The list of occupations in long-term shortage for Canada’s Post-Graduation Work Permit for International Students.

On September 18, 2024 the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced the new measures for strengthening temporary residence programs for sustainable volumes in Canada. Part of the changes announced was updating the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program this fall to better align with immigration goals and labour market needs

Specifically, Graduates from programs at public colleges will remain eligible for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) of up to three years if they graduate from a field of study linked to occupations in long-term shortage. Details available here

New information is now available on what this means, through the eligible field of study requirement released by IRCC on October 4, 2024.

For those who have submitted their study permit application BEFORE November 1, 2024.

If you submitted your study permit application before November 1, 2024 and you are applying for a PGWP on or after November 1, 2024, you must meet the new requirement that applies to your situation. The requirements that apply to those who submitted their study permit application before November 1, 2024 are:

• If you graduated with a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctoral degree from a university:
  • Language requirement: You must prove your English or French language skills with a minimum level of Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) 7 in English or Niveaux de competence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) 7 in French in all 4 language areas.
• If you graduated in any other university program:
  • Language requirement: You must prove your English or French language skills with a minimum level of CLB 7 in English or NCLC 7 in French in all 4 language areas.
• If you graduated from a college program or any other program not listed above:
  • Language requirement: You must prove your English or French language skills with a minimum level of CLB 5 in English or NCLC 5 in French in all 4 language areas.

For those who will submit their study permit application ON or AFTER November 1, 2024.

If you submit your study permit application on or after November 1, 2024, you must meet the new requirements that apply to your situation to be eligible to apply for a PGWP. The requirements that apply to those who submitted their study permit application on or after November 1, 2024 are:

• If you graduated from a university bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctoral degree program:
  • Language requirement: You must prove your English or French language skills with a minimum level of Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) 7 in English or Niveaux de competence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) 7 in French in all 4 language areas.
  • Field of study requirement: All fields of study for a university bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or doctoral degree program are eligible for PGWP. There is no additional field of study requirement for these levels of study.
• If you graduated from any other university program:
  • Language requirement: You must prove your English or French language skills with a minimum level of CLB 7 in English or NCLC 7 in French in all 4 language areas.
  • Field of study requirement: You must graduate in an eligible field of study.
• If you graduated from a college program or any other program not listed above:
  • Language requirement: You must prove your English or French language skills with a minimum level of CLB 5 in English or NCLC 5 in French in all 4 language areas.
  • Field of study requirement: You must graduate in an eligible field of study.

Field of study requirement

If your study program has a field of study requirement, for you to be eligible for a PGWP, you must graduate from a program linked to certain occupations in long-term shortage. The fields of study are divided into 5 broad categories:

• agriculture and agri-food
• healthcare
• science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)
• trade
• transport

You will find more information on the specific programs that are eligible for PGWP in each broad category here

There are a total of 966 Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) listed, with Healthcare having the highest number of programs, followed by STEM, Trade, Agriculture and Agri-food, and Transport in that order.

For more information, filter through the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) here.

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