There are not many income support programs for migrant student workers, and this puts us under huge financial stress. Check if you qualify for the Canada Recovery Benefit, Employment Insurance or Canada Child Benefit. Applying for these programs will not affect your permanent residency application.
If you are a current student, there may be emergency supports or bursaries available through your school.
Many current and former international students are speaking up about high tuition fees and the lack of income supports for migrants. Join us to get involved!
Not all international students are allowed to work, and we face restrictions on where we can work and how many hours. Check the conditions of your study permit.
If your permit says you’re allowed to work during your studies, you can work full time on campus and a maximum of 20 hours per week off campus. Even if you worked less than 20 hours one week, you cannot add these hours to the next week.
When your program or school has a “regularly scheduled break,” you can work full time off campus. These breaks can include the summer or winter holidays. Check your program or school’s academic schedule.
Many of us work more than 20 hours off campus because we need to. Some of us work 20 hours on SIN and the rest on cash. We should be able to choose where and how much we work. But as migrant student workers we don’t have equal rights. That’s not fair, so together we are speaking up to win change. Join us!
After graduating from a public post-secondary institution, you may be eligible for a post graduate work permit (PGWP). Depending on the length of your program, your PGWP may be anywhere from 8 months to 3 years long. During this time, you have to complete requirements for permanent residency.
Most migrant student workers apply for permanent residency through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) or the federal Express Entry program called the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).
For the PNP, every province or territory has their own streams, except for Quebec, which has its own program.
For the CEC, the key requirements are:
Minimum of 12 months of high waged work experience in Canada in NOC 0, A or B jobs
High language scores: CLB 7 for NOC 0 or A; CLB 5 for NOC B
Many of us struggle to get permanent residency because of these unfair requirements, and that forces us into very difficult situations. That is why current and former international students like you are coming together to demand permanent immigration status for all now! Join us.
If your study permit is expiring and you haven’t completed your studies yet, you can apply for a study permit extension. You should do this at least 30 days before your permit expires.
If your study permit is expiring and you will be graduating before it expires, you can apply for a post graduate work permit (PGWP). You have up to 180 days after you get your final marks from school to apply for a PGWP.
If your study permit has already expired, you can try to restore your status. You usually have 90 days after your permit expires to restore. But during COVID19, you may be eligible to restore your status until August 31, 2021 if you had valid status on or before January 2020.
If your study permit expired before January 2020 and you cannot restore it, contact us to discuss your options. You are not alone!
The post graduate work permit (PGWP) is a non-renewable, time-restricted permit that we can only get once. After the PGWP expires, we have very limited options.
This puts a lot of pressure on us. In 2020, tens of thousands of PGWP holders across the country were facing a massive crisis – our permits were expiring, there were no jobs, we couldn’t complete the requirements for PR and we were running out of time. So we came together to demand that the government respond. After months of organizing, we won a historic policy change that stopped the possible deportation of over 52,000 migrant student workers! Now, PGWP holders with expired or expiring permits may be able to apply for an 18 month open work permit and have a second chance to qualify for PR. If you have questions about the new open work permit, contact us. You can read more about the victory here.
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC) is a member-led organization that is building racialized, low-waged, worker power to win migrant justice. Our areas of focus include current and former international students in low-waged work through our Migrant Students United campaign (MSU).
We are seeking an experienced Punjabi speaking community or labour organizer to join the MSU team. This organizer will support the self-organization of migrant student workers in the Greater Toronto Area, in order to win changes to immigration and labour policy.
In February 2021, over 27,000 people were invited to apply for permanent residency in the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draw under Express Entry. That is a massive 440% increase in invitations. The points required were also lowered – the minimum cut-off score was 75, compared to the high 400s from the two previous CEC rounds.
This decision to send out over 27,000 invitations to apply (ITAs) comes just a month after we stopped the mass deportation of 52,000 people and helped win a historic change for post graduate work permit holders.
This is good news for some. But there is more to be done. Some who received invitations to apply (ITAs) are worried that we won’t eventually be confirmed for permanent residency due to unclear and restrictive immigration rules. Even greater are the many who migrant student workers who are still left out, particularly those who work in low-waged essential industries.
Clearly, time after time, we see the federal government is responding to our call. It is evident that they can make changes to unfair and arbitrary rules that have never made sense, and they can make any and all change when they want. So let us be loud and clear: ALL MIGRANT AND UNDOCUMENTED PEOPLE DESERVE FULL AND PERMANENT IMMIGRATION STATUS, without exclusion and without exemption.
Nobody should be left behind! We reiterate our calls for change to:
VALUE ALL WORK TOWARDS PR: Count work that is part-time, in-school, and in any occupation (including NOC 0, A and B) towards PR;
FIX RULES AROUND WORK: Remove time-limits and industry restrictions on work;
ENSURE REAL ACCESS TO PR: Make post-graduate work permits renewable; Lower points requirements for PR (CRS); ensure full and permanent immigration status for all migrants.
UNITE FAMILIES: Allow families to travel; Ensure work permits for family members.
LOWER TUITION AND ENSURE FULL SERVICES: Work with provincial partners to ensure migrant students pay domestic tuition; and have full access to all services including healthcare, housing, jobs, scholarships, pandemic emergency benefits, and in-school support; Ensure immediate access to Social Insurance Numbers.
52,000 migrant student workers WILL NOT be deported! Why? Because organizing works! Last year when tens of thousands of us were facing deportation for a crisis not in our making, we came together to take action for change. AND WE WON. In direct response to migrant student workers speaking up, the federal government made post graduate work permits (PGWPs) renewable for one time!
The fight is not over. Many migrant student workers are in essential jobs, but our work is not valued or counted towards permanent immigration status because it is low-waged and deemed “low-skilled.” We know that it is the work we do — delivery, warehousing, construction, retail, care — which sustains society. We will continue to take action so that all our work is valued.
This isn’t just a victory for migrant student workers. It’s a victory for all migrant and undocumented people because it shows that together we can organize to win the changes we deserve. Now, more than ever, we must all unite for full and permanent immigration status for all and build the world we want to live in.
How we fought and won:
In mid-March 2020, as COVID-19 was hitting our communities hard, Migrant Student United (MSU) organized online information sessions for migrant students. Over 2,300 migrant student workers joined in with our concerns. Based on these meetings, MSU sent a letter to the government in April and launched a petition calling for healthcare, income support, and immigration changes. Over 12,000 people signed on.
Between May and July, MSU held weekly online meetings with hundreds of student workers to share up-to-date information, and identify priorities. MSU supported student workers to establish local Migrant Students United chapters. If you want to start a chapter on your campus or in your city, email us msu@migrantworkersalliance.org. On July 4th, migrant students joined actions for status for all across the country.
In August, thousands of us met and discussed being unable to complete the work experience required for permanent residency status because of unfair immigration rules. Many of us had lost our jobs because of COVID-19 or couldn’t find work. MSU launched a petition calling on the government to #RenewPGWP. Over 5,000 students signed. On August 23, migrant students joined a full and permanent immigration status for all action in Toronto.
On September 12, migrant student workers organized a mass rally outside Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office. On September 13, we rallied in Peel. On September 20th, we joined rallies in Toronto. We were featured in CBC National, Global News, the Toronto Star, and our story was shared across multiple major media outlets across Canada.
On October 25th we rallied in Toronto and installed a giant work permit at immigration headquarters in downtown Toronto.
On November 24, we delivered 16,000 petitions to Immigration Minister Mendicino’s office in Toronto while dozens of student workers and allies took action online. In November, we also postered the offices and the riding of Immigration Minister letting him know that he must stop mass deportations. MSU met with bureaucrats at Immigration Canada.
Faced with our ongoing organizing, the Immigration Minister committed to taking action in Parliament on December 1st. But we didn’t stop. In December, we took our voice to the federal cabinet. We postered the offices of MP Carolyn Bennett, MP Navdeep Bains and MP Maryam Monsef. Hundreds of migrants and allies called and left messages for the Immigration Minister.
On January 8th, the federal government responded to our demands and made post-graduate work permits renewable. In the past several months, we strengthened our movement – and we will not stop. Migrant student workers will continue to organize alongside all migrant and undocumented people for full and permanent immigration status for all.
Migrant Students United is an organization of current and former international students in nine provinces, and the only national representative body of migrant students in Canada. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we surveyed 2,300 migrant students, held eleven online information sessions with over 2,000 students registered, and have directly connected with hundreds across Canada. From August 2020 to November 2020, we collected work permit expiry data from 614 post graduate work permit (PGWP) holders of whom:
11.07% reported their PGWPs have already expired.
44.95% reported their PGWPs will expire in less than 6 months.
43.97% reported their PGWPs will expire in 6-12 months.
Migrant Student Workers have simple, pragmatic, possible demands:
Ensure real access to PR: Lower points requirements for PR (CRS); Count work that is part-time, in-school, and in any occupation towards PR; and ensure full and permanent immigration status for all migrants;
Fix rules around work: Remove time-limits (such as the 20 hour restriction for off-campus work) and industry restrictions on work;
Unite families: Allow families to travel; ensure work permits for family members.
Lower tuition and ensure full services: Work with provincial partners to ensure migrant students pay domestic tuition; and have full access to all services including healthcare, housing, jobs, scholarships, pandemic emergency benefits, and in-school support; and ensure immediate access to Social Insurance Numbers.
