Launched by ApplyBoard, the new public ‘Trust Centre’ analysed over 2,800 Canadian study permit decisions in June 2026, of which 1,370 (49%) were rejected.
Across the denials, lack of financial documentation was cited as a reason for refusal in 47% of cases – a factor ApplyBoard CEO Meti Basiri said was mostly avoidable.
“Students who very likely had the funds to study, were refused because they could not prove it in a way a visa officer could trust. That tells us most were preventable,” Basiri told The PIE News.
“The barrier is rarely the students. It is how the application is prepared and presented.”
Though refusal letters can contain more than one reason, students have been warned to “fix the money paperwork”. According to ApplyBoard, many applicants likely had the money but could not prove it in a way the visa officer could trust.
After financial documentation, other reasons cited were having family on the file, which prompts stricter review and was mentioned in 10% of cases. Having an expired PAL or TAL letter was cited the same number of times – which leads to an automatic refusal.
In just 2% of cases, students were refused for having hidden past visa refusals from any country – which is counted by officers as misrepresentation and triggers a five-year ban.
“Most of these students would likely have been fine if they had simply disclosed it,” said ApplyBoard.
On the flip side, having already completed a degree and holding a conditional offer stood out as factors separating approved students from refused ones, while prepaying more tuition fees did not help in terms of visa outcome.
The barrier is rarely the students. It is how the application is prepared and presented
Meti Basiri, ApplyBoard
Last year, Canada welcomed fewer first-time international students than during the pandemic, as the study permit approval rating plunged to 36%.
While the data showed study permit approval rates rose in every Canadian province over the past year, Basiri said the trend was “far from uniform”, with approval rates swinging widely from one province to the next.
He said the sector had “spent too long guessing why students get refused” and advised institutions to pay close attention to provincial details and partner data as Canadian higher education seeks to move from volume to quality in international student admissions.
With high study visa refusal rates across the ‘big four’ study destinations, ApplyBoard plans to launch a UK edition of the Trust Centre next month, while a US edition will be released in September 2026.
