Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada have introduced a new temporary policy for PGWP holders whose permits are expiring in 2024. The new policy enables international graduates to continue working in Canada and boost their Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score, potentially leading to permanent residency. PGWP is a highly sought-after permit for Canadian graduates, enabling them to gain valuable work experience after graduation. Learn more about this exciting new opportunity!
Can I Renew My Post-graduation Work Permit (PGWP)?
The post-graduation work permit is a highly sought-after immigration benefit that allows international students to gain valuable Canadian work experience and boost their professional prospects. However, as the work permit’s expiration date draws closer, many international students are left wondering what to do. Fortunately, a few options are available to extend their PGWPs.
One option is to apply for an open work permit under this temporary policy. This applies to international students who graduated from a program that is over eight months long. In addition, they must have studied full-time for immigration purposes each academic session and not taken gaps in studies that are not considered as actively pursuing studies (e.g., scheduled program breaks and summer break).
If you meet these requirements, IRCC will extend your work permit for 18 months. This will give you time to find a new job, submit your permanent residence application, or get married. The good news is that you can even apply for this extension if your PGWP has already expired or will expire in January 2024.
This new work permit will also be available to international students who are in the Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident (TR2PR) pathway and have submitted their permanent residence applications. This will allow them to continue working while waiting for a decision on their PR applications.
Lastly, if your PGWP has already expired, you will have 90 days from the date of expiry to submit an application to change your status to a visitor record before you are out of status. However, it is important to note that if your PGWP has expired and you do not change your status in time, you will have to leave Canada once you are out of status.
Will PGWP Be Extended in 2024?
Normally, the PGWP cannot be extended after it expires, so a student with an expiring one would have to apply for another type of work permit if they wanted to continue working in Canada. However, Immigration Minister Marc Miller has recently acknowledged that many international students have limited options for obtaining permanent residency.
This is why he has announced new measures to help those with PGWPs that are set to expire. For starters, he will extend the duration of PGWPs for graduates of master’s programs that are less than two years long and allow spousal open work permits for graduate students. IRCC has also announced that those who already have PGWPs will be able to restore their status, even if they are beyond the 90-day restoration period.
This new policy is a change from the previous ones, where PGWP holders would have to apply for a different kind of work permit once theirs expired. However, it’s not clear if the government will offer the same PGWP extension in 2024 or even in 2025.
The reason why there’s no definite answer to this question is because of a number of factors that have influenced the decision. One of the main issues is that the PGWP program hasn’t proved effective in helping graduates find employment, especially for those pursuing high-skilled jobs. As such, the government believes it’s time to focus on other ways of retaining skilled foreign workers. International graduates with PGWPs that will expire at the beginning of 2024 need to start exploring their options in advance.