(Historical: this thread is from the 2021–22 IRCC backlog; waits of this length were common then. The escalation options are what transfer.)An SDS applicant (applied October 8, 2021; biometrics validation letter December 29) with a 12-year education gap and valid work experience had waited nearly six months with multiple unanswered webforms. Members' advice:
- Order GCMS notes — but mind the lead time. The main actionable step: request GCMS notes to see what's actually happening on the file. They take 30–60 days to arrive, so the value depends on your timeline.
- Let your intake date drive the decision. The same member framed it cleanly: if your intake is far enough away (e.g., September), order notes now and wait; if your intake is imminent (May), defer the admission instead of gambling on a decision arriving in time.
- Withdrawing and refiling was floated, not endorsed. The poster wondered about withdrawing and re-lodging since newer files were being decided within two months; the thread didn't validate this — beyond the notes and deferral, the honest consensus was that waiting was the only real option.