Employers Advised to Initiate Work Permit Extension Applications 180 Days in Advance of Expiration

Canada

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will now accept inland work permit, study permit and visitor record extension applications more than 90 days from expiration. This is due to swift and significant increases in the typical processing time for extension applications.

CIC’s informal policy in the past has been to advise against foreign nationals filing inland extension applications outside of 90 days from the date of expiry. However, CIC has confirmed to Fragomen that it now has no objection to inland extension applications being submitted earlier to account for the current processing times.

The processing time for an extension application filed online at CIC’s Case Processing Centre in Vegreville, Alberta (CPC-V) is currently 114 days – more than double the processing time in April of this year.

What this means for Foreign Nationals

Employers and foreign nationals should begin reaching out to their immigration professionals to begin extension cases at least 180 days prior to the expiration of current work permits or other temporary resident status documents, particularly those who have work permits based on Labour Market Impact Assessments.

Foreign nationals who currently have pending extension applications should liaise with their Fragomen immigration professional before making travel arrangements over the coming months.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].  

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