An applicant applied for an SDS (Student Direct Stream) study permit on April 1, 2023, completed biometrics on April 6 and medical on April 18, with the last profile update on May 5. By 70 days (10 weeks) with no decision and no response to a webform, they asked what to expect and what to do next.
What the thread clarified:- Check the official processing time shown on the IRCC website — it's a range, and roughly 80% of applications are processed within that stated time, meaning 20% will legitimately take longer for various reasons.
- Under normal conditions, SDS applications typically process within about a week after biometrics, assuming medical is already passed — so a 70-day wait with no update is a genuine delay compared to typical turnaround, though not necessarily a sign of a serious problem.
- A webform inquiry is the correct escalation path once you've passed the stated processing time, but even after raising one, be prepared for it to take some additional time before you get a response — if everything about your file is fine, a decision should still come eventually.
The practical takeaway: compare your wait time against the current IRCC-published processing time before assuming something is wrong, and use a webform to escalate once you've genuinely exceeded it — but a 70-day wait for SDS with no explanation is on the slower side of typical, so continued follow-up via webform is reasonable.