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Restoration of status in progress? IRCC says don't leave Canada — despite what forums say

Canada • Work Permit • work 0 views
By VisaBuddies Communityvia community — compiled from public visa forums

Documents Needed

  • Restoration of status application

    Filed after the work permit extension refusal; the applicant must remain in Canada while it is processed.

  • Temporary Resident Visa (TRV)

    Needed to re-enter Canada after travel — but only relevant once a new permit is actually issued and the person has validly left.

Step-by-Step

A worker's permit extension was refused and her status expired; a restoration-of-status plus extension application was pending when a family emergency required urgent travel to India. The spouse asked whether she could leave, receive the new work permit by post abroad, apply for a TRV, and return.

The critical correction — from IRCC itself: the poster later called IRCC and added an edit warning readers: the applicant should NOT leave Canada while a restoration of status application is in process. Leaving abandons the restoration — and the poster explicitly warned others not to follow the comment-thread advice below.

What the comments had suggested (and why it's risky):

  1. Members proposed the workaround: travel, have the newly issued work permit mailed to India, apply for a TRV from there using the new permit, and fly back. Several said friends had obtained TRVs from India this way.

  2. That plan only works if the permit is approved and issued before or during the trip. While restoration is still pending, the applicant has no status to return to — leaving Canada undermines the entire application.

  3. One member did correctly condition the advice: 'provided she gets a new WP and her TRV is valid.' The safe sequencing members converged on: wait for the approval first, and only then consider travel plus a TRV application from abroad.


The durable lesson: crowd-sourced workarounds can contradict IRCC's actual rules — when status is at stake, confirm directly with IRCC before booking travel.

Dos, Don'ts & Tips

  • Don't: Don't leave Canada while a restoration of status application is in process — IRCC confirmed to this applicant that leaving is not permitted mid-restoration.
  • Do: Call IRCC directly to verify travel plans that affect your status, rather than relying on forum consensus.
  • Tip: If a new permit is approved after you've validly left, you can apply for a TRV from abroad using that permit — but only after approval, never while restoration is pending.

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