₦airaland Forum

Hi all,
So I follow some topics on nairaland but hardly comment. Had to look for pw and username to login just to post this.
So I used the flagpole method and it worked.
Had applied for visitors permit when wife's study permit was issued sometimes in Feb 2022 and good news I got it in like 2 months.
Then I came to Canada and applied for sowp in May 2022 from within to hasten process while I returned to naija. But as at October 2022 no news and processing days from within Canada had increased to about 168days. I had to come join in Canada with the kids in October on our visitors permit in hope that it will come out.
Anyway long story short I went with wife and the kids to Niagara queens bridge border with a PR guy we paid to drive us down.
Reason I went with wife was she had applied to update her study permit from Jan 2023 to May 2023 cos she deffered start date of program and she had gotten an approval mail and the new visa stamp but needed to get a study/coop permit at the Port of Entry herself.
While the kids also needed a visitors record which is also printed out like a study/work permit to recognize their stay in Canada. Although our 4yr old already registered in school with his visit visa cos wife had a valid study permit.. So not sure it is really important.
Anyway the flagpole is no big deal so far everything is correct documentation wise and apparently is needed if you want to extend your stay and have gotten a visa approval from within CA and you want to stay back in Ca without going back to home country.. Also, the US borderside too were quite familiar with it.
As already available in online YouTube videos about Niagara, border officers on Canada side restrict number of people they attend to for flagpoling so always try to be there really early. Another hint- what also aided us was the new study permit pre-approval wife had for the new extension for study, God used that as a reason for border officials to process us that same day while they were asking others to check back.
So thank God for us.. It ended in praise..
Hope the info is useful to someone out there and if you have the resource and don't mind a refusal history to the USA (which I think one can explain away during usa visa interviews - with a valid reason of I needed to get a workpermit/study permit without returning to home country etc).
Overall I guess with God, it's an easy process and can be swifter in less busy borders check on youtube for videos on subject of flagpoling if interested for details.. All the best!

Hi house, I guess I owe this forum this quick comment as I was a Nigerian shortlisted for the interviews at Washignton DC.
It was quite an experience and though I didn't scale to be selected as one of the employed analyst I feel a little tip on my experience in the process may be of help to future applicants.
I applied for the budget analyst role only, I studied accounting and I work with one of the big4 firms in Nigeria
After the online test which many commented about here already(had 1/1 on my initial communication), I got an invite for technical assessment, was tough..more like all this CIMA case study questions..think about 4 questions, Which by Gods grace I scaled.
Then got an invite for an interview in DC..all sponsored trip and reimbursement late 2016.

So it was quite an unconventional interview (2days), we were exposed to the unit's activities blablabla on the morning of the 1st day, had exotic launch, a dinner at night, then less I forget the koko , during the day we were giving a case study to solve as a group- 3members in each group and typically all the normal things which include team work innovation blabla as earlier sent to us in a mail was been measured...must confess was quite a physce stage and was nerve wrecking for me...but I believe I did well..Naija no dey carry last na.

For the 2nd day,we had been sent a case study weeks earlier on which we were supposed to have prepared slides ahead and present on the 2nd day based on an interview with panelist to gather more information on the 1stday...it was tasking and fun.

And finally we job shadowed a unit as participants..quite weird cos why would an employer show you around without employing..still can't solve the puzzle.
But in all was a good experience.
Am sorry I may not be online to comment again on this as I am not used to much 'onlineliness' but this forum has sure been resourceful as I remember using it well to get my first job and I haven't shared much even though am a beneficiary. I sincerely hope this little I shared helps a future applicant.
However if anything I must stress that at the final stage of the process...I think less of technical capabilities counts as anyone who gets there sure has great things to offer (and must have proven to have been smart to scale through) and what I learned the hard way was that the soft skills like team work, smiles during presentation, mildly assertiveness speaks more than technicalities.

*Thanks and as you aspire (cos you must be if you are reading this), enjoy Christ's grace to excel...see you guys at the top!