GIC and Proof of Funds for Canada for Indian Students (2026)

A GIC is the single cleanest way an Indian student can prove the living-cost part of a Canada study permit, but as of 2026 it is no longer something you must buy. A GIC, short for Guaranteed Investment Certificate, is a fixed deposit you place with a Canadian bank before you leave, and the bank gives you back a certificate that shows the visa officer you have the money to live on. Until late 2024 a GIC was compulsory for Indian students using the fast Student Direct Stream. That stream is gone, so today a GIC is just one accepted proof of funds among several, and buying one buys you no faster processing. This page explains what a GIC really is, exactly how much money you must show, which banks (Scotiabank, ICICI Bank Canada, CIBC and RBC) run a Student GIC and how they differ, how you open one from India, and how the bank pays that money back to you after you land. Every figure carries its source and its as-of date, because these numbers change each year.

Rupee figures use an indicative rate of about 1 CAD to 68 INR from mid-July 2026, which moves daily, so treat them as a guide.

What is a GIC, and why do Indian students buy one?

A GIC is a Guaranteed Investment Certificate, which is a low-risk fixed deposit with a Canadian bank that returns your money plus a little interest after a set term. In Indian terms it is close to a bank fixed deposit (FD), so the idea is familiar. Indian students buy the student version of it for one narrow reason, to prove to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that they can pay their living costs for the first year without working.

The reason a GIC became the default is that it packages that proof neatly. You deposit roughly a year of living money with a bank like Scotiabank or ICICI Bank Canada, and in return you get a single official document you can attach to your study permit application. IRCC lists a guaranteed investment certificate from a participating Canadian financial institution as one of its accepted proofs of funds, and one Canadian-dollar document is simpler for an officer to trust than a stack of Indian bank statements.

The money is not a fee. It stays yours, and after you arrive the bank releases it back to you in instalments across your first year.

Is a GIC mandatory for a Canada study permit in 2026?

No. A GIC is no longer required for any Indian student, and it no longer speeds up your application. It became optional when IRCC shut down the stream that used to demand it. On 8 November 2024, IRCC ended the Student Direct Stream (SDS), the fast-track that was open to India and thirteen other countries. Under SDS a GIC was compulsory, and its whole promise was quicker processing in exchange for a fixed set of documents.

Since that date every applicant, from every country, goes through the same regular study permit stream. IRCC’s own closure notice says students should now apply through the regular study permit stream, which accepts Guaranteed Investment Certificates as proof of financial support. Read that carefully. The GIC is still accepted, but only as one proof of funds you may use, not a rule you must meet and not a shortcut.

One reason the confusion lasts is that the banks have not caught up in how they talk about it. RBC and Scotiabank still frame their Student GIC around the old SDS in parts of their own paperwork, which leaves many families believing a GIC is compulsory or that it buys speed. If you would rather prove your funds another way, IRCC also accepts bank statements, an education loan letter, and a Canadian bank account you have already funded, all covered further down. A GIC sits alongside the rest of the study permit paperwork, including the Provincial Attestation Letter and your DLI enrolment, in the full Canada study permit process.

How much money do you need to show, and how much of it does a GIC cover?

You must show your first-year tuition, plus a fixed living amount, plus travel, and a GIC covers only the living amount. For applications submitted on or after 1 September 2025, IRCC requires a single applicant studying outside Quebec to show CAD 22,895 in living costs, on top of tuition and transport, and it re-indexes that figure every year. A GIC is designed to satisfy this living portion. It does nothing for your tuition, which you prove separately.

You can work out the total you must prove with one line.

Proof of funds = first-year tuition + CAD 22,895 living costs + travel from India

Take a real case. A student joining a public-college postgraduate diploma with tuition of about CAD 16,000 needs to show roughly 16,000 + 22,895 + 1,500 in travel, which is about CAD 40,400, or close to INR 27.5 lakh. A GIC of CAD 22,895 would cover the living portion of that in full, while the tuition and travel are shown by other documents. For a full picture of what these numbers mean once you actually land, see the real cost of studying in Canada for Indian students, which separates money you show from money you spend.

One thing catches people out in 2026. Many bank pages, and almost every older guide, still quote a GIC of CAD 20,635. That was the SDS figure, frozen from January 2024, and it is now CAD 2,260 below the CAD 22,895 that IRCC actually asks for. So a student who buys a 20,635 GIC and shows nothing else is short on the living portion. You fix that in one of two ways, either buy a larger GIC that matches the current 22,895, or buy the smaller GIC and make up the difference with a bank statement or loan sanction letter, matching IRCC’s figure rather than the bank’s default.

Which banks offer a Student GIC, and how do they differ?

Four banks run a Student GIC that an Indian student can open from home, Scotiabank, ICICI Bank Canada, CIBC and RBC, and they differ most in the amount they let you set and how they pay it back. All four now let you choose the amount against the current IRCC figure rather than a fixed deposit. The catch is that CIBC’s own worked example still uses the old 20,635, which is one reason that outdated number keeps circulating.

ICICI Bank Canada is the one most Indian students reach for, because the brand is familiar and it advertises the fastest confirmation, within 24 hours of funding. That said, the account and the money sit with ICICI Bank Canada, not with ICICI in India, so it is a Canadian deposit like the others. The table shows the real differences.

Two things are common to all four. You open the account and wire the money from India before you fly, and each bank emails you a single confirmation document that goes into your visa file. And all four make you visit a branch in person after you arrive to activate the account and start the payouts, so none of them releases a rupee until you are physically in Canada. Interest rates are not fixed on any of these pages, so treat any rate you see quoted elsewhere as an estimate to confirm with the bank.

How do you open a GIC from India and get the certificate?

You open a Student GIC online before you leave India, and the bank emails you the certificate to attach to your study permit application. Everything except the final branch visit happens from home, so the document is ready when you apply. The steps are the same across the four banks, with small differences in names.

1. Apply online on the bank’s Student GIC page and get your new Canadian account number, usually the same day.
2. Decide the amount against the current IRCC figure, which is CAD 22,895 for a single applicant, not the older 20,635 some pages still show.
3. Send one international wire from your Indian bank for the GIC amount plus the bank’s fee. This is an outward remittance, so your Indian bank processes it under the usual rules for sending money abroad.
4. Receive the bank’s confirmation document by email, such as Scotiabank’s Investment Directions Confirmation or RBC’s GIC Contribution Details.
5. Upload that document with your study permit application as your proof of the living-cost funds.
6. After you land, visit a branch with your study permit to activate the account and switch on the monthly payouts.

One Indian-specific point is worth knowing. IRCC notes that if your country uses foreign-exchange controls, you must be able to show you are allowed to export the funds. In practice your Indian bank handles the remittance paperwork when it sends the wire, so keep the transfer receipt, because it doubles as evidence the money left India legally.

How does the GIC money come back to you after you arrive?

The bank gives you a lump sum when you first visit a branch, then pays the rest out month by month across your first year, so you never get the full amount at once. This staggered release is deliberate. It is meant to fund your living costs steadily, the way a monthly budget works, rather than handing a new arrival a full year of money on day one.

The split varies by bank. CIBC is the most explicit, releasing about 30% of your deposit up front and holding roughly 70% that it then pays over 11 monthly instalments. Scotiabank and RBC give you an initial lump sum on arrival and divide the remainder into 12 equal monthly payments. ICICI Bank Canada is the most flexible, letting you either take the whole balance at once or spread it over 6, 9 or 12 months.

One consequence is worth planning for. A GIC is not an emergency fund you can draw on freely, because if an unexpected cost lands in your second month, most of the money is still held on the monthly schedule and you cannot pull it early. Keep a small separate buffer for setup costs and surprises, so you are not relying on money the GIC has not released yet.

How does a GIC fit into your whole proof-of-funds plan?

A GIC answers only the living-cost part of your funds. You prove tuition and travel with separate documents, so it is one piece of the file rather than the whole thing. Your proof of funds has three parts, and the GIC covers just one of them.

• Tuition. Show your first-year tuition, often with a receipt that you have already paid part or all of it to the college or university.
• Living costs. This is the CAD 22,895 the GIC is built to cover, or that you can cover with four months of bank statements instead.
• Travel. A one-way flight from India, about CAD 1,500, proven by a booking or simply added to your funds.

Because a GIC is optional, you can mix and match. IRCC accepts several proofs of funds, including a student or education loan letter from a bank, your own bank statements for the past four months, a Canadian bank account you have funded, and a bank draft that can be converted to Canadian dollars. A very common Indian setup is an education loan that funds both the tuition and the living portion, where the loan sanction letter proves the money and the loan itself seeds the GIC deposit. If you are borrowing, confirm with your lender that the loan can be released to fund a Canadian GIC before you commit, because not every loan disburses that way. The GIC then becomes the tidy Canadian-dollar proof of the living costs, sitting on top of the tuition and travel evidence, and the money still comes back to you monthly once you land.

Sources

• IRCC, proof of financial support for a study permit (living amount CAD 22,895, accepted proofs including a GIC), canada.ca
• IRCC, notice ending the Student Direct Stream and Nigeria Student Express (8 November 2024), canada.ca
• Scotiabank, StartRight Student GIC Program, startright.scotiabank.com
• ICICI Bank Canada, Student GIC and Student Partnership Program, icicibank.ca
• CIBC, International Student GIC Program, cibc.com
• RBC, International Student GIC Program, rbcroyalbank.com

Related reading. This page sits under our guide to studying in Canada for Indian students, which links every step in turn, from choosing a college or university, to proving your funds, to landing and settling in. For more country guides, browse the Nbyula study abroad articles.