Visitor Record Extension — one date decides everything.
Whether you extend or restore turns entirely on whether you file before your status expires. Enter your date and find out which side of that line you are on.
Status checker
Where do you stand today? Enter the date on your document.
Your entry stamp, visitor record, study permit or work permit carries an expiry date. That date — against today — decides whether you are extending, restoring, or out of options.
The fork
Two routes. The deadline picks which one is yours.
These are not two ways of doing the same thing. They cost different amounts, carry different rights while you wait, and leave different marks on your immigration record.
Filing one day before expiry and one day after produces completely different outcomes. This is the side of the line you want to be on.
Restoration is discretionary. It restores status going forward; it does not undo the period you spent without it, and officers can see that gap in every later application.
Restoring as a visitor costs $246.25 in total. IRCC's fee list carries the note “visa fee not needed” against that line, so the $100 visitor fee is not added on top. Restoring as a student is $396.25 and as a worker $401.25, because those do add the permit fee. Confirm on the official fee list →
Updated May 2026
Three changes worth knowing before you file.
A worker or student who loses status may now restore as a visitor — explicitly stated in the May 2026 guidance. If the job or the study plan is gone, the status route is not.
Restoration cannot be applied for or granted at a port of entry. Leaving and re-entering to “reset” is not a route — it ends the option.
An application returned as incomplete does not create maintained status, and your 90 days run from the original expiry — not from the day it came back.
Maintained status
Filing on time buys you the right to stay. It buys nothing else.
Apply before your status expires and you hold maintained status — formerly called implied status. You may remain in Canada lawfully under your existing conditions while IRCC decides, even after the original date passes. What it does not do is upgrade you: a visitor stays a visitor, and if your permit allowed work or study, that continues only while you remain in Canada. Leave the country and maintained status ends at the border.
Processing now runs into months rather than weeks, which is why filing in the last fortnight before expiry is a poor plan even though it is technically on time. Give yourself 60 days or more, and check the live processing time before you decide.
What to prepare
The file an officer can approve quickly.
Exact contents depend on your situation. This is the baseline we build from, and the restoration column is additional to the extension one — not instead of it.
Extending — still in status
Bio page plus every stamped and visa page — officers read the travel history, not just the photo page.
Entry stamp, existing visitor record, or the eTA/visa you entered on.
Statements covering the months you are asking for, not a single-day balance.
A short letter: why you are staying, how long, and what you return to.
Employment, property, dependants, obligations — evidenced, not asserted.
Address and host details, with the host's own status if they are supporting you.
Restoring — status already lost
Restoration is the extension application plus the restoration request — not a lighter file.
Dates and facts in order. Officers weigh whether the lapse was within your control.
Evidence you ceased working or studying the day the permit expired. Continuing is the most common fatal problem.
Medical records, travel disruption, a returned application — whatever actually happened.
Related
If your situation sits elsewhere.
Which document you need, and how long a stay you are actually granted on entry.
Stays measured in years rather than months — often better than repeated extensions.
A refused extension ends your status on the day of refusal. What follows depends on the date.
Not sure which side of the date you are on?
Send us your expiry date and what you hold. We will confirm whether you extend or restore, what the file needs, and how quickly it has to move. Brampton, London, or remotely across Canada.
Reviewed August 2026 — general information only, not legal advice, and no consultant–client relationship is created by reading this page. Restoration is discretionary and approval is never guaranteed. Fees and processing times change; confirm both on IRCC's fee list and the processing-times tool before you file.
Status review
Do you need a visitor record to stay?
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.
- Read personally by a CICC-licensed consultant — never a bot, never a salesperson
- A written shortlist of the programs you realistically qualify for
- Consultations are fee-based; you get the fee and available times 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.