If you are working in Canada and want to keep working, you must apply to extend your work permit before it expires. Applying on time may allow you to keep working under maintained status while IRCC processes the extension.
If your work permit is expiring, you may need to extend it, change employers, continue under the same employer, or move to a different permit category. The correct step depends on your current permit, job offer, LMIA or exemption, and timing.
This service is for workers and employers who want to avoid gaps, missed deadlines, or inconsistent documents when extending work authorization.
If you are working in Canada and want to keep working, you must apply to extend your work permit before it expires. Applying on time may allow you to keep working under maintained status while IRCC processes the extension.
Work permit extensions require careful review of current conditions, employer support, LMIA or exemption details, passport validity, and expiry dates. RA Migration helps workers and employers understand what must be prepared before the permit expires.
We help organize job offer documents, employer records, status documents, forms, and supporting explanations. If a change of employer or permit category is involved, we help identify the correct process before filing.
If your work permit is expiring, RA Migration can help you prepare a clear extension strategy and reduce avoidable status issues.
Apply at least 30 days before your current work permit expires, and earlier if a new LMIA is involved.
Applying before expiry gives you maintained status, which lets you keep working for the same employer under the same conditions while IRCC decides. Miss the expiry date and that protection is gone: you must stop working and pursue restoration within 90 days, which is discretionary and does not authorize work while pending.
Yes, if you applied before your current permit expired. That is what maintained status provides.
The condition is that you continue under the terms of your existing permit. If your permit is employer-specific, you may keep working for that employer only, in that role. Changing employer or position during this period generally requires a new permit first, not just a pending application.
In most employer-specific cases, yes. Your employer will need a new Labour Market Impact Assessment or a valid LMIA exemption before you can extend.
LMIA-exempt categories, including many under international agreements and intra-company transfers, follow different rules. Open work permit holders do not need an LMIA at all. Because the LMIA process takes time on the employer’s side, this is usually the step that determines how early you need to start.
Not automatically. An employer-specific permit ties you to the employer, position and location named on it, so a change requires a new work permit application.
Starting work for a new employer before that application is approved is unauthorized work, even if an application is pending. Open work permit holders are not restricted this way. If a job change is coming, plan the permit around it rather than the other way around.
You lose your status and your authorization to work immediately, and you must stop working.
Restoration is available within 90 days of losing status, and it must restore you to worker status specifically. It is discretionary, it does not allow you to work while pending, and the gap in authorization becomes part of your record. The remedy exists, but it is materially worse than applying on time.
It usually supports it. Continuous authorized Canadian work experience is what several PR pathways are built on, and a gap in status can interrupt the experience you are counting.
Programs such as the Canadian Experience Class require skilled work performed under valid authorization. Work done without status generally does not count, which is why an expiry that seems like a paperwork problem can quietly cost months of qualifying experience.
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