A student in Canada on a one-year postgraduate diploma (Georgian College, Toronto) wanted to take fully online semesters — the college offered fully online or hybrid — so they could travel to India mid-program. The question: does studying fully online inside (or outside) Canada break Post-Graduation Work Permit eligibility?
What the thread answered (a COVID-era thread — IRCC's temporary distance-learning concessions of 2020–2023 have since expired, making the core warnings current again):
- The 50% rule is the hard line. The decisive answer: 'If a course is more than 50% online, you become ineligible' for the PGWP. A program taken fully online in both semesters sails past that threshold.
- Physical presence in Canada matters. Members insisted 'you need to be in Canada' — extended absences during a program create PGWP-length and eligibility complications, since time studied from abroad may not count.
- The hybrid option is the safer instrument. Given the college offered a partially online/partially in-person format, that path preserves the majority-in-person profile the PGWP expects, in a way two fully online semesters cannot.
Practical conclusion: don't structure a one-year program around a mid-course trip home. Check the current IRCC PGWP rules on distance learning before enrolling in any online-heavy format — the temporary pandemic flexibility that once softened these rules is gone.