If you are a visitor to Canada and you had a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV), Super Visa, or you study or work in Canada, you are allowed to stay in Canada until a specific day.

This day may be mentioned on your study / work authorization. You may calculate this day by yourself if you are a visitor and you know you cannot stay for more than six months. Or this day may be noted in your passport by a Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) official when you come to Canada.

Every temporary resident must carefully monitor their status and know when it expires. When you lose your status, you are in Canada illegally and may be deported and banned from further travel to Canada.

Canadian immigration officials understand that sometimes people may forget to extend (or change) their status. For this reason, they give a 90 days grace period to allow people to apply to restore their status.

In 2020, as a temporary COVID-19 measure, applicants are allowed to restore their status until the end of 2020 if their status expired after January 30, 2020.

You may only restore your status to the one you had before expiration. A student may apply to restore their status as a student, a worker may apply to restore their status as a worker, and a visitor may apply to restore their status as a visitor. For example, a visitor whose status has expired can't apply to restore their status as a student.

If you are applying to restore your status as a worker, you can apply to be allowed to work until your application is processed if you continue working for the same employer and in the same occupation as specified in your LMIA or LMIA-exempt offer of employment. 

If you are applying to restore your status as a worker or student, in additionto the regular restoration fee of CAD 200, you must submit a fee for the study permit or work permit that you are requesting.

Restoration scenarios can become more complicated if you are restoring your current status and at the same time applying for a different temporary resident status, e.g. a student restoring his/her status as a student and applying for a work permit at the same time.

We will:

• advise you on your chances to restore your status
• draft an explanation letter for review of the IRCC immigration officer
• create a strategy to convince the officer that you are a bona fide applicant
• prepare and translate, if necessary, the supporting documents
• write a legal representative's submission letter where we will highlight the strong points of your application
• complete all applications forms correctly to avoid any future accusation in misrepresentation and 5-year ban to come to Canada.

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While you do your job, trust us to do ours. At Sokolov Immigration, we have the experience and expertise in restoration of status applications, and we will be happy to help you.

Remember, loss of status is a serious offence, and if you realize that you have no status in Canada, you must take immediate steps to resolve this situation.