PGWP refused

Your refusal letter is the starting point for understanding what went wrong. The requirements below cover application deadlines, your studies and language results.

For timing, send the application no later than 180 days after your school says your program is complete, and your study permit needs to have been valid at some point during those 180 days. Failing either condition brings a refusal under IRCC's eligibility rules.

For your study record, full-time status is required in each semester, and part-time is only acceptable in your last one. The program itself must have run for 8 months or more (900 hours or more in Quebec) at a school with PGWP-eligible programs. A DLI is a school approved to accept international students, but some DLIs have no PGWP-eligible programs, and graduating from one of those leaves you ineligible. Studying more than 50% by distance also rules you out. So does a curriculum-licensing program begun on or after May 15, 2024. You also can't get a second PGWP if you already received one.

For language, a bachelor's, master's or doctoral graduate needs CLB 7 in each of the four skill areas, while someone from a college program needs CLB 5 instead. CLB (Canadian Language Benchmark) levels turn your test scores into one national number. When test results arrive incomplete with no explanation attached, IRCC may refuse you for not meeting the language requirement.

Study permits submitted on or after November 1, 2024 bring an extra condition for non-degree programs: your field of study has to be eligible. Not sure which of these your letter is pointing at? Call now and a consultant will read it with you and tell you what to fix.

In most cases you can, whenever you're ready, as long as the decision letter doesn't forbid it. The thing to remember is that reapplying only helps when you can send details that were missing the first time, such as a missing document or an explanation you didn't include.

If your status has already ended, you have 90 days from that date to ask IRCC to restore it, and you send the new PGWP request with that restoration application.

If you still hold status in Canada, you can simply apply again with what was missing. If your status has run out, these are the steps.

1. Work out the date your status ended. A restoration application is possible within 90 days of that date.
2. Applying online means submitting before midnight UTC within the 90 days. A paper application that shows up late gets dated by counting back 7 days.
3. When your study permit has run out, you ask to be restored as a student and request the PGWP together.
4. You normally can't work until your status comes back and a new work permit is issued, so plan around that gap.

Once 90 days pass with no application filed, you have to leave Canada and apply again from outside. A refused restoration also means you have to leave Canada. Call now and a consultant can compare your deadline with the dates in your letter.

Every family member who lost status files their own application and covers their own restoration fee. The amounts below come from IRCC's fee list.

Sometimes a refusal shows you were not eligible for a PGWP at all. In that case, you may still qualify for another work permit. The usual routes are a permit tied to one employer, most often backed by a job offer, or an open work permit through a spouse or partner who qualifies for one. Call to discuss other work permit options with a consultant, and have your refusal letter ready so you can talk through the reasons and any deadlines.