Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP): How to Apply

The PGWP is an open work permit. Any employer, any occupation, anywhere in Canada, and you can change jobs whenever you like.

It is also a once in a lifetime document. If you have already held one, you cannot get another, no matter what you study next. That single fact should shape which program you choose and when you graduate.

The rules changed hard in late 2024 and again through 2025. Almost everything written about the PGWP before November 2024 is now wrong. Here is the current position.

Basic eligibility

You are eligible if:

You completed a program at a PGWP eligible designated learning institution that was at least 8 months long, or 900 hours for Quebec programs.

You held full time student status in every semester. You may study part time in your final semester only.

You apply within 180 days of confirmation that you completed your program.

Your study permit was valid at some point during those 180 days.

Authorised leave of up to 150 days is allowed, but you must show your DLI approved it. Unauthorised leave can cost you the permit entirely if IRCC decides you broke your study permit conditions.

You are NOT eligible if you already received a PGWP, studied ESL or FSL, took general interest or self improvement courses, completed a non credit program other than flight school, received Global Affairs Canada funding requiring you to return home, completed more than 50% of your program by distance learning, studied at a non Canadian institution located in Canada, or studied at a DLI that is not PGWP eligible.

Two dates that disqualify people who never saw them coming: curriculum licensing programs, the public private partnership arrangements, are ineligible if you began a same province one after 15 May 2024, or a cross province one after 1 February 2023.

The field of study requirement

This is the rule that ends the most applications, and the one most people misunderstand.

You are EXEMPT from the field of study requirement if any of these apply:

You graduated with a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree.

You graduated from a PGWP eligible flight school.

You applied for your STUDY PERMIT before 1 November 2024.

You submitted your PGWP application before 1 November 2024.

Everyone else, meaning graduates of non degree programs at colleges, polytechnics and universities, must have graduated in an eligible field of study.

Note carefully what the clock is tied to. The trigger is the date you applied for your STUDY PERMIT, not the date you apply for the PGWP. Applied for your study permit on or after 1 November 2024 and you are in a non degree program? You need an eligible field.

Eligible fields are defined by six digit Classification of Instructional Programs codes and are tied to occupations in long term shortage in Canada. The list lives on the IRCC field of study page, and you must be on it when you submit either your study permit application or your PGWP application.

Some genuinely good news for 2026. IRCC has FROZEN the field of study list for the year. It will not add or remove any eligible fields in 2026. After the churn of 2025, when 178 fields were removed on 25 June and then partly restored on 4 July, that stability is worth a great deal.

And if you applied for your study permit before 25 June 2025, you keep your eligibility if your field was on the list at that time, even if it has since been removed.

One filing trap. Because of a system limitation, the document checklist will NOT ask you for proof that you graduated in an eligible field. If you need to provide it, you upload it yourself in the "Client information" section of your account. Miss that and you have submitted an incomplete application without being told.

The language requirement

New since 1 November 2024. If you apply on or after that date, you must prove your English or French.

Read that table again, because the split is not what people assume. It is UNIVERSITY versus COLLEGE, not degree versus non degree. A non degree program at a university still needs CLB 7.

Accepted tests: CELPIP General, IELTS General Training, and PTE Core for English. TEF Canada and TCF Canada for French. IRCC says tests should be taken in person, and results must be less than 2 years old when you submit.

For IELTS General Training, CLB 7 means 6.0 in every band. CLB 5 means 4.0 reading, 5.0 writing, 5.0 listening, 5.0 speaking.

Submit incomplete language proof and IRCC says plainly that your application may be refused for not meeting the requirement.

If you are extending a PGWP only because your passport expired early, you do not need to provide language proof again.

How long your PGWP will be

The length depends on your program and on your passport, whichever runs out first.

The master's rule is the most valuable line on this page. A 12 month master's degree can yield a 3 year work permit. A 12 month college diploma yields 12 months. That is a two year difference in Canadian work experience, and Canadian work experience is what wins Express Entry.

It does not apply to certificates or diplomas, only master's degrees.

Two limits people trip over. Your PGWP cannot outlast your passport, so renew the passport BEFORE you apply. And the PGWP is only valid for the time you actually studied IN Canada. Time studying online from outside Canada after 31 August 2024 is deducted.

If you completed more than one eligible program, you may be able to combine their lengths, but each program must independently meet every eligibility requirement, including the higher language threshold if one of them demands it.

The 180 day rule, and how not to lose your right to work

You have 180 days from confirmation of completion to apply. Your study permit has to be valid at some point in that window.

To prove you finished, you need a degree, diploma or certificate, or an official letter from your school, or an official transcript. You also need proof of full time enrolment, which is your official transcript.

Now the part that costs people money.

You can work FULL TIME while waiting for the PGWP decision, but only if all three of these are true:

Your study permit was VALID at the moment you submitted the application.

You completed your program.

You were eligible to work off campus without a permit while studying, and you did not exceed your allowed hours.

Leaving and re entering Canada does not break this. You can travel and keep working.

But if you let your study permit expire and then restore your status, you CANNOT work until the PGWP is actually approved. Same permit, same eligibility, months of lost income, purely because of timing.

So: do not let your status lapse while you wait for marks. If your permit will expire first, either apply for a visitor record to stay legally, or leave Canada and apply from abroad.

If your status has already expired

You have up to 90 days after your study permit expires to apply for the PGWP and restore your status as a student.

You apply online for the PGWP, pay $255, and separately pay the restoration fee online and attach the receipt to the PGWP application. You do not file a separate restoration application.

You cannot work during this period.

Past 90 days, you must leave Canada.

Fees

Pay BOTH the work permit fee and the open work permit holder fee. IRCC's page says so in bold, because people pay one and not the other.

Biometrics are needed once every 10 years, and you get 30 days from the date of the letter.

Flagpoling is over

If you were planning to drive to the border, turn around and come back to collect your permit, stop.

Flagpoling for work and study permits ended on 23 December 2024. The exemptions are narrow and cover United States citizens and permanent residents, certain free trade agreement professionals, some international truck drivers, and people with a pre booked CBSA appointment.

An ordinary PGWP applicant is not exempt. You apply to IRCC and you wait.

Applying from inside or outside Canada

You can apply from within Canada or from another country.

One consequence worth planning around: if you apply from OUTSIDE Canada and are approved, IRCC issues you a new visitor visa or eTA along with the permit. If you apply from INSIDE Canada and you need a visitor visa, IRCC will not issue one, and you have to apply for it separately.

What gets applications refused

IRCC does not publish a refusal list, so here are the disqualifiers it does state:

Having already held a PGWP.

A program under 8 months, or under 900 hours in Quebec.

A DLI that is not PGWP eligible, or a curriculum licensing program past the cut off dates.

More than 50% of the program completed by distance learning.

Applying more than 180 days after completion.

A study permit that was not valid at any point in those 180 days.

Unauthorised leave from your program.

Incomplete language proof, or test results 2 years old or older.

Working more hours off campus than you were allowed.

Questions people actually ask

Prepared by KGraph Immigration. Last updated July 2026. General information, not legal advice.