An applicant received their PPR for a September 2022 intake but missed it; the university's next available option was to defer to September 2023 (with no online-study fallback), meaning a full extra year of waiting despite already holding a visa.
- Travelling early is possible if you have proof of deferment and a visa with enough validity left. A member specified: if you hold valid proof of deferment from the college and your visa is valid for more than 6 months, there's no issue travelling to Canada ahead of the new intake (the example given was travelling in August 2023) — then applying for a study permit extension once you're in Canada.
- Changing colleges after arrival was raised as a possible option by another member (asking whether you could fly to Canada and switch colleges once there), though this wasn't confirmed with specifics in the thread — treat it as a question to verify directly with IRCC/a licensed consultant rather than settled advice.
Takeaway: a missed intake doesn't necessarily mean sitting out a full year before travelling — get a formal deferment letter from your college, check your visa's remaining validity (6+ months gives room to travel early), and plan to file an extension once you land, rather than waiting for the next intake to depart.