Hundreds of international students are calling on the Canadian government to\u00a0immediately\u00a0halt the bulk\u00a0denial\u00a0of post-graduation work permit applications\u00a0for\u00a0students\u00a0in Alberta,\u00a0which they say have been wrongfully refused.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Approximately 500\u00a0international\u00a0graduates from\u00a0continuing\u00a0education courses at Portage College have held rallies\u00a0across Alberta\u00a0in recent\u00a0weeks demanding\u00a0answers\u00a0regarding\u00a0why their permits were denied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The students \u2013 some of whom staged a\u00a0hunger strike<\/a>\u00a0in Calgary \u2013 have said they were promised PGWP eligibility when they started their non-credit courses in 2024,\u00a0provided they met the necessary criteria.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But hundreds have seen their permits refused, following\u00a0an update\u00a0from IRCC\u00a0stating that\u00a0that all non-credit courses, other than flight school, are not PGWP eligible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While the update came on June 24, IRCC said the guidance marked a clarification of existing\u00a0requirements and that the students would not be grandfathered under\u00a0previous\u00a0rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt has always been the case\u00a0that\u00a0non-credit are not entitled to these PGWP, so\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0not changed any eligibility for that,\u201d\u00a0said Lena Diab, minister of immigration,\u00a0refugees\u00a0and citizenship,\u00a0at a press conference\u00a0on July 28.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But the impacted students have launched a\u00a0petition,<\/a>\u00a0backed by regulated Canadian immigration consultant (RCIC) Dimple Verma,\u00a0to halt the bulk refusals and \u201creverse the unpublished policy change quietly added to the IRCC website\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite IRCC maintaining it has not changed eligibility requirements, the students argue the\u00a0\u201cnon-credit\u201d rule is a webpage edit, not a regulation, and that they applied for their PGWP within the required window, under the rules that existed at the time of enrolment.\u00a0<\/p>\n What this situation reveals is a failure of coordination between provincial and federal governments<\/p>\n Matthew McDonald, RCIC<\/p>\n According to Portage College student union, some 1,500 graduates have been\u00a0impacted\u00a0across Canada,\u00a0though\u00a0The PIE News\u00a0is not aware of\u00a0affected\u00a0individuals outside of\u00a0Alberta at this time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Elsewhere, experts have\u00a0said IRCC\u2019s June 2026 update\u00a0appeared to be\u00a0clarifying in writing what was previously assumed to be self-evident, though reviews of\u00a0previous\u00a0PGWP guidelines show no explicit language excluding \u201cnon-credit programs\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe PGWP program guidelines regularly refer to credits in a way that assumes readers understand that a PGWP-eligible program involves grades, courses, and academic credits that lead to a particular credential,\u201d Matthew McDonald RCIC told\u00a0The PIE.\u00a0<\/p>\n He called the incident a \u201cfailure of government communication\u201d\u00a0regarding\u00a0assumptions that had not been articulated clearly in the program guidelines, and\u00a0said\u00a0applicants\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0be penalised.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Moreover, he said he\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0find evidence of Portage College providing international student immigration advising to its students, which, he said \u201cshould be a mandatory requirement for any DLI that has the privilege of accepting international students\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that it is not mandatory is a failure of policy \u2013 and decision-making at both the federal and provincial levels. This failure is what has brought us here today,\u201d\u00a0stated\u00a0McDonald.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In Canada,\u00a0sector stakeholders have long called for better communication between provincial and federal governments, with\u00a0education under the\u00a0jurisdiction\u00a0of the\u00a0ten\u00a0provinces\u00a0and territories, running distinct systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n