Finally, the college replied yesterday saying Jan 2023 intake is full and they can only put us on the waitlist. What does that mean?
I also want to ask everyone who have gone through or going through deferrals. If I ask for Jan 2023 which is waitlisted, will I be still eligible for May 2023 intake or is it only one time I can ask? How to deal with deferral scenario at best?
What is the IRCC doing
Honestly! Yes, this is very common among colleges and universities to grant only one deferral per admission offer. In my case, for example, my university allowed me to start in the Winter 2023 semester, but I am worried that in case our application does not come through by then and does not comes out positive, the university might not grand me another deferral for September 2023, which means I would need to re-apply to the university all over again, which in tern means going through competition again without any guarantee of admission.
In your case, a waitlist means that they will only give you a placement if someone gives up their place. It means that, as of now, there are no available spots in your program and there is a list of people waiting for a spot. You can not know where exactly you are on that list and the university won't tell you. They will just inform you in case you are up the list and there is someone dropping their seat, which they can offer to you.
There is a chance that in case you do not get a placement in Winter, they might re-direct you one more time to the Spring semester. But this you have to talk to them about, though they might not give you an answer now.