Can I restore my status as a visitor if my work permit was refused?

Yes, that route exists. Someone who was previously authorised to work can apply to have their status restored as a visitor where they no longer qualify for or need work authorisation.
The conditions are specific. You have to be in Canada without status at the time you apply, you have to apply within 90 days of losing status, and you have to remain in Canada until a decision is made. The 90 days runs from when status was lost, and if you had an application pending before your permit expired, maintained status carried you to the refusal, so the clock starts there rather than at the expiry printed on the permit.
The condition that decides most of these is the one people skip. You must meet the requirements for the stay you are asking for, whether as a visitor, a worker or a student. On a visitor restoration, that means the visitor requirements, not the worker ones.
This catches people who attach their permanent residence paperwork to the application believing it helps. A nomination certificate or proof of a pending labour market assessment is evidence for a work permit. Wanting permanent residence does not disqualify you from temporary status, and that is written into the Act rather than left to discretion, but the same provision attaches a condition: an officer has to be satisfied you will leave by the end of the period you are authorised to stay. Those documents are the ones that say you intend to stay, so they land directly on the question being decided without answering it.
And one hard stop. Working without authorisation makes a person ineligible to restore at all. Not weaker, ineligible. If a permit was refused and the job carried on, that is the thing that ends the route.
Sources: IRCC, Restoration of temporary resident status, canada.ca, updated 1 May 2026. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 22(2), current to 30 September 2026.
This is general information rather than legal advice, and it reflects those sources as they stood on the dates above. Related: When does the 90-day restoration period actually start? and Why was my BOWP refused when Bulletin 699 says I do not need an AOR?