One thing we see often is that people make immigration decisions based on what they heard. But immigration is decided based on laws and regulations.

Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), a temporary resident may be authorized to work in Canada without a work permit (R186), or be issued a work permit (R200 or R201).

If a person’s work permit is expiring soon (for example, in August), they need to maintain legal status in Canada. That usually means filing an application to extend status, either by renewing the work permit, and sometimes also applying for a visitor record to remain in Canada (but without work authorization).

Because processing times are unpredictable, these two applications are sometimes filed together.

This leads to a very common question.

If the visitor record is approved first, but the work permit extension is still in process, does the person lose the ability to keep working?

Some say yes. But the regulation matters more than opinions.

Under R186(u), a foreign national may continue working in Canada until a decision is made on their work permit extension application, as long as they remained in Canada after the permit expired and continued complying with the conditions of the expired work permit (other than the expiry date).

This is why status strategy matters, and why the details in laws and regs are worth reading carefully.