Due to massive immigration issues facing Canada, up to 1 million Indians could potentially lose their legal status by Mid-2026 due to an increase in the expiration of work permits and an ever-decreasing number of opportunities for remaining in Canada.

The Problem with Expiring Work Permits

According to IRCC figures provided by consultant Kanwar Seirah, 1,053,000 work permits will expire by the end of December, 2025, while an additional 927,000 work permits are slated for expiration in 2026. Many of those who have Work Permits will go "out of status" upon expiration unless they acquire a different type of visa or obtain permanent resident status, but due to tightening regulations with respect to work permits held by temporary workers, students, and refugee claimants, many individuals will find obtaining new or establishing permanent residence to be extremely difficult. As many as half of the estimated 2 million undocumented individuals are predicted to be Indian, although many asylum claimants and study permit applicants have also been turned down.

Why We See So Many Expired Work Permits

Canada has never seen this type of work permit expiration pattern before, with approximately 291,000 work permits scheduled to expire in Q4 of 2025, and a new record of 315,000 scheduled to expire during Q1 of 2026—the system is overwhelmed. With the government also placing caps on the total number of immigrants that can enter Canada on a temporary basis, this has created a delay for many hard-working individuals with no options left for legal residency status; an bottleneck, according Seirah.