Canada Gives Work Permit Applicants 90 Days To Produce A Positive LMIA

On this page, you will find:

• What changed on August 21, 2026
• Who qualifies for concurrent processing
• What maintained status does and does not allow
• Why Labour Market Impact Assessment processing times made the change necessary
• What happens at the end of the 90 days
• The risks applicants and employers should weigh
• Frequently asked questions

Foreign workers in Canada now have 90 days, rather than 60, to provide proof of a positive or neutral Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) after they submit a work permit application under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) published the change in its operational instructions on LMIA validity and duration of employment, which now state that, for applications submitted in Canada under section R199, “to ensure that foreign nationals do not fall out of status, IRCC will allow 90 days from the date of submission for the applicant to provide a positive LMIA.” The page was last modified on August 21, 2026.

The practice is known as concurrent processing. It allows a worker inside Canada to file a work permit application before their employer’s LMIA has been decided, so that the worker’s application is on record before their current permit expires.

This is significant because it addresses a timing gap that neither the worker nor the employer controls. An LMIA in the high-wage stream currently takes an average of 88 business days to decide. A worker whose permit expires next month cannot wait for that decision before applying, and until now the 60-day window did not always reach far enough to cover it.

However, the extension is not an automatic 30-day cushion for everyone. It applies only to applicants who meet a narrow set of conditions, and it does not change what happens if the LMIA never arrives.

What Changed On August 21, 2026

The substance of concurrent processing is unchanged. What changed is the length of the hold.

Under the revised instructions, IRCC holds a qualifying work permit application for 90 days from the date of submission while the applicant waits for a decision on their employer’s LMIA. The instructions state that “applications will be held by IRCC for 90 days, after which a final determination regarding the work permit will be made.”

The previous window was 60 days. The additional 30 days is intended to align the hold more closely with real Service Canada decision times.

IRCC’s help centre guidance reflects the same period for applicants in Quebec, telling workers they may apply for an extension without a new LMIA or Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ) provided the required document is submitted “within 90 days of us receiving your application.”

Who Qualifies For Concurrent Processing?

IRCC’s instructions set out three conditions. An applicant must demonstrate that:

• their current work permit expires in two weeks or less;
• their employer has submitted a complete LMIA application, with sufficient lead time; and
• no decision has yet been made on that LMIA.

Each condition does work. The two-week rule confines concurrent processing to applicants who are genuinely at risk of falling out of status, rather than opening it to anyone who would prefer to file early. The completeness requirement puts the burden on the employer, because an LMIA application that Service Canada returns as incomplete does not start the clock. The requirement that the LMIA be submitted with sufficient lead time gives officers room to decline concurrent processing where the employer left the filing too late.

Applicants should also include evidence with the work permit application itself. IRCC asks for proof of a valid job offer and proof that the LMIA or CAQ request was made — for example, a copy of the employer’s application or the online receipt confirmation number.

What Maintained Status Does — And Does Not — Allow

Concurrent processing matters mainly because of what it preserves. A worker who applies to extend their work permit before the current permit expires benefits from maintained status, previously called implied status, and may keep working in Canada while the new application is processed.

The limits are easy to misread.

Maintained status allows the worker to continue working under the conditions of the existing permit — same employer, same occupation, same location where those conditions are specified. It does not authorise the worker to start the new job that the pending LMIA supports. That authorisation arrives only when the new work permit is issued.

Maintained status also depends entirely on the application having been filed before the old permit expired. A worker who misses that deadline is out of status, and concurrent processing does not repair it. Restoration of status is a separate and more difficult process with its own 90-day deadline and its own risks.

Why LMIA Processing Times Made This Change Necessary

Employment and Social Development Canada publishes average LMIA processing times by stream. The figures for July 2026, published on August 7, 2026, show why a 60-day hold was often too short:

Business days are not calendar days. An average of 88 business days in the high-wage stream is roughly four calendar months. Under a 60-day hold, a worker in that stream whose employer filed an LMIA on the day the worker’s permit entered its final two weeks stood a real chance of reaching the end of the hold with no LMIA in hand.

The 90-day window narrows that gap. It does not close it, and applicants in the high-wage, low-wage and permanent resident streams should still expect the LMIA decision to be the binding constraint.

What Happens At The End Of The 90 Days

At the end of the hold, IRCC makes a final determination on the work permit application.

If the positive or neutral LMIA has been provided, the officer assesses the application on its merits in the ordinary way. A positive LMIA is a necessary condition for an employer-specific work permit, not a sufficient one, and the application can still be refused on other grounds.

If the LMIA has not been provided, IRCC’s help centre states plainly that “if you don’t submit your LMIA or CAQ within 90 days, your application may be refused for being incomplete.”

A refusal at that point has a consequence beyond the application itself. Maintained status ends when a decision is made on the pending application, so a worker who was relying on it must stop working. Both the worker and the employer are exposed at that moment, and an employer that continues to employ a worker without authorisation faces its own compliance risk under the TFWP.

The Risks Applicants And Employers Should Weigh

The extension is a welcome administrative fix, but it changes the timing of a risk rather than removing it.

Three points deserve attention.

First, the 90 days runs from the date IRCC receives the work permit application, not from the date the employer filed the LMIA. An employer who filed late has already consumed part of the window before the worker applies.

Second, the two-week condition means the application cannot simply be filed early to buy time. The worker must wait until the permit is close to expiry, which compresses the room for error in assembling a complete application.

Third, concurrent processing is discretionary in practice. The instructions direct officers to hold qualifying applications, but the applicant must still establish that the conditions are met, on the documents filed.

Employers and workers dealing with an expiring permit and an undecided LMIA should confirm the filing dates, the completeness of the LMIA application and the exact conditions on the current work permit before relying on the 90-day hold. Where the timing is tight, or where the worker’s status has already lapsed, the sequencing decisions are consequential enough that professional advice is worth obtaining before an application is submitted rather than after a refusal.

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