Canada’s government introduced a new policy on January 8, 2021, to help former international students get a new permit. The policy will help the students whose Post-Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) was expired or is expiring.
The policy was introduced so that the students will get enough time to gain work experience and be eligible for Permanent Residence (PR). PFWP holders who lost their jobs during the pandemic or whose hours were cut will be benefitted from the new policy. According to research conducted by the government, Canada found that the former international students keep up easily with the labor standards after getting the PR due to their Canadian education and work experience.
The new open work permits issued under the policy will have a validity of 18 months. The permit will allow former students to search for job opportunities while staying in Canada. Open permits let students work under their choice of employer, unlike closed permits, which bind the workers to stay with only one employer.
To acquire an open work permit there are a few prerequisites. The individual should be living in Canada. Furthermore, he/she should hold a permit that lapsed on or after 30th Jan 2020. If not lapsed, so the one that will expire in four months or less from the day when they are requesting again. The candidates should possess a legitimate temporary status or be appealing to regain the same.
The government of Canada will start accepting the requests from January 27 to July 27, 2021.
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), around 52,000 former students with expired/expiring PGWPs will benefit from the new policy. They further showed the data that around 50% of 61,000 students with PGWP whose permit had an expiry date between January and December 2020 had got the PR status or their application is in process.
A request for PGWP can be made by foreign students after completing their post-secondary education in Canada. After their education, the permit allows them to work for up to 3 years in Canada and get the required work experience for PR applications.
The Canadian government started the PGWP to retain the students studying in Canada. They invite the students with the permit and retain them as skilled employees. While applying for immigration, PGWP holders can benefit from their study and work experience in Canada.
PGWP is not only coveted by the government but also by the students. Around 60 percent of the international students want to transit to PR of Canada, and the PGWP helps them in achieving the same. For a skilled worker immigration pathway, students are required to gain Canadian work experience. After gaining the experience, students can further look up to skilled worker immigration applications to Express Entry, Quebec Experience Program, Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), and much more. Most of the immigration plans in Canada support and reward Canadian work experience holders.
The government of Canada realized that the labor market was hit by the pandemic, and it critically affected the students who graduated in 2019 and 2020. During the pandemic, a significant number of graduates were fired, and the outcome was, that they were not able to get the work experience required for the PR application.
The new policy will help “more graduates fill pressing needs in areas like health care, technology, and more,” IRCC said in a press release.
“As we confront the pandemic’s second wave and chart a course for our recovery, attracting skilled immigrants is a central part of our plan.”
The government also realizes that international students are critical to the local economy as they create a large pool of highly educated/skilled individuals who strengthen the workforce of Canada and become permanent residents.
A Statistics Canada study revealed that nearly 1/3rd of foreign students who completed their bachelor’s degrees in Canada and around 50% of the students who did their master’s degrees got the PR in the ten years after their 1st study permit.
