Can I leave Canada while my extension application is being processed?
Short answer
In Canada, permission to work without a permit while an extension is being processed applies to a person who “has remained in Canada” after their permit expired (s. 186(u) of the Regulations). Leaving the country takes you outside that situation.
In detail
Paragraph 186(u) sets out three cumulative conditions: having applied for a renewal, having remained in Canada after the permit expired, and continuing to comply with the conditions of the permit. Presence in Canada is therefore part of the text itself.
Two things need to be kept apart: the right to enter Canada and the right to work. Returning to the country is governed by the admission rules (visa or eTA, depending on nationality), which are separate. Section 186(u) does not settle the question of entry.
These situations are fact-specific and depend on the documents you have in hand when you arrive at the border. The general rule remains what the text says: the provision applies to a person who has remained in Canada.
What to document
Your dates of departure from and entry into Canada, your boarding passes, your passport stamps, and the status of your application on those dates. A dated timeline of your travel is what allows the situation to be reconstructed afterwards.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
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Official sources
Related questions
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.