₦airaland Forum

Its been 2 weeks of adventure since we landed. It actually feels longer, because each day has new challenges to be conquered. There have been so many helpful people(angels) God placed in our path. These are some of the things I have experienced and gotten done in the last two weeks.

Transportation
Google Maps is your friend! Power bank (for your phone) is your 2nd friend!!. There are buses and a good subway network, we use google maps to navigate where we are trying to go. Google maps here works slightly differently, it keeps re-routing you especially when you miss a bus or a stop. It comes up with a new "best route" based on traffic situation, and the next available bus. We have gotten lost so many times . Sometimes when we get on a bus, after like 2 stops we realize that we should have been going in the other direction . Whenever I get on a bus, before dropping my $3:25 I confirm that the driver will be passing through my stop. Also, I will recommend you have a power bank because you don't want your phone to die while you are in transit. This happened to us. Many thanks to fellow immigrants from Cameroon, who allowed us used their phone and waited with us till we were picked up.I guess getting lost is part of the process of becoming familiar with our new environment.

Housing
This one was a tough nut to crack o, as we didn't have most of the requirements(credit score,payslip, job letter e.t.c). We didn't want basement, because its usually more cold than in an apartment. However, getting a basement is cheaper and easier because most times you will be dealing directly with the landlord. This way you can negotiate the requirement. Getting an apartment in an apartment building is dealing with a system. They just tell you what it required, no story. We were blessed to have a family member offer to stand in as a guarantor. This is difficult to ask anyone to do because it means if for any reason you can't pay, they will take the money from the guarantor's account . This rental people are gangster. The guarantor has to submit very personal stuffs that some people may not want to share. The guarantor was required to get a letter from their employer(showing salary and how long the person has worked there), credit score, payslip, and property tax form (if they own the home, or a form for their landlord to sign).
We just search on websites like Padmapper.com,Torontorentals.com and viewit.com. Then call each property you see that matches your specs because sometimes what you see online and what they tell you don't match. We ensure we book multiple viewing for every outing, this way we are able to go through more options. Also, ask you family and friend about a particular area before you settle for it.
We finally signed the lease for an apartment on the 13th day after arrival .

Ontario Health Insurance
We couldn't do this immediately we landed because they require 3 pieces of ID. Photo ID(passport), Copr, lease ,driving licence or some other things I can't remember. We had only 2 of those before we signed the lease but after we did, we were able to get this done at service ontario. It was easy peazy.

School
We could not enroll the kids in school without having a proof of address. One school did say that if you are staying with family or friends you can have them draw up a lease that you are staying with them and the duration. However, this will only work if you plan to rent in the same neighborhood. Moving to another neighborhood means starting the process again. We always asked about schools in the area whenever we went viewing apartment. This way you can google and learn more about the schools in the area. We plan to register them as as soon as we move in. The schools generally requires Birth certificate,immunization records, baptismal certificate(catholic school), lease(proof of address), and copr ( proof of status)

POF
The money matter in canada is not funny o. Things are wayyyyy more expensive here than in the US, I write it because this hit me hard o. Shopping in the US for me is always fun because the deals are unbelievable but canada is not like that o. Even walmart was not smiling. The hst tax is 13%, meaning whenever you see a price tag just add 13%. I was even looking forward to black friday to help my case, a family member that has been here a long time said to me "it doesn't change much". No Ross, No Burlington, No target, No Jcpenny and No Macy's o. We purchased winter Jackets from carters for the kids, it cost $130 each . winter boots for the kids at $60 (winners). We went to a store called sail and we saw a winter jacket for men at $500 . I don't even want to compare it to shopping in Nigeria because the currency value already makes it expensive. You definitely need the POF,its a must. There is also the Flip side, which is being the one offering the goods or service and receiving the $$$$ (business people alert). I am still in love with Toronto sha.

Job
I haven't started looking yet. Can't wait .

Child Benefit
Fill Rc66 and Rc66sch form (google and download)
submit with copy of copr
The address to submit to is on the forms. choose the one closest to you.
call 18003871193, for more info.

Its been a training in resilience, mental strength, use of will, humility and Faith (not knowing but trusting and believing). I wouldn't change a thing .

Landing Gist
#LongPostAlert


Drama at the Airport

We got our PPR in June. We decided to land at the end of October. We are a family of 4. Ethiopian Airline was the airline we chose and I must say that they were very okay. Our flight was at 1:30pm, however we left home by 9am (which in hindsight was a great idea). When we got to the airport,the immigration officer at the entrance wanted to check our bags. He asked what we had in our bags, I told him 6 out of the 9 bags (one extra luggage) were books. He sharply gave us the pass. When we got to the screening counter just before the airline check-in counter, the lady asked for a 'Form' ( apparently, it was the COPR document). We told her we didn't have any Form other than the vignette in our passports and a passport photograph. We went back and forth for a few minutes and then the next thing she said was step aside you need to contact the embassy. Ha, step where?. All this while my Hubby was the one speaking with her.Within a split seconds, I auto-recalled the 5 ielts(es), 5months 3weeks LVO wait, packing and weighing each bag and every single experience leading up to that moment all flashed before my mind. I responded fiercely, you cannot ask us to step aside just because we were not given the document you are asking for. That was how women drama started o. short version is my hubby just pulled me aside and said you cant win this battle by forming rights, we are not in Canada yet. My 8 year-old son came to me crying, "Mummy what would we do now?". That's when i went aside and started praying. our PR visas were going to expire in 4 days. There was no time for serenren'.

Background Story

All we got back when we received our passports were the stamped passports, each with a returned passport photograph in it, with a paper that carried instructions. Apparently, there was supposed to be a confirmation of permanent residence document (with those passport photographs affixed to it for each person). We never got those documents. We were wondering why those passport photographs were returned unused. How this happened, only God knows. We were so sure we never received any such document.

Resolving the 'ish'

After much back and forth, the airline asked my hubby to write an undertaken stating that they will not be responsible for any extra cost (if we got sent back). Ah, is that all?. We wrote with speed. We had lost alot of time to this drama. The first boarding call had been made. We were let off to weigh our bags.

Things we packed
We decided against taking food stuffs. We took mostly our books,paintings,clothes, duvet(Thank God because surprisingly the ones we brought are thicker than the ones i have seen in the hotel here.), wigs and attachment(ladies you know now, I cannot come and be paying $100+ for hair). We didn't cargo anything.

Over Weight and Extra Luggage

When I got to the counter, I knew I had no time to waste. I saw the lady had natural hair, I complimented her hair. That was the ice breaker. When our bags were weighed, ALL were over weight by 2-3 kg. I was 'flabber-whelmed' because I had meticulously weighed each bag (multiple times). My son pointed out to me that their scale wasn't starting from 0 but from 3kg. I wasn't ready for more drama. However, before I could start defending the bags,the woman just said she was going to let it slide. We paid N72000 for the extra luggage ($200 as opposed to the $60 written on their website). All bags in. They didn't weight our hand luggage (was thinking I should have padded it more ).

Flight Experience

My Truth, is that Ethiopian Airlines was okay. Not Fabulous and not bad. Their food was okay, my Naija taste buds could handle 80% of what they served. My kids too. The Air hostesses were courteous, in-flight entertainment wasn't the latest movies but they had good movies. I liked also that they had self development audio books too. The flight time was 4+ hours to Addis,we had about 3 hours layover. There was another 7+ hours to Dublin, there was another stop over (for refueling) but we didn't leave the plane. This lasted for an hour. The final leg of the flight was 6+ hours to Toronto.

Landing

We weren't so exhausted because we had enough sleep on the plane. We went through Immigration, there wasn't any queue at that time. He collected our passport and asked for our COPR document(the same one that caused drama before we left home). We told him we never received it. He told us not to worry that they'll just re-print it. He sent us to another office. This new immigration officer asked for the same document we told him the same thing. The he went to his supervisor who showed us a copy of the document. At this point we were triple sure that we had never seen that document before. She had him reprint it. They asked for goods to follow. The whole process took about 40 mins.The Immigration officer said "you are all set" and I said to him "you didn't say welcome to Canada". He smiled apologized and said "Welcome to Canada". We also got our SIN done in about 10mins. As we were leaving we realized that people started trooping in. Apparently, they went to pick up their luggage first before doing the paper work. It was a great idea to go do the paperwork first, and when we went to pickup our luggage only ours was left ( no struggle). However, 2 of our fancy Ghana-must-go bags were ripped badly. The airline wrapped all the books in another bag. Good thing is we had large bags that still had space, we just repacked.

Temporary Accommodation

We didn't use Airbnb because we got a deal with Residence Inn by Marriott that rivaled Airbnb. It covered breakfast and airport pickup and had a kitchenette.

Weather

It is cold (and getting colder by the day) but we just told ourselves to suck it up and get on with the program. That's what we signed up for. We just layer up. I guess I kinda now appreciate better the idea of four distinct seasons.

Phone line

Some nice lady at Pearson Airport was marketing CIBC bank. She gave us Public mobile sim cards with $60 voucher,$20 Tim Hortons voucher and $20 Swiss Chalet voucher. We were able to activate both sims easily. We likely would keep the sims because we got unlimited Canada and US calls, international texts and 6GB data(3g) for $56. You can build your plan, the more you add the more you pay. its flexible,you can pay less some months if you want.

Health cards and Bank

We landed on Friday, so we couldn't do much that day. On Saturday we went to service Ontario to get our health cards but we arrived at 1:15 pm and they closed at 1 pm. We chose BMO because they had a couple account deal, however even though they were open, they didn't have personnel to attend to us on Saturday. We made an appointment for Monday.

Shopping for Warm Clothing

We managed the Jackets we had from previous travels. I was hoping to manage to get some black Friday deals but I was told that black Friday is not such a big deal in Canada. Clothes are also more expensive here than in the US. We have no choice but to purchase them like that.

Longer term Accommodation

Still hunting.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread and left pointers to help others on this Journey. I had been a silent reader on this thread wayyyyy before I received PPR. It has been an amazing source of light. God bless.

[/quote][quote author=Sugaro post=68731695]Hallelujah!!! Praise God. He answers prayers, really, just hold on tightly , u will definitely pull through.

Unto u Lord be thou glorrrrry....... , great things u have done�����, this song kept dropping in mine and spouse's spirit when we were already loosing hope as folks with interview notifications from December were yet to be given a date for interview In the WhatsApp group I joined (who did I offend, to be slated for interview? Chai!! after 6months of torturous wait.Phewww!! My prayer point was for God to cancel the interview which he did.

Was still believing God, and started preparing for ielts academic to pursue mi career in the UK as I just have to do something to secure my Lil ones future abeg and totally removed my mind from it.

Just 2days ago, I decided to check my account again and alas!! I saw YOUR "INTERVIEW has been CANCELLED check your message for details " (and my joy knew no bounds)which didn't reflect until today.


It's PPR......... After being denied study permit in 2017, here I'm today.


Ist ielts bad (zero preparation, wasn't even aware of the materials)
2nd ielts (prepared, but didn't even pay attention to tips, plus going by common phrases like" this essay will discuss " etc which liz is against)
3rd ielts (90%tips prep and wrote from my own words according to liz directives, Truly, it worked. In fact, early pregnancy symptoms was so much, but my father heaven saw me through.



I TA Dec 6
AOR Dec 9
NA1 Dec9
Ip1 /MEP Dec 20
NA2 Dec 21st
Ip2 Feb 27
Baby arrived/notified cic April

Baby added in May (First week)

Interview notification (21st of May)

Ordered gcm note May 22nd(still waiting for it)

Interview CANCELLATION June 20th (God doing!!!)

PPR...... June 22nd


Thanks everyone for your immense contributions here.

ToUgoiyke79e : for your well detailed answers to my numerous questions even at night, you helped me save cost in this journey but you know it not... xoxo

GlitteringStar :humility personified, and knows how to sooth your worrying soul, "Hello sis"

Balogunsam :I disturbed you tire sha, thanks so much for your time.

To our elder 40manlappy, thank you sir.

Be anxious for nothing but in all things through prayer and supplications make your request known to God was my watch verse during the delay.

And truly, it ended in praise!!!!

Congratulations , Thank God you didn't have to go for the interview.
(Interview=More Cost+More Tension+More wait time)

[/quote][quote author=ajiifixing post=68713760]Guys gather here.
Finally it has come.
I was mailed earlier in January 2018 that I will be interviewed. I prayed and asked God to cancel it that I will never go for interview. When my mates were going my faith shook but I insisted. So from January till June I had no concrete progress except ghost updates and bland replies to my mail.
Here is my timeline

AOR JULY 22 2017
MEP/NA1 AUG 2 2017
NA2 AUG 3 2017
FTD SEP 21 2017
1P2 FEB 27 2017
PPR JUNE 22 2017

ORDERED 4 GCMS

3 GHOST UPDATES

Thank God.

`

Huge Congratulations!!Can't stop 'wowing' , I actually feel relieved on your behalf. God is Good.

bbaby84:

In my case I filled in my kids' Nigerian passports and used it for their medicals. Once we received PPR, I sent both and Accra chose the US passports so they only got COPR.

@DrOBD, There you have it another sceneries. I hope this further helps.

wsmt:
Can anyone advice what do to do to check the eligibility before we proceed. thanks

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/come-canada-tool-immigration-express-entry.html

This link will help you with calculating your wife's eligibility. I got the link from page 0 of this thread.

There is also a wealth of information there that can help you know what to do, if she is eligible and wants to proceed or if she is not eligible and wants to improve her chances.
Hope this helps.

[quote author=DrOBD post=68569545]
Thanks. I think it makes sense to add both passports. I hope other people with similar experience would share their experience.

@DrOBD, We put in the details of our child's birth certificate but we used the details of his Nigerian passport only. We also sent only his Nigerian passport through vfs, we didn't get any request for the American passport. That's what we did. I hope this helps.