Work Permit (PGWP) Application - Outside Canada (India) vs within Canada?

ronit1894

New Member
Hello everyone,

My name is Ronit Sharma and I am MBA Student in Canada. I will be graduating this December and will be starting my full time work in May next year (2021). Before I start working full time, I want to travel to India for a couple of months.
Here's my situation and my options:
I am on a study permit and My study permit is valid till 31st March 2021.

Options I have:

1. Go to India in November/December (as my semester is online) and come back in the last week of Feb (1 month before my study permit expires so that I can enter Canada), and then apply for a work permit within Canada. Then start working in April/May.

2. Go to India in December, apply for the work permit in India itself (Once i get my transcripts in January) and then wait for the work permit in India. Then travel back to Canada once my work permit is approved. This might take time, but just wanted to know if it's possible or not.

3. Flagpole in January (once I get my transcripts). Get my work permit through flagpoling in Jan, then travel to India with my work permit and come back in April end before the start of my work term. Why flagpole? - Because I don't have a US visa as of now, so can't enter and exit US before I get the visa.

Please let me know what's the best option in my case. I have a job offer, everything else is fine. But given the COVID situation, I want to understand my best option.

Thank you!!
 

Riley Haas

Administrator
Staff member
Location
Toronto
So, first off, keep in mind that nobody knows what is going to happen with the border. Right now the border restrictions are set to expire in November (I believe). But cases are up in many Canadian provinces which strongly suggests that the border restrictions will still exist in January. What you need to know for your case is, will your travel count as essential when you are coming back to Canada? https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...s-covid19/travel-restrictions-exemptions.html

Ignoring that, your options look like this:
  1. CBSA will likely ask you what your intentions are since you are coming back with so little validity on the study permit. You should be prepared to answer those questions.
  2. Will they deliver your PGWP to India? I honestly don't know whether PGWPs are inserted into passports physically or sent by mail (I am just the webmaster here). if they are inserted physically I believe they will expect you to be in Canada to submit your passport for the work permit. (I could be wrong about that, but I have a hard time imagining a different scenario.)
  3. This seems the safest bet to me. However traveling to the US without a visa is always a bad idea if you plan to travel to the US ever again. If you flagpole without a visa you will be procedurally denied entry and, for every trip to the US for the rest of your life, you will have to explain about that time you got denied entry to the US.
I can't tell you which is the best option, I'm just the webmaster. But that's my two cents.
 
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