Canada updates PGWP eligibility

Canada’s immigration agency has announced an overhaul of the list post-graduation work permit (PGWP)-eligible programs, adding nearly 120 fields of study and removing 180.  

While welcoming the addition of some education, healthcare and social services, STEM and trade fields, CBIE president Larissa Bezo told The PIE News that the approach “was still incongruent with the very real labour market needs that some regions are facing”.

After preliminary analysis, it appears that fields in agriculture and agri-food, transport, some STEM areas, select trades and ambulatory/alternative health care services will be hardest hit. 

The update, effective as of June 25, aims to align Canada’s post-secondary education system with labour market shortages, reflecting the 2025 Express Entry priorities. 

However, sector leaders have expressed surprise and concern about certain fields removed or not included the list, as institutions and students get to grips with yet another federal policy change.  

“The removal of some construction-related fields is perplexing given Canada’s current focus on expediting the building of new homes,” Bezo told The PIE News.  

Bezo called the removal of agri-food fields “surprising” given the importance of food security and the local realities of Canada’s agriculture sector, and said the omission of data scientists was “counterintuitive” considering their vital contributions to innovation and growth.  

As a result of the changes, there are now 920 fields of study eligible for a PGWP.  

They build on the government’s rewriting of PGWP eligibility rules in October last year, when it announced an initial list of 966 eligible university programs, alongside new language requirements.  

Crucially, the rules apply to international students in non-degree programs – other than bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degrees – who applied for a study permit on or after November 1, 2024.  

Students who applied for their study permit before June 25, 2025, will remain eligible for a PGWP if their program was on the approved list at the time of application – even if it has been removed in the latest update.  

The removal of some construction-related fields is perplexing

Larissa Bezo, CBIE

In October 2024, the government originally said that all college students would have to meet the PGWP eligibility criteria, though this was overturned in a major win for the Canadian college sector in March this year.  

The IRCC’s latest update will come as a disappointment to sector leaders who hoped the election of Prime Minister Mark Carney in April 2025 would usher in a period of greater stability after unprecedented policy turbulence since January 2024.  

Bezo warned that the changes “will create further challenges for institutions that have been recalibrating their program offerings to align with the PGWP-eligible fields”.

What’s more, another set of policy changes will risk “causing further uncertainty and confusion” among prospective international students, said Bezo, calling for policy stability to allow the sector to “recover and rebuild”. 

The reputation of Canada as a study destination has taken a battering over the past year and a half, with new data from ApplyBoard projecting study permits to fall by more than 50% this year.