Before pointing out the common mistakes, let’s see what the general PGWP eligibility requirements are according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). 

 

Also, let’s see the exceptions to the eligibility requirements.

Out of the above provisions, I personally have observed the mistakes those most of the students do are the followings:

Firstly, many of the times, students don’t check if the program they are going to enrolled into is eligible for PGWP or not. Please note that not all the programs that are offered by a DLI are eligible for PGWP. You need to check that from IRCC website as shown below:

Sometimes, not all the programs under the same school are eligible for PGWP as shown below.

Secondly, you cannot just become a part-time student on your own wish, you must be a full-time student throughout your study. The final semester can be an exception if the remaining courseload does not require full time study.

Thirdly, you CAN’T be out of the study for more than 150 days. And these 150 days must be under authorized leave.

According to IRCC, it counts as authorized leave if:

·        your school has authorized a leave from your study program for

Ö       medical reasons or pregnancy

Ö       family emergency

Ö       death or serious illness of a family member

Ö       any other type of leave your school authorizes

·        your school has closed permanently or because of a strike

·        you’ve changed schools

·        you or your school deferred your program start date

Ö       In this case, you must start your studies the next semester, even if it starts sooner than 150 days, and get an updated letter of acceptance.

 

VERY IMPORTANT: You CAN’T work on or off campus during an authorized leave from your study program, even if your study permit says you’re allowed to work in Canada.

Fourthly, you must not work full-time beside your full-time study unless it’s authorized and declared by IRCC under any temporary public policy. Please note that driving Uber or any other kind of delivery jobs are also included within these job hours.

Fifthly, you cannot let your study permit expire. You need to make sure that your study permit has been valid within the last 180 days of your PGWP application.

Sixthly, some students are under the impression that that they will go for a 01-year study, apply for PGWP, get the PGWP for 01 year. Then will go for another 02 or more years of study and apply PGWP again as/if required to fulfill the Permanent Residency application. Unfortunately, that’s not possible as PGWP is issued only once in your lifetime. If there is any temporary public policy in place to extend PGWP, that’s a different story.   

Lastly, some students want to pursue 02 different degrees and combine those together to have the benefit of 03 years of PGWP. Please note, you can do that as I explained with the evidence in this article. 

But the mistake some students make is around the gap between the two programs. By no means the gap can exceed 150 days.

IRCC never made it compulsory to have a legal representative to submit your PGWP application. However, if you think you are not sure about the application process and/or you have an out of the box situation, please by all means seek legal advice before you make a mistake which will result a  damage / refusal.    

Disclaimer: The above writing is not intended to be a source of legal advice. Please seek legal advice and use your own good judgement before choosing to act on any information provided above. If you choose to rely on this article, you do so entirely at your own accountability.