Thanks for your reply! Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought as well. Student permits are actually processed super quickly, if the IRCC website times are to be trusted (2 weeks for Germany!). I'd prefer not to have to go that route though because it requires proving you have a LOT of money sitting in the bank (at least for us!), which shouldn't really be relevant for us anyway because he won't have to pay international tuition, I'll be covering his living expenses, etc. Anyway, can't complain at all that we have options, I'm only a little worried about us actually qualifying. I guess we'll just have to do more of what we're all doing: wait and see! If we haven't heard anything 6 weeks or so before our planned departure we'll break the student permit emergency glass and hope for the best.It is really hard to say what timeline you can expect, but from what I have seen in other posts (this may just be my perception), applicants from Switzerland were getting their apps processed super fast, for example. I believe Netherlands, Germany and similar countries are somewhat faster than the non-visa exempt countries too, but then again, each case is different. It depends how busy they are in the next few months and how long it takes them to complete BGC, but like you said, it is a gamble, as there is no sure way to predict the completion date. You might want to find out how long it takes to get a student visa and maybe have that as a back up option if nothing seems to move forward in the next couple of months. Good luck to you.
One weird thing is that our background check has shown as in process on GCKey from the moment we linked the application, so I don't even have that as a reference point. All I can do is cross my fingers now I guess -- well, that and obsessively keep on top of other Vienna VO timelines.
Speaking of which, I notice in your signature you just got the pre-arrival services email! Hope that means good things for your app. 