PGWP Refused -> Approved (1 month) - Missing IELTS
Posting this on behalf of my friend
First of all, a huge thanks to everyone in this Reddit group and the related Facebook communities. The posts, comments, timelines, and encouragement shared here genuinely helped us stay calm and hopeful during one of the most stressful periods of our lives. Seeing other people share their experiences and approvals gave us strength every single day, so we are truly grateful to all of you for taking the time to help strangers online.
Timeline:
IELTS exam written and passed — July 2025
Applied for PGWP — August 2025
PGWP refusal received — April 15, 2026
Reconsideration request submitted — April 15, 2026
IRCC confirmed reconsideration forwarded to responsible office — April 23, 2026
Contacted local MP office — May 6, 2026 (but that was not the reason for approval)
Application status changed from “Refused” to “Submitted” — May 22, 2026
PGWP approval on portal— May 26, 2026 (but portal was down;couldn’t access)
Final approval visible in portal for 3-year PGWP — May 27, 2026
On April 15, my friend got an email saying the application status was updated. We were expecting an approval, but to our shock it was a refusal.
Honestly, we had no idea PGWP refusals like this were happening. The refusal letter stated there was an option to restore status within 90 days, otherwise he would have to leave Canada. Since the PGWP was refused, he became out of status immediately.
In our case, my friend had actually completed the IELTS exam before submitting the PGWP application. However, unlike the other mandatory documents, there was no clear or specific section in the portal to upload IELTS results, so we missed uploading it at the time of application.
The worst part was that he was already outside the 180-day eligibility window after completing studies, so submitting a brand new PGWP application was not possible anymore.
After calming down a little, we started searching YouTube and found out many people were facing the exact same issue recently. Some people even had IELTS attached properly and still got refused.
That’s when we found this Reddit group and some Facebook groups. After reading so many posts and comments, we understood that reconsideration through webform was possible.
On the same day (April 15), we submitted:
A reconsideration request letter explaining everything
IELTS results attached again
From reading approval posts in these groups, we noticed there is no official timeline for reconsideration. But most people who filed reconsideration around April seemed to get approvals after around 1 month (counting only working days). Earlier filed reconsideration requests seemed to take longer.
One important thing we learned from this group:
When calling IRCC for the first time, always ask the agent to confirm whether your webform/reconsideration request has been attached to your refused PGWP application.
April 23:
When we called IRCC, the agent said the reconsideration request had been forwarded to the responsible office. We also received an email confirming that.
After that… it was just a long wait.
We also learned from these groups that contacting your local MP can sometimes help with updates. They cannot fast-track the application, but they can contact IRCC on your behalf.
May 6:
We emailed the MP office. They were very helpful and sent consent forms so they could inquire on his behalf. They confirmed they received everything and said they had a high volume of IRCC-related cases, so they would add the case to their queue.However,he is still on their ircc calllist queue,they haven’t contacted ircc.So contacting MP was not the reason for approval. Later,we informed the MP office that the work permit got approved.
After April 23, we kept calling IRCC every week to check if the case had been assigned to an officer. Most IRCC agents were actually patient and helpful. They kept saying it was forwarded but not yet assigned.
On May 21, one IRCC agent was a bit rude and said they could not share whether the file had been assigned to an officer.
Then on May 22, we received another update email.
When we checked the portal, the application status had changed from “Refused” back to “Submitted.”
At that point we became a little hopeful because many people in these groups mentioned that this usually means the reconsideration request was accepted and the file was reopened.
From reading many approval posts, we also noticed a pattern:
If the file gets reopened at the beginning or middle of the week, approval often comes the next day
If it gets reopened on Friday, approval usually comes sometime the following week
In our case:
File reopened: Thursday, May 22
Approval received: Tuesday, May 26
Interestingly, the IRCC website was having updates around that time and they even added a new section for IELTS uploads, so the portal was inaccessible that day.
Finally, on Wednesday, May 27, we got an email that the application status was changed.When we checked the portal , the PGWP showed as approved for 3 years.
We honestly cannot explain the relief and happiness we felt at that moment.
Once again thanking you all from the bottom of our hearts.
A few tips for anyone going through this:
Stop working immediately after refusal:Don’t continue working after refusal.
Inform your employer your situation :Many employers are understanding and may allow you to return once your work permit is approved
If you are still within the 180-day study completion window,you can simply apply for a new PGWP application.
If you are outside the 180-day window:File reconsideration immediately and be patient. Many people seem to get responses after a little over 1 month.
Since we never hold a work permit earlier Restoration as a worker was not possible in our case. The only restoration option was as a visitor.
You can wait a bit before restoring as visitor
Maybe wait around 2 months to see whether reconsideration gets approved. If not, apply for visitor restoration before the 90-day restoration period ends so you can legally stay in canada while waiting for the decision(but remember you cannot work as a visitor).
Most importantly:
Read Reddit posts, Facebook posts, and YouTube comments for motivation. During this process, seeing other people eventually get approved helped us mentally more than anything else.You are definitely not alone in this situation.