Required Documents

• Your study permit cannot be issued beyond your passport's expiry date.
• Ideally, your passport should be valid for the duration of your studies at McGill. 
• At minimum, your passport should be valid for at least one year.
• If you obtain a study permit that will expire with your current passport – and before the end of your studies: You will need to renew your passport at a later date and then apply to renew your study permit from inside Canada before it expires.

• Upload your official letter of acceptance (Offer of Admission) – available through the Applicant Portal.
• The letter of acceptance for undergraduate students is signed by the Director of Admissions and Recruitment. If you are an undergraduate student, you must pay your confirmation deposit to access your “official” letter of acceptance.
• The letter of acceptance for graduate students is signed by the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

• Your CAQ serves as both your CAQ and, if necessary, as your Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL).
• Upload your CAQ in the "CAQ" section of your document checklist.
• If you also require a PAL, you will upload your CAQ again the “PAL” section of your document checklist.

• Your CAQ serves as both your CAQ and, if necessary, as your Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL)
• Upload your CAQ in the “PAL” section of your document checklist.
• As of January 1st, 2026, incoming Master's and PhD students are exempt from the PAL requirement, but will continue to require a CAQ.

Upload proof you can pay for at least your first year of studies – i.e., tuition and fees plus living expenses. In general, we recommend that you include the following document(s), where applicable, as proof of financial capacity:

• A cover letter briefly explaining how you will be paying for your first year of studies. The letter should clearly indicate the estimated cost of your first year of studies and the source and amount of funds available. We suggest putting some of this information in a table and/or using bullet points.
  • If your program is more than a year long, explain how you plan to pay for the full duration of your studies – e.g. proof of multi-year departmental funding, proof that parents are employed, etc.
• Proof of financial aid, scholarship/award, stipend, departmental funding, bursary, or student loan, etc. A document proving you have applied for financial aid or a scholarship is not sufficient. You must have proof that the funds have been awarded.
• 4 most recent bank statements of the person(s) paying for the cost of your studies – e.g., yours, your parent(s)’, a family member’s, etc. 
• If someone else is providing you with financial support, include a signed letter from them confirming their relationship to you and the financial support they will provide.
• Other documents IRCC accepts as proof of financial support.
• If the above documents do not, on their own, demonstrate that you have sufficient financial capacity, you can try to supplement them with:
  • Proof of employment (e.g. parents’ employment contract)
  • Recent pay stubs (e.g. parents’ 6 most recent pay stubs)
• US Citizens and Permanent Residents who wish to show their 529 accounts as proof of financial capacity should refer to Q2 of FAQs for new students.

An immigration medical exam is required only if: 

• You are coming to Canada for more than 6 months and you have lived in or travelled to certain countries or territories for 6 months or more in a row in the year before you come to Canada, or
• You want to be able to work in a job where public health must be protected (e.g. in a clinic or hospital setting, in a primary or secondary school, babysitting, etc.).

You can do your medical exam before or after your submit your study permit application:

• Medical exam before you apply for your study permit (upfront medical exam): To avoid study permit processing delays, do a medical exam before you submit your application (also called an upfront medical exam) and upload proof of the medical exam in your document checklist.
• Medical exam after you apply for your study permit: If you are unable to do an upfront medical exam, IRCC will send you instructions on how to complete a medical exam after you apply. To receive these instructions, you must indicate in your study permit application that you require a medical exam and that you have not done one within the past year.

• If this appears on your document checklist, you must include a Student Work Placement Support letter from your faculty/department confirming that a work placement (internship, stage, field work) is a mandatory part of your program.

• Any other document listed in your document checklist (in your IRCC Secure Account)
• Any other document listed on your Visa Office Instructions
• Upload in the “Other Documents – Client Information” section of your document checklist