Canada’s Publish-Graduate Work Allow (“PGWP”) program (the “PGWPP“) permits worldwide college students who’ve accomplished sure Canadian post-secondary applications to acquire work permits after graduating. The work permits are open, which means that the graduates can work for any employer in any Canadian province. It’s a implausible program that enhances the competitiveness of Canadian post-secondary establishments internationally, and is generally a necessary transitory step for worldwide graduates seeking to finally receive Canadian everlasting residency.
Nevertheless, yearly there are numerous worldwide college students who mistakenly assume that they are going to be eligible to take part in this system after graduating solely to find halfway by way of their research that they can’t. It’s accordingly essential that each one worldwide college students in Canada perceive how the PGWP program works.
Foundation in Regulation
Part 205 of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Safety Rules supplies the federal government with the authority to create applications to situation work permits to international nationals when it’s happy that public coverage goals referring to the competiveness of Canada’s financial system or educational establishments are met. The PGWPP is one among these applications, and detailed details about it may be discovered on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC“) web site right here.
Because the Federal Court docket has famous in quite a few selections (resembling Osahar v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2017 FC 666), immigration officers can decide that these necessities are binding.
Eligibility
Outdoors of Quebec, to ensure that a world graduate to acquire a PGWP after graduating, a world scholar should:
- have accomplished a tutorial, vocational or skilled coaching program at an eligible establishment in Canada that’s a minimum of 8 months in length resulting in a level, diploma or certificates;
- have maintained full-time scholar standing in Canada throughout every educational session of this system or applications of research they’ve accomplished and submitted as a part of their post-graduation work allow utility (with sure exceptions); and
- have acquired a transcript and an official letter from the eligible Designated Studying Establishment confirming that they’ve met the necessities to finish their program of research.
Inside 180 days of the date of making use of for the PGWP, candidates should additionally meet one of many following standards:
- They maintain a sound research allow;
- They held a research allow;
- They had been approved to check in Canada with out the requirement to acquire a research allow underneath sure provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Safety Rules.
Period
A PGWP’s length will probably be equal to the size of the academic program that the worldwide graduate accomplished, as much as a most of three years. Any accomplished program that’s longer than two-years will end in a three-year work allow. In different phrases, a two-year diploma and a four-year diploma will each end in a three-year work allow.
It is very important be aware that it’s the size of this system of research that’s essential, and never the precise time that it takes a world scholar to finish their program. For instance, if a scholar enrolls in a program of research that’s usually eight months in length, however completes it in six months, then the coed will be capable to receive an eight-month work allow after graduating. Conversely, a world scholar who takes two years to finish a one-year program will solely obtain a one-year PGWP.
Documentation
As famous above, one of many necessities is that candidates have to use inside six months of receiving written affirmation from their instructional establishment that they met the necessities for commencement. As such, and as famous by the Federal Court docket in Kaur v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2020 FC 513, it may be useful to incorporate documentation or attestations as to when somebody graduated.
Transfers
There are difficult guidelines and situations for college kids transferring from one program to a different, or finishing a number of applications, which might be past the scope of this text. Nevertheless, a very frequent one is that college students who receive a one-year diploma or diploma from an eligible establishment in Canada after having obtained, with the prior two-years, one other diploma or diploma from an eligible establishment in Canada, could also be issued a piece allow for as much as three years. For instance, if a scholar obtained a one-year diploma from the College of British Columbia in 2013, after which in 2015 obtained a MBA from the College of Toronto, then he would be capable to receive a three-year PGWP.
College students who full a program of research granted by a non-Canadian establishment positioned in Canada are ineligible to acquire work permits underneath the PGWP program. Nevertheless, college students finishing a program of research that has, as a part of this system, an abroad part, resembling an trade, will probably be eligible so long as they earn a Canadian instructional credential.
Utility Course of
The work allow utility package deal and information could be discovered on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s web site right here. The guidelines could be downloaded right here.
Graduates could submit their functions on-line, or, in sure instances at a Canadian port of entry or at abroad visa places of work. College students who’ve accomplished their program of research and who apply for his or her PGWPs are permitted to work in Canada whereas IRCC processes their functions, offered that they had been full-time college students enrolled in eligible applications whereas they had been finding out, and that they didn’t exceed their approved off-campus work intervals whereas they had been college students.
Spouses
Not like with worldwide college students, the spouses or common-law companions of PGWP holders aren’t routinely entitled to open work permits.
The partner or common-law associate of a PGWP holder can receive a piece allow provided that the PGWP holder is working in a talented occupation as outlined in Nationwide Occupational Classification 0, A or B of the Nationwide Occupational Classification web site. To display this, the partner or common-law associate ought to present the next.
- a letter from their present employer confirming employment or a duplicate of their employment supply or contract; and
- a duplicate of three of their pay stubs.
Full-time Research
In response to the IRCC web site, candidates for a Publish-Commencement Work Allow (PGWP) should have maintained full-time scholar standing in Canada throughout every educational session of this system(s) submitted of their utility. Exceptions embody taking an authorised go away from research and being enrolled part-time through the remaining educational session.
Jurisprudence on how officers assess full-time scholar standing is strict, but grants establishments appreciable discretion. To qualify for the PGWP, college students on go away should stay enrolled at a Designated Studying Establishment and actively pursue their program of research.
In Brown v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2018 FC 452, Justice Brown famous:
The eligibility standards established by the PGWP Coverage are obligatory and have to be happy to ensure that a candidate to qualify for a PGWP. Nothing within the coverage confers any discretion on immigration officers to change or waive the eligibility necessities (Nookala at para 12).
In Munyani v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2021 FC 802, Justice Manson additional held that:
Whereas the jurisprudence is of the impact that nothing within the PGWP-PDI confers any discretion on immigration officers to change or waive the eligibility necessities, it does state that “Officers ought to train their greatest judgment and take note of all related elements when assessing a scholar’s compliance with their research allow situations.
In Idowu v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2022 FC 46, Madam Justice Pallota decided that it was affordable for a visa officer to find out that an individual who took a go away of absence attributable to monetary hardship. In Tcerkovnaia v. Canada (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship), 2022 FC 861, Madam Justice Go wrote:
The Respondent additionally cites Idowu at para 7, stating {that a} PGWP applicant should, amongst different issues, have ““maintained full time standing in Canada throughout every educational session of this system.”” Idowu could be distinguished on details. In that case, Ms. Idowu didn’t dispute she was an element time scholar in a single semester attributable to monetary hardship, nor that she had didn’t enroll in any courses for 3 semesters. In dismissing the judicial evaluation utility, Justice Pallotta famous Ms. Idowu’s PGWP utility ““didn’t clarify why her mother and father had been unable to supply monetary help, or present proof to ascertain that she or her mother and father lacked the monetary means to pay for full time research for these semesters””: Idowu at para 14. As nicely, the letter from the college merely licensed that Ms. Idowu accomplished the necessities for a Bachelor of Commerce diploma: Idowu at para 15.
Right here, the Applicant has offered the explanation why she needed to drop two programs through the 2017 Winter semester, and proof that these causes had been accepted by Ryerson College in contemplating her to be enrolled as a full time scholar. By failing to acknowledge the college’s letter, I’m unable to conclude that the Officer on this case has exercised their greatest judgment and brought into consideration all related elements when assessing the Applicant’s eligibility for a PGWP, as required by the Guide: Munyanyi at para 25.
Additional, whereas the Respondent argues that mere enrollment in full time research shouldn’t be materials, and the Applicant should have constantly studied full time in Canada, the Determination made no such distinction. The Respondent’s argument can not bolster the explanations after the very fact.
As an alternative, the Determination referenced Ryerson College’s definition of full-time college students as those that are enrolled in 4 programs within the semester. If the Officer noticed match to depend on one definition of the college relating to full time college students primarily based on the variety of programs ““enrolled”” within the semester, then it was illogical for the Officer to not settle for the college’s March 11, 2021 letter as proof that the Applicant was ““enrolled”” as a full time scholar.
Lastly, I don’t discover any language within the Guide drawing any distinction between ““full time enrollment”” and ““full time research.””
These making ready PGWP functions who’re unsure as to whether or not they meet the full-time scholar requirement ought to learn each Idowu and Tcerkovnaia as the results of the 2 instances are extraordinarily particular steps and data that candidates ought to present.
In Drake v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2021 FC 1083, Madam Justice Go decided {that a} scholar who studied part-time throughout a licensed interval of go away may stay eligible for a PGWP. She additionally held in Tcerkovnaia v. Canada (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship), 2022 FC 861, that visa officers should take into account letters from faculty which state that the college thought-about somebody to be a full-time scholar.
In Sugagata v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2024 FC 1436 Justice Sébastien Grammond dominated that as a result of the IRCC web site states that “officers ought to train their greatest judgment and take note of all related elements when assessing a scholar’s compliance with their research allow situations” that officers want to contemplate extenuating circumstances past the management of a scholar when figuring out in the event that they maintained full-time research throughout their enrollment, and that “a path to train greatest judgment essentially confers a level of discretion to just accept lower than excellent compliance.”
Humanitarian & Compassionate Issues
Because the Federal Court docket affirmed in Dunkley v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2022 FC 892, visa officers haven’t any discretion to change the eligibility necessities of a PGWP on H&C grounds.
Ongoing Issues
There are two additional restrictions, or potential restrictions, to acquiring PGWPs which might be at the moment the topic of litigation that potential worldwide college students and graduates ought to perceive.
The primary is that college students collaborating in distancing studying applications, both overseas or in Canada, are ineligible to acquire PGWPs. In 2015, this restriction generated appreciable media consideration, as IRCC refused the PGWP functions of a complete graduating class at a non-public post-secondary establishment after IRCC decided that the establishment’s program constituted on-line studying. A few of these graduates have sought intervention from the Federal Court docket of Canada, and one of many questions earlier than the court docket is whether or not there’s a share of on-line programs threshold that have to be met earlier than IRCC can declare a program ineligible. Till both IRCC or the Federal Court docket supplies clarification on this matter, worldwide college students who want to take part within the PGWP program ought to perceive the potential unfavorable penalties of enrolling in any on-line programs.
After a lot uncertainty over how this distance-learning coverage was to be interpreted, pursuant to the IRCC web site officers are beneficial to make use of the next tips of their evaluation of an applicant’s PGWP eligibility once they have taken distance or on-line studying in Canada:
- when lower than the vast majority of all of the credit earned by the coed towards the completion of a program of research had been earned by finishing on-line programs, a post-graduation work allow could also be issued primarily based on the size of this system as confirmed by the college, together with credit earned from each in-class and on-line programs; and
- when the vast majority of the credit earned by the coed towards the completion of a program of research had been earned by finishing on-line programs, the applicant is ineligible for the PGWP, as this system could moderately be thought-about a distance-learning program.
There are specific exceptions to the above as a result of COVID-19 pandemic which might be past the scope of this submit.
Second, current graduates making use of for PGWPs should be sure that they full their PGWP functions promptly and correctly. With most work permits functions, if IRCC both refuses or bounces an utility for incompleteness, then an applicant can sometimes apply for restoration of standing inside 90 days. It isn’t clear, nonetheless, whether or not restoration is feasible within the case of the PGWP due to the IRCC’s requirement {that a} current graduate’s research allow be legitimate once they apply for his or her PGWP, though a number of Federal Court docket selections appear to suggest that it truly is as much as the officer. On April 8, 2020, the IRCC web site acknowledged the next:
Candidates whose research allow turns into invalid or expires should both
go away Canada and apply for a post-graduation work allow from abroad, or
apply to revive their standing as a scholar by making use of for a PGWP with the proper charges ($255) and paying the charges to revive their standing as a scholar ($350)
Working Whereas Ready
Eligible worldwide graduates are approved to work full-time after their research are accomplished till a choice is made on their utility for a PGWP. They won’t be required to use for a piece allow to do that. That is offered for by s. 186(w) of the Immigration and Refugee Safety Rules, which states:
186 A international nationwide may fit in Canada with out a work allow
(w) if they’re or had been the holder of a research allow who has accomplished their program of research and
(i) they met the necessities set out in paragraph (v), and
(ii) they utilized for a piece allow earlier than the expiry of that research allow and a choice has not but been made in respect of their utility; or
In response to IRCC’s Immigration Representatives unit, this part shouldn’t be restricted to PGWP functions.
Statistics
The PGWP has a surprisingly excessive refusal charge. Throughout the first six months of 2016, the PGWP refusal charge exceeded 20% in each month besides Might, and in each June and March was 40% or extra.
Though a breakdown of the explanations for refusal of PGWP functions has not been revealed, it’s seemingly as a result of worldwide graduates both:
- attended a non-public faculty whose graduates aren’t eligible to obtain PGWPs (which, opposite to the opinion of some non-public establishments) is mot of them;
- their utility was returned for being incomplete and once they tried to use once more their research allow had expired; or
- a visa officer decided that they didn’t meet the full-time research requirement.
To be able to keep away from such rejections, it is necessary that college students:
- analysis their potential instructional establishment in order that they know whether or not it qualifies;
- be sure that their PGWP utility is full and that it contains the proper charge quantity; and
- if there may be any query about whether or not their research had been full-time, to make it possible for it’s defined of their utility.
As with all functions, the onus is on the applicant to make it possible for they’ve proven that they meet the necessities of the PGWP. If one thing is unclear, the visa officer shouldn’t be underneath any obligation to hunt clarification, however can refuse the applying. Because of this, it’s crucial that worldwide graduates be sure that their utility is full and passable.
Acquiring Employment
In Imperial Oil Restricted v. Haseeb, 2023 ONCA 364 the Ontario Court docket of Enchantment dominated that it was a breach of Ontario’s Human Rights Code for corporations to have a coverage which restricted employment to Canadian residents or everlasting residents within the context of worldwide college students eligible for PGWPs.