Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP)

Benefits & funding

• CAD 8,600 for four months or one academic term of college, undergraduate, master’s, or doctoral study or research.
• CAD 12,400 for five to six months of master’s or doctoral study or research.
• The award can support airfare, selected living expenses, health insurance, visa or study/work permit fees, and other eligible costs.
• The Canadian host institution must waive tuition for scholarship recipients.

Eligibility

• The Canadian institutional applicant must be a Designated Learning Institution and must waive recipients’ tuition.
• Student recipients must be citizens of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, or Venezuela.
• Students must be enrolled full-time at a post-secondary institution in an eligible country or territory and pay tuition there throughout their mobility in Canada.
• Students cannot hold or have a pending application for Canadian citizenship or permanent residence.
• Students cannot concurrently hold funding from Global Affairs Canada or another Canadian federal granting agency.
• Students cannot already be enrolled in a degree, diploma, or certificate program at a Canadian post-secondary institution.
• All mobility activities must finish by September 30, 2027.

Application process

1. 1
   The student contacts their home institution and a potential Canadian host institution about internal ELAP selection; direct individual applications are not accepted.
2. 2
   The Canadian host institution selects eligible students and verifies citizenship, enrollment, tuition status, and supporting records.
3. 3
   The selected student signs the Privacy Notice Statement, and the institution submits the nomination through its My EduCanada institutional account.
4. 4
   The institution also emails its completed Management and Accountability Framework to the scholarship administrator by the deadline.

Program timeline

1. January 22, 2026

   The 2026–2027 call opened.

2. Canadian institutions’ application and Management and Accountability Framework deadline.

   March 31, 2026

3. Successful Canadian institutions were scheduled to receive results.

   May 2026

4. After the contribution agreement is signed

   Scholarship activities may begin.

5. All project activities must be completed.

   September 30, 2027