Temporary permits · Still in process
Intake dates do not wait. Your notes show whether the delay is a missing document, medicals, or a check still running.
Study permit files are time-critical because the intake date is fixed, but the file itself moves through the same checks as any other application.
A file can sit because a document was requested and never answered, because medicals are outstanding, or because the provincial attestation letter requirement was not satisfied.
Applicants frequently do not realise a request was sent, particularly where an agent's email was used on the application.
A long wait is not automatically a stalled wait. Rule these out first — several are things applicants genuinely miss.
IRCC publishes live processing times, and they change often — check the current time for study permits. We deliberately do not quote a number here, because any number we printed would be out of date within weeks.
This is the part almost nobody realises. You do not have to be refused to request your file. An application that is still in process has notes too — and for a file that has gone silent, they are usually the only way to find out what is actually happening.
If your notes contain any of these, the delay has a cause you can act on rather than simply wait out.
By far the most common one across every programme is the last kind: IRCC asked for something and never got a reply — often because the request went to an agent's email, or to an address the applicant no longer uses. The file then sits indefinitely, waiting on you.
Read the full escalation guide for stuck applications →
Study permit files are time-critical because the intake date is fixed, but the file itself moves through the same checks as any other application. A file can sit because a document was requested and never answered, because medicals are outstanding, or because the provincial attestation letter requirement was not satisfied. Applicants frequently do not realise a request was sent, particularly where an agent's email was used on the application.
For an application still in process, the notes show what has been recorded so far: whether eligibility was assessed and what the officer recorded about the study plan; whether financial documents were accepted or queried; medical and biometric status; whether a provincial or territorial attestation letter was received where required; any request for documents, and whether a reply was recorded; which office holds the file. Your GCMS notes are a snapshot of what was recorded on your file at the time IRCC processed your request — not a live tracker. They will not give you a decision date. What they do give you is the truth about which stage your file actually reached, which checks are outstanding, and whether anything was asked of you that you never answered.
No. A Privacy Act request is handled by IRCC's ATIP unit, which is separate from the officers deciding your application. Requesting your own file is a legal right and it does not affect processing of the application itself.
Yes to both. Under the Privacy Act there is no fee to request your own personal information, and since July 2022 any person anywhere in the world can file directly, in their own name, with no representative in Canada required.
No, and anyone promising that is not telling you the truth. The notes will not contain a decision date. They tell you which stage your file genuinely reached, which checks are still outstanding, and whether IRCC asked you for something you never answered — which is often the real reason a file has stopped moving.
Check the published processing time for study permits from your country; Confirm biometrics were given and recorded — this is a common silent stall; Check the email on the application; if an agent applied for you, ask them for every message received; Confirm the attestation letter requirement, where it applies to you, was met.
Your Study permit file has a written record. Requesting it from Canada is free and takes about twenty minutes — we publish every step, with a screenshot of every screen. If the notes come back and you cannot read them, send them to us.
