₦airaland Forum

Nwandy218:
Thanks for sharing your experience. Please is marketing a regulated profession? Do you see a lot of brand / marketing manager roles? We actually have family in Edmonton but we were tending towards ontario because we see more of those jobs over there.

It's up to each individual to do research on his chosen profession but since you are first to ask I'd take a minor exception in your case and do a bit of d work for u. From what I've researched in Alberta marketing manager is not a regulated profession. I don't think Ontario will be any different. See link below

https://alis.alberta.ca/occinfo/occupations-in-alberta/?offset=0&letter=all&s=Marketing%20Manager&featured=-1&sort=-1

The above website is a government of Alberta initiative and is a great resource to help plan your career and take solid action.

maternal:
lol naija people and God. But congrats I'm happy to hear stories like this. Not to take anything away from you, because you literally planned your arrival perfectly and put the effort in, but it has more to do with where you decided to land more than anything. You've proven what I've been telling people all this time. Stay away from expensive/ over-saturated Toronto if you can. Come to Alberta. Far less competition, cheaper cost of living/housing, lower taxes, and a better economy. In over a month you have your own place (853 for 2 bedrooms with heat,internet, etc is dirt cheap in Canada), a job, etc. I love how you didn't have a big head and used the resources provided by the government for new arrivals. Such as resume building and so forth. Most importantly, you now have Canadian experience on your resume. More doors will surely be opening, it'll only get better. Your method should be used as a template for new arrivals. Again Congrats.

, senior senior, why I go chop glory wey belong to my Father....Abi na me create myself.

Thanks for the encouragement tho cos that doesnt come easily from you so I guess I must have really done something well. Thanks so much

Deebay:
Thank you for this. This is what I needed to read at this time. God bless you. How's life in Edmonton? Where in Edmonton are you? We are also looking to land in Edmonton.

Edmonton is good now. The ice that piled after heavy snowfall in october and november has melted away though we are expecting a second wave anytime soon. There are many opportunities here as we see job adverts every now and then. I am still discovering the city itself.

I stay close to Century Park and we are looking forward to meeting you guys when u eventually arrive

vascey:
Very good. First of all congrats freeradical. I also think u made a great decision by going for bigger company. Hopefully bigger things will come after 9 months. Please a few questions- is it a regulated profession? If yes, how did u deal with that? What about the Canadian experience thingy? How did u navigate around that? Or didnt they ask?

Brewing is not regulated in canada so I got lucky there. My wife however studied Agric Economics and that field is regulated. So we have started the process for her to get the Agrologist-in-training designation here in Alberta. We just sent her transcript and other documents to IQAS for a specialized assessment and will take it from there when we get the report.

Canadian experience is a highly misunderstood concept. Our work experiences from Nigeria where relevant are highly valid. Brewing is a universal science so there is nothing special between what canada brewers do compared to how we brew in Nigeria. What they mean by Canadian experience is that are you able to cope in their canadian work environment. Do not be quick to say you are because its a whole different culture they have compared to ours and many foreigners still don'd get this. Infact I believe that is what the first brewery wanted to guage when they called me in for those paid trial shifts. They asked me in the interview about how I intended to cope with their canadian work environment and I answered well based on my level of preparedness. I did a pre-arrival food safety management course for Food and beverage professionals and that helped me a lot in this regard. So I knew what they expected and how to behave. So in a nutshell when they tell you about Canadian experience tell them you respect diversity in the work-place. Tell them you entertain feedback to help you improve. Tell them you are aware of the informal organizational structure where managers and supervisors do not ride on high horses but are willing and open to ideas and suggestion from their subordinates to make a performing team and never shout down or criticize openly a team member from making a contribution. Then greet people less formally...Don't call anybody Sir or Ma. Good morning Nick, Hi Susan....these are acceptable ways of greeting your Ogas in Canada.

Again I cant over-emphasize the role of training in all this so from after COPR you have to start doing something. There are several pre-arrival trainings and even some post arrival ones. The simple way around the dreaded canadian experience for me was just one free online training!

40manlappy:
@freeradical Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your story. Also nice to have you back here

Thanks bro. So how is it going with your own journey?

Wow...that's a lot of reading up to catch up with the thread. Its been like I went into a coma and just got out . Well its not easy settling into life in Edmonton with a spouse and two kids all younger than three. To live up to the purpose of this thread, I will share our experiences so far. This is so as to give those still planning to make the jump a fair sense of what to expect once they land here so they can make more informed decisions.

So we landed on Oct 7th and spent the first one month with our hosts in their town home. This may not be the most comfortable arrangement but i decided to tow this path because I had no experience whatsoever living outside Nigeria. Neither does my spouse. So I needed to understudy people a bit so as to avoid making costly blunders and it did work well for us. Before we left for our own apartment, we got to complete all my post arrival activities like SIN, Alberta health etc under the tutelage of our well experienced host. We got to start learning the Bus and train transit system so we could go out by ourselves without getting lost. We also made good use of our hosts' home wifi to search for apartments and apply for jobs. We also got to learn some of their routines and home management techniques which we have imbibed or plan to in their near future.

We moved out to our own apartment exactly a month after landing. We got a good deal because we had ample time to search for an apartment. We took a 2 bedroom that has free internet and cable TV, one free energized parking, free heat and water for $853/month. Our place is also very close to the Train station and Bus terminal so I always plan my trips from there. Moving in was stressful because of the luggages and kids so i hired uber cabs for it.

Job Search- Now this is where every aspiring canadian have fears. So here is how its been for us so far. I started applying for a job as soon as a got COPR (No time ). Got my first interview call a week after landing and I was excited. The excitement was in the end short-lived by the time I went for the interview. I had not mastered the transit system well at the time so I arrive 19mins later than I was scheduled. The security guy refused to allow me in because I was late. After that I wasn't getting any response for all the other applications I was sending. I wondered why I was busy shooting blanks. I thought maybe I wasnt doing something right. So, we decided to join a couple of newcomer services notably- WCI (welcome centre for Immigrants) and ERIEC. We attended a couple of informational sessions with them and utilized their career services like resume building and preparation for interviews. I am a brewer by profession in Nigeria while my wife has only her cloth-making business she operated but we both had to adapt our resumes to suit the canadian work environment. I see a lot of people asking for one guy's resume but it wont do you any good copy-pasting someone's resume. What will make your resume sell well is if you write it yourself because only you know your story. Just avail yourself to these free employment services and you will be fine.
So after we had tweaked our resumes we started getting calls for interviews. I got one immediately from a microbrewery in Edmonton and I had a drilling panel interview with them afterwards. They gave me a couple of paid trial shifts and later asked me to await a final decision on my job offer. In the same time I got called for another interview with the biggest brewer in Canada but for a temporary position (to last for 9 months) which I honored. That happened to be the easiest interview in my life...they just wanted to know what made me apply for such a job I was way more qualified for an I told them I wanted the opportunity to join their team.
A week later I was given both job offers and after careful consultations and considerations I picked the big brewery over the microbrewery. By Gods grace after clearing the background check I will be starting work on 2nd January. We are still expecting something for wifey but for now she engages with part time employment from a local employment agency.

So there you have it. There are jobs in Canada but its not offered on a platter for anybody. You must be ready to convince potential employers that it is you that they need to hire. First way is to attract them with an eye-catching resume laden with your skills and achievements in the past. Blow your trumpet well but be honest. Do not claim what you do not have. Be adventurous and apply different strategies to your job search( the microbrewery offer I got were not even hiring, I merely sent an unsolicited application to them and I got an interview). Then above all believe/trust in God who made it even possible for you to be a legal resident of Canada. He wont lead you here only to leave you hanging without work. Despite that he wont come and do for you what you have to do for yourself. So work hard and pray hard and the sky will be our starting point in Canada.

It will surely end in praise for all of us!

Blackbuddy:
You're right, you don't really need a contact to get a passport/renewal at Ottawa

Means I have to go to Ottawa right? Do they have any arrangements where they come down to the provinces for biometrics. I really want to avoid having to travel

Does anyone know any good contact from the Nigerian high commission in Ottawa, I need help with passports urgently

Congratulations bro...i am so happy for you. Finally your patience is rewarded.

LordSebastian:
Hello.

Been a while. So I had to come back here to do this. This was where it all started.

PPR finally landed.

Timeline is as below:

ITA: March 1
AOR; May 9
NA: June 28
Transferred to London VO: Aug 9
Informed CIC of marriage: Sep 5
ADR for Spouse: Sep 6
Added Spouse to application:Sep 14
IP2: Sep 29
ADR for updated POF: Oct 25
Submitted ADR: Oct 26
PPR: Nov 1

Never give up guys!

Thanks to all the May crew and London crew. U guys are fantastic @Mummyjaygirls @behati @erekebam @40manlappy @freeradical @itababe @Wura27 etc. The list is endless!

God bless you all. Cheers.

Both pictures are from Edmonton, Alberta

Imagine waking up to this. Damn it's beautiful. Thank God I'm not going out today. Lemme continue to admire the beauty from inside the house.

fabdee:
Hello beautiful people...sorry for the delay with my gist.

Sooo the first official checked our passports and b.pass...... off to the next queue, the guy already had a list. I was like ehen....its about to go down. To God be the gloryyyyy we were not on the list yayyyy my fish, crayfish, ponmo, vegetable, groundnut, egusi, ogbono etc and I started dancing skelewu....we scaled through Pharaoh of Egypt hahaha
Oook boarded the next flight...we off to toronto...bigger plane (airbus i guess) take off was cool...no ear pains just a couple of blocking and reopening..... Food came....took the bread and cheese jejely as usual.....twas a long 12hr flight, inflight entertainment was much better.....Touch down Toronto.......went through immigration........service canada(got our SIN)..........went to baggage area to get our bags.......got a porter to assist, old man charged 20CAD, i was like wawuu just to push load? Na wa o.

Next is customs......
Custom: what foodstuff do you have in your luggage?

We: dried cassava, dried fish.....

Custom interrupts: do you have snails, meat?

We: NO

Custom: ok you can go. Do have a great time.

We: ������

Custom: ohh do you have goods to follow?

We: Yes

Custom: sorry go this way

We: �� another queue ooo

By the time we were through with all that, we had missed our flight. We were placed on the next available flight to Edmonton which was like 30min so we didnt have to wait for long.

Touch down Edmonton.....we had already rented an apartment before we left naija. We got a friend to come pick us....got to our new apartment and had a lonnggggg sleep.

Next day we went to get phone lines....my dearest Techno fone did not collabo with the sim(koodo) so i had to get a new phone. Wuld be paying 63Caccounthly as opposed to 55CAD if it was just the sim.
Next stop was RBC bank to open an account.

Nextttt we shopping...at first every item i picked had to go thru a mini second multiply by 300naira, drop it...how much we dey buy am for naija buh then i realised i will leave the mall without buying a thing oo

Next day we went to the registry to register for our health insurance cards. We are yet to go to any of the welcome centers, should do that in the coming week.

Its been ten days now and I've been enjoying every bit of it.
Wishing everyone landing soon a safe trip and those yet to get ppr, success!y
Cheers everyone.

Welcome to Edmonton ma'am. We should chill out sometime. I sent u a PM

Ehrnie:
Congratulations brov! May the journey ahead be smooth...Amen!

I've got a question; did you give the VO an address (probably your host's address) and he said they cannot send your PR cards there...? Kindly clarify....

I gave the VO the address of my host and then he asked if it was mine or someone else's. I told him the truth that I will be spending up to a month at that address. Yet he concluded that they won't send our PR cards to the address. So I will have to update the change of address link as soon as I get an apartment

edababa007:
Guy, i bin dey find you everywhere ooo.. Did our landing together @ montreal airport..email me here obeadeniyi@gmail.com

My guy hope you arrived Calgary safely. I'd send you an email right away

So my people it's been a long couple of days for me. I'm here tho to pay my debt of sharing our landing experience. Take a seat it's a long read

We left for the airport at 2:00am in two cars because we are a family of four as well as our entourage (close family member). We had with us 9 check-in bags and 4 carry on luggages. We were flying with royal air Marco. I planned to pay for two extra luggages because I promised to get foodstuffs for my hosts in Edmonton from Nigeria. We pre weighed all our luggages from home but when we threw them into the airline scale two of them weighed above 24kg and the agent asked us to reduce them. Trouble began for me when the lady informed me that my infants check in baggage assignment was just 10kg as against the 23kg I had pre packed for him. This was mostly foodstuff I used his weight allowance for so the thought of dropping my eggs I left a sad look on my face. Luckily my wife came up with a brilliant idea and I dunno how she managed it but she repacked the bags with a GMG bag and it was all good. I proceeded to pay for my extra luggages and they were like it's 160 euros for the first bag and 250 euro for the second bag. I was like broda that's too much na. The guy was like ok I like your face today just pay $400 USD for both bags and do something on the side for me. I obliged broda and paid him the money with 2k extra for his troubles. All our bags were neatly wrapped and tagged so we said our goodbyes and proceeded to boarding.

The flight from Lagos to Casablanca was smooth. The flight took off at 6:15am and arrived Casablanca at about 10:00 am. I forgot my lenses inside the plane will we disembarked and though I remembered all my efforts to retrieve it proved abortive. The layover in Casablanca was 7hrs long and we didn't start boarding until 5:30pm. Though we had two kids the time flew just by because there was a play area were kids were slugging it out while parents sat close by. It really kept our two year old engaged until it was time to board. Also there were enough duty free stores around to kill time for adults. The next flight to Montreal took off at 6:30pm and was a bigger plane than the first. The flight was very smooth and comfortable. There was inflight entertainment on every seat and the food was not so bad after all. My daughter was so tired she slept almost all through the flight. More relief for mum and dad. We were given declaration forms to fill towards the end of the flight. We arrived Montreal at 08:45pm Montreal time. We disembarked quickly so as to be amongst the first to pass through CBSA and conclude the scary landing formalities. It was a long walk from plane to the immigration section though there were several areas where they put technology to help with the movement. We got to the immigration section first it was a CBSA officer who asked for our travel documents, declaration card and CPR. He asked us if we had goods to follows and I answered no. He asked if we were bringing any food and I said yes. Then he made some inscription on our document and directed us to the office to see the main immigration officer.

When we got there we were asked to pick a number and wait for our turn like what you get in an mtn customer service centre. When our number showed up we went to the officer and exchanged greetings. He asked for our passports and CPRs. He looked at them and at the same time the following conversation ensued
VO: So you are a skilled worker?
Me: Yes
VO: What's your skill
Me: I'm a manufacturing manager
VO: That's right, How about you ma'am? (He directed this question to my wife)
Wifey: I'm a fashion designer
VO: That's okay
VO: So, how much do you have both here in Canada and back home
Me: Quoted an amount in Naija
VO: Sorry I don't understand that. Give me the figure in Canadian dollar
Me: $22900
VO: okay we can round that off to 23k
Me: That's fine
VO: You guys can go have a seat let me prepare your documents. I will call u when they are ready.
Me: Thank you.

We walked briskly back to our seat and sat down. After about 20mins he called us again. Once we got there he handed us the stamped CPRs and he said welcome to Canada. He started explaining how important the CPR document is and adviced us never to lose it. He also gave an explanation on the process to citizenship and our rights as permanent residents. Then he told us to update our address online as soon as we get one that they won't send our PR card to someone else's.

Na so we pack ourselves run comot for there o before bros go change e mind. We went to get boarding passes for our final flight to Edmonton international airport which we boarded the following morning at 7:00am. We arrived Edmonton at 10:00am (Edmonton is 2hrs ahead of Montreal). We were picked at the airport by our host and when we got home we were all tired, ate and went to bed.

Hope our story helps someone coming after us. Canada is very cold o especially this Edmonton. I'm still struggling to adapt to it. The place though is beautiful. The city is well planned and everything works here. We have been trying to settle in after the thanksgiving holidays. We have got SIN and phone lines. Yesterday we went to the welcome centre for immigrants office at Millborough market mall where we had an employment session. We have also applied for Alberta health tho it's still being processed. There is so much work to do but we take it one step at a time.

XX01:
@Czaratwork, is it ACCA or ICAN you have? From what I gather, you have to be registered in the province you live which might be why they sent it to Ontario.

@freeradical, have you landed yet? What's your experience?

As am typing this I'm at Montreal International airport awaiting my last connecting flight to Edmonton in the next 6hrs. To God be the glory we have landed successfully as permanent residents.

Blackbuddy:
Much thanks again to @Ballerz for sharing his driving test experience and other tips. For those looking at getting the FRSC experience letter, you can send a mail to NDLverification@frsc.gov.ng and use this simple template to make the request,

Good day,
 I ... residing at the above address is requesting for driving history document showing clean records without any suspension.

DRIVERS LICENSE NUMBER:

DATE OF BIRTH:

I require this to formalize my Canadian Driver’s License

I shall be willing to authorize the pick-up of this original document once it is ready, while appreciating issue of the soft extract to my e-mail: ......
for commencement of the processing of Driver’s license at Canada

Thanking you anticipation of your action and response.

Even if you're already in Canada, you can make the request and get the soft copy of their response for your use for driving licence/car insurance as well and have someone back home courier the hard copy to you after you give them written authorisation to pick it on your behalf. Hope this helps.

Thanks for this guidance. God bless you

Ballerz:
Driving
So I came to the driving centre today.
The queue was s long. But I was determined to get that sorted and out of the way.
Came with my Letter from FRSC, the license itself and Passport.

It got to my turn, did all the documentation, paid the 105 CAD, I proceeded to the screen. My heartbeat started racing faster than Dywane Johnson. This is the fate of the furious. I had seen people who did not pass and had to go queue up again (you pay 15 CAD for retake) but because of the queue and time, I really needed to pass. I had done enough practice test in Nigeria. (Here is the link I used. http://www.g1.ca/g1-practice-test/ Practice till you are clocking 100%. The questions were exact.)

Download the driving instructions manual and read when you are less busy or bored. When you have a good understanding of their rules, the practice test will be quite easy and a breeze. (Just Google it or send me a mail, I will fwd the pdf one I have).

I have also been told, if you are not sure, just skip. The test is divided into two sections. 1. Knowledge and Sign test. You can only fail four per section. So strategy is to ensure you get your 16 straight. So if you don't know/not sure, just skip so that even if na the last four you fail, you are good to go because once you fail more than four, the test stops. e.g. you fail number 1-5, that is game over.

So sha, I continued my test with heart racing, finally finally screen said I passed. I bounced off my seat like a boss awaiting my temporary license / result confirmation.
Cheers folks

You are a Rolling Stone bro gathering no moss. Congrats for acing your knowledge test. Can you help me out with the link for getting the FRSC reference letter. My travel to Canada date is fast approaching (Oct 7th) so I hope I should be able to get the hard copy before then?
Secondly, for the driving test is it with manual transmission or automatic?

solos007:
My Time Line is
ITA : 17th May
AOR :19th June (similar to Freeradical's...not the same speed... )
MP : 12th July
NA1-IP1 :13th July
NA2 : 14th July
IP2 : 16th Aug
PPR : 22nd Aug

Oluwa is involved!!!

Thank you all and God Bless... as we will all be landing in Canada very soon...

Congratulations buddy. Now you begin the race to COPR

Blackbuddy:
You will definitely be able to land and also go on to complete your journey.

Thanks bro. What a relief!

40manlappy:
See what I found out via the following links and IRCC's Twitter handle. Take note of references to the statutes.

Of course, you cannot do your landing formalities in Quebec.

cc: Blackbuddy, Fusion23

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/about-pr.asp

https://www.quora.com/Does-Canada-Express-Entry-PR-allow-someone-to-work-in-Quebec-as-well

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/living-and-working-in-quebec-as-a-fsw-immigrant.440737/

Does this mean if one books a flight to say Edmonton, Alta and this was routed through Montreal the person won't be allowed to enter Canada because he is FSW? I need to clarify this because I'm about booking flight ticket soon to Alberta.

CC blackbuddy

Eesha:
Hola,

Please have you been advised on if ur passport is ready?.

Sent mine via DHL since Aug 5th and nothing yet.

Nothing yet ooo. Its like Accra VO have started being sluggish again

balogunsam:
@MummyJaygirls
Found a flight for a family of 4 at 1.5m ...cheapest i've ever seen..

Folks already packing, check travelstart.com.ng you may find great flight options there.

I got something from icarrygo.com which is way cheaper. 837k for family of four but its royalairmaroc! I am thinking I should just go for this but Accra is yet to give me passport back. I no fit shout oo

irewole1:
The Canny squad! You can try any of the airlines on promo canny return tickets, this sometimes could be cheaper than one way tickets! Best of luck.

Please suggest one for me.

balogunsam:
Hi ma'am. Did you already book? Can you PLEASe provide an estimate of how much the ticket cost for you, hubby and kids... I have a baby daughter, an eight year old son, wife and myself and was trying to get idea on wakanow and the likes...the ticket rates i was seeing eh... when no be say na garri we wan go drink for canny

My brother na d exact same thing wey dey scatter my brain here. We r also a family of four like yours. Never knew air fares r this exorbitant

MummyJaygirls:
Its ur passport details that are required to book tickets, if u have ur passport details o boy do it now o, u don't have to wait till pp is returned

Fares change and u know the closer to the date the more expensive.

Ok. I was thinking I needed my passport and COPR to be able to book a one way flight.

You are right about the fare changes, I was beginning to wonder. Thanks

MummyJaygirls:
A whole 2 months before me, I will buzz u for info on how the place is. Copr is on the way. How far tickets, where did u buy?

I never buy yet ooo....Na when I see COPR now. Or can I book before?

Canadianfly:
All of una why deny plan spend Christmas in Canada, una no go like am oh. Naija Christmas is till the best lol. Speaking from experience.
Not to mention landing in Canada during winter is tricky oh. Getting apartments, moving and all. That's just wahala in the snow. But I guess different strokes for different folks, then again tickets are cheaper winter periods sha vs. summer. I guess it's understandable.

Hehehehe....I think I've had enough naija Christmases to last me a lifetime . If Canada is going to be our future I guess it's okay to start getting used to the snowy Christmas how ever harsh it may be. Plus, we can't resist the cheap air fares of winter

teewhy31:
Ehm....which bank did you use? ( Returning to silent mode)

Zenith Bank

MummyJaygirls:
December and Alberta. Me sef dey wait u

Great! I plan to land in Alberta as well though I'm looking at 1st week in October. Let Accra VO give me COPR first

yimiton:
Good morning all,

If I can get the proof of funds letter in the exact format stipulated by CiC, do I still need to include my bank statements of account?

No. I submitted only bank letter.

MummyJaygirls:
Greetings oh Nigerians

This semi Canadian (me) received stamped passports and Copr. Praise be to Jah for the whole process.

Next stop landing

Mama d mama! Na Ur back I dey oo. Congratulations r in order. When do u plan to land and where?