Hi Barbiek01, I'll be expecting your PM. Cheers

barbiek01:



@deni83, pls I will be landing in December and am booking Egypt air. Kindly help with the cargo company you use to cargo ur foodstuffs to Canada and what are the stuffs I can’t cargo. Can I pm you because I still have a lot of questions to ask you as we will also be staying In Milton.Thanks

Hi Lalaska,
Thanks for further reiterating this. I would like to know which insurance companies specifically... (data is gold)

Lalaska:
I agree with the below. The initial information is not correct. That letter is gold, if you can get it, get it. It is a life saver for 2 reasons.

1. It shows your driving history hence after taking the written test, you will be given a G1 (learner's) license with its plenty restrictions. If you do not have the FRSC letter, you would have to wait for sometime before taking G2 and G road tests. But with the letter, you can take the G road test immediately.

2. Insurance: if you dont have that powerful FRSC letter, they will assume you have not driven before and charge you very high insurance. But with that letter, they assume you have been driving from the date written on that letter and calculate your insurance. Trust me this will reduce your premium significantly.

Finally, they accept FRSC from Nigeria and I have used it. As much as you can, please get it because it is a life saver.

A555:


Same should apply. See following link for Ontario vehicle registration:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/register-vehicle-permit-licence-plate-and-sticker

So it looks like if you're buying a used car, you would need to close the sale and get a bill of sale from the seller, then take that with insurance and other documents including your driver's license to get license plates and a sticker.

Any insurance company (including TD) will provide you with insurance once you provide them with the VIN on the vehicle and your license information. Usually you can do this over a phone call, and they will email you temporary insurance docs immediately, prior to the final version coming in the mail. You can use the temp insurance docs with your other documentation to sort out the vehicle registration.

What you've described as a "piggy back" arrangement with someone who has good driving history is not allowed by insurance companies and can lead to coverage being denied if you are involved in an incident. They will collect your premiums, but when you have an accident, they will do their investigation which will show false information was provided on your insurance application and hence deny coverage. Essentially the person with good credit history has indicated that they are the primary user of the vehicle and you are a secondary user, but obviously this is not the case, especially as the car is also in your name.

Thank you. I just needed a broader input because the brokers we were speaking to made it sound complex and made it look undoable with G1 license. After looking directly at quotes from about 6 different insurance companies we are going with TD insurance because it has the cheapest rates.

A big tip though: Some insurance companies in Ontario (Desjardin in particular) will accept your "letter of no claims" from your Nigerian car insurance company(s) if you have had a clean history for 6 years or more and that will significantly reduce your monthly payments (about half it).

vcole:
Registering a car or getting license plates are done at the registries. There is usually one within the community where you live. Google license and registry around xyz and it should pop up their contact info. Insurance companies in my experience cater to everyone. However everyone gets charged different premiums. As you wouldn't have any Canadian driving experience, you would most likely get charged slightly higher. Check out TD insurance. A phone call to get a quote should do the trick. Have your VIN number on hand though.

Thanks Vcole. I'm asking about Ontario though because I know things differ slightly per region. Like I know for certain you need a G2/G license in Ontario before you can get insurance,... or some people piggy back on with someone who already has a a good insurance history to get a reasonable quote. I'll check out TD insurance, and I would still appreciate more feedback from others. Thank you

Hello House,

Elders in the house in Ontario: Please can you recommend a car insurance company that you used that catered to the needs of newcomers or discuss available options to registering a car and getting license plates?

Thank you!

Hi wealthiest1,
Thanks for the compliment... that's super sweet of you! I'm actually working on my masters project right now and hope whoever would mark my script would think so too. lol.
God has already gone ahead for you and will perfect all that concerns you and yours. It is well in Jesus name. Cheers

wealthiest1:
You are such a great writer. i guess your IELTS would only attest to that. I love your story, its so inspiring and i tap into your grace for my family and I. Hoping to see soon in Canada. Thanks a lot and God bless you.

Hi Cheromel,
Thank you! Would be looking forward to your arrival . Hopefully, I would have learnt enough to show you the ropes as my relatives are doing for me presently. They have made our landing the softest possible... God bless them real good

cheromel:


Really enjoyed reading your landing story. We are still waiting for our passports to be returned from VFS. We intend landing early next year and will be staying in Milton. Hubby will also be doing soft landing. Would be nice to meet up with you when we land. Enjoy maple land and post more info when you can. Cheers.

Hi Zeiya
Yes the food stuff were inspected (but the Naija way- NOT thoroughly). No meat or milk too allowed from our end. It wasn't inspected in my presence when I went to pick it up 3 days after we landed- I was just asked by customs if it had any meat or milk). I also had to pay a 92CAD charge for bringing them in

Zeiya:
@deni83
Thanks for sharing your experience
Please did they inspect your food stuff before it was cargoed ?

Q1 based on what I had read here on nairaland , fish is usually binned by Egypatir officials
Q2 I did the booking (after my husband tried first and complained about their network), and it was straightforward at that time. However, at a point when we thought we would need to change our dates,... the network acted up. So one can safely say that their online presence isn't the best

[quote author=Otnias post=69742945]@deni83

congrats on your landing and thanks for sharing... may the land favour you.
I have some questions:
1. are there some foodstuff that are not acceptable on Egyptair? [color=#770077]
2. how did you book with them, cos we have been trying but their website is not working well?

Hello everyone, been silently following and learning from this thread and would like to share my landing story ( hoping it would help someone else):

PPR was gotten in March and we searched for flights through skyscanner.net, We booked our flight in May for a family of four going to Toronto in July via Egypt airways (it costed about 1m plus). We initially wanted to go for Emirates but the 600k price difference was thought to be better spent on cargoing foodstuff (to avoid Egypt air wahala) and for the kids to do some summer camp outings with their cousins in Toronto.
We cargoed the food items and some other personal effects the day before the trip(82kg for N115k,... for those who intend to cargo it makes more sense if you have 100kg or more in weight)

Also, after much back and forth, we finally decided to split our full POF between my husband and I and carry cash to Toronto. We changed our monies to 100USD bills and they were very handy to carry with our carry ons. We had not issue with safety or harassments at the airports.

Day of departure: Got to the airport around 11am on Friday (Lagos traffic), had a smooth check-in (we had weighed our 8 baggages at home before leaving and our hand luggages were also pretty light). Had meetups at the airport with family and friends but we couldn't hang out for long... took a lot of pics though. Went to the boarding area, and we were asked to identify our luggage before sitting down to wait to board. Boarded plane in time. Flight to Cairo was on a small plane, no personal IFE, but food was okay and the kids (6 and 4yrs) slept most of the way. Landed in Cairo after about 6hrs and had a 5 hr wait,... which the kids spent running around. We got a bite to eat (I could pay in dollars at the airport) and finally the boarding process began, with only one really slow officer trying painstakingly to match the faces of passengers to their passport photos...(lol)ridiculous. finally someone joined him and the queue was a lot faster. From the number of people queued up to board, one could tell that the plane would be a much bigger one and it was.

The 12hr flight was pretty comfortable with personal IFE, okay feeding and darkened cabins to help get used to the timezone change and we all got to sleep. The cabin crew weren't the friendliest but they were helpful and the pilot had the softest takeoff and landing I had ever experienced! We landed Toronto around 7.50am Saturday, did the expected check ins and landing procedures. There practically wasn't any queue at the time we landed so our wait wasn't tedious and we got a cheerful "welcome to Canada you are now Permanent Residents of Canada". However, because we had goods to follow, we had to go to customs to prep for them. After all the waka, we finally went out to meet our expectant relatives who had come to receive us with 2 cars. We did the 30mins drive to Milton, where they reside, ate ,gisted , went out for some grocery shopping and finally got to sleep around 7pm.

Been up and about town since Monday getting our bank accounts opened (we did a joint account in Scotia with separate credit cards, for now), gotten our SINs, got a mobile sim-freedom ( on my Samsung S7 double sim that I had brought from Naija) just for me for now though... my husband just intends to do a soft landing. Found out the Halton district has new program for IMGs,... so we're hoping that works for us and we're also prepping for driving tests (having a car is not a luxury in a small town like Milton). The kids have started summer camp at a church with their cousins and are having a blast and that also frees our days for us to do waka.

Canadians have been very helpful and Milton in particular is very family oriented with lots of public and low cost programs available to engage the kids this summer. I will try to update as I see needful, but I can say that if you have a family and you are looking to save some money Egypt air isn't a bad option.

Hello all,

I'm a silent reader here. I just joined nairaland today to post my timeline. I was referred to this thread by a friend and I can honestly say that this forum is the best. I hope my timeline helps and encourages someone.

I'm a 35yr old specialist physician (family of 4)
Wrote IELTS with my hubby Oct 2016
Sorted out ECA/MCC issues Jan 2017
Found out I could join the pool by myself (honestly I was totally clueless) March 2017
Directed to this thread March 2017
First ITA with score of 461 March 2017 (sorry can't remember the date) Rejected it cos POF wasn't complete
Finally accepted 4th ITA with a score of 456 July ending(Had a birthday in July)
AOR- 27 Oct 2017
ADR- Travel hx for spouse-31st Oct 2017
Medicals passed-3rd Nov 2017
NA2- 11 Nov 2017
ADR-not needed Dec 7
Wrote to find out visa office- Jan 12
Reply- LVO Jan 9th
Requested for GCMS notes 13 Feb
IP2- 27 Feb
Got GCMS notes- 14 March
PPR-19 March


Notes
This journey was pretty long for me mainly due to lack of information on my part and the time taken to get my husband on board with the move.

I wanted to have a good amount above the required POF (didn't want any fluctuation story- so my husband and I waited to accumulate it from different sources ). 90% went into treasury bills and the balance was in my account. I wrote a cover letter for the POF explaining the funds, attached a letter from my husband stating his transfers and days they were made and that it was towards the family's immigration dream, got a letter from my bank (but not CIC compliant) put in the treasury bills certificate and my statement of account.

I also had cover letters for my work reference in addition to LOE. I think it was from @dupsyshoo's post that I found the idea of cover letters and it just seemed to make sense to help guide the visa officer though your application.

I had had visa refusal from the UK which I appealed and won, ... so I go with the theory of UK travel/ refusal/stay history== London visa office

God has been involved every step of the way and the wait most definitely built my faith. I'm trusting him for a fruitful transition and I'm open to embracing the opportunities He brings them my way.

For everybody still waiting to sort out IELTS/ECA runs, receive ITA and PPR... God will surely perfect what He has started in you. Everybody's journey is different and yours will surely come to pass.

And to all the wonderful contributors, question answerers, troublemakers and my fellow silent readers may the Cannyland smile on us and favour us. Amen