I followed this exactly and l have managed to link my application. However l did out the start date, month and year of my course as it is provided on my offer letter. Another thing l noticed l might have been doing wrong was on 7 l have just put my first name instead of both my names as on my passport and as per the application. And on 8. I followed exactly and did not put my country and city of birth.(1) Go to Cic.gc.ca and select my application and status of my application
(2) Click on continue to Gckey
(3) If You've already account created, login with your Username and Password otherwise Click on Sign up to go on next page and create your username, password and security questions.
(4) After creating my CIC account, click link application to this account.
(5) Then select category as Temporary residence and subcategory as Study Permit and extension.
(6) Then select Family name, given name and date of birth option.
(7) Fill your family name(surname), given name and date of birth as per Passport or Application form.
(8.) Next in applicant personal info panel fill Passport information only and DO NOT FILL CITY AND COUNTRY OF BIRTH.
(9) Enter your course start date given on your offer letter exact same as that.
(10) Enter course end date as on offer letter only month and year is given so enter that only don't select the date.
(11) Enter your DLI no. same as given on the offer letter.
(12) Next search for your application.
(13) Your application will be found and can be linked.
(14) You can get real time updates on your paper application online.
I was getting errors and tried the same with mine and it worked so hopefully it ll work for everyone.
Note : In 24 hours you can try only 5 times to link your application and if you exceed that then you have to wait for 24 hours, so be careful about that.
I tried this. This was posted in this forum which helped me link my application
Try this solution
I hope this helps