How to renew a work permit

A work permit usually depends on someone other than you — an employer, a sponsor, a labour authority. That makes the timeline longer than it looks, because your part is rarely the slow part.

Start earlier than the official window suggests

Renewal typically opens two to three months before expiry, but the employer's side often has to happen before that: a renewed labour market test, updated salary evidence, or a fresh sponsorship filing. Those have their own processing times.

Working without valid permission is a risk to the employer as well as to you, which is why many companies stop work the day a permit lapses even when a renewal is pending.

Salary and role conditions

Permits tied to a minimum salary are checked again at renewal, and thresholds usually rise annually. A salary that qualified two years ago may not now.

Substantial changes to the role — title, duties, location, hours — can require an amendment before renewal rather than at it. Some systems treat a promotion as a new application.

If you change employer

In most countries the permit belongs to the job, not to you. Changing employer means a new permit rather than a renewal, and often a period where you cannot work at all while it is processed.

A few systems allow a grace period to find new work after redundancy. It is usually short, measured in weeks, and it starts from the end of employment rather than from when you noticed.

The rules depend on the country

Everything above holds broadly. The authority, the fee, the forms and the lead time do not. Pick where the document was issued.

Every other country

Questions

Can I keep working while the renewal is processed?

Often yes if the application was filed before expiry, and often no if it was not. This is the single most important thing to confirm with your own country's rules, because the consequences fall on your employer too.

Does my family's permission renew with mine?

Usually dependants have to renew separately, on the same timetable, tied to your permit. Their applications are commonly forgotten until the last week.

Don't rely on remembering

Add your work permit to Duratum and we'll tell you when to start, and remind you before it matters.

Track my work permit