A 2012 mechanical engineering graduate with 10 academic backlogs, a decade of uninterrupted work as a mechanical design engineer, IELTS 6.5 overall, and
no travel history shared a study permit approval — self-filed, without a consultant.
What the thread offers:
- Course relevance to work experience is the core defense. The poster's thesis: if the course is clearly relevant to your working experience, the file is defensible — even with backlogs and a middling IELTS. Consultants had discouraged the profile; the applicant applied anyway and was approved.
- No gap, fully documented. Ten years of employment with no gap, proven through payslips, income-tax returns, and a six-month bank statement (~₹8 lakh balance).
- Shorten and prepay. A one-year course with full fees paid up front reduced the financial question to living expenses.
- No travel history was not fatal. Asked directly, the applicant confirmed zero prior travel — the coherent work-to-course story outweighed it.
- Self-filing is viable. The application was prepared without an agent; the poster's advice was not to be talked out of a sound profile by consultants who prefer easy cases.
Practical takeaway: backlogs, IELTS 6.5, and an empty passport are all survivable when a decade of relevant work leads logically into the chosen program and the finances are prepaid and clean.