A prospective student who'd already paid a full year of tuition plus a GIC (Guaranteed Investment Certificate) was told by their consultant to apply under the non-SDS stream instead of SDS, reportedly by hiding that the GIC and full fees had been paid, because non-SDS was said to be processing faster at the time.
What the group flagged (a warning, not an endorsement):- Concealing information you've already paid for is a form of misrepresentation risk. Multiple members pushed back on the idea of hiding a paid GIC or full tuition fees just to route an application through non-SDS — this isn't a technicality, it's providing inaccurate information to IRCC.
- Non-SDS doesn't require that you haven't paid GIC/tuition — it's simply a different, non-streamlined processing category. There's no rule that having paid a GIC disqualifies you from non-SDS; the confusion in the thread was consultants conflating 'faster processing' with needing to hide paid documents.
- Multiple members raised the same concern independently, suggesting this is a pattern of some consultants pushing clients toward misrepresentation for perceived speed gains.
Bottom line: Choosing between SDS and non-SDS should be based on your genuine eligibility and documentation, never on concealing money you've already paid. If in doubt, consult IRCC's official SDS/non-SDS criteria rather than following a consultant's suggestion to hide paid fees.