The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has recently announced changes to the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) program for international students coming to Canada. These changes, which were initially proposed in September 2024, will take effect starting November 1st of 2024 – PGWP eligibility for International students.
The new guidelines will introduce specific field-of-study requirements for some international graduates applying for a PGWP. But, the changes do not affect all graduates. While certain fields of study will now have more strict eligibility requirements, bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD graduates studying in Universities – public or private – remain exempt from these new changes.
What is the PGWP actually?
The PGWP is the most attractive program, created for international students studying in Canada. This program allows eligible students to work in Canada for a period as per the conditions given during their intake. Usually it is one year for one-year course students and three years for students who are opting for a 2 or more than 2 year courses.
This work permit is often considered as the first step for an international student who is wishing to stay in Canada. This helps them to look for jobs without already having a work permit, unconditionally until the end of permit date. This further helps them in future to apply for permanent residency (PR) through various immigration pathways like the Express Entry system and extend their stay in Canada.
The PGWP also allows students who complete their courses to gain Canadian work experience which will help them secure a good career in Canada. This will help them to integrate themselves and align into the labour market needs and increases their chances of receiving permanent residency. But, due to the influx in student enrolment and rise in student population have posed significant risks in this program, which is forcing the government to alter their conditions stringently.
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PGWP eligibility for International students
These are the most brief form of the guidelines. People who need to know the exact and particular details shall check detailed info in the official website of Canadian Government. As per the recent announcement starting on 1st of November 2024, international graduates for and from certain programs will have to meet certain additional requirements when applying for the PGWP. It mostly includes a categorisation of the courses based on field-of-study to match the labour market need of Canada.
These new rules apply directly to students who are enrolled or are to be enrolled in one year or two year College Diploma Courses and Post graduate Diploma Courses.
Who are directly affected by these new rule changes?
International students who are studying in all the non-university institutions are more likely to be affected. Particularly, those who are enrolled to programs which are either one or two year diploma courses. College diploma or Post-graduate diploma students will be the most affected by these new rules.
Students and graduates of certificate programs are also on the verge of implications to these new law. The IRCC has not yet released any specific list of the affected fields. But it can be speculated that certain sector of education that doesn’t focus on Canada’s labor market needs will be directly affected.
Canada is planning to target those fields with high demand for skilled workers to continue as usual without and hindrance by the new laws. For example, take the courses which focuses on technology, healthcare or engineering, they are most likely to remain unaffected by the changes and will remain a priority for immigration.
Exemptions for University Students in PGWP eligibility for International students
Since, every university has a higher level or cut-off criteria to select a student, irrespective of the fields and courses, those students are usually of high quality in skills. Which means, they can contribute to the future work force of Canada no matter what.
Due to this reason,all the courses and students under any approved universities in Canada are exempt from these law changes. Whether the students are pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s, or PhD program doesn’t matter. It will not be subjected to the additional sector wise categorisation. Which means, PGWP Eligibility will be much easier for them regardless of the field they are studying or completed.
This exemption is important as it will attract more students towards Canada’s Universities than individual colleges which doesn’t promise a future career in Canada. Statistics predicts that these students often go on to become highly skilled manpower, contributing significantly to the Canadian economy.
Confusions among International Students
These changes are almost sure to impact the decisions of future International Students about immigrating to Canada as well as which programs to choose when immigrating via student visa.
what this new guidelines highlight is that, Understanding Canada’s labour market needs are an important factor. This is hoping to encourage a student to not take any random course just to obtain study permit in the hope that everything will be fine.
