Admission Deferral

International applicants may defer admission if experiencing study permit delays

If you are an international applicant and your study permit processing is delayed, you may request to defer your admission to a future term. Deferral requests are not guaranteed and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Eligibility

To be considered for a deferral, you must:

• Have paid your tuition deposit to accept an offer of admission to NAIT and continue to meet any conditions outlined in your offer of admission
• Be impacted by study permit processing delays from  Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
• Submit an admission deferral request within the deferral timeline
• Include proof of delayed study permit processing, see details below.

Additional considerations

• It is your responsibility to make sure your deferral request has the correct information and required proof.
• You may only submit a deferral request for the same program to which you were  accepted.
• You can only defer your admission once and cannot qualify for a second deferral. If you previously deferred your admission and still do not have your study permit, you need to submit a new application. 
• Deferral requests not submitted through the correct online contact form or submitted after the deadline will not be considered.
• Study permit denials or refusals cannot be deferred. Please review NAIT’s refund policy for information about what to do if your study permit is refused.
• You must have applied for your study permit within 60 days after you received your offer of admission, with enough time before the start of your term. Study permit delays resulting from a student's lack of action or delay in applying for a study permit will not be considered.
• Applicants who are 17 years of age or younger who are required by Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to have a custodian in Canada, will be eligible for an admission deferral if they are unable to appoint a custodian in Canada.
• Only international students are eligible for deferrals at this time.

Deferral timeline

You can submit a deferral request during the 2-week period before the tuition payment deadline of the term you are scheduled to start your program. The deadline to request a deferral for consideration is the tuition payment deadline for the term.

For example, if the tuition deadline is August 14, deferral requests can be submitted online from August 1-14. Requests will only be accepted until 11:59 p.m. MDT on the tuition deadline.

If you are impacted by study permit processing delays, please submit an admission deferral early – be sure to include the required proof!

Submitting a deferral request

How to request a deferral

It is your responsibility to ensure you have all the necessary information as part of your admission deferral request, including the mandatory proof of delayed study permit processing.

To request an admission deferral:

1. Go to the online contact form, select topic: Admission Questions, subcategory: Admission Deferral; and
2. You must attach a screenshot from your IRCC portal that shows when you applied for your study permit and what the status of your study permit request is. This proof must be attached to your online deferral request form.

Admission deferral request

Deferral decision

You will be notified via email once your request for a deferral has been reviewed and a decision has been made. Review timelines depend on the time of year and volume of deferrals, please allow for approximately 2-3 weeks.

Once a deferral decision has been made, the decision is final and cannot be reversed or undone.  

Approved deferral

If your deferral request is approved, you will:

• Be deferred to the next open intake
• Be issued a new Letter of Acceptance to begin your program in a later term. Upload this new letter to the IRCC  webform
• Receive a new tuition guarantee based on the term you will begin your program
• Not be required to pay the tuition deposit again
• Be withdrawn from your classes in the term you were originally scheduled to begin your program  

Denied deferral

If your deferral request is denied and you are still waiting for your study permit, we recommend that you drop your classes in your current term, so you do not incur any additional academic or financial penalties. Then you must submit a new application to a future term.

Please note that your tuition deposit paid is non-refundable and non-transmissible. View refund policy.