Canada’s immigration department has extended the “concurrent processing” grace period for in-Canada Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) applicants from 60 to 90 days, giving them more time to submit proof that their employer’s Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) came back positive or neutral. The change took effect on August 21, 2026, through an update to the officer-instructions page “Labour Market Impact Assessment Review – Temporary Foreign Worker Program.”
Concurrent processing lets a foreign national already in Canada submit a TFWP work-permit application while their employer’s LMIA application is still pending, rather than waiting for the completed LMIA in hand first — a process that can otherwise take several months. To qualify, the applicant’s existing work permit must be set to expire within two weeks, the employer must have submitted a complete LMIA application with no decision yet made, and that LMIA application must have been filed with enough lead time to plausibly have been decided already. Once a TFWP application is submitted under concurrent processing, the reviewing officer holds the decision for the grace period — now 90 days instead of 60 — to allow the applicant to attach proof of the LMIA outcome.
During this window, applicants benefit from “maintained status” (formerly called implied status): authorization to keep working under their existing permit’s conditions while the application is pending, as long as they remain in Canada. Without concurrent processing, a foreign national whose LMIA is delayed could see their existing work permit expire before a decision is reached, forcing them to stop working or leave Canada even if their employer’s LMIA is later approved.
