Work Permit Expired in Canada: Can You Still Work Legally?

A work permit that has expired can feel like the ground just shifted under your entire life in Canada, your job, your income, and sometimes your ability to stay. The good news is that an expired work permit is rarely the end of the story. What matters most right now is how quickly you act and which option actually applies to your situation. Here is what an expired permit really means, the mistake that costs people the most time, and the real paths forward available to you today.

What Does an Expired Work Permit Actually Mean?

An expired work permit means you no longer have legal authorization to work in Canada, even if your job, your employer, and your intentions have not changed at all. According to IRCC, once your permit's expiry date passes you must stop working immediately unless you qualify for maintained status because you applied for a new permit before the old one expired, or you are eligible for the restoration of status process. As of 2026, IRCC generally allows foreign nationals to apply for restoration of their status and a new work permit within 90 days of their previous permit expiring, provided they have not worked without authorization since the expiry and have otherwise remained compliant with the conditions of their stay. Working past the expiry date, even briefly, can be treated as working without authorization, and that carries consequences that follow you into future applications.

The Mistake Most People Make After a Work Permit Expires

The most common and costly mistake is continuing to work as if nothing changed, often because an employer says it is fine or because a new application is already in progress. Continuing to work after your permit expires, even for a few days while paperwork catches up, can be treated as unauthorized work by IRCC, and that finding can affect your eligibility for restoration, future permits, and even permanent residence down the road. The second mistake is waiting too long to act. Once the 90 day restoration window closes, it closes, and there is no appeal that reopens it. The third mistake is assuming a new job offer or a new LMIA automatically fixes the problem. A job offer supports a new application, it does not restore your legal status on its own, and the clock keeps running while you wait to file.

What Are Your Real Options Right Now?

If you are still inside the 90 day window and have not worked since your permit expired, you can generally apply for restoration of your temporary resident status together with a new work permit application, which allows many people to keep their timeline largely intact. If your permit expired more than 90 days ago, restoration is no longer available, and your realistic options usually involve either leaving Canada and applying for a new permit from outside the country, or, where you have strong ties, family, or hardship factors, exploring whether an H&C application could support a path to stay. If you worked without authorization, that fact needs to be addressed honestly in any future application, since minimizing or hiding it tends to create bigger problems later, not fewer.

What Should You Do Now?

Every case depends on exactly how many days have passed since your permit expired, whether you kept working, and what your underlying immigration goal is. In my experience, the clients who protect their options best are the ones who get a professional read on their file within days of realizing their permit lapsed, not weeks. A consultation with a licensed RCIC-IRB gives you a clear answer on whether restoration is still available to you, what a new application should look like, and what to do if the window has already closed.