On June 4, 2019 the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has updated its Instructions on Temporary Resident Visa Applications within Canada, therefore foreign nationals (FN) who are in Canada as temporary residents and are seeking to extend their temporary resident status (visitor visa extensions, study permits and work permits) must apply by electronic means only, unless otherwise specified. This regulatory amendment prescribes that most temporary residence applications made from within Canada be made via an electronic application, specifically all of the following:
- applications for extensions of temporary resident status made from within Canada;
- applications for study or work permits made from within Canada;
- applications for renewals of study or work permits made from within Canada.
Subject to the exceptions in cases of disability or where systems are unavailable or unreliable due to natural disasters or system issues or outages, the proposed amendments would require that applications be made online. In addition, IRCC would continue to receive paper applications from clients who are unable to apply through the Come to Canada tool.
All in-Canada visitor record, study permit and work permit applications must be submitted electronically, with some exemptions which are provided on the IRCC website: httpss://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/updates/2019-temporary-residence-place.html
