Letting status lapse before filing
Maintained status only exists if the extension is filed before expiry. A day late converts a routine extension into a 90-day restoration case. Extensions & restoration.
Newcomers
Welcome to Canada. The clock is already running.
Landing is not the finish line — it starts the timers. Citizenship counts from days of presence, sponsorship counts from tax years, the PGWP counts from final marks, and status counts from an expiry date. This page turns your stage into a dated plan — no forms, no settlement filler.
- 180 daysto claim your PGWP
- 1,095 daysof presence to citizenship
- 730 daysin every 5 years to keep PR
Each timer starts from its own date: final marks, the five years before you apply, every rolling five-year window.
Next move finder
Where are you in the journey? Get the dates that decide it.
Pick your stage and one date. You get an ordered timeline of what is due, what is open to you now, and what to set up early because a future application will ask for it.
1Your status today A planning estimate, not a decision — an officer decides each case.
From your Confirmation of Permanent Residence or landing stamp.
Planning guidance only, not legal advice, and every date here is the general rule, not a ruling on your file. Exceptions exist in both directions. Confirm on canada.ca or have the plan reviewed.
The four newcomer files
Whatever you landed as, there is a next move.
Credentials & your first role
Your career crossed the border with you. Your licence may not have.
Regulated professions — healthcare, engineering, trades, teaching, accounting — need Canadian recognition before you practise. Two Government of Canada tools do the first pass, free.
- Job Bank
Check how your credentials transfer
Job Bank's foreign credential recognition tool maps your occupation to the regulator, the assessment body and the process for your province. Run it on Job Bank.
- Job Bank
Know the wage before you negotiate
The median wage for your NOC and city — the same figures ESDC uses in work permit files. Compare wages on Job Bank.
- CHK
Tie the job to the plan
The right first role can carry a future application — TEER level drives Express Entry eligibility and the wage feeds provincial streams. Express Entry and the provincial programs show what your role can open.
Where newcomers lose ground
Four mistakes we see every month. All four are preventable.
Missing the PGWP window
180 days from final marks, one permit per lifetime, and the study permit's own expiry runs inside that window. Graduates lose this by celebrating first and checking dates second. The PGWP rules.
Treating PR as unconditional
730 days in every rolling five years, counted at the border and at every PR card renewal. Long early absences are how the shortfall sneaks up. Understand the obligation.
Paying an unlicensed "consultant"
Anyone charging for Canadian immigration advice must be a licensed RCIC, a lawyer or a Quebec notary. Verify every name — ours included — in the CICC public register before money moves.
Asked every week
The newcomer questions with real answers.
How soon after landing can I apply for citizenship?
After 1,095 days of physical presence in the five years before applying. Pre-PR time in Canada counts as half-days, up to a 365-day credit — heavy pre-PR presence can pull the date up to a year closer. Citizenship & the presence calculator.
Can I sponsor my parents as a new PR?
Not at the moment. As of October 9, 2026, the Parents and Grandparents Program is paused: IRCC has received no new applications since January 1, 2026 and is not accepting interest to sponsor forms or sending invitations until further notice (IRCC program page). If it reopens, you will need income at or above IRCC’s PGP income table for each of the three tax years before you apply; the table already includes the extra 30% above the low income cut-off, so do not add it again. Your Canadian NOAs start counting the year you land. In the meantime, the super visa brings parents and grandparents for up to five years per entry under a plain-LICO test.
My permit expires during processing — am I still legal?
Yes, if you filed before expiry: maintained status holds your conditions until the decision. The protection comes from the filing date, not the decision date. Work permit extensions.
Do days outside Canada cost me my PR?
They can. The floor is 730 days inside per rolling five years, with narrow credits for time abroad with a Canadian-citizen spouse or for a Canadian business. The residency obligation.
When do I have to apply for my PGWP?
Within 180 days of your school issuing final marks — one permit per lifetime, and your study permit's own expiry runs inside that window. The PGWP rules and timing.
How do I verify an immigration consultant is licensed?
Search their name or licence number in the CICC public register. Anyone charging for Canadian immigration advice must be a licensed RCIC, a lawyer or a Quebec notary — CHK's consultants are verifiable there, and anyone you hire should be.
The first two years in Canada decide the next ten. Play them deliberately.
Bring us your landing date, your permits and your family plan. A licensed RCIC maps the sequence — what to file, in what order, and the dates that must not slip. Brampton, London, or remotely anywhere in Canada.
Book a consultation →General information only, not legal advice, and no consultant–client relationship is created by reading this page. Rules and dates change; confirm on canada.ca before filing. IRCC makes all final decisions.
eligibility review
Find out where you actually stand.
Send a few details. A licensed RCIC reads your profile personally, then replies with the routes that genuinely fit, the ones that do not, and the consultation fee and next available times.
- 01Read personally by a CICC-licensed consultant
- 02A written shortlist of the programs you qualify for
- 03Fee-based; the fee and times come by reply
CHK Immigration Services, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (CICC). Offices in Brampton and London, Ontario. Submitting this form does not create a client–consultant relationship; IRCC makes all final decisions. Prefer to talk first? Call 647-948-7200 or book a paid consultation.