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Eligibility for 3-year PGWP with 1-year Post Graduate Program

Jan 24, 2024
1
1
Diploma, bachelor degree that we pursue after high school are undergraduate program...
short term graduate program requires a degree completion like bsc, bcom, bba, btech etc in order to get admission and ircc has mentioned masters phd and short term graduate program.

Below are short term graduate program examples-
post graduate diploma/certificate ( takes 8 month or 8-24 month to complete)
Buisness management
project management
human resource management
supply chain management
digital marketting etc
 
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Jan 22, 2024
13
5
This. Its mind boggling that students enrolled in a college program don't know what the difference between a postgraduate degree and a certificate is.
There's no need to be rude. In Latin America, you can only pursue a diploma or certification if you have a professional degree. When I applied to study in Canada, they required my bachelor's certificate, and all my peers are professionals. Anyways, now realize that colleges might not fit within these criteria.
 
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Naturgrl

VIP Member
Apr 5, 2020
44,951
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So IRCC is starting to clarify PGWP requirements. No mention about Masters and PhD, but guessing PG diplomas/certificates are not covered with 3 year PGWP as most one year programs are PG certificates/diplomas. The length of program = length of PGWP. A two year program may be eligible for 3 years.

If you completed more than 1 program

You may be able to get a PGWP that combines the length of each program.

Each of the programs you completed must be

  • PGWP eligible and
  • at least 8 months (or 900 hours for Quebec credentials) in length
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/study-canada/work/after-graduation/about.html
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
55,602
13,525
Diploma, bachelor degree that we pursue after high school are undergraduate program...
short term graduate program requires a degree completion like bsc, bcom, bba, btech etc in order to get admission and ircc has mentioned masters phd and short term graduate program.

Below are short term graduate program examples-
post graduate diploma/certificate ( takes 8 month or 8-24 month to complete)
Buisness management
project management
human resource management
supply chain management
digital marketting etc
College is not considered graduate programs. They are postgraduate programs for anyone with a college or university degree of various lengths and sometimes no degree at all. I would expect only university programs to be considered for the SOWP exemption and 3 year PGWP not matter what. Many non-genuine students take postgrad college programs as a means to try and secure both PGWP and hopefully PR. Postgrad college programs represent a very large volume of international students. If all postgrad college programs qualified a large portion of international students would qualify for SOWP and 3 year PGWP so would defeat the purpose of the changes.
 
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Naturgrl

VIP Member
Apr 5, 2020
44,951
9,526
College is not considered graduate programs. They are postgraduate programs for anyone with a college or university degree of various lengths and sometimes no degree at all. I would expect only university programs to be considered for the SOWP exemption and 3 year PGWP not matter what. Many non-genuine students take postgrad college programs as a means to try and secure both PGWP and hopefully PR. Postgrad college programs represent a very large volume of international students. If all postgrad college programs qualified a large portion of international students would qualify for SOWP and 3 year PGWP so would defeat the purpose of the changes.
Given that PGWP application page has been updated, PGs at colleges do not seem to fit the criteria for a 3 year PGWP. In fact, not back to back one year programs are eligible for the length of the two programs not even 3 years anymore.
 

kathyberone

Star Member
Feb 19, 2015
93
21
There's no need to be rude. In Latin America, you can only pursue a diploma or certification if you have a professional degree. When I applied to study in Canada, they required my bachelor's certificate, and all my peers are professionals. Anyways, now realize that colleges might not fit within these criteria.
That’s not rude, the comment is just highlighting that students should do their due diligence and READ the College website that contains information about their programs. It’s pretty clear in these sources the requirements for admission and if you do your research on various institutions before choosing one, it’s even clearer.

Maybe the reason is that many students use “consultants” instead of taking ownership of their studies and reading all the English content on the college and IRCC websites. Instead of looking at all the options, they just go with whatever these “consultants” tell them to do, so I have no sympathy for these people.

If you have enough English skills, you should be able to read all this stuff by yourself. Is it hard? Of course it is, but if you care about your life and your career your will do yourself a favour and make the effort, it will be to your benefit later. In my opinion that’s what legit students will do, even if you’re looking for PR down the road.
 
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Naturgrl

VIP Member
Apr 5, 2020
44,951
9,526
That’s not rude, the comment is just highlighting that students should do their due diligence and READ the College website that contains information about their programs. It’s pretty clear in these sources the requirements for admission and if you do your research on various institutions before choosing one, it’s even clearer.

Maybe the reason is that many students use “consultants” instead of taking ownership of their studies and reading all the English content on the college and IRCC websites. Instead of looking at all the options, they just go with whatever these “consultants” tell them to do, so I have no sympathy for these people.

If you have enough English skills, you should be able to read all this stuff by yourself. Is it hard? Of course it is, but if you care about your life and your career your will do yourself a favour and make the effort, it will be to your benefit later. In my opinion that’s what legit students will do, even if you’re looking for PR down the road.
The other issue is that these agents are paid “kickbacks” by the colleges to get students to apply. Most students don’t even know that their agents are paid by colleges and leading them to specific programs.
 

Simba112

VIP Member
Mar 25, 2021
4,479
1,663
Diploma, bachelor degree that we pursue after high school are undergraduate program...
short term graduate program requires a degree completion like bsc, bcom, bba, btech etc in order to get admission and ircc has mentioned masters phd and short term graduate program.

Below are short term graduate program examples-
post graduate diploma/certificate ( takes 8 month or 8-24 month to complete)
Buisness management
project management
human resource management
supply chain management
digital marketting etc
Those are called “College Programs” by IRCC. College can name whatever they like, but graduate programs are Masters, Phd and Post Doc
 

kathyberone

Star Member
Feb 19, 2015
93
21
The other issue is that these agents are paid “kickbacks” by the colleges to get students to apply. Most students don’t even know that their agents are paid by colleges and leading them to specific programs.
Right and that sucks! Probably it’s also a cultural thing where people always hire “agents” to do bureaucratic applications.

I think the criticism is that these people are making a huge life decision of studying in another country, but can’t be bothered to do any work to double check the information they are receiving?

Maybe some are not able to due to lack of English/French skills. Maybe another thing to be done is raising the English/French proficiency threshold, which today for Colleges is ridiculously low. At least then you know these people have the ability to read and understand these things (even if it will not prevent them from blindly following what the agent tells them, maybe having done the work of studying to reach that level will make them more prone to not be afraid of more work).

it’s really a complex issue. At least there’s a semblance now that these policies changes are trying to prioritize quality over quantity.

Maybe another thing to be done is raising the English/French proficiency threshold, which today for Colleges is ridiculously low. At least then you know these people have the ability to read and understand these things, but still will not prevent them from blindly following what the agent tells them.
 
Jan 22, 2024
13
5
So IRCC is starting to clarify PGWP requirements. No mention about Masters and PhD, but guessing PG diplomas/certificates are not covered with 3 year PGWP as most one year programs are PG certificates/diplomas. The length of program = length of PGWP. A two year program may be eligible for 3 years.

If you completed more than 1 program

You may be able to get a PGWP that combines the length of each program.

Each of the programs you completed must be

  • PGWP eligible and
  • at least 8 months (or 900 hours for Quebec credentials) in length
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/study-canada/work/after-graduation/about.html
So I guess there are no changes for us, because these are the same conditions we had before the announcement. 2 years or 2 programs of 1 year each = 3 years of PGWP.

That's why some of us were asking, because if it's like that, then I don't know what's the new thing about this.
 
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Naturgrl

VIP Member
Apr 5, 2020
44,951
9,526
So I guess there are no changes for us, because these are the same conditions we had before the announcement. 2 years or 2 programs of 1 year each = 3 years of PGWP.

That's why some of us were asking, because if it's like that, then I don't know what's the new thing about this.
No. It has changed. Two programs of 1 year = PGWP is length of the two programs. A two year program may be eligible for 3 years. Read the link.
 
Jan 22, 2024
13
5
That’s not rude, the comment is just highlighting that students should do their due diligence and READ the College website that contains information about their programs. It’s pretty clear in these sources the requirements for admission and if you do your research on various institutions before choosing one, it’s even clearer.

Maybe the reason is that many students use “consultants” instead of taking ownership of their studies and reading all the English content on the college and IRCC websites. Instead of looking at all the options, they just go with whatever these “consultants” tell them to do, so I have no sympathy for these people.

If you have enough English skills, you should be able to read all this stuff by yourself. Is it hard? Of course it is, but if you care about your life and your career your will do yourself a favour and make the effort, it will be to your benefit later. In my opinion that’s what legit students will do, even if you’re looking for PR down the road.
Lol there's people that can't afford a Master, that's why I'm attending a public college instead of a University. I literally came here to study, not to get a PR. I know my experience is different, I'm not Indian, I'm from a nice and stable country and I just wanted to come here to study, get some work experience and then go back to my country and get a better job. That's it.

And yes, you're being passive-aggressive, but nvm.
 
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Dec 18, 2023
7
3
On the official news from IRCC on Monday, they now have removed the phrase "short-term graduate level". Now it's only: "Graduates of master’s degree programs will soon be eligible to apply for a 3-year work permit". So I think no hope for post-grad students to gain 1 + 3 PGWP. That makes sense anyway. Let's ignore it and stick with our initial plan guys. Anw good news is they added a quick fact: "In the coming months, we will continue to work to provide clear pathways to permanent residence for students with in-demand skills and explore new measures to better transition international students to the labour force." So, let's hope there will be something really good for post-grad students.
The link FYI: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2024/01/canada-to-stabilize-growth-and-decrease-number-of-new-international-student-permits-issued-to-approximately-360000-for-2024.html
 

Naturgrl

VIP Member
Apr 5, 2020
44,951
9,526
On the official news from IRCC on Monday, they now have removed the phrase "short-term graduate level". Now it's only: "Graduates of master’s degree programs will soon be eligible to apply for a 3-year work permit". So I think no hope for post-grad students to gain 1 + 3 PGWP. That makes sense anyway. Let's ignore it and stick with our initial plan guys. Anw good news is they added a quick fact: "In the coming months, we will continue to work to provide clear pathways to permanent residence for students with in-demand skills and explore new measures to better transition international students to the labour force." So, let's hope there will be something really good for post-grad students.
The link FYI: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2024/01/canada-to-stabilize-growth-and-decrease-number-of-new-international-student-permits-issued-to-approximately-360000-for-2024.html
Good. People can move on. They had to change it to Masters only. It was inevitable as short-term graduate level could not be defined. What is your plan with the changes posted today on PGWP duration?
 
Dec 18, 2023
7
3
They had to change it to Masters only. It was inevitable as short-term graduate level could not be defined. What is your plan with the changes posted today on PGWP duration?
I think I will try to get a full-time job before graduation in May, take 1 year PGWP and try my best to get a PNP nomination or even PR in that time frame, so I don't have to take the 2nd program. Anyway, even taking the 2nd program doesn't make sense this time because we can just get 2 years PGWP (I don't even know it's 2 years or just 16 months because they just say the combined length of programs), not 3 years like before. The next 2 years will be really harsh. Anw let's try our best guys.
 
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