Canada’s immigration department has granted in-Canada work permit applicants an additional 30 days post-submission to provide proof that their employer cannot hire a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
The extra time comes in the form of an extension, from 60 days to 90 days, of the duration of the period allotted for concurrent processing, which provides a lifeline to foreign workers applying for work permits through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), who might otherwise be at risk of losing their authorization to work in Canada.
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The federal government implemented this extension on August 21, 2026, through publishing an update to the section “Concurrent processing for in-Canada work permit applications” on its webpage detailing instructions to officers, titled “Labour Market Impact Assessment Review – Temporary Foreign Worker Program.”
Concurrent processing gives a foreign national in Canada a better shot at being able to maintain their work authorization, by allowing them to apply for a TFWP work permit months sooner than they might otherwise be able to.
If a foreign national qualifies for concurrent processing, they can submit their application for a TFWP work permit while their employer still has pending the application for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), for which a positive or neutral result is required in order for a work permit to be issued through the TFWP.
The applicant then has up to 90 days to update their application with proof of the employer’s positive or neutral LMIA, the document that shows that no qualified Canadian citizen or permanent resident could be hired for the role.
Without concurrent processing, a foreign national would require the completed LMIA in hand prior to being allowed to submit their application for a TFWP work permit.
Since LMIA applications can take several months, a foreign national in Canada seeking a work permit through the TFWP could otherwise be left in limbo, facing imminent expiry of their work permit and being unable to submit an application for an extension during the period in which their employer is waiting for the LMIA application to be processed by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).
In such cases, the employer could end up receiving a positive LMIA, naming the foreign national as the intended hire, that would prove of no use, since the foreign national could have lost the authorization to work in Canada, have been required to stop working, and if unable to apply for restoration of their status, could also be required to leave Canada.
Providing for the processing of the application for a TFWP work permit alongside the employer’s LMIA application increases the chances that a foreign national will be able to continue to hold legal authorization to work in Canada, by means of maintained status (formerly called “implied status”).
When a foreign national applies for a work permit from within Canada prior to the expiry of their existing permit, they benefit from maintained status, meaning that they have authorization to continue working under the conditions of their existing permit until a decision is made on their application, so long as they remain in Canada.
The following requirements are needed for a situation to qualify for concurrent processing in an application for a TFWP work permit:
- The foreign national’s work permit is set to expire in two weeks or less.
- The employer has submitted a complete LMIA application.
- The decision on the LMIA application has not been made.
- The LMIA application had been submitted with enough lead time to have allowed for the likely possibility that a decision could have been made.
When a TFWP work permit application is submitted under concurrent processing, the officer reviewing the work permit application puts the decision on hold for the 90-day period, to provide the applicant the opportunity to attach proof of the successful LMIA, and returns to the application to render a decision after the 90-day period has elapsed.
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