Student Direct Stream (SDS) Canada Visa Process for International Students

What Is Student Direct Stream (SDS) Canada Means?

Canadian Education system is not just world class but also is very supportive and flexible to international students. And, in order to Stream line and expedite the study permit application, IRCC, Canada embarked on an ambitious program. It was in year 2018 called Student Direct Stream (SDS) Canada Scheme.

Initially, the students from four countries (India, China, Philippines and Vietnam) were allowed. Through this scheme in which the processing time was significantly lower than the conventional method.

The Countries:

Now, as per the IRCC web site the SDS scheme is now extended to as many as 14 countries which are:-

Antigua and Barbuda
Brazil
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
India
Morocco
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Senegal
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
Vietnam

To know the update about the processing fee and minimum time required to process your study permit application, just visit the official website of IRCC Canada. For the faster processing of your application, IRCC expect you fulfill all requirement such as giving your bio-metrics as soon as possible and meeting all eligibility requirements.

Student Direct Stream (SDS) Canada Eligibility/requirements:

So, let’s first discuss about the eligibility criteria that is who are eligible to apply to apply under this scheme.

At the time of applying under this scheme, a candidate must be the citizen of the above mentioned countries. And, must also be living in that country only.
As far as SDS Canada IELTS requirements are concerned, a candidate need to have minimum overall 6.0 band. And, with not less than 6.0 in any modules. So if you are planning to apply through this scheme you need to score minimum 6.0 bands in Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking.
You would be investing minimum 10,000 CAD in GIC. It needs to open an account and deposit 10,000 CAD in one of three authorized banks in Canada. You may open your GIC account in any one of these banks namely ICICI Canada, SBI Canada and Scotia Bank.
The Next criterion is that you are supposed to deposit full first year tuition fee well in advance. It means you would be depositing tuition fee of both the semesters of the first year.
Then, before apply through SDS program; please ensure that you must be applying in an education program that should be minimum post secondary diploma, certificate or degree program.
An Upfront medical test from the authorized center is also a must for processing application under this scheme.

Luckily, SDS is only for the citizens of 14 countries allowed by IRCC Canada and India is one of them. So, just focus on score well in your IELTS test and make sure you clear the SDS Canada IELTS requirements.

Now let’s move forward and see what documents do you need when you would be applying though this program.

Documents Required:

Following documents are needed to be kept ready before proceeding to apply for study permit under this scheme.

Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from your college or university which must be a DLI (Designate Learning Institution)
TRF (Test Report Form) of your IELTS test
The third document is the proof of full first year tuition fee
Proof of purchase of Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC), where you need to submit the receipt or the statement from the prescribed bank
Your medical report
You should also be ready with the transcripts of your previous exams
Visa payment receipt should keep ready when you are going to upload the documents when you apply under this scheme.
Bio-metrics fee receipt.
There is one additional requirement of CAQ (Certificate of Acceptance of Quebec) if you intend to apply in any SDS institute of Quebec province of Canada.

Takeaways:

If all of the above mentioned documents are ready, you may either apply yourself or you may seek the guidance from an experienced Study abroad and study visa consultant. The Benefit of applying through SDS Canada scheme are numerous which include your application will proceed much quicker and consequently you would receive your study permit quicker than those who apply through traditional study permit process. Apart from this, the requirements of financial documents are less.

Whereas, in Non SDS scheme, the requirements are a bit different. You need to show the proof of the fund that may be any one of these documents such as bank statement, loan document, Form 16 or the FD or ITR of the parents. In a nutshell, the Student Direct Stream (SDS) Canada program is very helpful to the study abroad aspirants which ensures the speedy and streamlines processing of study permit. Being it hassle free and transparent, the students find it easy to collect all necessary documents.

← Job Opportunities in Canada in various Sectors for International Students

Top Colleges in Quebec for International Students→