IRCC raises cap for study to PR pathway  

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will accept close to 700 more applications through its Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot (FMCSP) study to permanent residence (PR) pathway. 

This increase brings the total number of applications accepted through this pathway to 2,970, up from last year’s cap of 2,300.  

IRCC will accept these applications between August 26, 2025, and August 25, 2026.  

To be eligible for the FMCSP, a foreign national needs to score only a level 5 French proficiency under Canada’s Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC), in contrast to the level 7 NCLC required for category-based draws under Express Entry. 

Special features of the FMCSP 

Through the FMCSP, eligible francophone students who are accepted into a designated program and school in Canada (in a selected community) can receive facilitated study permits and eventually apply for PR after their studies through a special dedicated pathway.  

Accompanying direct family members* of applicants under the FMCSP can also receive PR through this pathway.  

After applying for PR, both the principal applicant (the student) and their accompanying immediate family members may be eligible for open work permits (OWPs), allowing them to work for most employers and in most industries in Canada while they wait for a decision.  

*IRCC defines immediate family members as 

• A spouse or common-law partner; 
• Dependent children; and 
• The dependent children of dependent children. 

Who is eligible to apply under this pathway? 

To be eligible for the FMCSP, international students (as the principal applicant) must meet the following requirements: 

• Have submitted a study permit application before entering Canada. 
• Be a citizen of an eligible member country of l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), from a selected area:
  • Eligible countries:
    • Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Togo, Tunisia. 
    • Middle East: Egypt, Lebanon. 
    • Americas: Haiti, Dominica, Saint Lucia. 
• Have a letter of acceptance that
  • Comes from a Designated Learning Institution (DLI) that has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with IRCC to participate in the FMCSP; 
  • States that the student is applying under the FMCSP; 
  • Confirms the student will enroll in a postsecondary program taught primarily in French (more than 50% of courses in French); 
  • Is for a full-time program lasting at least two years; and 
  • Leads to a diploma or degree. 
• Provide French language test results from an approved testing organization, showing a minimum score of 5 in each of the four abilities (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) according to the NCLC. 
• Show proof of sufficient available funds (in addition to first-year tuition and travel costs) equal to at least 75% of the Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO) for the municipality where the DLI’s main campus is located. 
• Not be inadmissible to Canada, including due to inadmissible family members.  

To join an eligible principal applicant under the FMCSP, immediate family members must

• Meet IRCC’s definition of a family member; 
• Have submitted one of the following applications:
  • A work permit application as a family member of the principal applicant; 
  • A study permit application showing that they are a legitimate student with an interest in the study program, and outlining a connection to the principal FMCSP applicant; or 
  • A temporary resident visa (TRV) application.  

How to apply 

Instructions and needed documents to apply through the FMCSP vary slightly based on the country from which students apply.  

To get the relevant instructions, applicants can: 

• Visit IRCC’s “How to apply” website for the FMCSP and select the country from which they are applying.
  • At this point, students must also specify whether they are applying with an accompanying family member who is also applying for a work permit through the FMCSP. Application instructions and needed documents will change slightly based on the applicant’s responses here. 
• Once these details have been entered, the site will generate a checklist of documents relevant to each applicant’s situation. These are linked in the final bullet point of the list as “visa office instructions”.
  • Applicants must download this list and gather all needed documents, including application forms, academic documents, proof of funds, and all other needed documents.
    • IRCC advises that when submitting application forms, students must be careful to answer certain questions in specific ways to indicate that they are applying under the FMCSP.
      • If applying alone: when asked “Do you have a provincial or territorial attestation letter or meet an exception from submitting a provincial or territorial attestation letter” applicants must select the response “Yes, I meet an exception from submitting a provincial or territorial attestation letter.”
      • If applying with a family member who is applying for a work permit: when asked “which exception do you qualify for?” applicants must select the response “I am an applicant who meets another exception listed on the IRCC website.”
• After all the necessary documents have been gathered and filled out, students can now upload their documents to their IRCC secure account.
• Students must ensure that they upload their language test results to the “Client information” field under the “Optional document” section.

Why has IRCC raised its application intake for the FMCSP? 

IRCC has raised the FMCSP as part of its mandate to increase the number of francophones outside of Quebec.  

As the department that has the most impact on languages spoken within Canada (through immigration), IRCC has been tasked by the federal government with increasing the “demographic weight” of French speakers outside of Quebec—a population that has steadily declined in recent years.  

As part of this goal, IRCC has implemented several initiatives to target francophones from abroad to settle in Canada outside Quebec. These measures include 

• Express Entry’s French language proficiency category; 
• The Welcoming Francophone Communities Initiative; and  
• The FMCSP.  

To meet these objectives, IRCC plans to increase the proportion of annual landings that it will allocate to francophones outside Quebec, as detailed in the department’s Policy on Francophone Immigration. This rise will be accomplished through dedicated targets for the above programs.  

Per this plan, IRCC plans to dedicate 9.5% of its immigrant landings in 2026 to francophone immigration outside Quebec.