Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has quietly confirmed that the list of academic programs that qualify international graduates for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) will remain unchanged throughout 2026. The notice, posted on IRCC’s website on 17 January 2026, ends months of speculation that more diploma and certificate courses—particularly shorter, career-college offerings—might be removed after an extensive review last year.
The freeze provides badly needed certainty for the roughly 250 000 international students who will complete studies in Canada in 2026. Under the PGWP scheme, graduates of designated learning institutions can obtain an open work permit for up to three years, allowing them to gain Canadian experience that often leads to permanent residence. School counsellors and immigration lawyers had warned that constant changes to the eligibility list made academic planning—and employer recruitment—extremely difficult.
VisaHQ can make navigating these next steps even easier: its Canada portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/) lets students and graduates generate personalised document checklists, verify visa requirements and arrange secure courier delivery of applications, streamlining the PGWP process and reducing the chance of costly delays.
![IRCC freezes Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) eligible programs list for 2026]()
Universities and publicly funded colleges broadly welcomed the decision, saying it will help them finalise marketing campaigns and scholarship offers in key source markets such as India, Nigeria and the Philippines. Private career colleges, many of which feared further restrictions, were relieved but cautioned that a “pause” does not guarantee long-term inclusion; IRCC could still overhaul criteria in 2027 once it finishes a wider review of temporary resident programmes.
For employers, the status quo means continued access to a pool of work-ready graduates who can be hired without the red tape of a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). Tech firms in the Toronto–Waterloo corridor told the Canadian Chamber of Commerce that PGWP holders now account for roughly 18 % of their junior workforce. Human-resources directors said the announcement lets them structure 2026 graduate-intake programmes with confidence and avoids a repeat of 2025, when late-year rule changes forced firms to redo staffing plans.
Students already in Canada should save a copy of the current Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) codes list when filing study-permit extensions or PGWP applications. IRCC stressed that the onus remains on applicants to show their programme appears on the frozen list at the time of submission. Advisors therefore recommend downloading the official list and including it as supporting evidence to avoid refusals based on “ineligible field of study.” While the freeze brings short-term stability, stakeholders expect further consultations on tying PGWP eligibility more closely to regional labour-market needs beyond 2026.
The freeze provides badly needed certainty for the roughly 250 000 international students who will complete studies in Canada in 2026. Under the PGWP scheme, graduates of designated learning institutions can obtain an open work permit for up to three years, allowing them to gain Canadian experience that often leads to permanent residence. School counsellors and immigration lawyers had warned that constant changes to the eligibility list made academic planning—and employer recruitment—extremely difficult.
VisaHQ can make navigating these next steps even easier: its Canada portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/) lets students and graduates generate personalised document checklists, verify visa requirements and arrange secure courier delivery of applications, streamlining the PGWP process and reducing the chance of costly delays.
Universities and publicly funded colleges broadly welcomed the decision, saying it will help them finalise marketing campaigns and scholarship offers in key source markets such as India, Nigeria and the Philippines. Private career colleges, many of which feared further restrictions, were relieved but cautioned that a “pause” does not guarantee long-term inclusion; IRCC could still overhaul criteria in 2027 once it finishes a wider review of temporary resident programmes.
For employers, the status quo means continued access to a pool of work-ready graduates who can be hired without the red tape of a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). Tech firms in the Toronto–Waterloo corridor told the Canadian Chamber of Commerce that PGWP holders now account for roughly 18 % of their junior workforce. Human-resources directors said the announcement lets them structure 2026 graduate-intake programmes with confidence and avoids a repeat of 2025, when late-year rule changes forced firms to redo staffing plans.
Students already in Canada should save a copy of the current Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) codes list when filing study-permit extensions or PGWP applications. IRCC stressed that the onus remains on applicants to show their programme appears on the frozen list at the time of submission. Advisors therefore recommend downloading the official list and including it as supporting evidence to avoid refusals based on “ineligible field of study.” While the freeze brings short-term stability, stakeholders expect further consultations on tying PGWP eligibility more closely to regional labour-market needs beyond 2026.
