Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has prolonged the special humanitarian measures introduced during the record 2025 wildfire season, giving newcomers an extra month—until 30 November 2025—to replace lost documents and restore or extend their legal status in Canada.
Under the extension, temporary residents (visitors, international students and foreign workers), permanent residents and Canadian citizens whose travel or identity documents were destroyed or who were forced to relocate can continue to benefit from fee waivers and priority processing. Applicants simply need to include an attestation explaining how the wildfires affected them; physical presence in an evacuation zone is no longer required.
The move offers practical relief to employers and universities that scrambled this summer when hundreds of employees and students were suddenly unable to prove their status. “Giving people an extra 30 days to sort out paperwork means jobs and studies aren’t interrupted,” said Vancouver immigration lawyer Maya Grewal, noting that urgent processing often cuts wait times from weeks to days.
For global mobility managers, the decision reduces compliance risk: foreign assignees who fell out of status now have a clear pathway to regain legal work authorization without penalties. Companies should audit employees who evacuated from British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories to ensure that any expired permits or visas are re-filed before the new deadline.
IRCC’s compassionate approach also signals that Canada will continue to use immigration levers to respond quickly to climate-related crises—an increasingly important precedent as natural-disaster disruptions become more common.
Under the extension, temporary residents (visitors, international students and foreign workers), permanent residents and Canadian citizens whose travel or identity documents were destroyed or who were forced to relocate can continue to benefit from fee waivers and priority processing. Applicants simply need to include an attestation explaining how the wildfires affected them; physical presence in an evacuation zone is no longer required.
The move offers practical relief to employers and universities that scrambled this summer when hundreds of employees and students were suddenly unable to prove their status. “Giving people an extra 30 days to sort out paperwork means jobs and studies aren’t interrupted,” said Vancouver immigration lawyer Maya Grewal, noting that urgent processing often cuts wait times from weeks to days.
For global mobility managers, the decision reduces compliance risk: foreign assignees who fell out of status now have a clear pathway to regain legal work authorization without penalties. Companies should audit employees who evacuated from British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories to ensure that any expired permits or visas are re-filed before the new deadline.
IRCC’s compassionate approach also signals that Canada will continue to use immigration levers to respond quickly to climate-related crises—an increasingly important precedent as natural-disaster disruptions become more common.
