Post-graduation Work Permits – International Student

International students who have successfully completed a degree/diploma/certificate program of at least 8 months in length or more, from an eligible Canadian post-secondary institution, may apply for a Post-Graduate Work Permit, which allows them to work in Canada.

A Post-Graduation Work Permit may be issued to an International Student, up to a maximum of three-years, based on the length of their study program. The Post-Graduation Work Permit allows students to work for any employer in any industry, across Canada.

To be eligible for a Post-Graduation Work Permit, the students must the following requirements:

• They must have studied full-time in Canada and must have completed a program of study that lasted at least eight months. In addition, they must have graduated from:
  • a public post-secondary educational institution (university, college, or CEGEP); or
  • a private post-secondary educational institution that operates under the same rules and regulations as public institutions, or
  • a private secondary or post-secondary institution (in Quebec) offering qualifying programs of 900 hours or longer leading to a diplôme d’études professionnelles (DEP) or an attestation de spécialisation professionnelle (ASP), or
  • a Canadian private educational institution authorized by provincial or territorial statute to confer degrees;
• they must apply for a work permit within 90 days of receiving written confirmation from their academic institution that they have met the requirements of completing their program;
• they must have completed and passed the program of study and received a written notification that they are eligible to obtain their degree, diploma, or certificate; and
• they must have a valid study permit when applying for the work permit.

Additional Information

Impact of length of the studies in Canada and the length of the work permit

A Post-Graduation Work Permit cannot be valid longer than the length of your studies in Canada.

If the official length of your program of study is:

• less than eight months
  • you are not eligible for this program
• less than two years but more than eight months
  • you may get a work permit for a period no longer than the length of your program of study (for example, if you studied for nine months, a work permit may be issued for a period of nine months)
• two years or more
  • a work permit may be issued for three years
• To obtain a three-year work permit, the program of study must have been for a minimum of two years. If the length of the program was less than two years but longer than eight months, the student will get a work permit for the same duration as their program of study.
• If students who obtained a one-year graduate degree or diploma from an eligible institution in Canada after having obtained, within the prior two years, another diploma or degree from an eligible institution in Canada, then the duration of the work permit may be up to 3 three years.