Canada holds off on restrictions to post-grad work permits for international students

Canada will be holding off on changes to the post-graduation work permit (PGWP) after announcing new eligibility rules last month.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that starting June 25, international students in Canada in non-degree programs for 178 fields of study will no longer be eligible for a PGWP. IRCC said the decision to remove these programs is because they are "no longer linked to occupations in long-term labour shortages."

A PGWP allows students who graduated from eligible Canadian schools to gain work experience in the country.

According to IRCC, although it removed 178 fields of study at the time, it had also added 119 eligible programs in key sectors like health care and social services, education, and trades, which meant that there were a total of 920 fields of study eligible for a PGWP.

Now, it seems like Canada has postponed these changes until next year.

On July 4, IRCC said that it has added the 178 fields of study that it had previously removed in June.

"Those fields of study that were removed on June 25, 2025, will stay eligible until the list is next updated in early 2026," reads the update.

It's undoubtedly good news for international students. According to the statement, students who applied for their study permit between June 25 and July 4 for one of the 178 previously removed programs will still meet the field of study requirement upon graduation.

Now that these programs have once again been added to the list, Canada now has 1,095 fields of study eligible for a PGWP.

The latest update follows Ottawa’s announcement of the new 2025 Express Entry categories earlier this year.

With files from Isabelle Docto