A married applicant with a 15-year study gap and 13 years of work experience was approved (SDS) for an MBA, together with the spouse's open work permit (SOWP) — spouse had 6 years of work experience. Filed 12 March 2022; passport request came about 5 months later. 2022 processing times are historical, but the profile lessons hold.
- Age and gap are not disqualifiers — if justified. The poster's central message: 'age is not an issue if you justify everything in your SOP.' The 15-year gap was framed as a career, not a hole: 13 years of continuous work experience narrated in the SOP.
- Mature students should consider the study route. The poster explicitly encouraged older applicants to consider studying in Canada where feasible, rather than assuming the route is only for fresh graduates.
- Home ties can rest on family property. Asked how home ties were shown without personal property, the answer: property owned by parents was presented as the tie to home country.
- Applying with a spouse (student + SOWP) works in one go. Both applications were filed together; both cleared. Expect the couple's file to move at the pace of the slower component — here the spouse's medical took roughly three months to be updated.
- Expect a patience test. Five months with an SDS file was draining; the poster's advice is to hold steady rather than read doom into silence.