Kenyan students planning to study in Canada will need deeper pockets from next week, after Ottawa raised the minimum amount international students must prove they have for living expenses.
Starting September 1, 2026, anyone applying for a Canadian study permit — outside Quebec — must show they have at least CAD 23,448, roughly KSh2.2 million, to cover a year’s living costs. That figure excludes tuition and travel expenses, which applicants must demonstrate separately.
The new threshold is a modest bump from the CAD 22,895 requirement that has applied since January 2025, but it caps a dramatic climb in recent years. As recently as 2023, students only needed to show CAD 10,000. That figure was more than doubled to CAD 20,635 in January 2024 to keep pace with Canada’s rising cost of living, and has been adjusted upward annually since.
The requirement scales with family size. A student travelling with one family member must now show CAD 29,192, while a family of three needs CAD 35,888. Larger families face even steeper thresholds, with each additional member beyond seven adding CAD 6,318 to the total.
Gurpreet Oshan, a regulated Canadian immigration consultant, said the change should be read as routine housekeeping rather than a fresh crackdown. “The increase taking effect on Sept 1, 2026, should be understood as part of Canada’s annual adjustment of the financial requirement for international students, rather than as a standalone policy restriction,” he said.
But he cautioned that meeting the minimum figure is not enough on its own. “Meeting the minimum dollar figure does not automatically establish financial capacity. Immigration officers assess the source, availability and sustainability of the funds,” Oshan said, adding that applicants on programmes longer than a year must also show how they will fund the rest of their studies.
For Kenyan families, he said, this means starting financial planning much earlier. “For Indian families planning Canadian education, this means financial planning needs to happen much earlier,” he said, noting the principle applies broadly to international applicants weighing whether Canada remains within reach.
Acceptable proof of funds includes bank statements covering the past six months, tuition payment receipts, scholarship letters, education loan approvals, and documented support from sponsors or family members. Immigration officials will scrutinise not just the amount available but where the money came from.
The change affects thousands of Kenyans already in Canada, including thousands of students, and is expected to reshape how local families budget for overseas education in the months ahead.
