Work permit expiring, LMIA still pending: what to do

The short answer

Two dates matter. The first is the expiry date on your work permit: IRCC must receive your extension application before it. Online, "before" means before midnight Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on that day, not Toronto time. An application received in time gives you maintained status, and you keep working for the same employer while IRCC decides. A day late, and it does not.

The second is the decision on your employer's labour market impact assessment (LMIA). IRCC's general advice is to wait for the positive LMIA letter and then apply. But when the LMIA is still pending and the permit is about to run out, IRCC lets you file first and add the LMIA later. It calls this concurrent processing, and there are three conditions.

When you may apply without the LMIA

IRCC's instructions describe concurrent processing as an exception for applications made inside Canada under section R199 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, meant to stop workers from falling out of status. You must show that:

your current permit expires in two weeks or less;
your employer has submitted a complete LMIA application (and, for a job in Quebec, the Quebec Acceptance Certificate, CAQ), early enough that a decision could have been made within the published processing times; and
no decision has been made on the LMIA yet.

The lead-time condition is the one people miss. IRCC says plainly that an employer should not file the LMIA immediately before the work permit application and expect the file to be held; those requests are assessed on an exceptional basis.

How to file it

Use form IMM 5710 onlineApply through your IRCC secure account with the Application to Change Conditions, Extend my Stay or Remain in Canada as a Worker (IMM 5710). In the Job Title field, type the code CPTS2026. IRCC says the code is for tracking only and the officer's decision does not depend on it, but it is how your file is recognized as a concurrent-processing case.
Prove the job offer and the LMIA filingInclude proof of a valid job offer, plus proof that the employer applied: the LMIA receipt confirmation number for an online application, or a copy of the application sent to Service Canada (or Quebec's immigration ministry) for a paper one.
Fill in "Details of intended work in Canada"State the date the LMIA or CAQ request was sent, the office it went to, the employer's name, and the confirmation number if you have one.
Pay the fee and check your passportThe work permit processing fee is $155, plus $85 if you need to give biometrics. IRCC cannot issue a permit that outlasts your biometrics or your passport, so renew the passport first if it ends before the period you are asking for.
Send the LMIA when it arrivesWhen the employer receives the positive LMIA (and CAQ, if required), submit it through the IRCC web form. IRCC will not decide the application until it has the document.

Changed on October 28, 2026. Until this autumn a concurrent-processing file was held for a fixed period (60 days, then 90 days from August 21, 2026) and then decided with or without the LMIA. Officers now do not decide an eligible application until the LMIA has a final decision. Your file waits as long as Service Canada takes, and the risk of a refusal because a clock ran out is gone.

What you may do while the file is held

Once your permit expires with the application pending, you are on maintained status and authorized to work without a permit until the decision, as long as you stay in Canada. The conditions are those of the expired permit: same employer, same job, same location. Online applicants receive a work permit extension letter (WP-EXT) in their account to show the employer. It carries an expiry date 365 days after IRCC received the application, but IRCC says you can keep working past that date while the application is pending. Paper applicants get no letter and show their application copy, fee receipt and courier tracking instead.

You may keep working with an expired SIN until the decision. A driver's licence or health card usually cannot be renewed on maintained status, so renew them before the permit expires. Leaving Canada ends the authorization to work; you may be allowed back as a visitor, but cannot work until the permit is approved. Our post on maintained status has more detail.

How long the new permit will be

The LMIA has two dates that are easy to confuse. The validity date is the deadline for IRCC to receive your work permit application; an application received after it is refused. The duration of employment is how long the employer asked to have you, and it is the ceiling: officers must not issue a permit for longer than the LMIA duration. Three rules from IRCC's instructions decide the actual length:

Maintained status is counted. For the same employer, the officer calculates the extension from the expiry date of the previous permit, not from the approval date. IRCC's own example: a 12-month LMIA duration and three months on maintained status produce a 9-month permit.
The passport caps it. A 2-year LMIA duration with a passport that expires in one year gives a 1-year permit. In that one case you can later extend to the full LMIA duration with a new passport and no new LMIA, even after the LMIA validity date has passed.
"Indeterminate/permanent" means two years. An LMIA obtained to support a permanent residence application gives a permit of at most two years; a new LMIA is needed if no permanent residence application was filed in that time.

One recent change helps on the employer's side. Employment and Social Development Canada announced that Low-wage Stream LMIA applications submitted on or after November 6, 2026 can have a maximum duration of up to two years, up from one. If your employer is preparing the LMIA now, ask which duration they are requesting; a one-year LMIA still produces, at most, a one-year permit.

If the LMIA is refused, or the deadline was missed

If Service Canada refuses or closes the LMIA, IRCC decides the work permit application on that basis, and a refusal ends your maintained status. If the permit expired before you applied, you have already lost status and must stop working. In both cases the route back is restoration: apply within 90 days of losing status, if you respected the conditions of your permit; pay the restoration fee on top of the $155 processing fee; explain on a separate page why you stayed longer than allowed; and tick "Restore my status as a worker" on IMM 5710. You may stay in Canada while it is processed, but normally may not work until status is restored and the new permit issued. After 90 days, the application must be made from outside Canada.

The practical lesson is about sequence. Get the LMIA filing date and confirmation number from the employer as soon as the application goes in, and note the permit's expiry date in UTC. If two weeks before expiry there is still no decision, file with the CPTS2026 code rather than waiting for a letter that may arrive after the permit is gone.

General information only. This article is not legal advice. IRCC and ESDC instructions change, and the outcome depends on the facts of each case. Check the official pages below or get advice on your situation.

Your work permit is expiring and the LMIA is still pending: what you can do, and in what order.