What are the exceptions, and what does full-time mean in Canada?
Let’s break it down:
The Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) is a bonus offered by Immigration Canada to graduates of Canadian educational institutions. It is granted if the student was enrolled full-time for the entire duration of their program and graduated from a designated learning institution (DLI) eligible for the PGWP.
Although there are many requirements for obtaining this work permit, the key condition is full-time study, except in the following cases:
- An academic leave approved by the institution (for critical reasons such as health issues or the illness or death of a close relative).
- The final semester of study (due to scheduling challenges, the last semester can be completed part-time).
- Special COVID-19 measures applied between March 1, 2020, and August 31, 2024, if the student: Did not study at all (due to closures or the inability to begin online learning). Studied part-time (again due to COVID-related restrictions).
What does full-time mean? Interestingly, the definition of full-time is determined individually by each educational institution and typically means three to five courses per week.
Colleges measure full-time status in hours, while universities measure it in credits per course.
For example:
- In a university, a standard course taken per semester is worth 3 credits. A full-time student is one who takes at least 12 credits (4 courses). Each course involves one weekly lecture lasting three hours, totaling 12 hours per week. These 12 credits per session are considered a full-time load.
- In colleges, a full-time load is typically 30 hours per week or more.
Sometimes, university courses are considered more intensive and are worth 5 or even 6 credits, meaning a student can take only three courses and still be considered full-time. On the other hand, some courses may be worth just 2 credits, which requires careful attention.
Many graduates have lost the chance to obtain a PGWP due to these small details. Always check your transcript and verify your student status during each semester—whether it states full-time or part-time.
Here’s a small but important tip: Being a full-time student doesn’t mean passing all your exams at the end of the semester—it simply means you registered for the courses, attended them, and showed up for exams. Whether or not you pass the exams is irrelevant.
For this reason, if you’re an international student struggling with your program, don’t rush to drop a course. Doing so will immediately change your status to part-time.
It’s better to fail the course and retake it later. But be cautious, as repeated failures can significantly lower your GPA, and many institutions have policies to expel students for poor academic performance if their GPA falls below a certain threshold. (Speaking from personal experience—I was almost expelled once!)
