Ottawa (Rajeev Sharma): Canada has officially closed a loophole in its immigration system that allowed thousands of temporary foreign workers, including a large number from India, to extend their stay through so-called “dummy” work permit extension applications.
In a significant policy shift announced in the June 2025 update by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the government has tightened rules around “maintained status”, which previously allowed temporary residents to remain in Canada legally while their extension applications were being processed, even when those applications lacked genuine employment backing.
What Were Dummy Extension Applications?
Dummy applications were essentially placeholders, work or study permit extension requests submitted without legitimate job offers or valid intent to work. These filings enabled temporary residents to maintain legal status in Canada while waiting for decisions on permanent residency, provincial nominations, or job prospects.
IRCC has confirmed that as of June 2025, submitting multiple extension applications will no longer preserve a person’s maintained status if the first application is refused. This means the moment an initial application is rejected, any secondary application, even if submitted beforehand, becomes invalid, and the individual immediately loses legal status.
Exploiting the System: How the Loophole Worked?
Immigration experts say that the loophole was frequently used by international students and foreign workers to remain in Canada beyond their original permit expiry, taking advantage of:
- Maintained status: As long as an extension application was filed before the original permit expired, applicants could continue to live and work in Canada under previous conditions.
- Minimal documentation for open work permits: Unlike employer-specific permits, open permits did not require an LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment) or formal job offer, making fraudulent or speculative applications difficult to detect.
- Processing delays: With IRCC’s average processing time for extensions currently at 158 days, many applicants used the delay to buy time while exploring other immigration options.
However, such applications carried risks. If found to be submitted in bad faith, they could result in misrepresentation, triggering a five-year ban on Canadian visa applications.
High Stakes for Indian and Other International Applicants
Legal experts warn that the updated policy could have serious consequences for applicants, especially those from countries like India that contribute heavily to Canada’s temporary resident population.
“This may look like a procedural change, but it significantly raises the stakes for students and workers,” said Zubin Morris, immigration lawyer at Little & Co. “Any error, omission, or delay in the first application now jeopardizes their legal status.”
Previously, many applicants filed a second application as a safeguard in case the first one was refused. That buffer is now gone.
“For a worker or student, losing status means an immediate halt to employment or studies, and often, the need to leave Canada or apply for restoration,” Morris added.
Possible Ripple Effects and Legal Pushback
Some experts believe the policy change might unintentionally encourage a spike in asylum claims, as individuals rush to secure legal status by any available means.
“With over 500,000 temporary foreign workers entering Canada in the first four months of 2025, and 300,000 asylum claims pending at the end of 2024, this rule may not reduce system pressure, and could even face legal scrutiny,” warned Darshan Maharaja, a Canada-based immigration analyst.
What IRCC Will Accept Now
IRCC clarified that applicants can still file work permit extensions without an LMIA, but only if:
- An LMIA application has already been submitted by the employer.
- A decision on the LMIA is expected within 1–3 months.
- The applicant is eligible to apply from within Canada.
Applications lacking these conditions, particularly those based on vague or non-existent job offers, will now face increased scrutiny.
Canada’s Broader Effort to Restore Integrity
As part of its enforcement strategy, IRCC is introducing:
- Stricter triaging of applications missing employment proof or eligibility.
- Proposed intake filters to screen out invalid applications before processing.
- Stakeholder engagement, responding to concerns from employers, consultants, and advocacy groups over the misuse of the extension system.
Between January and April 2025, IRCC processed nearly 491,400 work permit applications. The department says its overall backlog has now been reduced to 35% of the total inventory.
The new measures aim to prevent abuse while ensuring faster processing and fairness for genuine applicants.
