Losing the maintained status in Canada | No more implied status
Sometimes temporary residents apply for an extension or change of their status. They must submit the new application before the expiry of their current status. Consequently, they maintain their old status until an officer decides on their new application. We call this situation a maintained status, formerly implied status. However, there are circumstances when you lose your maintained status. Let’s explore them.
Table of contents
What is a maintained status in Canada?
You have a maintained status in Canada if you meet all the following requirements:
- You are currently inside Canada.
- When you applied to extend or change your status, your previous status was still valid.
- An officer has not approved or refused your current application.
IRCC used to call a maintained status an implied status. However, they changed the wording in 2021.
Late submissions
If you submit your request after the expiry of your status, you won’t have a maintained status anymore. Nonetheless, you have 90 days from the date of losing the legal status to file for restoration of status. If the 90-day window passes, you must leave Canada or seek alternative options, such as Temporary Resident Permit (TRP).
Losing a maintained status
You may lose your maintained status under one of the following circumstances:
- An immigration officer refuses your new application;
- You exit Canada; or
- Immigration authorities issued an enforceable removal order against you.
Consider the following, though:
- If the officer refuses your new application before the expiry date of your old status, you still have status in Canada. However, you need to take one of the following actions:
- Apply for the extension or change of the status before its expiry.
- Leave Canada.
- Sometimes the officer refuses your new application after the expiry date of the previous status. Consequently, you have one of the following options.
- Apply for restoration of status in less than 90 days from the refusal date.
- Leave Canada.
- Apply for alternative options after 90 days from the refusal date. Of course, one of the alternative options is a TRP application.
- Approval of your application replaces the old legal status with the new one. Of course, if you request an extension of the status, the new and old status remains the same.
Maintained status when submitting concurrent applications
Sometimes you may submit two applications to extend or change your status. For example, you apply for extending your study permit before its expiry. However, you submit a second application because you have applied for work permit. In these situations, you keep your maintained status until the officers decide on both applications. If they refuse both, you lose your status on the day they refuse the second application (the one they process later).
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If you face any immigration problems, such as confusion about a maintained status, fill out the following form. Alternatively, you may book a consultation session with me. For immigration to Canada, please fill out our assessment form.
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Al Parsai, LLM, MA, DTM, RCIC
Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant
Adjunct Professor – Queen’s University – Faculty of Law
Ashton College Instructor – Immigration Consulting
Author – 88 Tips on Immigration to Canada
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