If you’ve been admitted to programs in both Canada and the US, the single question that decides more career outcomes than almost anything else is: how long can I actually work after I graduate, and how much of that depends on luck versus my own paperwork? Canada’s Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) and the US’s Optional Practical Training (OPT) look similar on the surface — both give international graduates a window of work authorization tied to their studies. The mechanics, the restrictions, and what happens after that window are where they diverge sharply, and 2026 is a year where both systems have been reshaped mid-stream. Here’s the side-by-side.
The headline comparison
| 🇨🇦 Canada — PGWP | 🇺🇸 US — OPT | |
|---|---|---|
| Base duration | Matches program length (8 months–2 years), or up to 3 years flat for most 2-year+ programs and all master’s grads | 12 months, standard post-completion OPT |
| Extension | None — issued once, cannot be renewed | +24 months STEM OPT extension, STEM degrees only — up to 3 years total |
| Field-of-study restriction | None for bachelor’s/master’s/PhD grads; college/polytechnic non-degree grads need their program on IRCC’s eligible list | None for the initial 12 months; the 24-month extension requires a degree on the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List |
| Employer tied to the permit? | No — open work permit, work for anyone | No for OPT itself, but the STEM extension requires an E-Verify-enrolled employer |
| Unemployment limit while on the permit | Not capped the same way — PGWP holders just need any job to build PR points | 90 cumulative days (standard OPT) / 150 days combined with STEM extension |
| What comes after | Canadian work experience feeds directly into Express Entry (CEC) / PNP — points-based PR | Employer must win the H-1B lottery, then sponsor a green card (EB-2/EB-3) |
| 2026 policy risk | Field-of-study list frozen for all of 2026 (stable, but also stuck) | STEM OPT has a long litigation history (WashTech) plus a 2026 proposed OPT fee and fraud-review notice from SEVP |
Canada’s PGWP: the mechanics
To qualify for a PGWP in 2026, you generally need to have graduated full-time from an eligible program — at least 8 months long — at a Designated Learning Institution on IRCC’s PGWP-eligible list, and apply within 180 days of your completion letter (IRCC — Who can apply for a PGWP).
Two rule changes matter most for anyone deciding now:
- Language requirement (since November 1, 2024): university bachelor’s/master’s/doctoral and college-bachelor’s graduates need CLB/NCLC 7; other college/polytechnic graduates need CLB/NCLC 5, in all four abilities.
- Field-of-study list: if your study permit was applied for on or after November 1, 2024, and you’re not a degree graduate, your program’s field of study must be on IRCC’s eligible list. IRCC froze this list for all of 2026 — no additions or removals — after reversing course on a planned mid-2025 removal of roughly 178 programs. That’s stability if you’re enrolling now, but it also means a currently-ineligible non-degree program will not become eligible mid-year.
Permit length then follows your program directly: 8 months to under 2 years gets a permit matching that length; 2 years or longer gets up to 3 years — and since February 2024, master’s graduates get a flat 3 years regardless of how long their program actually ran. There’s no renewal and no extension; it’s issued once per program of study. For the full eligibility walkthrough, see our PGWP guide, and for how the national intake cap affects whether you can even enroll in an eligible program, see our student cap guide.
The US’s OPT: the mechanics
Every F-1 graduate who completed at least one full academic year of full-time enrollment is eligible for up to 12 months of post-completion OPT, authorized through Form I-765 after your school’s DSO enters the recommendation in SEVIS (USCIS — Optional Practical Training (OPT) for F-1 Students). Work must relate to your major, and you need to file within strict windows — generally within 30 days of the DSO’s recommendation, and no earlier than 90 days before or later than 60 days after your program ends.
Graduates with a qualifying STEM degree can apply for the 24-month STEM OPT extension, bringing total work authorization to up to 36 months — but only if all three conditions hold: the degree is on the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List, the employer is enrolled in and actively using E-Verify, and the extension is based on the same degree level that generated the initial OPT. See our STEM OPT extension guide for the I-983 training plan and filing deadlines this requires.
Throughout both periods, a cumulative 90-day unemployment limit applies to standard OPT, rising to a combined 150 days once the STEM extension is added — not 90/150 consecutive days, but a running total across the whole period. Cross it, and your SEVIS record is terminated with no routine appeal; our 90-day unemployment rule guide breaks down exactly how USCIS counts the days. If you’re filing an H-1B petition while still on OPT, a timely cap-gap extension can bridge your work authorization through to the H-1B start date — but that doesn’t pause the unemployment clock itself.
OPT has also faced recurring legal challenges (the WashTech litigation over DHS’s authority to run the STEM OPT program dates back to 2016, and resurfaces periodically), and in late 2026 SEVP issued a notice citing fraud and abuse concerns alongside a proposed OPT fee — none of this has ended OPT, but it underlines that the program’s rules, unlike Canada’s currently-frozen PGWP list, have shown a pattern of shifting without much notice. Confirm the live status on USCIS’s OPT page before relying on any snapshot, including this one.
What happens after the permit runs out
This is where the two paths genuinely split, not just on paper.
Canada → PR. A PGWP doesn’t grant permanent residence, but the Canadian work experience you accumulate on it is scored directly under Express Entry’s Canadian Experience Class and most Provincial Nominee Programs. There’s no employer lottery standing between “I have a year of skilled Canadian work experience” and “I can apply for PR” — it’s a points calculation, not a coin flip.
US → H-1B → green card. To keep working in the US past OPT, almost every graduate needs an employer to register them for the H-1B lottery, which selected roughly 35% of registrations for FY2026, with the selection method shifting toward salary-weighting from FY2027 — a change that tends to hurt recent graduates in lower entry-level pay bands rather than help them. New H-1B petitions filed for beneficiaries abroad have also carried a $100,000 supplemental fee since a September 2025 proclamation (though it doesn’t apply to F-1-to-H-1B changes of status filed from inside the US, and the fee itself has been vacated and reinstated multiple times in litigation through 2026 — see our H-1B $100,000 fee guide for the current status). Win the lottery, and the next step is usually an EB-2 or EB-3 green card with PERM labor certification — where applicants born in India or China can face backlogs measured in years, not months. Our H-1B lottery registration guide covers the registration mechanics if you’re heading down this path regardless.
So which should weigh more in your decision?
If your plan is “work in-country for 2-3 years, then build toward permanent residence,” Canada’s PGWP is the more predictable instrument: fixed duration rules, no employer dependency, and a direct PR on-ramp. If your plan is “maximize earnings and career options at any one US employer and worry about long-term status later,” OPT (especially with a STEM degree) still opens real doors — US salaries and employer brand names are hard to match — but you’re accepting a lottery and a multi-year green card queue as the price of staying past year three. Neither answer is universally “better”; it depends on how much certainty you need versus how much upside you’re chasing. For a broader side-by-side of both countries’ entire student-visa systems (not just the post-study window), see our Canada vs US international students guide.
FAQ
Which gives more total work time, PGWP or OPT? On paper they are close. A PGWP for a two-year-plus program and a 12-month OPT with the 24-month STEM extension both top out around three years. The real gap is reliability: a PGWP is granted outright to eligible graduates with no field restriction for degree holders, while the STEM extension only applies if your specific degree is on the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List, and non-STEM graduates are capped at 12 months with no renewal option.
Does OPT let me stay in the US permanently? Not by itself. OPT and STEM OPT are temporary work authorizations tied to your F-1 status, not immigrant visas. To stay long-term you need an employer to win you a spot in the H-1B lottery and then sponsor a green card, typically EB-2 or EB-3, which can mean years of backlog for applicants born in India or China.
Does PGWP let me stay in Canada permanently? It gives you the opening, not a guarantee. A PGWP is an open work permit, not permanent residence. But the Canadian work experience it lets you accumulate is directly scored under Express Entry’s Canadian Experience Class and most Provincial Nominee Programs, which is a points-based, predictable route that doesn’t depend on an employer winning a lottery.
What happens if my field of study isn’t eligible for PGWP or STEM OPT? In Canada, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral graduates are exempt from the field-of-study list entirely, so this mostly affects college/polytechnic diploma holders, who need their program’s CIP code on IRCC’s eligible list at the time they applied for their study permit or PGWP. In the US, every F-1 graduate still gets the standard 12-month OPT regardless of major; only the 24-month STEM extension requires a qualifying STEM degree.
This is general preparation guidance, not immigration or legal advice — PGWP and OPT rules change on each government’s own schedule (and OPT in particular has open litigation and proposed-rule activity as of this writing). Confirm the current rules directly with IRCC and USCIS before making a decision, or join the VisaMet waitlist for help comparing both pathways against your own program and timeline.
Sources: IRCC — Post-graduation work permit: who can apply, USCIS — Optional Practical Training (OPT) for F-1 Students, USCIS — STEM OPT Extension (Policy Manual, Vol. 2, Part F, Ch. 5), CIC News — IRCC freezes list of PGWP-eligible fields of study for 2026.