My Study Permit Expired. What Now?

IRCC lists three ways. The permit expired before you applied for a new one. You changed a condition on the permit, such as the school, the type of study, the location or the time period. Or you did not respect the conditions on it. In each case you lose your status as a student.

One trap catches people every year. A study permit expires on the date printed on it, or 90 days after you complete your program, whichever comes first. The 90 days start on the first notice from the school that you finished, such as an email or a transcript, or the day you receive the diploma. Many students still hold a permit with a date on it and do not realise it has already ended.

IRCC's program guidance gives 90 days from the day status was lost to apply for restoration and pay the fee. If you applied to extend before expiry and the extension was refused after the permit expired, the 90 days start on the day the extension is refused, because your maintained status ends that day.

Miss the 90 days and restoration is no longer available. Guide 5552 puts it plainly: apply within 90 days of losing status, or leave Canada. Our status restoration service starts with a calendar for this reason.

You can stay in Canada while the application is processed. You cannot study until your status is restored and the new permit is in hand. If you were working off campus, that stops too, because the right to work depends on being a student in good standing. See how off-campus hours work.

Do not leave. IRCC says an officer who finds you have left Canada refuses the restoration, and the fees are not refunded. Restoration cannot be applied for or granted at a port of entry.

A new study permit application from inside Canada, using the student extension checklist and guide. On the form, select Restore my status under section 3. Add a note explaining why you need to stay and why the permit lapsed. Pay both fees: the fee list shows $246.25 to restore status plus $150 for the study permit.

You also need a new provincial attestation letter, even if you are staying at the same school and level. The attestation letter guide covers how to get one. Any spouse, partner or child who came with you may need to restore too, each with their own application and their own fee.

IRCC's guidance is firm on two points. Someone who studied without authorization is not eligible for restoration. Neither is someone who worked without authorization. Restoration is for people who lost status by overstaying or by breaking a condition an officer set, such as the school or the program, and who otherwise still qualify as a student.

If you apply to extend at least 30 days before the permit expires, none of this applies. You stay on maintained status and keep studying under the same conditions until IRCC decides, as long as you remain in Canada. Two limits while you wait: you cannot renew a provincial driver's licence or health card, and you cannot get a SIN card. Our note on extension processing times shows why 30 days is the minimum, not the target.

The exact date status ended, which is often the program completion date rather than the permit date. Whether any work or study happened after that date. And whether the school will issue a new attestation letter in time. In our experience, the letter of explanation decides these files, and it has to be honest about the gap.