Conditions on post-secondary Designated Learning Institutions

As of November 8, 2024, regulatory changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) will now require post-secondary Designated Learning Institutions (DLI) to meet certain conditions outlined in subsection 222.1(1).

These conditions refer to reporting activities that post-secondary DLIs currently undertake, including letter of acceptance (LOA) verification and student compliance reporting, along with a new obligation to provide additional information when requested by IRCC. To strengthen the integrity of Canada’s international student program, these reporting activities will be mandatory regulatory obligations and DLIs may face consequences if found non-compliant.

On this page

• DLI conditions
• Overview of DLI verifications with conditions
• Consequences of non-compliance 

DLI conditions

The conditions under R222.1(1) will require that a DLI comply with the following requests:

• R222.1(1)(a): The DLI must verify the letter of acceptance included in post-secondary study permit applications and confirm whether the applicant has been accepted to the program indicated on the letter. DLIs must respond and complete the verification activity in the LOA portal or by email within 10 calendar days upon request by IRCC.
• R222.1(1)(b): The DLI must submit a student compliance report containing the enrolment status for each study permit holder who has been accepted to the DLI (and is associated to the DLI in the Global Case Management System), within 60 calendar days upon receiving a request using the DLI Portal account. These requests are sent twice a year on March 1 and November 1. This is also known as a periodic verification.
• R222.1(1)(c): The DLI, upon request, must provide corrected, updated or additional information to the information contained in their compliance report using the DLI Portal or by email within 10 calendar days upon request by IRCC. This is also known as an ad hoc verification.

• R222.1(1)(d): The DLI must provide any additional information required in relation to study permits, study permit applications or further information in relation to the administration of Part 12 of the IRPR, within 10 calendar days upon receiving a request from IRCC.

IRCC may provide an extension of time to a request as per subsection R222.1(2).

In the case of LOA verifications [R222.1(1)(a)], please see extension of LOA verification due to unforeseen circumstances.

In the case of all other requests, extensions may be granted at the discretion of the Minister’s delegate, if the DLI’s response to the request has been prevented by exceptional circumstances.

DLI compliance verifications – Overview

DLIs may be subject to a verification for reasons outlined in subsection R222.2(1).

Verifications are administrative assessments to confirm whether a DLI has met their conditions outlined in IRPR, and if not, whether they were justified in not doing so. Some administrative records may also be retained which could indicate whether the DLI has made reasonable efforts to meet their conditions. For example if they requested technical assistance from IRCC when encountering technical issues that impeded their ability to comply.

As part of the verification, the responsible office may request additional documentation from the DLI or ask the DLI questions pertaining to the non-compliance. The DLI is required to respond, as per R222.2(2).

Following an officer’s review, if it is determined that the DLI has failed to comply with their condition(s), and it is also determined that the failure is not justified, a Notice of Preliminary Finding will be issued providing the details of the non-compliance, recommended consequence and an opportunity to respond.

This process will provide DLIs a procedural fairness opportunity to submit additional documents and/or information to IRCC that may explain or negate the occurrence(s) of non-compliance as per R222.4(1). Submissions must be taken into consideration to determine whether the DLI acted in good faith, and/or whether the DLI made all reasonable efforts to comply as per subsection R222.2(3), whereby the DLI has provided a justification for not complying with the conditions.

The following are some examples of circumstances that may constitute a justification:

• Unforeseen circumstances: prolonged failure of power, communications or other infrastructure, natural disaster, public health emergency, labour dispute/strike action, sudden staffing changes, etc.
• Prolonged IT issues, where IRCC or DLI Portals are impacted by server or network outages or other intermittent issues. DLIs may not be able access their account to respond to requests. DLI should also be able to demonstrate that they made multiple attempts to complete their requests and/or proactively contacted IRCC for technical assistance and followed instructions.
• Administrative errors that may have occurred on IRCC’s part.

If the final determination results that the DLI has not met their regulatory condition(s) and was not justified in doing so under R222.2(3), the DLI will be issued a Notice of Final Determination with a warning or placed on the suspension list for a period of up to one year, as per R222.5(1).

Consequences of non-compliance

As per subsection R222.5(2), if a DLI has been found to be non-compliant, the length of a suspension, which can be up to one year, will take the following into consideration.

• the frequency with which the DLI has failed to comply with the conditions in subsection 222.1(1), including consideration for instances of non-compliance where a warning has been issued in the past;
• the seriousness of the institution’s failure to comply with the conditions;
• the DLI’s efforts to comply with the conditions;
• the DLI’s cooperation with IRCC during the verification process; and
• any written submissions made by the DLI as part of the procedural fairness process, which may demonstrate, among other things, their efforts to comply or explanation for not doing so.

When warranted, as per R222.5(2), a warning may be issued, rather than a suspension. The regulatory consequences on DLIs for non-compliance do not intend to be only punitive and should also be used to encourage compliance with IRPR.

When a DLI is suspended, new study permit applications received during the period of suspension will be returned without being processed, per R222.6(2). IRCC will also add the DLI’s name to the public suspension list, stating the violation and duration of the suspension, as per R222.6(1).

Please see Study permits: Designated Learning Institutions for more information on processing study permit and study permit extension applications associated to suspended DLIs. Applications received prior to the suspension and existing study permit holders studying at the suspended DLI who are seeking a renewal of their study permit to allow them to complete their program of study, will not be impacted.