A study permit applicant worried that naming their mother as financial sponsor would hurt the application, because the mother's own Canadian visitor visa had been refused (on 'won't return home' grounds, since the grandmother is a Canadian citizen). Group experience:
- A sponsor's visa refusal doesn't disqualify their money. The consistent answer: financial sponsorship is only about finances. Parents and siblings are the normal sponsors for a study permit, and the sponsor isn't being assessed for their own admissibility — 'it's absolutely normal, don't think too much about this.'
- Keep the two files mentally separate. The mother's refusal was about her ties as a visitor; the student's application is assessed on the student's own profile, study plan and the sufficiency/source of funds. The refusal doesn't transfer.
- Write your own SOP instead of paying a stranger. The applicant also asked for someone 'legitimate' to write their SOP after meeting scammers. The group's advice: draft it yourself using reputable free walkthroughs (a well-known consultant's SOP video was shared) — a personally written SOP is safer than anything bought from an unverified seller.