A member asked whether others had submitted non-SDS study permit applications in September, targeting May or September 2023 intakes, and what the outcomes looked like.
What the thread's reported experiences showed (note: these are specific applicant timelines, not a guarantee — SDS itself was later discontinued by IRCC, so use this as historical context on non-SDS processing rather than a current program reference):- One member submitted a non-SDS application in early October for a January 2023 intake.
- Another submitted mid-September for a May 2023 intake.
- A third reported approval in mid-October, about 16 days after submission — a notably fast turnaround for a non-SDS file.
Practical takeaway: non-SDS study permit processing times varied significantly among members in this thread, ranging from waiting well past submission to a 16-day approval. If you're applying non-SDS, treat any single reported timeline as one data point rather than an expectation, and check IRCC's current processing time tool for up-to-date estimates, since program structures like SDS have changed since these reports.