2025 IRCC Policy for International Student changing DLI in Canada

On Dec 10, 2024, the government of Canada announced a new policy affecting secondary study permit holders.

Effective from Dec 10, 2024, you may now attend a new designated learning institute (DLI) that you wish to transfer to while you wait for your study permit extension to be processed. 

You can do so if you satisfy all of the following conditions:

• You have been accepted to a DLI for the Winter or Spring 2025 semester
• You have applied for a study permit extension
• You have a study permit that remains valid and does not have the DLI name printed on it
• You meet all of your existing study permit conditions

This measure aims to rectify an earlier policy that came into effect on  November 8, 2024 , which prevented secondary study permit holders from enrolling in any DLI that is not named on their study permit. As a result, they were prohibited from changing their DLI by declaring it through their online account, and were required to first receive a new study permit that bears the new DLI by applying to extend their current study permit. 

Students were then forced to wait for their application to be accepted before they could transfer to their new DLI. 

Fortunately, this is no longer the case with the newest change in policy. For more details, please visit https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/study-canada/change-schools.html