Passport expiry mistake shortens Canadian work permits
The Tiny Passport Detail Wrecking Thousands of Canadian Dreams
You’ve finally done it.
The job offer is in your hands. The Labour Market Impact Assessment is approved. Your Canadian dream is within reach.
But one glance at your passport could destroy everything.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is quietly slashing work permit durations for thousands of unsuspecting foreign workers. The crime? A travel document set to expire too soon.
It is the immigration equivalent of a hidden trapdoor. And it is catching out the brightest and the best.
The Shocking Truth
Here is the brutal reality that nobody tells you until it is too late.
When you submit your work permit application, IRCC automatically compares your requested stay against your passport expiry date. If that little book expires in eighteen months but your job contract runs for three years, guess what?
You are getting an eighteen-month permit. Full stop. No exceptions.
There is no appeal. There is no sympathetic officer wielding discretion. The computer system simply chops your authorization down to size.
Suddenly, that carefully planned path to permanent residence is hanging by a thread. Your employer is left in the lurch. Your life is thrown into limbo.
The Expensive Nightmare
This is not just an administrative headache.
It is a financial catastrophe. You will pay extension fees all over again. You will endure weeks of processing delays where you cannot work. You might even lose your job entirely if the employer cannot wait.
For caregivers and agricultural workers banking on twenty-four consecutive months of employment to qualify for permanent residency, this is nothing short of devastating. One truncated permit can reset the clock on years of backbreaking sacrifice.
Provincial Nominee Program candidates face similar ruin. Many provinces demand continuous employment that your shortened permit simply cannot deliver.
Protect Yourself Now
Check your passport expiry date this very minute.
If it falls short of your job offer end date by less than six months, stop everything. Renew that document immediately. Most consulates can expedite the process if you explain your Canadian opportunity is pending.
Do not submit your work permit application until you hold a passport valid for your entire intended stay plus that crucial six-month buffer.
Your future in Canada depends on it.
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