Expired or soon-to-expire postgraduate work permit (PGWP) holders can apply to extend their permits from Tuesday, nearly four months after the federal government announced plans to offer such extensions.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said on Tuesday that PGWP holders whose permits have already expired, or will expire between September 20, 2021 and October 2, 2022, will be able to apply online for a extension or a new permit of up to 18 months. .
For those whose permits expire between October 2 and December 31, 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) says that these people will not need to do anything to get the 18-month extension unless they have to ‘update your postal address. or passport validity.
IRCC also announced that it will send an email to PGWP holders with permits that have expired or will expire between September 20, 2021 and December 31, 2022, an email stating that they are allowed to work while applying for the your extension or new permit.
PGWPs are offered to former international students who have graduated from a Canadian post-secondary institution. These permits are usually valid for up to three years and are not renewable. Many international graduates have relied on PGWPs to gain Canadian work experience as a stepping stone to applying for permanent residency.
The federal government made the initial announcement about PGWP extensions in April, promising that a “simplified and expedited process” to apply for an extension would be available “in the coming weeks.”
But current and former PGWP holders have had to wait almost four months for the application portal to finally open. IRCC told CTVNews.ca in a statement that it needed to make technology upgrades before it could proceed with permit extensions.
“IRCC needed to update our antiquated system that limited automatic renewals of expired and expired work permits,” an IRCC spokesperson said.
“Updating our system has allowed IRCC to ensure that our public policy is inclusive enough for all those with expired or expired post-graduation work permits who may have been affected by the break on Express Entry . This approach required changes to the computer system, which usually take several hours to put in place.”
The long-delayed opening of the application portal offers a sigh of relief for Burnaby, BC-based cybersecurity consultant Arun Kuchibhotla, whose PGWP was set to expire on August 19.
Although he considers himself lucky as his employer was also willing to sponsor a reciprocal work permit should his PGWP expire, he noted that many PGWP holders have had to stop working and leave the country after they their permissions expire.
“There was so much frustration,” he told CTVNews.ca by phone Tuesday. “All PGWP holders are supporting the Canadian economy.”
Toronto resident Mikita Arlou will finally be able to look for work. His PGWP had already expired last December and for eight months he burned through his savings, unable to work.
“Next month would be my last,” he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview Tuesday. “Next month it would hit zero in my bank account. It was very tight.”
Originally from Belarus, the stakes are even higher for Arlou as he would risk imprisonment in his home country for speaking out against Belarus’ involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine . He says he’s frustrated that he and other PGWP holders have had to wait so long to finally get the extension they were promised months ago.
“We just got something that we should have gotten months ago and the mental health toll that this whole situation has taken, it’s not going to reverse,” Arlou said.
The government had previously offered an extension to PGWP holders between January 2021 and July 2021 for those whose permits had expired after January 2020 or were due to expire within four months.