An applicant with an SDS study-visa application already filed was considering withdrawing it to apply for a closed work permit instead, and asked whether parallel applications (SDS + spousal open work permit, closed WP + SOWP) were viable. The thread's guidance:
- Parallel or rapid-switch applications can read as desperation. The most experienced voice in the thread called the plan "very tricky" — running overlapping applications, or withdrawing one to immediately file another, signals to the visa officer that you're chasing any route in rather than pursuing a coherent plan.
- If you do withdraw and refile, justify it explicitly. The concrete advice: in the SOP or wherever the new application allows explanation, state that you had the earlier application and why you withdrew it (e.g. you received a job offer that changed your plans). An unexplained withdrawal followed by a different application type invites suspicion.
- On timing, the thread flagged the open question without resolving it — whether to wait for IRCC to confirm the withdrawal before filing the new application. No one gave a definitive answer.
- For a case this tangled, get professional advice. The closing recommendation was to speak to a good consultant, with the withdrawal-justification point as the one thing to get right regardless.