How Canada's PGWP Field-of-Study Rules Affect Vietnamese Graduates

What changed on November 1, 2024

IRCC added a field-of-study requirement for Post-Graduation Work Permit eligibility for graduates of non-degree programs, effective for study permit applications made on or after November 1, 2024. This affects college diplomas, graduate certificates and other credentials below the bachelor's degree level.

If your program does not connect to a sector IRCC flags as facing long-term labour shortages, you do not qualify for a PGWP after you finish, even if the program itself remains a legitimate DLI offering.

Bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree graduates from public and eligible private universities stay outside this restriction. Your degree level, not your grades or program length, decides whether the field-of-study rule applies to you.

Which fields qualify

IRCC ties the eligibility list to occupational categories facing sustained demand rather than naming individual college programs. Broad sectors covered include health care, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), trades, transport, agriculture and agri-food, and select education roles such as early childhood education. IRCC's PGWP eligibility page lists the current field-of-study categories and links each one to specific Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes, which your school matches to your actual program before you enrol.

Ask your DLI's international office directly whether your specific diploma or certificate program sits on the current eligibility list before you accept an offer. Program names change faster than most students track, and a similar-sounding diploma at two different colleges lands on opposite sides of the list.

Language requirements from the same date

Alongside the field-of-study rule, IRCC set a minimum language requirement for PGWP applicants starting November 1, 2024: Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 for university degree graduates, and CLB 5 for college diploma and certificate graduates.

You prove this with an approved test result, such as IELTS or CELPIP, taken within the validity window IRCC sets for PGWP applications.

Curriculum-licensing programs lost eligibility entirely

Programs delivered by a private college under a licensing agreement with a public college, sometimes called curriculum-licensing or public-private partnership programs, stopped qualifying for a PGWP for students starting on or after September 1, 2024. This applied regardless of field of study. If a private institution advertises a partnership with a public college, confirm directly with IRCC's DLI list and your intended school which entity delivers the credential before you enrol, since the delivering institution decides your PGWP eligibility, not the brand name on your acceptance letter.

What this means for choosing a program

If your plan after a Canadian college diploma includes staying to work through a PGWP, treat field-of-study eligibility as a filter before you shortlist programs, on the same level as tuition and campus location. A cheaper or shorter diploma that falls outside the eligibility list costs you the post-study work option that made studying in Canada worth it in the first place.

Vietnamese students commonly enrol in business, hospitality and general arts diplomas at the college level. Some of these programs fall outside the current field-of-study list, so compare your shortlist against the official eligibility categories, or ask each school directly, before you commit to an offer.

If you plan a bachelor's degree or higher instead of a college diploma, the field-of-study restriction does not apply to you, though the CLB 7 language requirement still does.

Applying for your PGWP after graduation

You apply for a PGWP after you finish your program and receive an official completion letter or transcript from your DLI, not before. Processing happens through IRCC's standard PGWP application, and the permit length ties to your program length, up to a maximum of three years for programs of two years or longer.

Apply within 180 days of receiving your final marks, and keep your study permit valid or apply for visitor status while you wait, since a gap in status complicates your work permit application.