COVID-19: Restoration of Status Beyond Usual 90 Day Period AND Work Allowed During Restoration

Restore Your Status Beyond Normal Restoration Period of 90 Days After Expiry

In light of the impact that COVID-19 has had on Canada’s temporary residents such as visitors, students and workers, Immigration Refugees Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued a new public policy on July 14, 2020. This new and extremely beneficial public policy temporarily relaxes the regulations regarding the restoration of temporary status after the expiry of a work permit, study permit, or visitor status.

Typically, any temporary resident who loses their status has only 90 days to submit an application to restore their status as a visitor, student or worker as long as they meet the other eligibility criteria. If an individual does not apply to restore their status within 90 days, there is no option to restore and the individual must leave Canada.

Starting immediately, any visitor, student and worker who lost their status ON or AFTER January 30, 2020 and subsequently did not apply to restore their status within 90 days, is now eligible to restore their status regardless of the fact that the 90 day period has lapsed. Furthermore, applicants who find themselves in this situation have until December 31, 2020 to restore the status.

Work While Restoration Application Is In Process

In addition to the above, IRCC also released another public policy regarding previous work permit holders who have lost their status. Normally, once temporary residence has expired, workers are not allowed to work until their status has been restored with the approval of a restoration application. This can take several months, which means the loss of thousands of dollars in income for expired workers.

Now, due to covid-19, an individual who previously held a work permit but has since lost their status, is now authorized to return to work while they wait for a decision on their restoration application.

In order to be eligible under this public policy, applicants must meet all of the following criteria:

They previously held their work permit within last 12 months preceding their application to restore,

AND

have a valid job offer based on a LMIA or LMIA exempt offer of employment,

AND

have submitted a restoration application for an employer specific work permit.

Both of the above public policies will come as welcome news to thousands of visitors, students and workers across Canada who have struggled due to the impact of Covid-19.

If you think that any of the information above is relevant to you and you require additional information, please contact us to book a consultation.