Restoration of Status

You have 90 days from the day you lost your temporary status. After that, restoration is no longer available.

The clock starts when your status expired, not when you noticed. It is a hard deadline, and there is no extension of it. If the 90 days have already passed, restoration is off the table and the remaining options are different and generally harder, so the date your status ended is the first thing to establish.

No. Once your status has expired you no longer hold the authorization that came with it, and restoration does not give it back while you wait.

This is the main difference between restoration and a timely extension. An extension filed before expiry gives you maintained status and lets you continue under your existing conditions. Restoration does not. Continuing to work or study during this period creates a second, more serious problem on top of the first.

No. Applying in time makes you eligible to be considered; it does not oblige IRCC to approve it.

The officer looks at why the status lapsed, whether you have otherwise complied with your conditions, and whether you still meet the requirements of the status you are asking to be restored to. A short, well-explained oversight is treated differently from a long unexplained period or a pattern of non-compliance.

You need to restore to a specific status, so the application has two parts: the restoration request itself and the underlying application for the visitor, worker or student status you want.

Both sets of requirements have to be met, and both fees apply. An honest, specific explanation of how the lapse happened is important, along with evidence supporting it. Vagueness on this point tends to hurt, because the officer is assessing whether the circumstances justify a discretionary grant.

You are in Canada without status, which can lead to enforcement action and creates a record that follows future applications.

Time spent out of status has to be disclosed later, and it weighs against you. Leaving Canada voluntarily is sometimes the better course, particularly once the 90-day restoration window has closed, but that decision depends on the specifics and is worth reviewing before you act.

It is generally a bad idea. Leaving Canada ends the restoration application, because restoration is only available to someone inside Canada.

You would then need to seek entry from outside, and the recent loss of status becomes part of that assessment. If travel is unavoidable, understand before you go that you are likely giving up the restoration route entirely.