Congratulations Nice one there. I carefully red Ur story and glad for u. Would be nice to have Ur contact so I could learn of Ur progress after u may have travelled. I am interested to know how their process is in this our chosen field.tank you....May your new country favour you ijn Deepsea14:
PPR is hereeeeeeee!!!!
I give all the glory to God, who has done a great thing yet again. It's going to be a long story, I started writing from AOR day...I beg you, do not quote the entire msg!!
TIMELINE summary
ECA- February 2019
IELTS1-March 23, 2019 (LRSW-9 8.5 7.5 6.5)
IELTS 2- June 1, 2019 (LRSW-8.5 8.5 7.5 7)
ITA- July 10, 2019
AOR- August 9, 2019
MEP/BIL- August 29, 2019
Fake GHOST update- August 30, 2019
****ABSOLUTE SILENCE****
Ojuju update- Dec 16,2019
PPR- December 17, 2019
Family of Onety one
BACKGROUND
You know how many people say that they wanted to believe in the Nigerian dream and build their lives in her, I was not part of that school of thought for I always knew that I will eventually leave this country at one point. I didn't exactly know when or to where, but I just knew it was coming. So the first time I heard about Express entry was from my dad (shocking right?), he told me about it way before I started my internship in 2015. I thought it was a cumbersome process, so I did not even bother to check it up, besides, I did not know anyone that had gone through that process. And then I thought going the academics way was going to be easier. So I started searching for schools (I did that for 2 years believe it or not) but thing is that I never realised how difficult getting an admission could be, there were so many hindering factors. The first was getting transcripts from school and having it delivered before the deadline for admission and there's also the reference letter thing and some professors can disappoint you when you need them, so after applying to a couple of schools I decided that academics route was proving tough and there was so much uncertainty associated with that path. What's the probability of getting a study visa after getting the admission? As for me, I had zero intention of returning to naija. By the end of my internship in 2016, I had gotten nowhere and then by the middle of my service year(2017) a couple of friends got admissions and they were like “schools in USA are easier to get into and they offer a lot of scholarships”, so I decided to try it out. Yet, it’s one disappointment after another; ETX of blessed memory is just a big scam and I was scammed, my transcripts never got to the school before the deadline. Also, I wrote GRE and I had a really good score but there was just so many factors conflicting with going to school, it was one thing or another. I wrote IELTS academics module by early 2018 and it was a resounding success but despite all of these, there was no headway so I gave up on the whole school dream by the middle of 2018. Then, my friend and namesake Oluwadamilola (God bless you!) introduced me to a blog “diary of a Nigerian pharmacist in Canada”, there I learnt everything about the Canadian Express entry and I was thinking “ this thing is so freaking easy, why haven't I tried it?” And that was my wake up call.
ECA
I started my ECA journey in 18th July 2018, I used PEBC being a pharmacist. The first thing I did was to make all the necessary payments ($1,040). This was the only way to make sure that I will see the process through because I have a record of dumping things that become “too stressful” for me(even jobs...lol). I took a week leave from work to sort out my transcript from UNIBEN and also to collect my certificate. The same week, I sent out my application (application form, notarized copies of passport, certificate etc) by Nipost to PEBC. By 29th of August, they had received my transcript and application documents. Only one document was left; but PCN could not send my letter of good standing because the person in charge was on leave. I was so angry, after paying 51k for the thing, so the man is somewhere having picnic while my evaluation was on hold. After plenty back and forth with PCN, PEBC finally received it November 20, 2018 and that was when they started working on my file.After the stipulated 8 Weeks I sent them a mail, they said I shld give them 10 business days more due to the volume of applications they received. I mailed again after 2 weeks, and they confirmed the ECA has been sent by regular mail on 22nd January, 2019.
Unlike most evaluating bodies, PEBC doesn't send soft copies of ECA and sends the result only by snail mail (it takes btwn 4days to 4 weeks to get it). However, they sent the tracking number to me, so I was able to monitor where the letter was at every point and it finally arrived at Abeokuta post office on 11th of February,2019. I begged my sister to pick it up as I was already back to work in Lagos.
IELTS
It was after collecting my letter that I realized that I still had to pass IELTS. (I had not found nairaland by then, so I wasn't very organized in my planning). I tot it would be a walkover since I passed academic module without breaking too much sweat. So I started preparing, I used only free materials: ieltsliz, Jay videos, ielts advantage, and a whole lot of Cambridge questions to practise. There was also this YouTube channel that released listening questions everyday( I really enjoyed doing listening). I wanted to beat it once and for all, after spending so much on PEBC evaluation, I didn't have cash to be throwing around to BC.
When I saw the result, I was shook (Kileleyi??) can't they just remove 0.5 band from reading and add to my writing?? Someone advised I re-mark, so I paid BC 15k to do the right thing and upgrade me. For where?? After 5 days, I received the reply that nothing has changed. Why so fast though, did they even check it at all? It confirmed my suspicion; I don't think I wrote up to 250 words in task 2. I remember what I wrote was just 2 lines longer than my task 1 sheet. I wanted to cry! I didn't take that failure well because, I didn't have the courage to start studying again until after a month. So I started practicing again, and towards the end of May, I checked and saw June 1 was still open, so I booked to sit the exam. This time, I barely practised listening or reading, I focused all my energy on writing and also used IELTS-UP correction service 8.99 USD per essay(I still had not discovered nairaland). I submitted 3 essays and got feedbacks that helped point out some common errors. This time also, I only used IELTS-UP resources. Na God dey help person o, I actually enjoyed the exam from reading to listening up until the writing part. I was already drained when I started the writing part, and I started with task 1. Before I realized it, I had spent 30mins on task 1, I just shouted Jesus in my mind… what is happening again ooo? I refuse to acknowledge village ppl on this matter. I rounded up in 5 more minutes and jumped into task 2 (25mins more). I don't know where the speed came from o,my people, my hand was even faster than my brain (I shock). I started my conclusion 3 minutes to the end of the exam. It goes without saying that I did not proofread my writing section. At least I exhausted my sheet this time, so nobody will tell me I wrote less than 250words. But I knew that there was nothing more I could do but to go to God concerning this matter. The day my result came out, I held a vigil before I could even check it, asking God to help my doubtful heart and help build my faith. When I finally checked, Chaiiiii!!! I knew it could only have been God. I'm still grateful for that fateful day
**IT WAS AT THIS POINT I DISCOVERED NAIRALAND**
ITA
I erroneously thought that I had to spend at least 1 year in all the jobs I was claiming points for, so I was going to wait till September to enter the pool with 3 years experience. Thank God for @Topsmamen, he said only one year had to be continuous, others can be combined. I hurriedly requested for a reference letter from an employer of 7 months, while creating my express entry profile. With a score of 478, I got ITA on the next draw 10th July (2 days to my birthday).
MEDICAL
I had booked Q-life Pre-ITA for 24th July, while I focused on getting my reference letters. Don't even think that you can rush in and rush back to work oo, I spent the whole day at Q-life 8am-5pm,the number of people japa-ing ehnnn, it's scary. (who go remain?). If not for the crowd, it is actually a simple and straight forward process. I thought I'd be able to do PCC the same day but Alagbon had closed by then.
I uploaded the e-medical form.
PCC
PCC took about an hour, we had to wait for inspector Moshood's, he was on parade. I gave his guy 4k. I just took my intl passport and a photocopy and a passport photograph. I uploaded the two documents they gave me.
POF
My dad gave me the funds, and he did a gift Affidavit in court, (there was no gift deed), I put it in treasury bills(6 months). So I uploaded the certificate, transfer receipts (2 transfers), 6 month bank statement and a generic bank reference letter that didn't include average 6 months balance. I used a combo of the face value (3.5mill) and the profit (about 195k) to make up my POF to 3.695mill. I explained this in the letter of explanation.
post-AOR
Eventually submitted on the 9th of August 2019 and got AOR some minutes after paying. I was expecting my MEP/BIL like a month after submission but to my greatest surprise, I got it after 20 days I was so grateful. I submitted my biometrics at Vfs on 3rd of Sept,2019. but it was then I realized that the WAIT had just began. So I came up with a couple of rules, I will not check my profile till after 90 days. I just soaked myself in work and studying for my licensing exam and I checked nairaland everyday, sometimes, I would check rentfaster.ca to see apartments and prices and to just not be clueless when PPR finally showed. I left the Indian AOR grp after a while. Mehn those ppl can worry and it's just annoying sometimes. One day, a guy said he wanted to raise CSE. Why? we asked. He said he had increased in height by 2 inches, so he wants to update the height he submitted. I didn't even know how to react, I just stopped reading their posts. The number of times I checked my profile was just pathetic, I wld wish for even a ghost update or ADR. It was a dead silence up until 17th December. I didn't go to work because I had flu, I checked OVO grp as per usual and I noticed a new guy (aor 12 Aug) got a ghost update. So I just decided to check again and lo and behold, I almost missed the Ojuju. I just started singing and dancing and praising. My phone went off in the course of the night and when I checked the next morning my CPC mail was sitting pretty; the feeling is indescribable, I am so happy and grateful to God Almighty and I pray for everyone on this journey especially those in Accra VO, that God will move in your favour and they will be a speedy release of that which you expect.
I wanna appreciate my support system during thIs period, my offline friends too numerous to mention, my Aug/Sept/Oct AOR group, OVO group, you guys are amazing, and nairaland family; can't wait to celebrate with you all.
Here I drop my golden pen….
Oya @yemblaze send on the dancing angels?? |
Travel › Re: General USA Student Visa Enquiries-part 16 by lyziwealth5: 10:53am On Jun 21, 2022
