When you arrive in Canada with temporary residence, it is clear to all of us that this status has an issuance date but also an expiration date. Any of the three types of temporary residence statuses that exist in Canada at the immigration level: visitor, student or worker, are still what their name indicates, temporary.
In many cases, a visitor may have the chance to transition to being an international student at a Canadian college or university, or someone may even get a job offer and obtain a work permit, either through an LMIA or by some LMIA-exempt option. In any case, all these temporary residence documents will have an expiration date, in which the person must decide what to do with their immigration status in Canada.
In the vast majority of cases, applicants are well aware that their permit is reaching an expiration date and they will have to resolve how to continue in Canada with legal immigration status. That is why many anticipate and before the document expires, they manage to successfully send applications either to extend the immigration status they have (continue as a student or worker) or an application to change their status (for example, student to worker or vice versa).
In this situation, the applicant enters what is known as “maintained status” (previously also called implied status). This allows them to continue with the same status they had when they submitted their application and remain in Canada legally until the government responds to their newly submitted application. This is still valid, despite the fact that the original permit expires and the deadline indicated on the document has passed already.
However, what happens when we fail to submit one of those applications and get the maintained status? Or even when we simply forget to extend the permit and when we realize it is already expired? The most important things to keep in mind are listed below:
- The first thing to keep in mind is that the legal authorization that gave us permission, whether as a visitor, student or worker, is no longer valid. This means that if we are workers or students, we must stop working or studying immediately. There is no way to continue with these activities and do it legally, so continuing as normal can only bring greater consequences.
- The next thing that is essential is to determine how long it’s been since when we are out of status. This is crucial, because the Government only allows people who lose their status to recover it within a period of 90 days from the expiration of the previous permit. To make it clearer with an example, if the study or work permit expires on March 15 you have until June 15 to regain legal status in Canada.
- Finally, the essential thing is to determine what type of application we must make to return to a legal immigration status. This will depend on our situation in the country and if we meet the requirements to resubmit a study or work application, or even as a visitor in Canada.
As can be seen from the above, having lost your original immigration status in Canada requires you to make a new application to the Government. This type of application is what is legally known as a Restoration application. Restorations are applications that are generally best avoided, but are useful if, by action or omission, we have lost status.
Therefore, if for example a student forgot to renew their study permit by submitting a study permit extension application to IRCC, but realizing that their previous permit has expired, they are still within the authorized period of 90 days to make a restoration, and if they still have the documents from the college/university that prove they are still enrolled in their study program, then they have the chance to restore to a student status directly. The same can happen in the case of a worker who still has a valid job offer in Canada and meets all other requirements to apply for a work permit according to the category they are using.
The most important part of submitting a restoration application is making sure you meet the necessary requirements to continue having the status you are seeking to return to: student or worker. If that’s not the case, you can also restore to a different status, usually visitor. That is, someone whose work or study permit expired and does not meet the conditions to become either of those again, then they must restore their status to visitor necessarily.This is very common when seeking to obtain legal temporary residence status in Canada again but it is not possible to demonstrate that all the requirements to be a student or worker are met.
One way or another, and regardless of the status that is pursued through the restoration application, the main thing is that in the case of a student or worker, it will not be possible to continue working or studying once the status is lost with the expiration of the previous permit. The work or study activity must be discontinued, so as to avoid violating the Canadian immigration code. And immediately, pursue a restoration application according to the circumstances in which they find themselves.
Finally, it must be taken into account that the cost of a restoration application is $200.00 CAD, which is added to the cost of the type of application to be restored to. That is, if the restoration is for a worker, it will be $200.00 CAD plus the $155.00 CAD for the work permit, or $150.00 CAD for a study permit or $100.00 CAD for a visitor’s permit (visitor record).
So now you know, if you have lost your immigration status in Canada, there are solutions for that as long as you take action on time and follow the rules and instructions given by IRCC.
And remember that if you need help with a restoration application, at Velosa Immigration we are ready to help you continue working towards your Canadian dream!
