(Historical note: the processing times quoted here are from mid-2022 and will differ today — check IRCC's current published times. The SDS category referenced has since been discontinued.)An applicant with a July intake offer (UCW MBA) planned to file their visa with roughly two months to go, and asked if approval by June was realistic. The thread's math said no:
- Compare the runway to the published processing time. Members quoted the then-current processing time of about 13 weeks — roughly 80–90 days to a decision — plus around 20 more days for passport stamping. Two months simply didn't cover it.
- The recommendation: defer rather than gamble. The direct advice was to move to a later intake (January was suggested; another member noted a September/October intake would also work if the university offered one). Filing anyway and hoping for a fast decision risks losing the semester and complicating refunds.
- A stream question was raised but unanswered. Whether the fast-track SDS category had shorter timelines at that moment went unresolved in the thread — even fast-track streams need buffer.
The reusable rule: before committing to an intake, add IRCC's current published processing time plus ~3 weeks for passport return, then add personal buffer. If that total lands after your program start date, defer at the offer stage rather than after paying and filing.