Canada Temporary Residency: Get Maintained status during processing
As per the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) and Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), all the temporary residents in Canada have certain conditions.
The condition have been automatically imposed on each temporary resident that they must leave the country once their stay authorization expires.
However, as per Canada's section R181, a TRP holder may apply for extension before their period of authorized ends. If so, their stay authorization period as a temporary resident will be extended by Canadian law until a final decision is taken. As a result, they will be considered as a legal temporary resident during the processing period.
Disclaimer: TRPs are considered under temporary resident class; however, when a foreign national applies for a new Canadian TRP, they don't renew it under section R181 but apply for a subsequent TRP. Thus, they don't maintain their temporary resident status in Canada during their processing period as they don't meet the criteria of subsection R183(5).
About maintained status in Canada
As mentioned, Maintained status is when a visitor, student or worker in Canada applies for extension or changing their temporary status before their status expires. In a few cases, the candidates can remain in Canada legally under the conditions of their previous status.
To get maintained status in Canada, you must be in Canada already as a student, worker or visitor. Then, you must apply for an extension of existing or a new permit before their current status expires. In this case, you can automatically get maintained status without applying for it separately.
Maintained status in Canada for work permit holders
Work permit holders are allowed to work until a final decision is taken on their application, but they must be working under specific conditions as their official work permit. They must stay in Canada to maintain their work authorization.
Notably, if they applied for a new work permit via International Experience Canada (IEC), including the Working Holiday program, they can't keep on working once their original work permit expires and while they await a decision on their IEC application.
Maintained status in Canada for study permit holders
If the individuals have applied for extension of their original study permit, they can continue studying while waiting for a decision on their application. However, if they have applied for a new study permit, they can't continue studying upon their original study permit expiry until they receive a final decision on their new study permit.
