CHANGE OF RULES UPON 2ND APPLICATION: MAINTAIN STATUS

Under Immigration Act: All foreign nationals authorized to enter Canada as per subsection A22(1) have temporary resident status. 

A temporary resident may also be authorized to work without a permit [R186], be issued a work permit [R200 or R201], be authorized to study without a permit [R189] or be issued a study permit [R216 or R217].

All temporary residents have an automatically imposed condition that they must leave Canada at the end of their authorized period of stay. 

However, as per section R181, a temporary resident may apply to extend their period of authorized stay before it ends. If they have done so, their period of authorized stay as a temporary resident is extended by law until a decision is made [R183(5)]. Such a person is considered to have legal status as a temporary resident during the processing period only as long as the person remains in Canada. This is referred to as maintained status.

If a temporary resident submits a subsequent application for extension while they are on maintained status, and their initial application is refused, the applicant’s authorized period of stay will not be extended on account of the pending subsequent application, and the subsequent application will be refused and returned to the applicant.

Source: IRCC Operational guidelines [Temp Residents]