asked to review the application, sign it electronically and submit the application with a payment of 150$.
*The required documents are mentioned in step 2. Complete the Electronic Questionnaire.
Renewing your TRV as a student
You can stay in Canada with a valid CAQ and study permit but if you plan on leaving Canada during your studies, you will need a valid Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) to come back to Canada.
Most TRVs are either a single use TRV, meanign that you used yours when you first came to Canada at the start of your studies, or will expire at the same time as your study permit.
Here's how to renew your TRV while you are a student.
Go to https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/account.html.
Once you are logged into your IRCC account, select Apply to come to Canada; a new page will open and you should choose the option “I do not have a Personal Reference Code” choose Visitor visa, study and/or work permit to determine your eligibility and apply online.
You will need to start as if you are applying for a study permit and after the first 4/5 questions you will get 2 options, it will say you are eligible to apply for the study permit and eligible to apply for the TRV. Here you will choose TRV to continue with the rest of the questionnaire.
Complete the questionnaire and this will create your personal checklist for the application you are submitting and you should see the following:
- IMM5257 (TRV) Complete the form, validate and save it locally onto your computer. Upload the form onto your IRCC secure account.
- Photo (scan & upload a recent photograph 35mm x 45mm)
- Passport (scan & upload your passport, make sure you include the main page with all your information and any other pages that have entry/exit stamps)
- Study permit– scan & upload the hard copy of your study permit
- Proof of funds: you will need to show you have enough funds to cover one year tuition fees plus living expenses for one year. You can use the ones you submitted for your study permit renewal. If the financial documents are from your parents, then you need a declaration letter signed by them along with the bank letter or statements. These can be sent to you by email, you do not need the original copies. (combine - declaration of financial support signed by your parents/sponsor and proof of funds for e.g., employer’s letter, bank letter or statements)
- Proof of next terms enrolment – combine the following documents as 1 PDF:
- letter of attestation: this can be obtained online from your student center https://www.concordia.ca/students/your-sis/attestation-letter.html. Choose all terms, credits completed/required to complete on your request. Make sure your letter of attestation has your future enrolment.
- letter from supervisor: not really required but you can use the same one that you used for the study permit. If you do not have it, then you do not need to worry about it
- Concordia University offer of admission (all pages)
- Copy of transcript – this would be the unofficial transcript. please follow the instructions listed on here Unofficial transcript request form. Please note that you must login to Concordia Office 365 to submit your request. Instructions can be found on Office 365 Education - students.
Once the documents have been uploaded you will be asked to review the application, sign it electronically and submit the application with a payment of 100$.
Once your application is approved you will receive instructions on how and where to mail your passport in order for your new TRV to be added to your passport.
Renew your TRV as a worker (PGWP)
If you are now in Canada on a post-graduation wokr permit (PGWP) and need to renew your Temporary Resident Visa (TRV), here's how to do it.
Go to https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/account.html.
Once you are logged into your IRCC account, select Apply to come to Canada; a new page will open and you should choose the option “I do not have a Personal Reference Code” choose Visitor visa, study and/or work permit to determine your eligibility and apply online.
You will need to start as if you are applying for a work permit and as you proceed to answer the questions you will eventually get the option that says you are eligible to apply for the Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) and then you continue with the rest of the questionnaire.
Complete the questionnaire and this will create your personal checklist for the application you are submitting and you should see the following:
- IMM5257 (TRV) Complete the form, validate and save it locally onto your computer. Upload the form onto your IRCC secure account.
- Photo (scan & upload a recent photograph 35mm x 45mm)
- Passport (scan & upload your passport, make sure you include the main page with all your information and any other pages that have entry/exit stamps)
- Post-graduation work permit: scan & upload the hard copy of your PGWP
Once the documents have been uploaded you will be asked to review the application, sign it electronically and submit the application with a payment of 100$.
Once your application is approved you will receive instructions on how and where to mail your passport in order for your new TRV to be added to your passport.