A parent on a closed work permit had renewed their own OHIP coverage using their 'maintained status' document (issued after filing a work permit extension), but their US-citizen daughter — in Canada on a visitor visa with a pending extension filed by their immigration lawyer — had no equivalent maintained-status document, and Service Ontario refused to renew her OHIP card without one.
What worked for other members in the same situation:- File an 'exception request' directly with Service Ontario, with a written explanation of the situation (visitor visa extension pending, lawyer-filed, no maintained-status document issued for visitor extensions the way there is for work permit extensions) — this is a documented path when the standard document set doesn't apply to your case.
- Provide the expired visitor visa together with proof that an extension application was filed, as an alternative to a maintained-status document — one member successfully renewed their child's health card this way.
- This is a known gap: maintained-status documents are issued automatically for certain extension types (like work permits) but not consistently for visitor-visa extensions, so visitor-visa dependents often need the manual exception-request route rather than the standard renewal process.
If you're stuck in this exact bind, don't assume there's no path — submit the exception request with your expired visitor visa and extension filing proof, and expect it may take some back-and-forth with Service Ontario.