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Study permit approved but visa stamp is shorter than your program length: what to do

Canada • Study Permit • study 0 views
By VisaBuddies Communityvia community — compiled from public visa forums

Step-by-Step

A member applied for a 2-year Master's study permit through SDS from India, was approved, but the visa was only stamped for 1 year 4 months, even though the LOA, tuition payment, and finances all supported the full program length.

What the thread suggested:
  1. This is a fairly common clerical mismatch, not necessarily a sign of a problem with the application itself — several people in the thread reported the same experience.

  2. Raise it at the port of entry (POE) when you land in Canada. If the border services officer is willing to look into it, they may be able to correct the permit duration on the spot, since your underlying documents (LOA, proof of funds) already support the longer stay.

  3. File a web form with IRCC as a backup. You may not get a fast (or any) reply, but it creates a written record tied to your file, which can help if you need to sort the discrepancy out later, e.g. when applying for an extension.

  4. If neither works before landing, the fallback is to apply for a study permit extension once you're in Canada and closer to the stamped expiry date — described in the thread as a routine, low-drama process.


The practical takeaway: don't panic over a shorter stamp than expected. Try your luck at the POE first, submit a web form for the record, and treat an in-Canada extension as the reliable fallback if the discrepancy isn't fixed beforehand.

Dos, Don'ts & Tips

  • Tip: A shorter visa stamp than your program length is a known, fairly common discrepancy — it doesn't necessarily reflect an issue with your application.
  • Do: Bring it up with the port of entry officer when you land; they may be able to correct it if your LOA and financial documents support the full program length.
  • Do: Submit an IRCC web form to create a written record of the issue, even if you don't get a quick response.
  • Tip: If the stamp isn't corrected beforehand, plan on applying for a study permit extension once you're in Canada.

Have a question about this? Join the discussion.

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