CIMM - CIMM 3.4 – Withdrawn or Refused Study Permits due to Criminality - December 4, 2025
IRCC’s response to a request for information made by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on September 23, 2025
Question
Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner: You talked about study permits that have been withdrawn. How many study permits have been withdrawn because of criminal activities over the past four years?
Ms. Pemi Gill: While we could provide the total number of those that have been withdrawn, if a client is withdrawing their application we would not know for what reason they're choosing to withdraw it.
Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner: You don't track this.
Ms. Pemi Gill: We would be tracking if we were looking at refusing for any concerns related to criminality. We would have that.
Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner: How many have been withdrawn or refused due to criminality in the last four years?
Ms. Pemi Gill: We don't have that statistic with us today.
Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner: Can you table that with the committee? Yes? Thank you.
Response
In the last four years, since January 2021 to August 2025, there have been a total of 184 applications that were either refused or withdrawn with a failed criminality assessment on file.
- Study Permits:
- 157 refused
- 3 withdrawn
- Study Permit Extensions:
- 21 refused
- 3 withdrawn
This data includes applications in which a criminality assessment was conducted and resulted in a negative determination due to adverse information found during file review.
Excluded from the data are applications where the client did not meet eligibility criteria, and the file was refused without proceeding to the admissibility assessment. Page 2 of 2
In general, applications are assessed sequentially: application completeness (including application form, fees and biometrics as required), eligibility assessment, then admissibility assessment. If an application does not pass the completeness phase or the eligibility phase, the admissibility assessment, which includes criminality assessment, is generally not completed. This process increases efficiency as it avoids the need to complete an admissibility assessment on applications that are already being refused. An important exception to this process is when misrepresentation is detected in an earlier phase. In such cases, decision-makers will generally pursue a misrepresentation finding.
Also excluded are applications where a criminality assessment could not be completed due to insufficient information provided by the client—such as failure to comply with biometric requirements or other document/information requests.
Note that overall application numbers are significantly lower in 2021 due to COVID-related border and travel measures.
Please see Annex A for data.
Note: The SP refusal rate is calculated by dividing the total number of refusals by the total number of applications, minus the number of withdrawn applications (where clients withdrew an application and IRCC did not ultimately render a criminality decision).
Annex A
Temporary Resident – Study Permits Including Extensions Processed between January 1,2021 and August 31,2025 by Final Decision in Persons.
| Final Decision Year | SP | SP-EXT | Grand Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approved | Refused | Withdrawn | Total | Refused % | Withdrawn % | Approved | Refused | Withdrawn | Total | Refusal Rate % | Withdrawn % | ||
| 2021 | 330,474 | 220,642 | 6,278 | 557,394 | 39.6% | 1.1% | 150,010 | 5,639 | 1,016 | 156,665 | 3.6% | 0.6% | 714,059 |
| 2022 | 419,500 | 317,694 | 6,176 | 743,370 | 42.7% | 0.8% | 171,347 | 8,957 | 1,697 | 182,001 | 4.9% | 0.9% | 925,371 |
| 2023 | 515,475 | 345,913 | 5,762 | 867,150 | 39.9% | 0.7% | 205,583 | 16,702 | 3,392 | 225,677 | 7.4% | 1.5% | 1,092,827 |
| 2024 | 267,772 | 289,656 | 26,305 | 583,733 | 49.6% | 4.5% | 239,775 | 14,501 | 8,569 | 262,845 | 5.5% | 3.3% | 846,578 |
| 2025 Jan-Aug | 88,103 | 119,225 | 9,345 | 216,673 | 55.0% | 4.3% | 157,036 | 12,065 | 7,146 | 176,247 | 6.8% | 4.1% | 392,920 |
| Grand Total | 1,621,324 | 1,293,130 | 53,866 | 2,968,320 | 43.6% | 1.8% | 923,751 | 57,864 | 21,820 | 1,003,435 | 5.8% | 2.2% | 3,971,755 |
Temporary Resident - Study Permits Including Extensions with Failed Criminality between January 1, 2021 and August 31, 2025 by Final Decision in Persons
| Final Decision Year | SP | SP-EXT | Grand Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refused | Withdrawn | Total | Refused | Withdrawn | Total | ||
| 2021 | 46 | 1 | 47 | 1 | - | 1 | 48 |
| 2022 | 43 | - | 43 | 3 | - | 3 | 46 |
| 2023 | 24 | 1 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 32 |
| 2024 | 30 | 1 | 31 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 38 |
| 2025 Jan- Aug | 14 | - | 14 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 20 |
| Grand Total | 157 | 3 | 160 | 21 | 3 | 24 | 184 |
includes IRCC and CBSA network
This data includes study permit applications with a negative criminality assessment based on IRPA s. 36.