Maintained status is the legal stay a person keeps in Canada while an application to extend a work or study permit is being processed. IRCC used to call this implied status, and many people still search for it under that older name.
If a work permit holder applies to extend before the current permit expires, they can generally keep working while the decision is pending. This guide sets out the conditions that apply. Applying late, or applying for something else instead, changes the situation in ways that matter.
What is maintained status?
Maintained status means a person can legally stay in Canada past the expiry date on their current permit. That is because they applied to extend it before it expired. Work authorization and status continue while the application is processed, as long as the person stays in Canada.
This protection depends on timing: the application to extend has to be made before the existing work permit's expiry date, not after.
IRCC previously called this implied status, and the name maintained status is more recent. Both names describe the same protection, which is why a search for either term usually leads back to the same rules.
Working while your work permit extension is processing
Work continues under the same conditions as the permit being renewed, while a decision on the extension is pending. For an employer-specific work permit, that means the same employer, same job and same location named on the current permit.
An open work permit holder can usually change employer, job or location while waiting. An open permit does not tie the person to one workplace. Someone who applied to change employer or job on an employer-specific permit has to keep working for the employer named on the original permit until the new application is approved. This is unless they separately receive authorization to work while it is processed.
This is a distinction that trips people up: applying to switch employers is not the same, under these rules, as already having switched. Until the new permit is approved, the conditions of the old one continue to apply.
Applying for something else instead of a new work permit
Maintained status protects work authorization only when the pending application is for a new work permit. A person who instead applied for a study permit or a visitor record can work only until their existing work permit expires. They cannot work while that other application is being decided.
This distinction matters for anyone considering a change in status. For example, moving from a work permit toward a study permit does not carry the same working rights while pending. A straightforward work permit renewal does. The path from a study permit toward permanent residence is covered in the guide to moving from a study permit to permanent residence.
A pending study permit or visitor record application does not itself grant work authorization. That is why work rights do not continue past the work permit's own expiry date in that situation.
What happens to your SIN and provincial documents
A Social Insurance Number expires on the same date as the work permit it is tied to. But a person on maintained status can keep working with an expired SIN until a decision is made on the extension. The SIN can only be updated once the new work permit arrives.
Provincial documents, such as a driver's licence or health card, usually cannot be renewed while on maintained status. These are provincial matters, separate from the federal permit renewal itself. Provinces set their own rules for what an expired federal document means for a provincial one.
Can you travel on maintained status?
Leaving Canada while a work permit renewal is still processing can end the ability to work under maintained status. A person who leaves may be allowed back into Canada only as a visitor, and cannot work again until the renewal is approved.
A work permit is not a travel document on its own, and maintained status does not extend outside Canada. Anyone weighing travel during this period is dealing with a rule that applies specifically inside Canada's borders. Border officers assess re-entry at the time it happens.
What if a work permit expired without an application?
A person whose work permit expired without any extension application filed can apply to restore their status within the first 90 days after it expires. They can stay in Canada while that restoration request is decided, but must stop working, and the outcome of the request is not certain. Someone who does not apply to restore their status must leave Canada right away once the permit expires. There is no 90-day grace period to stay without applying.
Restoring status as a worker costs $401.25 in total: $246.25 for the restoration itself, plus $155 for the new work permit.
A temporary resident permit application, separately, does not carry maintained status at all. This is a different application from a restoration or an extension. Someone considering it is dealing with a different set of rules than the ones described above.
The short version
- Maintained status applies when an extension is applied for before the current work permit expires.
- Work continues under the same conditions as the existing permit while the extension is processed.
- Applying for a study permit or visitor record instead of a work permit does not carry the same working rights while pending.
- Leaving Canada while an extension is processing can end the ability to work under maintained status.
- Missing the expiry date leaves a 90-day window to apply for restoration, without the right to work while it is decided.
Every figure on this page is cited to the government source it was read from, and was checked on September 19, 2026. Rules change, and a source is the authority where this page and the source disagree. This guide is general information about how the process works, not immigration advice about your own situation, and reading it creates no consultant-client relationship.