PGWP: three dates that cannot be run together

Three dates, each under a different provision

The three sit in different places and carry different conditions. What causes trouble is not that any one of them is hard to follow. It is running all three together as a single date: assuming that while the study permit is still valid nothing has changed, and that while the 180 days have not run out there is no hurry. Put those two assumptions side by side and someone keeps going to work without authorization to work.

The completion date is the day studies were actually completed

In the Regulations, s.222, which governs when a study permit becomes invalid, and s.186, which governs student work, both run from the actual completion date. The letter from the school, the transcript, the convocation ceremony: none of those dates is the start point.

The school has its own confirmation process, and a letter is dated after studies were actually completed. Start counting when the letter arrives and a stretch has already gone by, deducted from the 90 days. A common belief is that the date the school gives notice is the one that counts. That is not what the provision says.

So the first step is to fix the actual completion date. It governs the 90-day clock, and it governs the moment from which a study permit no longer supports working. The 180 days for the PGWP is counted separately, from the school's confirmation that studies are complete.

When a study permit becomes invalid: whichever comes first

The text of s.222(1):

A study permit becomes invalid upon the first to occur of the following days:
(a) the day that is 90 days after the day on which the permit holder completes their studies,
(a.1) the day on which the permit holder is no longer enrolled at the designated learning institution named in the permit, other than as a result of completing their studies;
(b) the day on which the study permit is cancelled under section 222.7, 222.8 or 243.2; or
(c) the day on which the permit expires.

The phrase that matters is at the front: the first to occur. Whichever of the four happens first is the day the permit becomes invalid.

The expiry date printed on the permit is only item (c). The 90th day after completing studies, item (a), is often much earlier. Where a permit shows more than a year left but studies are finished, what governs is the 90th day after completion, not the line printed on the permit. Reading only the printed date is what misses this.

Item (a.1) covers a different situation: someone who is no longer enrolled at the institution named on the permit for a reason other than completing studies. The permit becomes invalid from the day enrolment ends.

There is also an exception. Section 222(2) states that (1)(a) does not apply to persons described in s.300(2)(a) to (i), nor to family members, residing in Canada, of a foreign national described in s.215(2)(a) to (i). Whether someone falls into those groups is a question for the provision itself.

Whether you can keep working after completing studies

Students can work during their studies without a separate work permit under IRPR s.186(v). That provision lists the conditions one by one:

• (i) they are a full-time student at a designated learning institution (defined in s.211.1 of the Regulations);
• (ii) they are enrolled in a post-secondary academic, vocational or professional training program, or a vocational training program at the secondary level offered in Quebec, in each case of a duration of six months or more that leads to a degree, diploma or certificate;
• (iii) they work no more than 24 hours per week during a regular academic session, and may work full time during a scheduled break between academic sessions.

The first condition is the dividing line. Section 186(v) presumes the person is a student. Once studies are completed, (i) no longer holds, and the provision no longer applies at all. That is true even while the study permit is still valid. Eligibility to work on the strength of a study permit stops the moment studies are completed, not when the permit becomes invalid.

Working after completing studies rests on a different provision, s.186(w):

if they are or were the holder of a study permit who has completed their program of study and
(i) they met the requirements set out in paragraph (v), and
(ii) they applied for a work permit before the expiry of that study permit and a decision has not yet been made in respect of their application

Two conditions, and both are required. The requirements in (v) were met before completing studies; and a work permit application went in before the study permit expired, with no decision yet made.

Laid out in order: on the day studies are completed, (v) stops. On the 90th day after completion, or earlier depending on which item in s.222(1) comes first, the study permit becomes invalid. The PGWP has to go in before that, and while the application is pending, authorization to work rests on (w). File late and (w) does not hold, and there is no authorization to work.

For how status is treated where an application went in before expiry and is still pending, see maintained status.

General PGWP eligibility

The general conditions on the IRCC eligibility page, all of which have to be met:

• completed a program of at least 8 months at a PGWP-eligible designated learning institution (900 hours for programs in Quebec);
• maintained full-time student status during each academic session of the program of study in Canada, with part-time study permitted in the final session;
• applied within 180 days of confirmation that the program is complete;
• held a study permit that was valid at some point during those 180 days.

The third and fourth are often remembered as one thing. They are two, and they do not even start from the same point. The 180 days for filing runs from the school's confirmation that studies are complete. The valid-permit condition asks whether, at some point during the 180 days after completion, the study permit had not yet become invalid.

There are further conditions turning on the program of study, language, field of study, and whether the graduate is inside or outside Canada, along with special cases such as accelerated programs and distance learning. The current official eligibility page governs. This part has changed several times in recent years, so where a condition is stated as settled, check what date it is from.

For a program finished ahead of its normal length, the PGWP may be issued for the normal length of the program. The official example is a one-year program completed in eight months, where a one-year PGWP may still be issued.

How long the application takes has no fixed number. Use IRCC's processing times tool for the current figure. For how Canadian work experience gained on a PGWP counts later, see Express Entry scores.

None of these three dates can be set from memory

The completion date is the day studies were actually completed, not the date on a letter. The invalidity date means running through all four situations in s.222(1) and taking the earliest, of which the printed expiry date is only one. Whether work can continue while an application is pending turns on whether that application went in before the study permit became invalid, where one day apart produces two different outcomes.

The cost of getting it wrong does not land on a form. Working while authorization has lapsed is a problem in itself, and once the study permit becomes invalid, status lapses too, at which point a different set of rules applies: see the 90-day window to restore status after status is lost.

The difficulty is that nobody sends notice when these dates go by. Classes ended some time ago, pay keeps arriving, the days pass as before, and on the surface nothing has changed. By the time it surfaces, whether anything can be done depends on which date passed first and how long ago.

These three dates are each looked up in a different place, and going through them does not take long. Consultation rates are here.

Common questions