Restoration of Status in Canada: What to Do If Your Permit Expired

If your temporary status in Canada has already ended, restoration is the application that asks IRCC to give it back. IRCC must receive it no more than 90 days after your status expired. Miss that window and the official instruction is to leave Canada and apply again from outside.

There is one thing to be clear about before anything else, because it is the point people most often get wrong.

Restoration is not maintained status, and the difference decides whether you can work

These two are constantly confused, and the consequence is serious.

Maintained status applies when you apply to extend or change your permit before it expires. IRCC states you are legally allowed to stay in Canada while it processes that application, and you may keep working or studying under the conditions of your old permit. If your status has not expired yet, read work permit extensions and maintained status or, for visitors, extending your stay with a visitor record instead.

Restoration applies when you apply after your status has already ended. IRCC says you may stay in Canada while a decision is made, but that normally you are not allowed to work until your status has been restored and a new work permit issued. The instruction guide for visitors, students and workers says you may not study or work until the restoration and any permit applied for with it are approved.

So someone who keeps working during restoration because a friend on maintained status kept working is working without authorisation. That is a separate problem on top of the expired status.

How the 90 days is actually counted

IRCC sets out the mechanics, and they differ by how you file:

• Online. The application must be submitted before midnight UTC, no more than 90 days after your status and permit expired. IRCC notes that its system runs on coordinated universal time, so the deadline in Edmonton is not midnight local.
• On paper. Applications are stamped the day they arrive at the case processing centre. If one arrives after the 90 day period, IRCC counts back 7 days and uses that as the date received.

Visitor, student or worker: what you file

The 90 days are the same for everyone. What you apply for depends on the status you lost, because restoration comes with the permit or record you need next.

Fees change. Check the current IRCC fee list before you pay, and remember that each family member who lost status pays their own restoration fee.

What IRCC asks of a restoration applicant

Its published conditions are that you apply within the 90 days, that you met the requirements of your stay, that you met the conditions on the permit that expired, and that you are not a temporary resident permit holder. The application guide also asks you to give full details of the circumstances that led to the loss of status, and evidence of how you will support yourself.

There is a named exception. A foreign worker applying for an open work permit who holds an open work permit support letter from a participating province or territory, confirming placement in that province’s Provincial Nominee Program Expression of Interest pool or application inventory, does not have to apply within 90 days, does not have to meet the requirements of the stay listed on the expired permit, and does not have to have met the conditions on the expired work permit.

Points that catch people out

• Each person applies separately. If family members in Canada have also lost status, each files their own application and pays their own fee. IRCC states there is no group or family rate.
• Order matters. If your permit and status have both expired, you restore the original status first, then apply for a different permit. IRCC gives the example of a former student who wants a post-graduation work permit: restore student status first.
• There is no guarantee. IRCC states plainly that if the application is refused, you will have to leave Canada.
• Maintained status has its own gaps. While on it you cannot renew a provincial driver licence or health card, or get a social insurance number card.

One warning about searching this topic yourself: a 2020 pandemic-era notice on canada.ca is still online and still indexed. It allowed work while restoration was pending and extended the deadline. It expired at the end of 2020 and contradicts the current rules. Check the date on any page you land on.

Restoration is time-limited and unforgiving about the date. If your status has ended, the useful question is how many days ago, and it is worth answering today rather than next week. Our help inside Canada page covers the routes that exist from within the country.

Common questions

Is restoration the same as maintained status?

No. Maintained status applies when you applied to extend before your status expired, and you keep the conditions of your old permit while you wait. Restoration applies after status has already ended. You may stay in Canada while IRCC decides, but normally you cannot work until your status is restored and a new work permit is issued.

How are the 90 days counted?

IRCC must receive the application no more than 90 days after your status expired. Online, that means before midnight UTC on the last day, not midnight in Edmonton. On paper, an application that arrives after the 90 days is dated 7 days before the day it arrived.

My visitor status expired. Is the process the same?

The 90 days are the same. A visitor uses the visitor application form (IMM 5708), selects the option to restore their status, explains why they stayed longer, and pays the restoration fee. See our visitor record page for how a visitor status works.

Do family members apply together?

No. Each family member in Canada who lost status applies separately and pays their own restoration fee. IRCC states there is no group or family rate.

What happens if more than 90 days have passed, or the application is refused?

If more than 90 days have passed and you have not applied, IRCC’s instruction is to leave Canada and reapply from outside if you want to work in Canada again, unless the provincial support letter exception above applies to you. If a restoration application is refused, IRCC states you will have to leave Canada.

The visitor, student and worker table, the fees and the common questions on this page were checked against IRCC on 5 October 2026.