The extremely popular SDS (Student Direct Stream) for studying in Canada has now been extended to 7 more countries. Previously students in only 6 countries, India, Pakistan, China, Senegal, Philippines Morocco, and Vietnam had the option to apply for a study permit through this stream. The new countries that have been added are Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

Student Direct Stream is an accelerated process for reviewing applications for study permit. The conventional time before Covid for these applications was 20 days not including time for biometric if required by the country of residence. Students applying through this stream were mandated to complete certain requirements before they submitted their applications apart from the regular requirements for a study permit:

1. Letter of Acceptance from a Designated Learning Institute in Canada
2. Most recent secondary or post-secondary education transcript
3. Applicants should have undergone an upfront medical exam if they are from a country that is designated by IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada)
4. They should have paid their 1- year tuition fee
5. They should have a GIC Certificate of at least CAD 10,000from a Bank listed on the IRCC website
6. They should have 6 in each band on the IELTS examination or Test d’Evaluation de Français (TEF) score that is equivalent to a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) score of at least 7 for each ability: at least 310 for speaking, 249 for listening, 207 for reading and 310 for writing. These results need to be less than 2 years old

All applications under the Student Direct Stream need to have been applied online.