PGWP refused, then a CBSA removal order: your options and the 15-day deadline

By Sundeep S. Grewal, lawyer at Lawgical Law Corporation · Reviewed November 10, 2026

Published November 10, 2026

Sundeep S. Grewal is a lawyer at Lawgical Law Corporation, called to the BC bar in 2018, and a member of the Law Society of British Columbia.

Updated November 10, 2026: sections 182, 224, 225 and 228 of the Regulations and IRCC’s restoration instructions checked that day.

If your post-graduation work permit was refused, your status ended, and a CBSA officer then wrote a report saying you stayed in Canada without status, you may be given an exclusion order on the spot or asked to come back for an interview. The fix is usually judicial review of the removal order within 15 days, together with a plan to keep your status or delay removal while the court decides. Only a lawyer can represent you in the Federal Court. This guide covers students and graduates found out of status after a refusal; I also review removal orders for unauthorized work and study.

Lawgical Law Corporation, an immigration law firm in Surrey, Abbotsford and Vancouver, BC, challenges CBSA removal orders and brings stay motions in the Federal Court for students and workers across Canada; this guide is by Sundeep S. Grewal.

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What does a CBSA section 44 report after a PGWP refusal say?

In these files the officer is not deciding whether your PGWP should have been granted. The officer only asks whether you are in Canada without status. Once a PGWP is refused after your study permit has expired, the answer is usually yes, so the officer writes a report under section 44 of the Act saying you are inadmissible under section 41 for not complying with the Act. For a foreign national who simply stayed past the end of their status, the officer can then make the removal order themselves.

You will often see phrases like these in CBSA and IRCC letters:

• “a report under section 44(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act has been prepared alleging that you may be inadmissible to Canada”
• “You may make written submissions providing reasons why a removal order should not be sought”
• “it appears that you are inadmissible to Canada under section 41(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for failing to comply with A29(2) status requirement”
• “A decision to allow you to remain in Canada or to seek to have a removal order issued against you will be made in the near future”

Other wording that appears in the refusals that come first:

• “You are now a person without status in Canada”
• “You are a person without status in Canada and as such, you are required to leave Canada forthwith”
• “you are a person in Canada without temporary resident status who is not eligible for restoration”
• “There is a mechanism in place for foreign nationals to rectify this inadmissibility by leaving Canada and applying abroad for a new permit”

In other words, the refusal ended your status, and CBSA is now treating you as someone who did not leave. An exclusion order made in Canada usually bars you from coming back for one year without written permission, so it can block a new permit or a study plan even after you leave.

Why this needs a lawyer

One lawyer, one file, every step:

• reviewing the PGWP refusal, the section 44 report and the removal order;
• filing judicial review of the removal order, and of the PGWP refusal if its 15 days are still open;
• a request to CBSA to defer removal, and a motion to stay removal in the Federal Court;
• restoration, a temporary resident permit or a PRRA, if one of them fits.

Once a removal order exists, the steps are court steps. A stay motion is filed with the Federal Court, often within days, and it needs a pending court application behind it.

Immigration lawyers are members of a provincial law society (in our case, the Law Society of British Columbia), and only lawyers can appear for you in the Federal Court.

Some articles about these orders say you can just leave and reapply. Leaving under an exclusion order is not the same as leaving freely: without written permission you usually cannot come back for a year.

What are my options after a removal order?

1. Have a lawyer review the order and the report. Check which order you were given (exclusion, departure or deportation) and the paragraph it relies on.
2. Judicial review of the removal order. 15 days from notice (IRPA s.72). If the PGWP refusal is still within its own 15 days, it can be challenged too.
3. Deferral request and stay motion. If CBSA sets a removal date, ask CBSA to defer, and if it refuses, ask the Federal Court for a stay. Read our stay of removal guide.
4. Restoration or a temporary resident permit. Restoration must be filed within 90 days of losing status (IRPR s.182). A TRP has no deadline but needs a compelling reason. Restoration has to come first: once an exclusion order is made, a pending restoration application is cancelled.
5. Pre-Removal Risk Assessment. Only if you fear returning to your country. CBSA will tell you if you are eligible.

The court deadline does not wait for the other options.

Could the removal order be challenged in court?

The strongest argument usually starts with your status on the day of the report. If you had applied for restoration in time, held maintained status from a second application, or had a work or study permit the officer missed, the inadmissibility finding is built on a wrong fact. That is the kind of error the Federal Court corrects.

The second argument is about the officer’s discretion. Section 44 says an officer “may” write a report, and the Minister’s delegate decides whether to make the order. That discretion is real: at a port of entry, for example, officers often let a person withdraw their application to enter Canada instead of writing a report. An officer who does not consider the written submissions you were invited to make, or who treats the report as automatic, has not used the discretion the Act gives them.

The third argument goes back to the PGWP refusal. If that refusal was itself unreasonable, for example a non-credit finding that ignored your transcript, then the loss of status that the removal order rests on can be challenged directly, as long as its own 15 days have not passed.

Under Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65, the officer’s decision must be justified by the facts and the law in front of them.

Whether this fits your case depends on your dates. Any fairness issue, such as whether you were told you could make submissions, depends on the file.

What do the rules require?

A student or graduate must leave Canada by the end of their authorized stay (IRPA s.29(2)). If they don’t, they can be reported under section 41. Section 228(1)(c)(iv) of the Regulations says the removal order for “failing to leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay” is an exclusion order, and paragraph (v) says the same for breaching the conditions of a study or work permit.

Restoration is in section 182: an application within 90 days after losing status, if you still meet the requirements for your stay and have not breached other conditions. A student who did not comply with the conditions in section 220.1(1) cannot be restored as a student.

What happens next: the timeline

How is this different from the Calgary graduates’ cases?

In August 2026, after a 22-day protest in Calgary by graduates whose PGWPs were refused over non-credit programs, police contacted CBSA, which checked 20 people and identified 12 as possibly inadmissible, according to news reports. Those graduates were asked to attend interviews. The reports did not say any removal orders were made.

That situation shows how enforcement usually starts:

• It starts with status, not the refusal reason. CBSA asked who was out of status, not whose program was non-credit.
• An interview is a chance to make submissions. What you say and file at that stage becomes the record.
• The PGWP challenge and the removal order are separate files. Each has its own 15 days.

Being out of status after a refusal is common. Ignoring a CBSA notice turns it into a much harder case.

Out of status for another reason?

I also review removal orders for students who worked over the hour limit, stopped studying, or let a permit lapse while an application was returned as incomplete. If you are a permanent resident facing a section 44 report, the process is different: see our section 44 report guide for permanent residents. If your PGWP was refused over a non-credit program, see PGWP refused over a non-credit program.

Worked example: two clocks after a refusal

Example. A graduate’s PGWP was refused on August 3, 2026 after his study permit had expired. His restoration window runs 90 days from August 3, to November 1, 2026. CBSA interviewed him on September 10 and made an exclusion order that day. The 15 days to challenge the order run from September 10 to September 25, 2026. The 15 days to challenge the PGWP refusal ended on August 18.

What to gather now

• Every immigration document: study permits, the PGWP application and refusal, any restoration or visitor record application and its receipt.
• Everything CBSA gave you: the section 44 report, the removal order, any notice to appear, and the officer’s card.
• Proof of dates: when you applied, when you read each letter, when you stopped working.
• Your situation in Canada: family, lease, tax returns, and any reason you cannot leave safely.

Mistakes I have seen

• I have seen graduates keep working after the refusal because they thought maintained status continued. It ended with the refusal, and the unauthorized work then becomes a second problem.
• I have seen people skip a CBSA interview because they were afraid of being detained. A missed interview can lead to a warrant.
• I have seen people leave Canada under an exclusion order without confirming their departure with CBSA, and then find the order recorded as not complied with.
• I have seen restoration filed on day 89 with missing documents and returned, after the window had closed.

Frequently asked questions

Does restoration still work after CBSA makes a removal order?

No. Once an exclusion order is made, a pending restoration application is cancelled. That is why restoration should be filed as soon as possible after a refusal, before any contact with CBSA.

How long is the bar after an exclusion order?

Usually one year after the order is enforced, unless you get written permission to come back sooner. A misrepresentation exclusion order is five years.

Do I have to leave right away?

An exclusion order is enforceable once made unless a stay applies, and CBSA can set a removal date. Ask a lawyer before you leave, because how you leave affects whether the order counts as enforced.

Will CBSA detain me?

CBSA can detain someone it believes will not appear for removal. Showing up to interviews and keeping your address current with CBSA lowers that risk.

Can my spouse’s status protect me?

Only if it gives you a permit or status of your own, such as a spousal open work permit or an inland sponsorship with its public policy. A partner’s status alone does not stop a removal order.

Related guides: students who worked over the limit or stopped studying, a section 44 report on a work or study permit, restoration refused or out of status and refused entry at the border.

What should I do right now?

Find the date on the removal order and the date your status ended. Gather the refusal, the CBSA documents and proof of when you applied for anything. Do not miss any CBSA appointment. Fifteen days passes fast.

Book a consultation with our immigration lawyers in Surrey, Abbotsford or Vancouver, or online from anywhere in Canada.

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Sources (official)

• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, s. 29, s. 41, s. 44, s. 72 (current to October 19, 2026)
• Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, s. 228, s. 224, s. 225 (current to October 19, 2026) and s. 182
• IRCC, Restoration of temporary resident status (modified May 1, 2026)
• Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65

This article is general information, not legal advice. Every case depends on its own facts.