Restoration period temporarily extended & measures to support international students during COVID-19.
Restoration Period Extended
A new temporary public policy effective as of July 14, 2020, has been issued to help support certain foreign nationals who have lost status in Canada and need to apply for restoration. The policy has two elements:
Applicants were previously given 90 days to apply for restoration of their status; however, temporary residents whose work permits, study permits, visitor status expired after January 30, 2020, will have until December 31, 2020, to apply for their restoration of status instead of 90 days.
Temporary foreign workers who meet the above requirement will be able to work while their restoration and work permit applications are being processed. This is only available to those who held a work permit in the 12 months prior to their application for restoration, have a job offer, and have submitted an employer-specific work permit application support by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) or LMIA exempt offer of employment under the international mobility program.
International Students
On July 14, 2020, Minister Mendicino announced changes to facilitate online learning for international students beginning a new program online this fall within a Canadian learning institution.
The new measures include:
Providing priority study permit processing for students who have submitted a complete application
Students can count the time spent pursuing their studies online abroad toward their eligibility for a post-graduation work permit, if they submitted a study permit application and if they complete at least 50% of their program in Canada
Students who cannot submit all of the documentation needed to complete the processing of their applications and choose to start programs through distance learning will have access to a temporary 2-stage approval process.
Two-Stage Approval Process
The temporary process will allow applicants to count the time spent studying online towards their post-graduation work permit once they receive an approval-in-principle, as long as they satisfy the requirements and receive a full approval on their study permit at a later date once they can provide their remaining documents. It’s important to note, obtaining an approval-in-principal does not guarantee they will receive full approval of their study permit application.
This process is available to students starting a program in the fall semester who submitted an application before September 15, 2020.