Propel Student Work Placement Program

Insider Tip

Two details decide how much you actually get back. First, tips, gratuities and commissions are not eligible and must be stripped out of the total gross wages before you invoice — for a restaurant or hotel role that can be most of a student's take-home, so build the placement around base wages. Second, the $5,000 ceiling is 50% of gross wages, which means it only pays out in full on roughly $10,000 of eligible base wages; a 4-week, 20-hour minimum placement returns a few hundred dollars, not thousands. Also check two gates before you post: the student must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident (international students do not qualify), and the placement must not already be funded by another federal program — which rules out running Propel alongside another Student Work Placement delivery partner on the same hire. The net-new rule is now only a problem if you employ more than 100 full-time people.

Rejection Pitfalls 10

• Employer is not in, or the role does not relate to, the tourism and hospitality sector
• Student is an international student rather than a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
• Student's program has no work-integrated learning component, or the institution will not confirm enrolment and the WIL requirement

Success Profile

A registered Canadian tourism, hospitality or visitor-economy employer — a hotel, restaurant, attraction, tour operator, museum, event producer, destination marketing organization or transportation provider — hiring a domestic post-secondary student into a genuine co-op or internship that satisfies the student's program requirement. The cleanest files run the placement full-time or close to it over a full academic term, so the 50% subsidy reaches the $5,000 ceiling, pay a straight hourly base wage rather than a tip-heavy role, and have the institution's placement confirmation letter ready before the agreement arrives.

Evaluation Criteria

There is no competitive scoring. Tourism HR Canada assesses the application against fixed eligibility criteria: is the employer a registered Canadian business, startup or not-for-profit in or serving the tourism and hospitality sector; is the student domestic and enrolled at a recognized Canadian post-secondary institution in a program with a work-integrated learning component; is the student an employee rather than a contractor; does the placement run at least 20 hours a week for at least 4 weeks in a safe environment; is it free of other federal funding; and, for employers over 100 full-time staff, does it clear the net-new test. The application is only finalized once a student has been hired and the documentation proving all of the above has been submitted.

Application Steps

Required Documents 6

Eligible Expenses 4

• 50% of the student's total gross wages for the work-integrated learning placement, to a maximum of $5,000 per placement
• Base hourly or salaried wages paid to the student as an employee of the company
• Wages for on-site, remote or hybrid placements alike
• Wages across multiple placements, where the employer has the resources to give each student a meaningful experience

Ineligible Expenses 6

• Tips and gratuities — explicitly not eligible for reimbursement and must be removed from total gross wages
• Commissions — explicitly not eligible for reimbursement and must be removed from total gross wages
• Any wages above the 50% share or beyond the $5,000 per-placement ceiling
• Payments to a student engaged as an independent contractor rather than an employee
• Wages for a placement already funded by another federal grant or program
• Recruitment, training, equipment, supervision or overhead costs — the subsidy covers wages only

Intake Periods

Rolling, organised by academic term. Employers post opportunities and apply for the subsidy against a named term (Summer, Fall, Winter) in the Propel portal, and terms open in sequence — Tourism HR Canada runs a pre-application form so employers can be notified when upcoming semesters open. The subsidy application is only finalized once a student has been hired and all eligibility documentation has been submitted. No calendar deadline is published.

Deadline Notes

No calendar deadline is published. Employers register on the Propel portal, post a work-integrated learning opportunity against a specific academic term (for example 'SUMMER 2026'), and apply for the wage subsidy; the application is finalized only once a student has been hired and the eligibility documentation has been submitted. Because terms open in sequence, Tourism HR Canada runs a pre-application form so employers can be notified when upcoming semesters open. Apply for the term before your placement starts — the placement report, agreements and direct-deposit form are due within three weeks of receiving the agreement.

Open Application Portal →

Ineligible Organizations

• Businesses and not-for-profits with no connection to the tourism, hospitality or travel sector and no tourism/hospitality job function in the role
• Employers hiring an immediate family member without a clear, transparent and fair nepotism policy in place
• Employers engaging the student as an independent contractor rather than as an employee
• Employers whose placement is already funded by another federal grant or program
• Employers with over 100 full-time employees that cannot demonstrate a net-new increase in paid WIL placements above their baseline year
• Employers found to have submitted questionable or fraudulent documentation — all current and in-process applications are cancelled and further applications forfeited

Compatible Programs

Clawback Risk

Low Risk

The subsidy is paid only after the placement is complete and documented, so there is little to claw back. The real risk is forfeiture rather than recovery: "should any questionable or fraudulent documentation be discovered by the Propel team, the Propel team reserves the right to cancel all current applications and will notify applicants. In addition, the employer forfeits the right to any further applications and any that may be in process." Missing the three-week documentation window or trying to amend an application after the placement period has ended can also cost the payment.