Restoration of status or leaving Canada: which is better after your permit expires?
Within 90 days of losing status you can apply to restore it from inside Canada, but you cannot work while you wait, and leaving ends the application. Here is how the two paths compare.
If your status ended in the last 90 days and you did not work or study without authorization, restoration is often the stronger path: you stay in Canada and ask IRCC to put you back in status with the permit you now qualify for. Leaving and applying from outside can be right too, but it is not a clean reset.
Who can restore their status?
- IRCC receives your application no more than 90 days after your status expired.
- You met the requirements of your stay and the conditions of your permit before it expired.
- You do not hold a temporary resident permit.
- You remain in Canada until IRCC decides. Restoration cannot be applied for or granted at a port of entry.
If an extension you applied for in time is refused, your status ends on the refusal date, and the 90 days run from then.
What restoration costs, and what it does not let you do
Restoration with a new work permit costs $401.25 per person, plus the $100 open work permit holder fee for an open permit, and biometrics ($85) where they apply. While it is processed you cannot work or study. If you leave Canada, IRCC refuses the application and keeps the fee. If it is refused, you will have to leave.
What happens if I leave instead?
Leaving ends any restoration application, and after the 90 days it is the only path IRCC leaves most people. From outside, you apply under the rules of whatever program you now qualify for. Two things to weigh first:
- Every temporary resident must leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay. Future applications ask about your immigration history, so an overstay has to be disclosed honestly.
- Under the Regulations, an officer cannot issue a work permit to someone who worked or studied without authorization, or failed to comply with a condition of a previous permit, until six months after that ended, subject to listed exceptions. How it applies depends on your facts.
How to choose
- Restoration fits when you are inside the 90 days, have not worked or studied without authorization, qualify for the permit you are asking for, and can manage without working while IRCC decides.
- Leaving fits when more than 90 days have passed, you are not eligible for restoration, or your next step, such as a job offer or program abroad, is outside Canada anyway.
- Check for a BOWP first if you are the principal applicant on a permanent residence application: a bridging open work permit can be requested with restoration when your application is at the required stage.
The provincial support letter exception
Foreign workers with a support letter from a participating province or territory, confirming placement in its expression of interest pool or nominee application inventory, can apply for an open work permit without the 90-day limit and without meeting the usual stay and permit conditions.
What to do this week
- Work out the exact date your status ended: the permit’s expiry date, or the refusal date if a timely extension was refused.
- Stop working or studying.
- Do not leave Canada if you plan to restore.
- Gather your documents with the restoration checklist, and read our restoration of status guide.
- Book a consultation so a licensed RCIC can confirm which path fits your facts before the window closes.
Sources: IRCC and the Regulations: 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; Bridging open work permit: who can apply; IRCC fee list. General information only, not legal advice; IRCC makes all final decisions.
