Canada is relaxing its rules and making it easier for many foreign students to stay in the country to work for up to three years after graduation. This week’s changes in the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program mean eligible foreign graduates may work anywhere and no longer must have a job offer to get a work permit. The shift removes some of the major drawbacks to the previous regulations.

Both foreign-student advisers and students who wanted to work in Canada had serious complaints about those regulations, according to a study released last October. They said potential future employers lacked proper information; students had only 90 days to land a job when the process usually took much longer; students were hindered by being barred from work in major cities; and the program’s official documents were often confusing.

As a result, many foreign students felt the Canadian government was not serious about wanting them to stay and work.

The government introduced its first postgraduation work program in 2005, hoping that projected job vacancies could be filled by foreign students who would then decide to stay as permanent residents. Earlier, the government gave foreign students the right to work off-campus while still pursuing their degrees. —Karen Birchard