Confusion around postgraduate work permit language resulting in rejections - BERITAJA

Lukas Troni graduated from the University of British Columbia successful April 2025. He was putting his surface science and situation grade to bully usage successful a occupation astatine a Canadian biology statement erstwhile a astonishment rejection missive from the national authorities forced him to extremity working.

After graduation, Troni applied for a postgraduate work permit, aliases PGWP, which allows international students who completed their studies astatine an approved Canadian schoolhouse to activity for a play of clip successful Canada.

He was capable to activity while awaiting a determination connected the permit. He expected it would beryllium an easy yes.

But connected April 14, Troni sewage a missive telling him he was being denied a licence because he did not see successful his licence exertion the results of a French aliases English connection trial — thing which has been a request for about applicants since November 2024.

“It’s for illustration a motortruck hits you each of a abrupt and you’re near to scramble to spot what you could do to proceed surviving your life the measurement you had been before,” he said.

Troni was calved successful Santiago, Chile. He said his parents made a constituent of speaking English astatine location and he is fluent successful the language.

Troni said that erstwhile he submitted his exertion successful August, the directions for each the basal documents were clear, isolated from for the connection test.

“Application transcripts, certificate missive of completion, like, each of those are things that are very specifically outlined that you request to taxable them successful the exertion portal. And past erstwhile you get to the extremity of it, it has a container that says ‘client information,'” Troni said.

He said the container said thing about being the spot to see the English trial and the exertion guideline he had apt predated the connection requirement.

Troni is not the only 1 confronting this issue. A Reddit organization focused connected postgraduate activity permits is afloat of dozens of chat threads started by group who received rejections for the aforesaid reason.

Will Tao, a Vancouver-based migration lawyer, said he became alert of the disorder about the connection trial for the PGWP precocious past year. He said the layout of the website aft the connection trial became a request made accusation about it difficult to find.

“Folks who do it themselves person to reply this come-to-Canada study that automates this checklist and tells you, ‘That’s what you need.’ There’s nary connection there, there’s nary pop-up, there’s thing successful that process that they’re doing that flags, ‘Hey, the connection trial is there,” Tao said.

He said that, “depending connected which word you Googled for the PGWP,” an applicant mightiness find accusation about the trial request connected 1 web page, “in 1 mini container that wasn’t moreover successful typical font aliases colours aliases really stood out.”

“And it was 1 of those expandable ones too, truthful you had to grow to get to it,” he added. “That’s wherever they had that information. So it was really hidden.”

He said changes were made to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada web pages precocious past twelvemonth aft immoderate reporting connected the issue.

The national authorities said it is looking astatine making much changes. A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Lena Diab’s agency said a dedicated section to taxable connection trial results is being developed for the activity licence tract arsenic portion of broader IT changes astatine IRCC.

The spokesperson added that the section received much than 302,000 PGWP applications betwixt Nov. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2025. Of those, 945 were rejected for reasons related to language. Almost 80 per cent of those rejections came successful the past six months of 2025.

The spokesperson said successful an emailed consequence that IRCC has not seen an wide summation successful refusal rates since the connection request was introduced, but the section understands immoderate group were confused about really to taxable the basal paperwork.

Diab’s agency said she was not disposable for an question and reply owed to her recreation schedule.

Troni, who aced the connection trial erstwhile he knew about it, has asked for a reconsideration, pinch thief from Tao, and is presently waiting for a decision. He said he hopes it will beryllium approved truthful he could proceed the life he’s built successful Vancouver pinch his partner and transportation connected moving pinch the biology sustainability realm.

But he said his assurance successful Canada’s migration strategy has been shaken.

“As a personification that has done the applications afloat myself — ne'er pinch an migration lawyer because I ne'er thought it would beryllium necessary, because I assumed the strategy would beryllium adjacent and that it would person my champion liking successful mind — I deliberation it’s really sad to understand that successful a batch of ways it doesn’t,” Troni said.

Efforts to resubmit applications pinch the connection trial attached haven’t ever been successful.

A U.S. national and caller Carleton postgraduate surviving successful Ottawa — who BERITAJA agreed not to sanction owed to imaginable effects connected uncovering activity successful the U.S. — was rejected the first clip for not taking the test.

He submitted a petition for reconsideration and scored a cleanable 10 connected the connection test, but was rejected because he didn’t return the trial until aft his first exertion was refused.

“Thousands of students person been screwed because of this. My business is simply a small unique. A batch of those students had the test. They knew that they needed one. But they didn’t person a spot to upload it. To this day, there’s nary spot to upload it,” the Carleton postgraduate said.

“I filled retired the shape and it told maine wrong. And moreover backmost then, erstwhile I applied successful July, location was moreover little information. There was only this 1 mini announcement but it wasn’t connected the main PGWP page.”

The Carleton postgraduate said that “at the bare minimum,” the customer accusation field, wherever connection trial results are meant to beryllium attached, should opportunity “client information/language test” for clarity.

He raised the rumor pinch the agency of Ottawa Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi and received a missive connected April 15 saying thing much could beryllium done.

“The interest regarding perchance misleading accusation successful the exertion portal was besides discussed. While they acknowledged that location was nary dedicated upload slot for the connection test, they reiterated that the request itself has been intelligibly posted connected the PGWP page since November 2024,” the missive said.

Tao said he has been told by group wrong IRCC that efforts to resoluteness communications issues person been analyzable by a unit shortage and an summation successful the usage of integer devices successful determination making.

IRCC announced successful January 2025 that about 3,300 positions would beryllium trim complete 3 years to return the section to pre-pandemic staffing levels.

“I deliberation successful that type of situation you almost person to fto the problems fester and say, ‘You cognize what, it’s not a occurrence that we could put retired and it’s conscionable excessively overmuch activity to do … We’ll create immoderate channels, for illustration reconsiderations, and we’re making things amended now. But if you were caught successful it, excessively bad, excessively sad.’ And I deliberation that’s the vibe I get from a batch of this worldly too,” Tao said.

The Carleton postgraduate is getting fresh to move backmost successful pinch his parents successful Boston and time off his location of the past 8 years.

He said he agrees pinch what the authorities is doing to get the world student strategy nether control, but now he’s near emotion for illustration “collateral damage” because of what he described arsenic unclear connection connected the request for a connection test.

“Their scheme is to person skilled immigrants present now, aliases whatever, contributing to this economy. Here is 1 and, like, goodbye? Like, what, are you kicking maine retired for a connection that they’ve admitted responsibility to, an correction that they person admitted responsibility to?” he said.

“I’ve contributed here. I person connections here. I shouldn’t person to change the people of my life. I americium moving but astatine this constituent I don’t get it. I don’t understand why.”