Status problems rarely announce themselves. An extension is refused weeks after the permit expired, a condition was breached without anyone noticing, a date was simply missed. What happens in the next 90 days usually determines whether the problem is a detour or a dead end.
The rule
Under section 182 of the immigration regulations, a visitor, worker or student who has lost status may apply to restore it within 90 days of losing it, if they remain in Canada, meet the requirements of their intended stay, and lost status only for specific, restorable reasons: overstaying an authorized period, or breaching officer-imposed conditions like the type of work, employer, location or course of study.
The traps
- The clock starts earlier than people think. If your extension application was rejected as incomplete, there was no maintained status, the 90 days run from your original expiry.
- You cannot keep working or studying. Authorization ends with status. Continuing without it makes you ineligible for restoration entirely.
- Unauthorized work or study is not restorable. Restoration covers breaches of imposed conditions, not working or studying without any authorization at all.
- Leaving Canada kills the application. If an officer determines you have left, the application is refused, and restoration cannot be granted at a port of entry.
- TRP holders cannot restore. An expired temporary resident permit requires a new TRP application, not restoration.
What to file
Restoration plus the permit you actually need, a worker files restoration together with the new work permit application, with all fees. IRCC’s service standard for restoration decisions is five months, and you must remain in Canada while it processes. The explanation of how status was lost becomes part of your permanent record: precise and honest protects future applications; careless haunts them.
Past the 90 days?
Restoration is off the table, but options may remain, leaving and applying from abroad, or in narrow cases a temporary resident permit. The priority becomes not making the record worse.
Full analysis on our Restoration of Status page, or if your status has lapsed, book a consultation today. The window is short.
Sources: IRCC – Restoration of temporary resident status (program delivery instructions); IRPR s. 182.
About the author
Miguel Martins Pereirinha is a Canadian immigration lawyer and partner at Slayen Immigration Law in Vancouver, British Columbia. He practises Canadian immigration law exclusively — work permits, permanent residence, family sponsorship, citizenship and inadmissibility — and works with clients in English and Portuguese.
