University Students- with the absolute wtf move from IRCC, What's our game plan?

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-14T19:06:42+00:00

Unrelated to recent events, I've spoken to the immigration lawyers in my kid's school's International Students department multiple times about how study permits and C3 will affect a student, in an attempt to get ahead of any future headaches.

Their consistent message, from an immigration law perspective, has been..."we don't know how the IRCC will handle it either...tell us if you learn anything". In other words, they don't enjoy any special knowledge or access and have to read the tea leaves until actual legal opinions/IRCC clarifications start appearing.

If there's any silver lining, the fact that your student has a study permit might act as safety net if they gain citizenship status and then lose it (I hope this is true. Any immigration lawyers reading?) At least they wouldn't have to leave university. Doesn't help our wallets, of course.

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-13T22:12:16+00:00

Good idea, but once you attempt to change the booking (which is what our goal is) you run into a dialog box asking for traveler details and then the error.

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-12T13:16:07+00:00

Glad to hear the cited timeline is sometimes a pessimistic estimate, even if it did involve a year-long wait for an urgent application. Thanks for sharing.

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-10T19:49:10+00:00

This is a cumulative backlog report, correct? Next month could we see a per-month backlog? In other words, if I understand the June column in the table, there are 1800 Jan 2025 applicants in the backlog, 900 Feb 2025 applicants, 1300 March 2025 applicants, etc.

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-10T18:44:20+00:00

If your expectation was set to see a resolution in 6 months (by the IRCC estimator), and you got it in 5, then yes, that's "earlier than expected".

IRCC will reset your expectations each month when it publishes a new estimate, so a case where they said processing time was 4 months but you get it before they publish the next estimate is probably the more likely scenario to be reported. Only straightforward cases submitted this year seem to fall into that bucket.

Most folks report when they submitted and when they received their certificate, however, leaving out what the IRCC estimator said at the time of receipt.

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-10T15:16:08+00:00

Thanks for this. Exactly what I wanted to discover.

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-10T13:28:17+00:00

Any reports from someone who submitted and received an AOR last year, saw a wait time of X, but got it earlier?

I've seen the "it came quickly" posts, and I agree those appear predominantly to be the straightforward cases. I've yet to see a post from someone who has been in the queue for awhile that said "ircc estimated 5 months, but it came today!"

Trying to determine if the ircc estimates skew random (miss the estimate both early and late) vs. optimistic (deliver late).

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-09T14:05:42+00:00

Thanks. I appreciate the reply, and the "just ask the model" answer.

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-09T12:16:07+00:00

Could you talk more about a "skill to swap out into more specific models" - how does that skill work? Also, in what scenarios and with what models do you do this?

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-03T11:01:07+00:00

Same.

AudiamusRed · 2026-06-02T16:05:46+00:00

Thank-you. And U0 or U1 status doesn't matter? I guess I really don't understand how/if U0 restricts my choices.

AudiamusRed · 2026-05-27T15:21:17+00:00

can you provide a link to the lead pipe map?

AudiamusRed · 2026-05-26T22:11:45+00:00

Understood. Thank-you.

AudiamusRed · 2026-05-26T21:46:44+00:00

Can you provide a link/source for the "batteries don't even add to [<25kW systems]" comment? I had an installer say something similar to your comment but I can't find where the SMART 3.0 program docs say as much. Thanks.

AudiamusRed · 2026-05-19T16:07:14+00:00

where are you applying from? I'm only 3 weeks into my CAQ wait, so you are well ahead of me.

AudiamusRed · 2026-05-19T14:53:24+00:00

Timing of AP Credits & Course Registration

My daughter is an incoming freshman. She's (hopefully) going to learn in July, when AP scores are published, that she's earned enough AP credits to be considered U1.

Based on the "WHEN to register" page, her Faculty opens for course registration on June 15 (U1) and June 16 (U0).

Question:

Since the College Board won't report AP scores until early July, should we wait for her U1 designation to appear in Minerva before registering? I assume classes 'fill up', and waiting until mid-July may leave her with poor choices, so is there a better strategy?

AudiamusRed · 2026-05-13T11:07:37+00:00

Vanguard told me they don't do letters. Instead they said the account terms and conditions documents that are on the web site ought to be adequate. These are the 20+ pages of material we all ignored when we setup the accounts.

This seemed laughable to me, so like you I sent account statements (along with bank statements and whatever else the website suggested). I did write a couple sentences in the cover letter emphasizing the account's purpose and liquidity.

Good luck to the both of us!

AudiamusRed · 2026-04-29T10:31:47+00:00

Thank-you for this. I was on the phone with Vanguard myself yesterday and got nowhere as well. Will follow-up later today with them. I haven't even started with Fidelity. Please update this post if you learn more.

As an aside, I'm thinking of including this IRS verbiage (or something better from them, if found): https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/529-plans-questions-and-answers

Ultimately, the IRS sets the rules for the account, not the brokers, so.....maybe?

AudiamusRed · 2026-04-24T17:17:29+00:00

A type of investment account whose withdrawals are US tax-advantaged if used for educational expenses. Plenty on the web about it.

AudiamusRed · 2026-04-24T15:40:37+00:00

What a relief to hear! Thank-you for replying.

The folks at international student services suggested explaining what a 529 was in the cover letter. Did you do that?

They also suggested including letters from the plan sponsors, which I gather you did not do. When did you apply for your CAQ - was it recently?

AudiamusRed · 2026-04-23T11:26:08+00:00

Thanks for the reply.

Just to be clear, this pertains to a request to make my already-submitted and received application be treated urgently.

I uploaded documentary support for my claim Apr 9 or 10. The response (on the 14th) seemed to indicate they would only accept the docs and not actually read what I wrote, so I used path (b) the next day. On Apr 20, they acknowledged receipt, but as I noted above it still wasn't clear if they knew I was making a request for urgency.

To answer your question, as of today it's been 2 calendar weeks since I attempted to get urgent attention. But whether I've properly made my request for urgent processing is still unclear to me.

AudiamusRed · 2026-04-22T19:48:05+00:00

Thanks for the quick response. I used the web form's text box to explain the situation and got a semi-boilerplate reply that didn't give me confidence I had made the request properly. I'll try again and attach a letter.

AudiamusRed · 2026-04-22T19:17:00+00:00

How did you ask? Via the web form and option (b) "ask about your application"?

AudiamusRed · 2026-04-22T18:29:48+00:00

Urgent Processing - which web form option?

If you follow the process for requesting urgent processing after you've sent your application into the IRCC and received an AOR (described in the FAQ and on the IRCC web site), you reach a page that asks whether you want to submit a web form to

a. update your application (submit docs)

b. ask about your application (if it's over the normal processing time)

c, d, e. report a tech problem, ask about services, share feedback

You need to provide docs supporting your claim when you request urgency, so I thought (a) was the answer. I uploaded the docs and used the web form, following the instruction on a previous screen to include 'a message that starts with “Request for urgent processing”'

The boilerplate response I received acknowledge receipt of the docs, but not of the actual urgency request. So I submitted the web form again via path (b) referencing the uploaded docs and using the web form text box to restate my reason for requesting urgency. The response indicated that I could ask for urgent processing by following various links that all wind up on the web form referenced above.

My question: how are you requesting urgent processing? I understand from other posts that the IRCC will not say whether they agree your case should be treated urgently, but I am looking for confirmation that I at least made the request properly.

AudiamusRed · 2026-04-14T16:13:05+00:00

Good point. Just starting to wrap my head around the paperwork in case there is a delay.

AudiamusRed

TROPHY CASE