I applied to extend my work permit late. What now?
Maintained status only protects you if IRCC receives your application before your permit expires. If yours went in late, here is how to check, what you must stop doing, and how to use the 90-day restoration window.
If IRCC received your extension after your work permit expired, you are not on maintained status. Your status has ended, you must stop working, and the fix is an application to restore your status within 90 days. The sooner you act, the more of that window you keep.
How do I know if I applied late?
For online applications, IRCC says you must submit before midnight UTC on the day your permit expires: 8 p.m. in Ontario during daylight time, 7 p.m. in winter. Check the submission date and time on your IRCC confirmation, not the day you started the form. Paper applications are dated the day they reach the processing centre; if one arrives after the expiry date, IRCC counts back 7 days to set the received date.
If your application went in within those limits, you applied on time and you are on maintained status. Read what you can and cannot do while you wait.
What does a late application mean for my status?
The Regulations extend your stay while IRCC decides only when you applied before your authorized stay ended. Without that, your temporary resident status ends on the expiry date. Every temporary resident is also required to leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay.
Can I keep working?
No. IRCC is clear that you must stop working once you lose status, and normally you cannot work again until your status is restored and a new permit is issued. Working without authorization can make you ineligible for restoration, and under the Regulations it bars a new work permit until six months after the unauthorized work stops, with limited exceptions.
How does restoration fix it?
- IRCC must receive your application no more than 90 days after your status expired.
- You must have met the conditions of your permit before it expired, and you must stay in Canada until IRCC decides. If you leave, the application is refused and the fee is not refunded.
- You apply to restore your status together with the work permit you now qualify for. The fee is $401.25 with a work permit, plus the $100 open work permit holder fee for an open permit. Biometrics ($85) may apply.
- You cannot work while it is processed.
Our restoration of status guide and restoration checklist cover who qualifies and what to file.
I already submitted a plain extension. Should I wait?
Do not wait for IRCC to answer before deciding. A late extension does not give you maintained status, and the 90 days count from the day your status expired, not from any decision on the late application. Have a licensed representative look at whether to apply for restoration now, while there is time left in the window.
What if more than 90 days have passed?
Restoration is no longer available, except for workers with an eligible support letter from a participating province or territory. IRCC’s instruction for everyone else is to leave Canada and apply again from outside.
How to avoid this next time
- Apply at least 30 days before your permit expires, as IRCC recommends.
- Renew your passport first if it runs out sooner: IRCC cannot extend a work permit beyond your passport’s expiry date.
- Never leave the last day: if you must, submit well before 7 p.m. Ontario time.
- Use the work permit extension checklist and the permit expiry planner to set your dates.
If you think you filed late, book a consultation now: every day of the 90 counts.
Sources: IRCC and the Regulations: Extend your work permit: apply; What to do if your work permit expired; Restore your status and get a work permit; Restoration of temporary resident status (program delivery instructions); Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, section 183; Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, section 200; IRCC fee list. General information only, not legal advice; IRCC makes all final decisions.
