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Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), an applicant’s status is extended by operation of law while their application is being processed.
The department has replaced the word “implied” with “maintained” in their public pages and program delivery instructions to minimize the confusion that occurred earlier to officers, applicants or even stakeholders.
The instructions were updated to clarify that clients who have applied to extend their status benefit from an extension of their period of authorized stay by law. The procedures for reviewing extension applications have been moved to Eligibility for extending temporary resident status.
A foreign national becomes a temporary resident if an officer is satisfied that the foreign national has applied for that status, has met the obligations set out in paragraph 20(1)(b), is not inadmissible and is not the subject of a declaration made under subsection 22.1(1).
[R186] – A foreign national may work in Canada without a work permit.
[R200] – in respect of a foreign national who makes an application for a work permit before entering Canada, subject to section 87.3 of the Act — an officer shall issue a work permit to a foreign national.
[R189] – A foreign national who has made an application under subsection 217(1) is authorized to study without a study permit until a decision is made on the application if they have remained in Canada since the expiry of their study permit and continue to comply with the conditions, other than the expiry date, set out on the expired study permit.
[R216] – an officer shall issue a study permit to a foreign national.
In the IRPA and the IRPR, status and authorization are not linked as was the case in the previous Immigration Act (1976). Under IRPA, all foreign nationals authorized to enter Canada as per subsection A22(1) have temporary resident status. A temporary resident may also be authorized to work without a permit [R186], be issued a work permit [R200 or R201], be authorized to study without a permit [R189] or be issued a study permit [R216 or R217].
All temporary residents have an automatically imposed condition that they must leave Canada at the end of their authorized period of stay. However, as per section R181, a temporary resident may apply to extend their period of authorized stay before it ends. If they have done so, their period of authorized stay as a temporary resident is extended by law until a decision is made [R183(5)]. Such a person is considered to have legal status as a temporary resident during the processing period.
Subject to subsection (5.1), if a temporary resident has applied for an extension of the period authorized for their stay and a decision is not made on the application by the end of the period authorized for their stay, the period is extended until
(a) the day on which a decision is made, if the application is refused; or
(b) the end of the new period authorized for their stay, if the application is allowed.
Non-application
(5.1) Subsection (5) does not apply in respect of a foreign national who is the subject of a declaration made under subsection 22.1(1) of the Act.
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