Maintained status: what you can do while IRCC decides

What maintained status is

Every visitor, student and worker in Canada has an authorized period of stay. Section 183(5) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) says that if you apply to extend that period and no decision has been made by the time it ends, your stay is extended by law. It lasts until the day of the decision if the application is refused, or until the end of the new period if it is approved. Section 183(6) adds that you keep your status during that time, subject to your other conditions.

IRCC calls this maintained status. Older material calls it "implied status". It is not a document and nothing is issued. It exists only because you applied on time and stayed in Canada.

Two groups do not get it: a person who is the subject of a declaration under section 22.1 of the Act, and anyone applying for a temporary resident permit (TRP). A TRP application does not maintain status while it is processed.

You must apply before your status expires

Everything depends on the date. IRCC asks visitors, students and workers to apply at least 30 days before their status expires. The date that counts is the end of your current status, not the date on your visa. For a visitor it is the date stamped in the passport, or 6 months from the day of entry if there is no stamp. Otherwise it is the expiry date on your study permit, work permit or visitor record.

Online applications must be submitted before midnight UTC on the day your status expires. In Toronto that is 8:00 p.m. during daylight saving time and 7:00 p.m. in winter. Paper applications, allowed only in limited cases, are dated when the processing centre receives them.

A late application does not count. An application submitted after your status expired does not give you maintained status. You are out of status and would need to apply for restoration instead.

Working and studying while you wait

Maintained status lets you stay in Canada. Whether you may keep working or studying is a separate question, and it depends on what you applied for.

Workers

If you applied to extend your work permit before it expired and you stay in Canada, you may keep working under the same conditions (IRPR 186(u)). On an employer-specific permit that means the same employer, job and work location. Open work permit holders can still change employers.

Changing employer

If you applied for a new employer-specific permit for a different job, keep working for the employer named on your current permit. You cannot start the new job before approval unless IRCC gives you authorization to work while it processes your application. You request this through the IRCC web form after you apply.

Students

If you applied to extend your study permit before it expired and you stay in Canada, you may keep studying under the same conditions (IRPR 189).

Changing status

If a worker applies to stay as a visitor or a student, work must stop when the work permit expires. If a student applies as a visitor or a worker, studies must stop when the study permit expires.

IRCC lists two practical limits. While on maintained status you cannot apply for a Social Insurance Number (SIN) or update its expiry date, and you cannot renew documents issued by your province or territory. A worker can keep working with an expired SIN until the decision, then update it once the new permit is issued.

Leaving Canada ends maintained status

Maintained status lasts only while you remain in Canada. The day you leave, it ends.

Coming back is a new entry. To return as a temporary resident you must be visa-exempt or hold a valid multiple-entry visa, and the border officer decides whether to let you in and for how long. IRCC is clear that a visa or eTA does not guarantee re-entry.

If your work permit renewal is still in process when you return, you may be allowed in as a visitor, but you cannot work until the renewal is approved. The same applies to students: you cannot resume studies until the new permit is issued.

If the application is refused

If IRCC refuses your extension, your status lasts until the date of the decision. From that date you have 90 days to apply to restore your status under section 182 of the IRPR.

You must still meet the initial requirements for your stay and must not have broken any other condition, for example by working or studying without authorization.
You must be in Canada when you apply and stay until the decision. If you leave, the application is refused and the fee is not refunded. Restoration cannot be requested at a port of entry.
While restoration is pending you have no status. You cannot work or study until it is approved and any new permit is issued.
Students and workers can apply for restoration together with a new permit; the permit is assessed after the restoration decision. If you no longer need a permit, you can restore your status as a visitor.
TRP holders cannot apply for restoration.

Restoration application	Government fee
Restore status as a visitor	$246.25
Restore status as a worker, with a new work permit	$401.25
Restore status as a student, with a new study permit	$396.25

If the 90 days pass without an application, or restoration is refused, you no longer have a basis to stay and are expected to leave Canada.

Common mistakes

Using the visa date. A visitor visa's expiry is not the end of your stay. Check the passport stamp, the 6-month default or your permit.
Submitting on the last evening. The online deadline is midnight UTC, which arrives hours before midnight in Ontario.
Assuming a returned application protected you. If IRCC rejects an application as incomplete, it is treated as never submitted, so there was no maintained status. The 90 days for restoration then run from the end of your original stay.
Withdrawing without a plan. If you withdraw your application, your authorized stay ends on the date the withdrawal is registered.
Filing a second application too late. A second application filed before your status expires keeps your status during its own processing, even if the first is refused. One filed after expiry does not.
Starting a new job early. On an employer-specific permit, a new employer needs approval or IRCC's written authorization first.
Travelling and expecting to resume work. After re-entry with a renewal still pending, you cannot work or study until the new permit is approved.

General information only. This article explains the general rules as IRCC and the regulations state them on October 20, 2026. It is not advice on a particular file. Your dates, permit conditions and immigration history can change the answer.

Maintained status: what you can do while IRCC decides.