New policy to help international students impacted by COVID-19 to live and work in Canada
Image credit: Image credit: Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash
Current and former migrant student workers have been calling for renewable work permits to ward off deportations across Canada.
“COVID-19 has changed everything, but unfair immigration rules stay the same,” said Sarom Rho, National Coordinator, Migrant Students United, speaking outside Immigration Offices in Toronto where a massive postgraduate work permit stamped with the words Renew PGWP was installed recently. “Current and former international students are running out of time. Thousands face deportation if they don’t fulfill requirements for permanent residency that are out of their control. Canada must create fair immigration rules, make PGWPs renewable, and ensure full and permanent immigration status for all.”
Approximately 100,000 PGWPs are issued in Canada each year. One in five are either one or two years in length within which migrants must complete 12-24 months of high-waged work. These work permits are non-renewable, so those that lost work during COVID-19 potentially lose the ability to apply for PR.
“My family and I have made sacrifices for me to come live in Canada. I’ve built a life here, believing that I would get PR. I did everything by the book. While studying I worked more than two years in jobs that are supposed to count for PR, but work during school does not count. Now, there are just no jobs, and I may not be able to complete the requirements before my PGWP expires,” explains Rahil Adeli of Burnaby, British Columbia. “We should not be punished for COVID-19, making PGWP renewable for all of us is the right thing to do.”
Many migrant students are working in essential jobs as delivery workers, cleaners, construction workers and freelancers. But this work experience cannot be counted towards PR. Work done during the school year is excluded. Under current immigration rules, work permits that expire in 2020 could be restored before December 31, 2020. Many students remaining in Canada on expired permits are waiting for them to be made renewable.
“Migrant students are in a crisis not of our making. Many of us have been laid off and can’t find the very specific high-skilled jobs that are required to apply for permanent residency. Delays in permit processing from Immigration Canada means that we can’t start jobs on time, and without active work permits, we can’t access emergency income supports or health-care,” says Maria Dussan of St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador. “Migrant students live and work here, we have laid roots here, we need emergency income support, healthcare, lower tuition fees and full immigration status to cope with the impact of COVID-19.”
Access to healthcare for most former students, even during COVID-19, is tied to having a full-time job, which many are unable to find under current circumstances. International student tuition fees have increased dramatically during COVID-19 even as students and their families have lost work and wages and classes have shifted online.
Migrant students called on the federal and provincial government to:
Fix rules around work. Make post-graduate work permits renewable so former students can complete realistic requirements for Permanent Residency (PR) in the COVID-19 job market; remove time limits and industry restrictions on work.
Give real access to PR. Lower points requirements for PR (CRS); Count work that is part-time, in-school, or in any occupation towards PR; and Ensure full and permanent immigration status for all migrants.
Lower tuition and ensure full services. Ensure migrant students pay domestic tuition; Ensure full access to all services including healthcare, housing, scholarships, pandemic emergency benefits, in-school support and jobs; Immediate access to Social Insurance Numbers.
Unite families: Allow families to travel, ensure work permits for family members.
In response, the government announced a new policy to help former international students live in, work in and continue contributing to Canada.
On January 8, Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that former international students who hold or held a post-graduation work permit (PGWP) will have the opportunity to apply for an open work permit.
Foreign nationals in Canada affected by the pandemic with an expired or expiring PGWP will have a unique chance to apply for another open work permit. These will be valid for 18 months and allow former international students to remain in Canada, continue to seek employment and build their future in this country.
A few quick facts:
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada estimates that as many as 52,000 graduates with expired or expiring PGWPs could benefit from the public policy. Of nearly 61,000 PGWP holders whose work permit had an expiry date between January and December 2020, about half either have already become permanent residents or have a permanent residence application in processing.
To apply for an open work permit under the public policy, an applicant must have a PGWP that expired on or after January 30, 2020, or a PGWP that expires in four months or less from the date they apply; still be in Canada and have a valid temporary status, or be applying to restore their status.
Applications will be open from January 27 to July 27, 2021.
For details on how to apply, visit Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s website, www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship.html