Canada Extends Work Permits for Ukrainians Under CUAET as UCC Urges Path to Permanent Residence

(CANADA) — Canada extended open work permits for eligible Ukrainians and their family members on March 31, 2026, giving them until March 31, 2027, to apply for extensions of up to three years, while the Ukrainian Canadian Congress renewed calls for Ottawa to create a permanent residence pathway for people who arrived under CUAET.

Honourable Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced the extension for people who came to Canada under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel and related measures. The move allows eligible applicants already in the country to keep working under temporary status for longer.

The extension applies to Ukrainians and family members who have valid temporary resident status, arrived in Canada on or before March 31, 2024, or, for some with pending applications approved later, on or before December 31, 2024, and hold a valid work permit issued under specific public policies signed on March 16, 2022, August 8, 2024, February 20, 2025, March 29, 2024, or July 31, 2024.

Applicants must apply from within Canada under subsection 201(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. Standard Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada fees apply, while people seeking extensions of visitor status or study permits must use regular IRCC processes.

The decision keeps in place one of Canada’s main temporary measures for people displaced by Russia’s war in Ukraine. CUAET launched March 17, 2022, allowing about 300,000 Ukrainians and family members to enter Canada with three-year open work and study permits.

Canada also opened a family reunification pathway to permanent residence in 2023. That stream closed to new applications on October 22, 2024, but around 2,500 people have received permanent resident status.

Diab framed the latest work permit move as part of that continuing response. “As Russia’s war against Ukraine persists, Canada continues to support displaced Ukrainians through CUAET. The program allows this cohort to work and contribute to the Canadian economy while they are here.”

Her announcement addressed temporary status. It did not create a new permanent residence program for CUAET holders, an issue that has become more pressing as earlier three-year permits near expiry for many who arrived soon after the program opened.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which has pressed the government for months to move beyond short-term extensions, said it would continue lobbying for a dedicated public policy under section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The group wants that measure to grant permanent residence to eligible CUAET holders physically present in Canada.

That campaign has unfolded through several public steps. On October 16, 2025, UCC submitted policy recommendations to Diab that proposed permanent residence eligibility for people with valid CUAET visas and Ukrainian passports, or evidence they had renewed those passports.

Two months later, on December 17, 2025, the group endorsed an initiative by Senator Stan Kutcher at an Ottawa news conference. Kutcher cast the issue in moral terms as he urged ministerial action.

“The issue. is, at its core — a moral one. Should we assist a group of people who have been displaced by a genocidal war and who have. made Canada their home. The Minister can act should she choose to do so,” Kutcher said.

UCC returned to that message after the permit extension took effect. On April 1, 2026, UCC President Alexandra Chyczij welcomed the added time to apply for a new work permit but said the organization would keep pushing for a permanent solution.

“The UCC will continue to advocate for a pathway to permanent residence for displaced Ukrainians,” Chyczij said.

Anna Michalchyshyn, executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said the uncertainty tied to temporary status continues to weigh on many families who built their lives in Canada after fleeing the war. “Until their status is resolved, CUAET visa holders face a bleak and uncertain future. We call on the Government of Canada to take action today.”

UCC argues the numbers justify a broader measure. The organization estimates about 100,000 visa holders may apply for permanent residence if Ottawa opens a program tailored to the CUAET population.

It also points to public opinion. A UCC-commissioned Abacus Data survey found 69% Canadian support for such a move, with 81% favoring long-term stays.

Those figures have fed a wider argument inside Canada’s Ukrainian community that the country should treat people who arrived under emergency authorization differently from other temporary residents. Many entered with the expectation of safety and time to rebuild, then spent years working, studying and raising children in Canada as the war continued.

The latest federal measure gives eligible people another temporary option. It also reinforces a gap between Canada’s short-term protections and the permanent status many CUAET holders now seek.

For applicants, the rules remain narrow and technical. They must be inside Canada when they apply, maintain valid temporary resident status, and hold a qualifying work permit issued under one of the listed public policies.

Arrival date matters as well. The general cutoff is March 31, 2024, although some people with pending applications approved later may qualify if they arrived on or before December 31, 2024.

Those requirements mean the new window does not apply to all Ukrainians in Canada. It applies to a defined group of people who came through CUAET and related measures and who still meet temporary resident conditions.

The work permit extension runs until March 31, 2027, giving eligible people a full year from the March 31, 2026 announcement to file for an extension that can last as long as three years. For many, that provides a way to remain employed while Ottawa decides whether to expand permanent options.

The extension also keeps Canada aligned with the emergency approach it adopted in the early months after Russia’s full-scale invasion. At the time, CUAET became a fast-moving route for displaced Ukrainians and family members to enter Canada and obtain open work or study permits rather than proceed immediately through a permanent immigration stream.

That design gave people flexibility. It also created a later policy challenge, because a large group of Ukrainians now lives in Canada under a temporary framework that was never intended to resolve long-term status on its own.

The federal government has already offered one permanent residence route tied to family reunification, but it closed to new applications on October 22, 2024. Around 2,500 people gained permanent resident status through that process.

UCC and other supporters of a new pathway say those numbers fall far short of current need. Their proposal under section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act would rely on a temporary public policy to regularize status for a much larger group already in the country.

Ottawa has not announced such a measure. As of the work permit extension, no new permanent residency pathway had been introduced for CUAET holders.

Some provinces have taken their own steps. Manitoba Labour and Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino released 1,400 provincial nominee slots for Ukrainians, offering one route for a limited number of people to seek long-term status through a provincial program.

That provincial action shows how governments below the federal level have tried to address demand, but it also highlights the limits of piecemeal options. Provincial nominee allocations cover part of the population, while CUAET was created and administered as a national emergency response.

For Ukrainians now weighing their next move, the federal extension delivers time but not certainty. It preserves access to work and legal status for eligible people, yet leaves unresolved the question that UCC has put at the center of its campaign: whether Canada will let those who fled the war settle permanently.

The debate now turns on whether the government keeps relying on temporary renewals or creates the public policy the Ukrainian Canadian Congress has sought since at least October 16, 2025. Until then, Canada’s answer for many CUAET holders remains the same one Diab announced this week: more time to stay and work, but no new path yet to remain for good.