First team coach Bryan Klug says Jaime Peters has a good chance of being granted a new work permit if he continues his recent form. The Canadian's current permit is up in June and with his appearances at both club and international level having been limited, there were concerns that the 19-year-old's spell at Portman Road might come to an end.

However, the winger has made a bigger impact since coming back into the side in January and Klug says the club are making efforts to extend his stay: “We are working on keeping him here next year. A lot depends on him being in our first team. That will give us a great chance in getting a permit and it is something we are working on."

It's not the first time that Peters has had problems gaining permission to play in the UK. Two years ago, after signing a pre-contract agreement with the Blues, the winger applied for a Commonwealth Working Holiday Visa (WHV).

However, the rules on WHVs were tightened soon after so that from February 8th 2005 holders were only entitled to work for one of their two years in the UK and were specifically banned from employment in professional sport.

This left Peters's application in a grey area, the player having applied in January 2005 for a visa which would not come into effect until his 18th birthday on May 4th that year, after the rule change took place. The club spent some time lobbying the Home Office, however, this ultimately ended in failure and the Blues had to seek another route.

Peters hadn't played the required 75% of international games with Canada over the previous two years and so failed to automatically win a permit on the Highly Skilled Migrant programme.

However, as with an earlier case involving Middlesbrough's Yakubu, Town appealed to an expert football tribunal which granted the Canadian his current permit after a July 2005 hearing in Sheffield. It is this route which Town are likely to have to revisit this summer.

Peters's current contract also comes to an end in June.

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