Changes to LMIA for international students
- Thread starter Trishanku
- Start date
These are the current rules as posted on canada.ca website.
Study permits: Post Graduation Work Permit Program
This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada staff. It is posted on the Department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.
The Post-Graduation Work Permit Program (PGWPP) allows students who have graduated from a participating Canadian post-secondary institution to gain valuable Canadian work experience. Skilled Canadian work experience gained through the PGWPP helps graduates qualify for permanent residence in Canada through the Canadian experience class.
Employers seeking to employ open work permit holders are exempt from the requirement to first obtain a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) from Service Canada. The open work permits issued to the graduates in line with the PGWPP requirements are coded with the LMIA exemption code C43.
A work permit under the PGWPP may be issued for the length of the study program, for a maximum of 3 years. A post-graduation work permit cannot be valid for longer than the student’s study program, which must be a minimum of 8 months in duration.
On this page
Note: Graduates may submit their post-graduation work permit application online. Foreign nationals who are eligible to apply for a work permit at a port of entry (POE) may also apply for a post-graduation work permit through that channel.
Note: Paragraph 186(w) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) allows students who have completed their program of study to work while they are waiting for a decision on their work permit application, as long as they were a full-time student enrolled at a designated learning institution (DLI) in a post-secondary academic, vocational or professional training program and they did not exceed the allowable hours of work.
Who is eligible to participate
To obtain a work permit under the PGWPP, the applicant must meet the following requirements:
- have a valid study permit when applying for the work permit
- have continuously studied full time in Canada (i.e., studies must have taken place at a Canadian educational institution) and have completed a program of study that is at least 8 months in duration
- have completed and passed the program of study and received a written notification from the educational institution indicating that they are eligible to obtain a degree, diploma or certificate; the educational institution must be one of the following:
- a public post-secondary institution, such as a college, trade or technical school, university or CEGEP (in Quebec)
- a private post-secondary institution that operates under the same rules and regulations as public institutions
- a private secondary or post-secondary institution (in Quebec) offering qualifying programs of 900 hours or longer leading to a diploma of vocational studies (DVS) or an attestation of vocational specialization (AVS)
- a Canadian private institution authorized by provincial statute to confer degrees (i.e., bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, doctorate), but only if the student is enrolled in one of the programs of study leading to a degree, as authorized by the province, and not in just any program of study offered by the private institution
Restrictions
Students are not eligible to be issued a work permit under the PGWPP if the program of study is less than 8 months in duration or if they have previously been issued a post-graduation work permit.
Students are also not eligible if one of the following applies to them:
- they received funding from Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
- they participated in the Government of Canada Awards Program funded by GAC
- they obtained the Equal Opportunity Scholarship, Canada-Chile
- they participated in the Canada-China Scholars’ Exchange Program
- they participated in the Organization of American States Fellowships Program
- they participated in and completed a distance-learning program, either abroad or in Canada
- they completed a program of study granted by a non-Canadian institution located in Canada, regardless of their length of stay in Canada
Work permit issuance and validity
Issuance
Work permits issued under the PGWPP are LMIA-exempt, may be open and may be valid for up to 3 years, depending on the duration of the program of study. They are normally issued by the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V). However, by virtue of sections R197 and R198, work permits under the PGWPP may also be issued by POEs or visa offices overseas. For administrative purposes, it is more facilitative to refer clients to apply online or on paper to the CPC-V.
When work permits are being issued by POEs or visa offices overseas, officers should ensure that the appropriate fields and screens in the Global Case Management System (GCMS) and the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) are populated.
Validity
Work permits issued under the PGWPP may be valid for up to 3 years. When determining the length of a post-graduation work permit that can be issued, officers should consider the program length as confirmed by the DLI in the written confirmation of program completion (e.g., an official letter or transcript). Regularly scheduled breaks (e.g., regularly scheduled winter and summer breaks) should be included in the time accumulated toward the length of the work permit.
Examples:
- If the duration of the program of study is at least 8 months but less than 2 years, the duration of the work permit should coincide with that of the program of study as confirmed by the DLI in the written confirmation of program completionFootnote1 (e.g., an official letter or transcript). Regularly scheduled breaks (e.g., regularly scheduled winter and summer breaks) should not be subtracted from the length of the post-graduation work permit.
- If the duration of the program of study is 2 years or longer as confirmed by the DLI, the duration of the work permit should be 3 years. Regularly scheduled breaks (e.g., regularly scheduled winter and summer breaks) should not be subtracted from the length of the post-graduation work permit.
- If a student obtained a 1-year degree, diploma or certificate from an eligible institution in Canada after having obtained, within the prior 2 years, another degree, diploma or certificate from an eligible institution in Canada, the duration of the work permit may be up to 3 years.
