Employer Won't Renew Your Work Permit in Canada: What to Do and How Not to Lose Status

If an employer is dragging their feet or not filing the renewal of a closed (employer-specific) work permit, the worker needs to track the correspondence with the immigration authority and the response deadlines themselves — because keeping legal status matters more than staying on good terms with the employer, and even more than getting permanent residence.

In short

• An employer being friendly doesn’t guarantee they’ll meet the obligations that affect a worker’s legal status.
• A letter from the immigration authority allows 10 days for a response — miss it, and the decision is made with no further reminders.
• Some letters from immigration never reach the online account due to a technical failure — check your case status yourself.
• Keeping legal status matters more than getting permanent residence: without status, you can’t stay in the country at all.
• The time it takes to find work in your field after relocating can range from 5 weeks to 8 months, depending on willingness to take any available work.

Why a Friendly Employer Isn’t the Same as a Protective One

An employer being friendly, asking about your life, and keeping communication open isn’t the same as being a friend, and it doesn’t mean they’re acting in the worker’s interest. These are two different registers of a relationship — one personal, one professional — and substituting the first for the second is especially risky for a foreign worker.

For a permanent resident of Canada, an employer’s mistake or delay is an inconvenience that can usually be absorbed: there’s time to sort things out, fix the situation, get a warning, and correct course. A foreign worker doesn’t have that cushion: the consequences of decisions — their own or someone else’s — land immediately and are tied directly to their legal status in the country.

The practical rule follows from this: what matters isn’t the tone of the relationship with the employer, but whether they’re meeting the obligations that directly affect status — filing paperwork on time, renewing permits, responding to requests from the immigration authority. Personal rapport has nothing to do with it.

Personal rapport has nothing to do with it.

How an Employer Renews a Closed Work Permit Through LMIA

Renewing a closed work permit isn’t a formality an employer handles on the side — it’s a separate procedure with its own steps and timeline. For the worker to legally remain on a closed permit, the employer must post the job opening and then, once the required posting period has passed, file an LMIA application — the exact timeline is worth confirming for the specific case, since it can vary depending on the program.

An employer saying “renewals happen automatically, that’s how we always do it” doesn’t remove this obligation: there’s no confirmation that renewal happens without a separate LMIA application.

Filing an LMIA application isn’t free: the employer pays a government processing fee, and a consultant’s or lawyer’s fee may apply on top of that if the filing is handled by one. On top of that comes the separate work permit application itself — so the costs add up across several payments, not a single fee.

If an employer promises a renewal but can’t say whether the job has been posted, when the LMIA will be filed, or who’s covering the costs — that’s a reason to ask directly what stage the process is actually at.

Why Letters From the Immigration Authority Can’t Be Ignored

A letter from the immigration authority gives you 10 days to respond — after that, the agency moves to the next step without any further reminders. In one case, an applicant received the notice, saw it, but didn’t register its importance in time. By the time she understood what the document meant, the 10-day window had already closed — and an entry ban followed immediately.

By the time she understood what the document meant, the 10-day window had already closed — and an entry ban followed immediately.

A second case is worse: the immigration authority sent at least two letters on the file, but the applicant never saw either one — the correspondence didn’t show up in their account, and the consultant found no trace of delivery. No response was sent, and there was no notice about the missing response either, for years. Only after three years did a letter arrive with the decision: the application was refused because a response to one of the letters hadn’t been received within the deadline.

Both cases show the same thing: missing a response deadline isn’t a technicality — it’s grounds for an outright refusal or an entry ban, and any appeal only starts after the fact, once the decision has already been made.

Can Immigration Letters Go Missing? How to Check Yourself

Based on real-world cases, some letters from the immigration authority simply don’t reach the recipient — it’s a technical failure, not a rare exception. A notice can be marked as sent on the agency’s end and still never show up in the applicant’s online account or email.

One case is telling: neither the applicant nor their consultant ever saw any notice at all — a check turned up no trace of the letter. Despite repeated inquiries through the web form, there was no response for three years, until immigration finally sent a letter with the refusal decision, dated much earlier.

That’s why relying solely on waiting for a letter isn’t safe: a work permit and legal status can end up at risk simply because of a delivery failure, regardless of anything the applicant did or didn’t do.

Why Keeping Legal Status Matters More Than Getting Permanent Residence

Keeping legal status in Canada matters more than obtaining permanent residence — it’s the priority every decision in the immigration process should be checked against. The logic is simple: without legal status, staying in Canada isn’t possible at all, so status comes first, and permanent residence is the next step after that, not before it.

A telling example is the PMI Plus program, which ran in Quebec a few years ago. Holders of a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) received a letter from the MIFI minister allowing them to apply for an open work permit valid for 3 years — which meant they could arrive and start working without waiting for the permanent residence process to finish. The permanent residence process itself could still drag on for various reasons, but the work permit stayed valid regardless of how that process was going.

Legal status doesn’t always mean being tied to a specific employer or province — that depends on the type of permit. In one case, an Express Entry candidate received an open work permit that let her leave her current employer and move from Quebec to another province without losing status. If a permit is employer-specific, though, changing jobs or provinces requires a new labour market assessment and a new permit — and that process is worth starting early, so there’s no gap in legal status while it’s being processed. A decision to change jobs or location should be made by actually weighing the real pros and cons, not out of inertia or exhaustion with the situation — a decision made up only of advantages doesn’t really exist.

How Long It Actually Takes to Find Work After Arriving in Canada: Two Stories

The time it takes to start working in your field after moving varies sharply even within the same profession. In one case, a future teacher didn’t start working in his field until 8 months after arriving, even though he’d prepared for the job search in advance: in the meantime, he worked a supermarket register and as a security guard before landing a teaching position.

In another case, a newcomer started working less than 5 weeks after arrival. He began as a factory worker — for about a month — and roughly 6 weeks in, he already had substitute teaching work on the side. He got a full-time teaching position 3 months after arriving.

The spread between these two stories — from a few weeks to 8 months — shows there’s no single “normal” timeline for finding work: it depends on willingness to take whatever work is available at the start, not just on qualifications.

Why Mistakes Catch Up With Foreign Workers Faster Than With Permanent Residents

For a foreign worker, the consequences of a mistake land immediately: a closed work permit is tied to a specific employer, and any breakdown in that link — a missed renewal, an overlooked letter, a wrong decision — puts the legality of their stay in question right away.

A permanent resident has a different margin for error. They can make a mistake, act carelessly — and it takes time for that to surface: based on real-world cases, the process can drag on for years. They have time to correct course before the consequences catch up with them.

That doesn’t mean permanent residents get away with mistakes — their stay still ends up more complicated in the end. But a temporary worker doesn’t have that same cushion: a decision made today takes effect from today.

a decision made today takes effect from today

Frequently asked questions

What should I do if I’ve already missed the deadline to respond to a letter from the immigration authority?

If the 10-day window has already closed, a decision (refusal or entry ban) may be issued without further notice. An appeal in that case only starts after the fact, once the decision has already been made — not before it.

How do I know a letter arrived from the immigration authority if it’s not showing up in my online account?

The letter not appearing in the account doesn’t by itself prove it wasn’t sent: the agency can mark a notice as sent even if it never showed up in the applicant’s account or email. Relying solely on waiting for a letter is risky — it’s worth periodically checking the status of your case yourself rather than waiting for a notice.

What happens if the employer never files an LMIA application to renew a closed permit at all?

Without a filed LMIA application, a closed work permit doesn’t get renewed — an employer’s promise of renewal doesn’t replace that procedure on its own. If they can’t say whether the job’s been posted, when the LMIA will be filed, or who’s covering the costs, it’s worth asking directly what stage the process is at right now.

Can I apply for permanent residence without having legal status in Canada?

No: without legal status, staying in Canada isn’t possible at all, so preserving it is the priority every decision should be checked against. A permanent residence application can proceed on its own track, but first you need to make sure status itself isn’t at risk.

What if my permit is tied to a specific employer and I want to change jobs or move to another province?

Changing employer or province under an employer-specific permit requires a new labour market assessment and a new work permit. It’s worth starting that process early, before actually changing jobs, so there’s no gap in legal status while the application is being processed.

How long can proceedings over a permanent resident’s mistake drag on?

Based on real-world cases, proceedings over a permanent resident’s mistake can drag on for years — unlike for a foreign worker, where the consequences land immediately. That doesn’t mean the mistake goes unaddressed: the stay still ends up more complicated eventually, just with a delay.