Extend Your Stay in Canada: Visitor, Study and Work Status

Extending a stay is not one application. The correct route depends on the status and activity you want after the current document expires.

A visitor record and a visitor visa are different. The record extends status inside Canada; it is not an entry document and does not guarantee return after travel. Start with the visitor record versus visitor visa guide if those documents are easy to confuse.

Check the expiry date on your visitor record, study permit, work permit, or passport entry stamp. The expiry date printed on a visitor visa is not the deadline for status inside Canada. If a visitor received no document or dated stamp at entry, status is generally valid for six months from entry, but confirm the rule for your case with IRCC.

IRCC recommends applying at least 30 days before expiry. That is a planning recommendation; the critical legal distinction is whether IRCC receives a complete application before current status expires. Apply early enough to correct payment, upload, or document problems.

An on-time application can let you remain in Canada while IRCC decides, but it does not preserve every activity in every situation.

• A visitor extending visitor status remains under visitor conditions.
• A worker who applies to extend a work permit before expiry may continue only when the work-permit maintained-status rules authorize it.
• A student who applies to extend a study permit before expiry may continue only under the study-permit rules.
• A worker or student who applies to change to visitor must stop working or studying when the original permit expires unless another authorization applies.

Keep the submission confirmation and fee receipt. If IRCC treats an application as incomplete, maintained-status consequences can be serious.

Use IMM 5708 from inside Canada to extend visitor status, change to visitor, restore visitor status, or request an initial or subsequent temporary resident permit. Visitor-record applications are normally filed online; paper is limited to IRCC's disability and online-system exceptions.

For a visitor extension, explain why you need more time, when you intend to leave, and how you will pay for the additional stay. Match those statements to the passport, current status evidence, bank records, invitation, itinerary, and other documents generated by the personalized checklist. The current visitor-extension fee is CAD $100 per person.

Do not file an ordinary extension after visitor status has expired. In some cases, IRCC allows restoration within 90 days of losing status. On IMM 5708, select the restoration option, explain why you stayed longer than authorized, and show that you still meet the visitor requirements.

The current visitor-restoration fee is CAD $246.25 total; IRCC states that a separate visitor-visa fee is not needed. Restoration is discretionary, does not create maintained status, and is not guaranteed. If more than 90 days have passed or there was unauthorized work or study, use the current official guidance and obtain qualified advice for the specific facts.

Monitor the IRCC account for requests and the decision. Processing times change, so use the official estimator rather than a fixed timeline. Continue following the conditions that apply to the pending route.

Travel can end the practical protection of maintained status. A visitor record is not a visa or eTA, and a pending application does not guarantee re-entry. Check the entry document required for your nationality and travel method before leaving Canada.