I applied through SDS and it’s been longer than 20 days should I send a webforrm?

[Sachi999]

I’m a little confused about the estimated processing dates. I applied via SDS so it should take around 20 days. I also checked the estimates for the processing of a study permit and it said it takes 9 weeks. In my case and to be fair it hasn’t been 9 weeks yet but then that beats the purpose of applying via SDS if I’m not getting expedited processing. Should I file a webform and ask for a follow up or should I wait for 9 weeks and then file a webform if nothing still happens? Thanks in advance guys!

 

[canuck78]

I’m a little confused about the estimated processing dates. I applied via SDS so it should take around 20 days. I also checked the estimates for the processing of a study permit and it said it takes 9 weeks. In my case and to be fair it hasn’t been 9 weeks yet but then that beats the purpose of applying via SDS if I’m not getting expedited processing. Should I file a webform and ask for a follow up or should I wait for 9 weeks and then file a webform if nothing still happens? Thanks in advance guys!

Posted processing time is just an estimated average and is often incorrect. Many non-SDS applications take 4+ months and SDS often saves you some time but can still take 2-3 months and longer if there are any problems. With the new changes to international student policies there may have been very little activity except masters and PhD applications while more details were worked out. Just announced this week that applications before January 22 were not going to be part of the cap and you don’t need provincial attestation if applied before January 22nd so for the past 2 weeks applications may have been on hold until this was agreed with the provinces. It has only been 20 days so if you have received AOR and done biometrics you are already doing ok. Not sure why you would consider contacting IRCC after 20 days. For what? Even after 9 weeks there is no point in contacting IRCC they will just tell you to be patient. At this point all you can do is wait. You will likely benefit from the fact that most should not be applying for study permits until provincial attestation are possible so you may actually get the 9 week processing time or even faster. If you have a very strong application or very weak you tend to get faster processing. Clear refusals or approvals tend to get faster answers for all immigration applications. If you are applying for good quality public university or college, have good grades, you have chosen a high quality program, your choice of program truly makes makes sense based on your education and work history and you are actually a genuine student, you have very good IELTS scores, you have clear proof that you or your family have the personal savings and assets to be able to afford studying abroad, you do your medical and there is nothing found and no need for further testing including TB testing and you have written your own SOP and it makes sense and is not just plagiarized from various websites then applications tend to get faster processing. Sending emails when nothing will/can be done just creates delays in the system. Many students email regularly and they get a standard response (often weeks later) telling them to be patient and they will be contacted once the decision is made. Just be patient. 20 days is nothing when dealing with IRCC. Even 9 weeks is actually not a long wait when dealing with IRCC.

 

[Sachi999]

Posted processing time is just an estimated average and is often incorrect. Many non-SDS applications take 4+ months and SDS often saves you some time but can still take 2-3 months and longer if there are any problems. With the new changes to international student policies there may have been very little activity except masters and PhD applications while more details were worked out. Just announced this week that applications before January 22 were not going to be part of the cap and you don’t need provincial attestation if applied before January 22nd so for the past 2 weeks applications may have been on hold until this was agreed with the provinces. It has only been 20 days so if you have received AOR and done biometrics you are already doing ok. Not sure why you would consider contacting IRCC after 20 days. For what? Even after 9 weeks there is no point in contacting IRCC they will just tell you to be patient. At this point all you can do is wait. You will likely benefit from the fact that most should not be applying for study permits until provincial attestation are possible so you may actually get the 9 week processing time or even faster. If you have a very strong application or very weak you tend to get faster processing. Clear refusals or approvals tend to get faster answers for all immigration applications. If you are applying for good quality public university or college, have good grades, you have chosen a high quality program, your choice of program truly makes makes sense based on your education and work history and you are actually a genuine student, you have very good IELTS scores, you have clear proof that you or your family have the personal savings and assets to be able to afford studying abroad, you do your medical and there is nothing found and no need for further testing including TB testing and you have written your own SOP and it makes sense and is not just plagiarized from various websites then applications tend to get faster processing. Sending emails when nothing will/can be done just creates delays in the system. Many students email regularly and they get a standard response (often weeks later) telling them to be patient and they will be contacted once the decision is made. Just be patient. 20 days is nothing when dealing with IRCC. Even 9 weeks is actually not a long wait when dealing with IRCC.

Hey canuck78! Thank you for your reply on this post and on my comment on another post on this forum. Thanks for putting things into perspective.

If not 9 weeks, is there a certain amount of time where you would consider that it might be optimal to send a webform or should I just wait until something happens? I’m asking this because when I sent my previous webforms there would be a disclaimer on the webform form itself along the lines of “You may not receive a response if your application is within normal processing times” so if the given estimates by IRCC are oftentimes inaccurate, what would you say is the right time for me to ask for a follow up?/how much time would it take for my application to not be “within normal processing times”? Maybe after 4 months then since my application is an SDS application and as you said it usually takes 2-3 months? Or should I not send one at all and just wait? Thanks again for the help!

 

[canuck78]

Hey canuck78! Thank you for your reply on this post and on my comment on another post on this forum. Thanks for putting things into perspective.

If not 9 weeks, is there a certain amount of time where you would consider that it might be optimal to send a webform or should I just wait until something happens? I’m asking this because when I sent my previous webforms there would be a disclaimer on the webform form itself along the lines of “You may not receive a response if your application is within normal processing times” so if the given estimates by IRCC are oftentimes inaccurate, what would you say is the right time for me to ask for a follow up?/how much time would it take for my application to not be “within normal processing times”? Maybe after 4 months then since my application is an SDS application and as you said it usually takes 2-3 months? Or should I not send one at all and just wait? Thanks again for the help!

Given the current changes to international student program wait times may be longer than average except for masters or PhD. There is no point in contacting IRCC if you are seeing others experiencing similar wait times than you. There could be some being processed faster but if others are also still waiting no point in contacting IRCC if you have had seen some movement in your file like biometrics and medical request. Wouldn’t contact IRCC at all since you will just be told to be patient and your application is being processed. If 5+ months would order GCMS notes. In general it is best to compare your processing time to multiple applications with the same citizenship applying from the same country.

 

[Sachi999]

Given the current changes to international student program wait times may be longer than average except for masters or PhD. There is no point in contacting IRCC if you are seeing others experiencing similar wait times than you. There could be some being processed faster but if others are also still waiting no point in contacting IRCC if you have had seen some movement in your file like biometrics and medical request. Wouldn’t contact IRCC at all since you will just be told to be patient and your application is being processed. If 5+ months would order GCMS notes. In general it is best to compare your processing time to multiple applications with the same citizenship applying from the same country.

Hey thanks again for the reply canuck78! I’ll take your advice and I will be ordering my gcms notes as my contingency plan if my processing reaches 5+ months. One reason why I’m so anxious about this is that my biometrics don’t show up on my application even if I’ve already given them. I sent out a webform and I got a response that basically confirmed that my application did have a weird technical issue but they did say that my biometrics were received despite the error but I’m still scared that my application might get delayed because of it.

Anyway can I ask, hypothetically, if I do order my gcms notes, what do I do with them? Sure It’ll give me insight on the status of my application but what do I do then? Do I just keep waiting afterwards? Or would that be the time where I should raise a webform to express my concerns while using the gcms notes as supporting information? Thanks in advance canuck78!