Update on Student Direct Stream: Eligible Banks for the GIC Program

There's a recent Program Delivery Update by IRCC concerning the new Student Direct Stream and the Student Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) Program.

As of April 30, 2019, SDS applications are being centralized and processed by the Centralized Network (CN), and the service standard for SDS processing is 20 calendar days and are now processed online. 

They update also provided instructions regarding the GIC. Applicant applying under Student Direct Stream must provide proof of a Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) of CAN $10,000 or more from any bank insured by the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) or any bank listed on the IRCC SDS Web page:

Scotiabank which was the first to offer the GIC Program for applicants from the Philippines. Although listed on the Canadian Deposit Insurance Company Website, it is however, no longer listed in the IRCC SDS Web Page as a bank that meets the criteria for SDS. We've sent an inquiry to clarify this. How about those who purchased GIC before April 30, 2019? The updates provided information concerning transition from paper application to online until May 15, 2019 but was silent about Scotiabank GIC. 

For the meantime, we suggest that you do the GIC using CIBC or any of those listed banks. 

Update May 9, 2019: You can still use GIC from Scotiabank as confirmed by Embassy of Canada - Manila via email. 

Update May 10, 2019: The page was updated and now includes Scotiabank.