u/No_Cartoonist_9649

Correct me if I am wrong, but last year's graduating batch put up resistance and got it overturned. This year, they are offering more tickets, but once again at a cost.

Do with this information what you will...but this will quite literally set a precedent. If you are an international, with a big family, you are looking at upwards of $100 (assuming 1-2 extra tix) for just having guests over, let alone if you're a student that's financially struggling.

Hello all,

Recently had my PGWP approved for three years (well, two years and 7 months because my passport expires...too early to look into extension, but still). Here is a comprehensive breakdown of my timeline, in case it helps someone/assuages any anxieties.

Study Permit Expiry: August 31, 2025

Renewed Study Permit Expiry: December 31, 2025 [This was an unexpected complication, I was expecting it to be approved till August of 2026, to match my renewed PAL...IRCC even admitted this was a mistake. Nonetheless, as a result, I had to work on my final thesis MUCH faster...]

Program Completed: Post-graduate degree; 2.5 years. An extra semester, but since I was a thesis student, always full-time.

Any Semester Breaks/Leaves: No

On/Off-Campus Work: On-Campus, always

Language Test Taken: IELTS General, Computer

Date: November 2, 2025

Test Results/TRF Date: November 3, 2025

PGWP Application Date (from Canada): December 10, 2025

WP-EXT Letter Date: December 12, 2025

IRCC Processing Time (indicated on website when I made the application): 217 Days

Series: W310XXXXXXX

Ghost Update: April 24, 2026

In-Canada Approval Letter: April 28, 2026

Duration: 2 years 6 months something (extendable by 6 months because of Passport expiry, but I am not going to look into this yet, lol. Have had enough of this immigration stress for now.)

Physical PGWP Arrival: May 6, 2026 (Shockingly quick!).

My TRV had expired, and so I was "stuck" in Canada until I got that updated. Not that I have the financial means to travel as I please, sigh, but it is nice to have options instead of dealing with the added complexity of doing the TRV update from my home country.

TRV Application Date: April 29, 2026 (lol, I did not even wait a day. You do not need the physical PGWP to get this application approved, the digital approval letter suffices).

Passport Request: May 7, 2026

Passport Mailed to IRCC: May 7, 2026 (Again, was ready.)

Received by IRCC: May 8, 2026

Application Approved by IRCC (in my GCKey Portal): May 15, 2026

Passport Received back: TBA. Hoping it is in the next few days so that this endless saga can finally end; I check Canada Post tracking every day once. Seems like they haven't mailed it back yet.

My application was relatively simple, though I had the following complications:

1. Given the SP renewal being far shorter than anticipated, I had to apply for the PGWP before it expired. This is just the normal process, so in itself not a complication, but there was a delay in hoping they would correct the error they made on my renewal. I could have worked on my thesis more, had this correction been made; coursework I had already finished.
2. I was working multiple on-campus jobs in my last term, and so had to coordinate a day off with four different HR folks for when my Letter of Completion would be generated. Took a lot of explaining and coordinating as no one at Student Services was sure why my SP was cut short.
3. My final transcripts did not show my thesis as passed (in-progress) because my SP expired before my uni would grant the degree (this happens in February, but my permit was expiring end of Dec). So, to be safe and to show that my transcripts weren't incomplete, I explained this in a cover letter. I also sent my updated transcripts to IRCC via WF the moment I got it, and followed-up with another WF to confirm this. (Also threw in an actual other question so they would respond instead of redirecting me to that automatic "we have received your document, this is the only confirmation" mail, lmao).

That is mostly it. I do think overall this is/was one of the simpler applications, though the wait is excruciating (and I fully acknowledge I got lucky being within the wait period...hope they clear the backlogs soon). The language test thing is tripping people up, I do think it goes both ways: IRCC definitely should have a dedicated field for the test results, but people should also read up/stay updated as much as possible. I am a perpetually anxious, over-reading Type A type and so I used all the resources I could before making this application, including International Student Services, YouTube walkthroughs, and official webpages. I also recommend merging your Letter of Explanation, if you have any, into one pdf that also includes your Language Results and then uploading this to Client Information! This is certainly doable without paying exorbitant amounts of money to scamming agents!

Just praying I get my passport back ASAP, will update OP when I do. Now on to the hellscape of job hunting...sigh.

I hope this helps someone!

Hello,

I apologize if there is a FAQ somewhere that I may have missed, or whether this post is redundant. But basically, as the title implies, I am looking to learn as much as I can about investing, and start small. I have always been curious, but also averse, to investing, likely because of my background: grew up rather resource-crunched in a low-income country. I am starting late...I'm almost 30 in a little over a year, moved to Canada when I was 26 to pursue my graduate studies.

I always thought investing isn't for me, and in fact even think this, because I simply don't have the money. I have just graduated from my degree, and it is in the Humanities...with that said, I do not have a mortgage and/or any debt, I worked throughout my degree to be able to pay off most of my Costs Of Living and the crazy international tuition...

While I am currently job hunting, I still want to learn as much as I can so that I know what I must do when I have some more money. What should I be doing? Reading Couch Potato, opening a TFSA (with my bank, or WS?), enrolling in personal finance courses? I am open to suggestions, and would be grateful for any assistance/hand-holding even. I am not the most financially literate, and though I feel very bad about that + my age (especially when I see under 30 millionaires...)/being left behind, I am willing to learn...

A bit of a rant but not much because I am honestly too tired of everything, including typing

International grad student, convocation coming in less than a month. In my third month of unemployment, have no PhD prospects (maybe I just wasn't competitive). Did everything I was "supposed" to do, and more: perfect grades, extra classes, even learned French up to intermediate level, did on-campus work for straight up two years, and now even Dollarama will not hire me. Applying to jobs every day, don't want to work because of last semester deeply burning me out, but "need" to work to eat/rent.

Yeah yeah, humanities masters (so cue the gender studies/Starbucks barista jokes I guess) and all that but I was good at it, enjoyed it, but always felt like academia did not want me despite how hard I tried. Always the same peers, often white and citizens, moving up no matter how I outworked and networked past them (not to take anything away from them). I also tried very hard to sustain friendships and meaningful connections, lowk always being the one to text, initiate, but you see someone once at a McGill social event, exchange numbers, and never talk again. Campus is a maze so you quite literally never run into them again. Grad students are awkward and always whining about age (despite being pretty young, and even if not it doesn't matter. I am no exception to the whining btw.) God bless PGSS for trying its best to get us to socialize.

I am exiting grad school almost 30 (in more than a year and a half), with lowkey nothing to show. Family cannot come to convocation (visa, distance, costs), and for even teaching in a college (I am qualified with my decently numerous TA experience + degree) Quebec requires some arcane verification of documents to create an equivalence education eval or some BS. I dunno dawg, no one is coming to save me. I will say its okay to do grad school for the love of the game/academia but have an exit plan. I don't know what it is I did over these two years, but I feel even more hollow than before I started. Anyway, sorry to be morose, just putting this out here in case others feel this way.