In February, IRCC created new rules extending the amount of time given to post-grad work permit applicants to apply, clarifying what they need to apply.
Post-grad international students now have 180 days to apply for their Canadian work permit instead of the previous 90 and do not need to have a study permit when they apply.
In the past, some students were hesitant to visit family immediately after graduation to avoid missing the cutoff, even though they had been studying in Canada full-time as a requirement of their future work permit.
The quick cutoff also created issues for students whose study permit expired before they graduated or who did not know when they became eligible for the post-grad work permit. In these cases, some students could have their application for a work permit denied on the basis of no longer having a study permit, even though they had obtained a Canadian degree.
The PGWP is an important inroad to citizenship for these students and the recent changes will help them get work in Canada more easily.