With no update on a Fall study permit application, an applicant deferred to the Winter intake and asked whether to proactively send IRCC the updated LOA or wait for a document request. Members who had been through it said:
- A short deferral generally didn't require action. The reasoning discussed: the gap between the Fall and Winter sessions is under 150 days, so members concluded no proactive notification was needed — "Correct, so no need."
- First-hand precedent. One member had deferred Fall to January, received approval about a week after the Fall start date passed, and landed in January — without issues from the deferral.
- Online study option (historical). Another member noted that under the rules at the time, you could start the program online and have it count toward your study duration while waiting. (Historical note: counting online study toward PGWP eligibility was a COVID-era facilitation that has since ended — don't rely on it without checking current policy.)
The thread's leaning: for a one-intake deferral, keep the updated LOA ready for any additional document request (ADR) rather than pre-emptively filing webforms.