A member applied for an SDS study visa in late January for a May intake, and with the session start date approaching and no decision yet, needed to know how to handle confirming arrival with the college and how long to keep waiting.
What the thread recommended:- Check with your college about deferment first, before assuming you need to make any drastic decisions. Colleges typically have a defined window for requesting deferral to the next intake (in this case, moving to September) if your visa hasn't come through in time.
- Wait until close to your deadline before triggering the deferral, rather than deferring immediately out of anxiety — one member's university specifically told them to wait until the end of the month before submitting the deferral form.
- A visa decision timeline is independent of your admission/intake decision. IRCC's processing is only concerned with your eligibility for the study permit — whether you attend the May or September intake is a separate matter to sort out directly with your college, and doesn't affect your visa approval odds.
The practical takeaway: if your visa decision is delayed as your intake date nears, check your college's deferment window and timing requirements first — your visa approval isn't tied to which intake you actually attend, so you can safely defer to the next intake without it affecting IRCC's evaluation of your application.