Temporary residence is permission to be in Canada for a limited time, for a stated purpose. It does not become permanent residence by lasting long enough.
Your options
- Study permit — a program longer than six months at a designated school.
- Work permit — open, or tied to one employer. Some need an LMIA. Many do not.
- Visitor — tourism, family, a short course, or business that does not enter the labour market. Usually up to six months.
Two permissions, not one
- The study permit or work permit is permission to study or work.
- A visa-required national also needs a temporary resident visa in the passport. A visa-exempt national who flies generally needs an electronic travel authorization. Citizens of the United States need neither for an ordinary visit.
- People often receive one and assume they have the other.
What has to stay true
- A visitor who starts working, or a student who stops studying and works full-time outside the rules, can lose status and harm a later application.
- Extend or change status before the expiry. An application filed on time gives implied status under the old conditions. It is not a new permit, and it does not repair a late file.
- Restoration after status is already lost is a short, strict window.
- Dual intent is allowed: you may want permanent residence later and still be a genuine temporary resident, if you will leave when the temporary stay is not extended.
How we can help
- Name the permission that matches the real purpose, and the travel document that has to sit on top of it.
- File an extension before the expiry, or say when restoration is the only remaining window.
- Map a temporary stay onto a later permanent file without treating that path as automatic.
