One of Canada’s most prominent private English language academies has filed for bankruptcy, leaving hundreds of students and teachers in the dark.

The International Language Academy of Canada (ILAC) closed suddenly Friday, leaving many students and faculty members scrambling for answers.

ILAC says financial challenges over the past three years led to the closure, as it doesn’t have the resources to keep operating.

Thomaz Bartolomei, a former teacher at the school, says he and his colleagues are waiting to hear from their former employer regarding the next step.

Bartolomei says the sudden closure comes at a time when he thought the school was expanding.

“It was a total shock,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting this at all, because they were still working on renovations on the second and third floors.”

CityNews spoke to students who said they too were blindsided and hadn’t seen any warning signs.

“We thought everything was normal,” said former student Geiovanna Rios.

“They were hiring more people. All the classes were normal; I had classes the day before.”

The students say their work permits are tied in with their study permits, and they have been forced to stop working.

“It is scary, because living in Vancouver is not cheap,” said former student J.P. Salaroli.

Students say they paid their tuition in advance for the full program, and they still haven’t received any information regarding a refund for the remainder of the year or if they will be transferred to another program.

“All my plans with moving to Canada were related to ILAC,” said former student Kimberly Bernardes.

“Now I have lost everything, so I don’t know what to do.”

In a statement to CityNews, ILAC’s chief executive officer says, in part, “Limits on international students means fewer people can access the education and opportunities we were built to provide … We are working closely with regulators to ensure students receive the support they need during this transition.”

According to the Government of Canada’s website, the 2026-28 Immigration Levels Plan is meant to reduce the number of students and temporary workers coming to Canada in order to help ease pressures on housing, infrastructure, and services.

In 2024, almost 300,000 study permits were issued. That number went down to just under 115,000 in 2025 and is on track to drop even further this year.

For now, the students at ILAC anxiously await what comes next.