Newspunjab
13 August,2026
More than 1,000 international students have taken to the streets of Calgary to protest the large number of rejections of Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) applications in Canada. A large number of them are said to be Punjabi students. The students have been protesting for the past 10 days and are also on a relay hunger strike. Meanwhile, the action taken by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at the protest site has made the matter more serious. The students say that they completed their studies with heavy tuition fees and huge financial support from their families and they were hoping that they would get a work permit after their studies as per the rules. Now they are demanding a reconsideration of their rejected applications. In media reports, the matter is also being linked to a Jalandhar-based immigration firm, through which many students had taken admission. Meanwhile, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) says that the recent update only clarified the current eligibility requirements for non-credit programs and did not change the core eligibility requirements for work permits. This whole matter has raised concerns among Punjabi students.
