This is a deadline problem, not a paperwork problem
A work permit renewal is not difficult. It is simply long, and it runs on a date that nobody is reminded of. The whole of it works backwards from one day, and which side of that day you file on decides whether the person keeps working.
- Only the worker can apply. Only you can unlock it. The application to extend or change a work permit is theirs. The step that has to happen first is yours, being either a new labour market impact assessment or a new offer of employment with the $230 compliance fee paid before they apply.
- Before the expiry date is a formality. After it is an emergency. File before, and status and the right to work continue until a decision. File after, and the person is out of status, must stop working, and is into a 90 day restoration window with no right to work while it runs.
- The right lead time is nine to twelve months, not thirty days. Where an assessment is needed. Four to eight weeks of advertising, then an average of 73 to 88 business days for the assessment in July 2026, then the worker's own application. Where no assessment is needed, two to three months is realistic.
- Maintained status continues the old job, and nothing else. Same employer, same job, same work location, and only while the person stays in Canada.
- A renewal may be the wrong question. Someone who has worked for you for a year may have a permanent route open with no job offer and no assessment, which ends the cycle instead of repeating it. That is what a discovery call is for, and it is also why the provincial routes are worth a look before you buy another assessment.
Working backwards from the expiry date
Call the expiry date on the current permit day zero. Everything below is counted back from it. The longer track is the one where the job needs a labour market impact assessment.
- Twelve months before, decide which conversation this isA renewal on a new assessment, a renewal under an exemption, or a permanent route that removes the problem. Getting this wrong costs the whole lead time, because the three tracks have nothing in common.
- Nine months before, start the recruitment if an assessment is neededThe advertising has to sit inside the three months before you submit, so it cannot start much earlier than this, and it has to run four consecutive weeks in the high wage stream or eight in the low wage stream. Keep at least one activity running until the decision issues.
- Six months before, submit the assessmentAn assessment can be submitted up to six months before the expected start date, and here the start date is the day after the current permit ends. This is the earliest useful filing day, which is why the advertising has to be finished by now.
- Two to four months before, expect the decisionJuly 2026 averages were 88 business days in the high wage stream and 73 in the low wage stream. They move with volume and they are averages, not standards. A positive assessment is then valid for up to six months, and the worker has to apply inside that window.
- Three months before, if no assessment is needed, do your partSubmit the new offer of employment through the Employer Portal and pay the $230 compliance fee. The fee has to be paid before the worker applies. Give them the seven digit offer of employment number.
- Thirty calendar days before, the worker filesIRCC's recommendation is at least 30 calendar days before the expiry date. Online, and for most people in Canada online is now the only option, since most foreign nationals already in Canada can no longer apply at a port of entry for an extension.
- Day zero, maintained status begins if the application is inAn online application counts as received if it was submitted before midnight in coordinated universal time on the expiry day. A paper application is stamped on receipt, and if it arrives late IRCC counts back seven days, though its page does not say whether those are calendar or business days.
- Day zero onwards, the person keeps working on the old termsSame employer, same job, same work location, as long as they stay in Canada. Ask for the WP-EXT letter and keep it with the file.
- Day ninety, the restoration window closesIf nothing was filed in time, the worker has 90 days from the day they lost status to apply to restore it, and may not work while that is pending. After that the ordinary position is that they leave Canada and apply from outside.
The dates, and whether they are calendar or business days
| Deadline | Period | Calendar or business | Whose deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising duration, high wage stream | 4 consecutive weeks inside the 3 months before filing | Calendar weeks and calendar months | Employer |
| Advertising duration, low wage stream | 8 consecutive weeks inside the 3 months before filing | Calendar weeks and calendar months | Employer |
| Job Match invitations | All matched job seekers in the first 30 days of the advertisement | The source does not say, so treat it as calendar | Employer |
| Earliest assessment filing | Up to 6 months before the expected start date | Calendar | Employer |
| Assessment processing, July 2026 averages | 88 in the high wage stream, 73 in the low wage stream | Business days, and averages rather than standards | Service Canada |
| Validity of a positive assessment | Up to 6 months from issue | Calendar | Worker must apply inside it |
| Adding or changing a name on an assessment | At least 15 business days before the assessment expires | Business days | Employer |
| Compliance fee where no assessment is needed | Paid before the worker applies | Not a period | Employer |
| Recommended filing of the extension | At least 30 days before the permit expires | Calendar days, and IRCC says so expressly | Worker |
| Absolute filing deadline, online | Before midnight in coordinated universal time on the expiry day | A clock rather than a count, and it is not your local clock | Worker |
| Late paper filing look back | 7 days counted back from receipt | The source does not say, so do not rely on it | Worker |
| WP-EXT letter expiry | 365 days from the day the application was received | Calendar, and work may continue past it until a decision | Worker |
| Restoration window | 90 days after losing status | Calendar days, and the Regulations word it that way | Worker |
| Record retention | 6 years from the first day of work | Calendar years | Employer |
Where a source does not state whether a period is counted in calendar or business days we say so rather than guessing, because a plan built on the wrong count fails silently and only at the end.
What maintained status does and does not carry
Three ways an employer loses a worker who thought they were safe
The conditions change. Maintained status continues the conditions of the expired permit and nothing else. A promotion, a substantial change in wages, a new occupation or a move to a different work location is a change of conditions, and the person cannot begin it until a new permit issues. Making the change anyway is the employer's exposure as much as the worker's.
The worker leaves Canada. The authorisation to work without a permit depends on remaining in Canada. IRCC states that a worker who leaves while on maintained status loses the ability to work when they return, and cannot work until the application is approved.
The wrong application was filed. A worker who applies for a study permit, or to stay as a visitor, keeps status but must stop working when the work permit expires. A temporary resident permit applicant gets no maintained status at all. And an application rejected as incomplete is treated as never having been submitted, so there was never any maintained status behind it.
- Provincial documents stop renewing. IRCC states that a person on maintained status usually cannot renew provincial or territorial documents such as a driver's licence or a health card. Make sure those are current before the permit expires, because a lapsed health card is a practical problem long before the permit is decided.
- The social insurance number expires with the permit, and that is fine. A worker on maintained status may keep working with an expired number until a decision. They can update it only once the new permit is issued, and must give you the new expiry date within three days of receiving it.
- Your compliance obligations run through the whole period. The Regulations define the period of employment for compliance purposes as including the time the person may work without a permit under paragraph 186(u). Nothing pauses. See staying compliant.
- Ask for the letter, keep the letter. The WP-EXT letter is the document an inspector, an insurer or a payroll auditor will want to see. Where there is no letter, because the application was on paper or was a first permit in Canada, keep the submission confirmation instead.
If the date has already passed
Stop the work first and fix the status second, in that order. Continuing to employ someone whose permit has expired is not a technicality on either side of the relationship.
- The worker must stop working on the expiry day. IRCC's instruction to a person who applied for a new permit after the old one expired, or who applied for a study permit or a visitor record, or who breached the conditions, is that they should have stopped working.
- Ninety days, counted in calendar days. The Regulations allow restoration on an application made within 90 days after losing status, if the person meets the initial requirements for their stay, has not breached any other condition, and is not the subject of a ministerial declaration.
- Restoration gives back nothing while it is pending. There is no maintained status on this route. IRCC's worker guidance is that normally the person is not allowed to work until status has been restored and the new work permit issued. Read that as no work.
- It costs $401.25, and the applicant pays it. Restoration of status at $246.25 together with a new work permit at $155. If an assessment is needed for the new permit, the $1,000 for that is still yours and still not recoverable from the worker.
- Filing an extension after expiry is not an option. An extension is not open once status has expired, the fee is not refunded, and the restoration fee then has to be paid as well.
- There is one published exemption from the ninety days. A foreign worker who holds a letter of support from a participating province or territory does not have to apply within 90 days of losing status, and may apply even if more than 90 days have passed. If that is your worker, do not assume the window has closed. The wider mechanics are set out at extending and restoring status.
- After the window, the usual answer is to leave and apply from outside. Being out of status is an offence under the Act, with the possibility of an admissibility hearing and removal. For a worker who is refused rather than out of time, a refusal is a different problem with different remedies.
Who pays for a renewal
| Cost | Who pays | Recoverable from the worker |
|---|---|---|
| New labour market impact assessment, if the job needs one | The employer, $1,000 per position | No. Employment and Social Development Canada states it cannot be paid by nor recovered from the worker, and the Regulations prohibit charging or recovering it directly or indirectly |
| Fresh advertising for that assessment | The employer | No |
| New offer of employment where no assessment is needed | The employer, $230, and $690 for a group of three or more performing artists and their staff | No. The Regulations prohibit charging or recovering it directly or indirectly. It is remitted if the work permit is refused, or if you withdraw the offer and request a remission before the permit issues |
| Work permit extension | $155, payable by the applicant | One of the three fees carved out of the prohibition, so it sits outside it |
| Open work permit holder fee, where the renewal is an open permit | $100, payable by the applicant. Under section 303.2(3) it is remitted and repaid to the person who paid it if the permit is refused, or if they withdraw the application and request a remission before the permit issues | We did not source this fee as one of the three carved out of the prohibition, so we would not treat it as recoverable |
| Biometrics, if required again | $85 per person, payable by the applicant | Outside the prohibition. It is the applicant's own fee under section 315.1 and it is not a recruitment fee |
| Restoration, if the date was missed | $401.25, payable by the applicant | We did not source restoration as one of the three carved out fees, so we would not treat it as recoverable |
| Private health insurance and workplace safety insurance, where the stream requires them | The employer | No, and an inspector will look at whether it was charged back |
The Regulations prohibit an employer, and anyone recruiting for them, from charging or recovering from the worker, directly or indirectly, any fees related to the recruitment of the worker, along with the particular fees your own stream names. Three fees are named as exceptions to that prohibition, being the $100 visitor visa fee, the $200 temporary resident permit fee and the $155 work permit fee, so leaving those with the worker is not a breach. The $85 biometrics fee is a different thing again. It is imposed by section 315.1 of the Regulations on the person whose biometrics are collected, it is not a recruitment fee, and it is not one of the fees the prohibition names, so it falls outside the prohibition rather than inside it. Where we could not source a fee as falling inside the carve out, we treat it as caught, because an employer who deducts it and is wrong is exposed on an inspection while an employer who absorbs it and is wrong is merely out of pocket.
Are you going to make the date
A structured way to see where you stand against the published criteria. It returns an indication only, not an eligibility decision, not legal advice, and not a prediction that you will be invited.
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