Flagpoling in Canada has ended: how to get a work permit or PGWP now

By Pardeep S. Grewal, lawyer at Lawgical Law Corporation · Reviewed November 9, 2026

Published November 10, 2026

Pardeep S. Grewal is a lawyer at Lawgical Law Corporation, called to the BC bar in 2024, and a member of the Law Society of British Columbia.

Updated November 9, 2026: the flagpoling exceptions were checked on IRCC Operational Bulletin 686 (modified February 14, 2025) and the maintained status rules on IRCC’s maintained status instructions (modified May 28, 2025) that day.

If you used to drive from Surrey or Abbotsford to the Peace Arch (Douglas) or Pacific Highway crossing, turn around at the US side and get a new work permit or PGWP the same afternoon, that option is gone for almost everyone. Since December 23, 2024, the CBSA sends flagpolers to IRCC unless they fall into a short list of exceptions. The replacement is simple but unforgiving: apply online before your current permit expires. Done in time, you keep maintained status and can usually keep working while IRCC decides. Done late, or followed by a trip across the border, it can leave you without status.

Lawgical Law Corporation, an immigration law firm in Surrey, Abbotsford and Vancouver, BC, prepares work permit, PGWP and restoration applications and handles refusals.

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Is flagpoling in Canada still allowed?

No, not for most people. Flagpoling for work and study permits ended at 11:59 pm ET on December 23, 2024. A temporary resident who leaves Canada, visits the US (or St. Pierre and Miquelon) and comes back to apply for a work or study permit at the port of entry will be directed to apply to IRCC instead, unless they are in one of the exempt groups.

The CBSA announced the change on December 23, 2024. IRCC’s Operational Bulletin 686 explains that the CBSA President designated the ports of entry as places where these services are not offered to flagpolers, using section 26.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. It covers work and study permit applications and renewals (sections 198, 201, 214 and 217) and biometrics for them.

This hit the Lower Mainland hard. The CBSA says it processed more than 69,300 flagpolers across Canada from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, mostly in the Pacific, Southern Ontario and Quebec regions.

Who can still get a work permit at the border?

Only a few groups can still apply at a port of entry after a US round trip: US citizens and US lawful permanent residents, professionals and technicians under named free trade agreements and some of their spouses, certain international truck drivers, and people who already had a CBSA appointment booked before the change.

OB 686 says the designation applies only to flagpolers and “does not apply to any other traveller cohort”. Someone arriving in Canada for the first time from abroad, who is eligible to apply at the port of entry, is not flagpoling.

How do I get a work permit or PGWP now?

Apply online to IRCC from inside Canada before your current permit expires: before midnight UTC on the expiry date. That keeps your status while IRCC processes it. In most cases you can keep working under the same conditions, and if you are a graduate whose study permit is still valid when you apply for a PGWP, you can work while waiting if you meet IRCC’s conditions.

1. Find your expiry date. It’s on the permit itself, not your passport stamp or offer letter.
2. Apply online before midnight UTC on that day. In BC that is 5 pm on the expiry date during daylight time (summer) and 4 pm during standard time (winter). IRCC: online applications must be submitted “before midnight Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on the day your work permit expires” (IRCC, modified October 14, 2026).
3. Keep working under the same conditions. With maintained status you have “authorization to work without a permit until we make a decision” under the same employer, job and location for an employer-specific permit; open work permit holders can still change jobs. A WP-EXT letter can serve as proof (except for PGWP applicants).
4. Graduates: apply for the PGWP within 180 days of confirmation that you completed your program. IRCC says your study permit must still be valid when you submit if you want to work while your PGWP is processed (IRCC, modified August 28, 2026). The fee is $255.
5. Don’t leave Canada while waiting unless you understand the consequences (next section).

The maintained-status trap: trips to the US and second applications

Two rules catch people who used to rely on flagpoling. First, maintained status ends when you leave Canada, so a Blaine or Bellingham trip while you wait can stop you working when you come back. Second, under IRCC’s May 28, 2025 instructions, a new application filed after your original permit has expired gives you no maintained status.

From IRCC’s maintained status instructions (updated May 28, 2025; see the program delivery update):

• Leaving Canada: “A temporary resident’s maintained status ends when they leave Canada.” You may be let back in as a visitor if you are visa-exempt or hold a valid multiple-entry visa, but if your work or study permit application is still pending you may not go back to work or school until it is approved. (The truck driver exception above is the narrow carve-out at the border.)
• Refused, then reapplied before the original expiry: you keep maintained status while the second application is processed.
• Reapplied after the original expiry: “they don’t have maintained status during the processing period of the subsequent application.” IRCC’s processing centre should refuse it and warn that you can apply for restoration.
• Refused: you are treated as in status until the day of the decision, and the 90-day restoration window under section 182 of the Regulations starts on the refusal date.

The May 28, 2025 update also removed IRCC’s earlier reference to people on maintained status applying for a new work or study permit at a port of entry.

Worked example: a Surrey graduate

A graduate of a Surrey college gets confirmation of program completion on December 1, 2026. Her study permit expires January 31, 2027.

1. Old way (before December 23, 2024): drive to Pacific Highway after January 31 and apply at the border. No longer possible.
2. Now: she applies online for her PGWP before midnight UTC on January 31, 2027 (4 pm Pacific that day). Her study permit is valid when she applies, so she can rely on maintained status and, if she meets IRCC’s conditions, work while she waits.
3. Her deadline if she waits: the 180-day PGWP window runs from December 1, 2026, so it ends around May 30, 2027. But if she lets her study permit expire on January 31 first, without having changed to visitor status, she has to restore her student status within 90 days (by about May 1, 2027) before applying, and she cannot work in the meantime.
4. The trap: if she drives to Bellingham in February while her PGWP is pending, her maintained status ends when she leaves; she may be let back in as a visitor, but cannot work until the PGWP is approved.

If your permit has already expired

If your work or study permit expired and you didn’t apply in time, you have 90 days from the date you lost status to apply to restore it, and you normally can’t work until it’s restored and a new permit is issued. After 90 days, restoration isn’t available and you must leave Canada.

• Restoration needs a new permit application plus the restoration fee, and the work permit fee ($155; $100 open work permit holder fee if applicable; $85 biometrics if required) (IRCC, modified August 28, 2026).
• Paper applications that arrive after the window are counted back 7 days; apply online.
• Some foreign workers with a provincial support letter are exempt from the 90-day limit.

Spouses and family members

Spouses who used to flagpole for an open work permit now apply online too, and the spousal open work permit rules have narrowed since January 21, 2025. Check eligibility before the current permit runs out; see our guide to the spousal open work permit.

Mistakes I have seen

• I have seen applicants submit on the evening of their expiry date in BC, after 4 or 5 pm, which is already the next day in UTC.
• I have seen people on maintained status cross into Washington for a day trip and then find they could not return to work.
• I have seen a refused applicant file a second application after their original permit had expired, believing it kept them in status. Since May 28, 2025 it does not.
• I have seen graduates wait for final marks with their study permit about to expire, then lose the ability to work while the PGWP was processed.
• I have seen people try to flagpole anyway, lose a day off work, and be sent back to apply online.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still flagpole for a PGWP?

No. PGWP applicants are not in any of the exempt groups, so the CBSA will direct you to apply to IRCC online. Apply before your study permit expires so you keep maintained status.

When did flagpoling end in Canada?

At 11:59 pm ET on December 23, 2024, according to the CBSA. IRCC’s Operational Bulletin 686 gives the effective time as 00:01 on December 24, 2024.

Can US citizens still get a work permit at the border?

Yes. US citizens and US lawful permanent residents are exempt, as are certain professionals and technicians under CUSMA and other free trade agreements.

Can I travel to the US while my work permit extension is pending?

You can, but your maintained status ends when you leave Canada. You may be allowed back in as a visitor, but if your work permit application is still pending you may not work until it is approved.

What if IRCC refuses my extension?

You are treated as in status until the day of the refusal, and you then have 90 days to apply for restoration. If your original permit hasn’t expired yet, you can reapply before it does and keep maintained status. See our guide to what to do after a PGWP refusal.

Is flagpoling the same as applying at the airport when I first arrive?

No. Flagpoling means leaving Canada while already a temporary resident and coming straight back to apply. IRCC’s bulletin says the restriction does not apply to other traveller groups.

Related guides: PGWP refused over a non-credit program.

What should I do right now?

Check the expiry date on your current permit and treat 4 pm Pacific (winter) or 5 pm (summer) on that day as the real deadline. Gather your passport, current permit, proof of completion (for a PGWP) or your new job documents, and apply online well before that time. Don’t book a trip across the border while you wait. If your permit has already expired, the 90-day restoration window is already running.

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Sources (official)

• CBSA, Ending flagpoling for work and study permits at the border (December 23, 2024; modified December 23, 2024).
• IRCC, Operational Bulletin 686 (December 24, 2024; modified February 14, 2025).
• IRCC, Temporary residents: maintained status during processing (modified May 28, 2025) and the program delivery update of May 28, 2025.
• IRCC, Extend or change the conditions on your work permit: how to apply (modified October 14, 2026).
• IRCC, Post-graduation work permit: how to apply (modified August 28, 2026) and eligibility (modified June 24, 2026).
• IRCC, Restore your status and get a work permit (modified August 28, 2026).
• Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227, sections 26.1, 182, 198, 201, 214, 217.

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