₦airaland Forum

Hey guys, It's been a minute since I came on here. I thought about Nairaland and how I was always here when I started this travel journey in 2013. It took me eight years to eventually get my study permit, and I would say it was worth the wait. This is to encourage anybody thinking about giving up; please don't. I understand how frustrating it was to wait year after year and one rejection after the other.

If you are waiting on your study permit decision, please look for a skill to learn. When you get here, it is essential you have something you can do to earn some money on the side apart from the 20hrs a week you are allowed to work. Many students here do cash jobs to make money on the side.

Let me clear something up real quick; Canada is the land of milk and honey but trust me, you have to work like a mad man to get to that point where you'd enjoy it. School here isn't as hard as in Nigeria, but the workload is crazy. If your course is online, it is easier, but when you have to be physically present in school, it takes a toll on you. Make friends in school and meet as many people as possible; do not be an island when you get here. The difference between passing and failing a course can be friends willing to assist you with assignments and have study sessions with you.

Nigeria is hard, and Canada is way better in many ways, but that does not mean it is easy here. If you notice, many people here on Nairaland disappear after they travel, and I can tell you that it is primarily because of the new challenges you face here. Rent is monthly, so before you blink, it is time to pay the next; the semesters go by so fast that you have your next semester's tuition to pay in no time. Assignments are back to back, tests are every other week, and you still have to do your 20hr a week job plus the cash jobs.

I am not writing this to discourage anybody, I love Canada, and it's a beautiful place to live, work and build a family. I want you to understand that while you are leaving one set of problems behind, and rightfully so, this one is waiting for you here, too, lol.

Anyway, do not give up on your dream; Canada is more beautiful than you can imagine. It is so peaceful, and everything works. I pray that everybody reading this gets to experience their dream of moving here.

I don't know much about the immigration process, but if you have any questions about living in Canada, Thunder Bay, or how it feels like studying at Confederation College, please feel free to ask me here or shoot me an email.

If you are at Lakehead university , Confederation college or you know somebody there, please holla at me. Trying to meet new people in this town. Bless

Legacyedition:
Wow, Congratulations. This is great. When is your current program starting?.

Thank you. My program started already

don10ky:
Did they include work permit in the study permit?

Everybody with a study permit can work 20hrs a week.

Time2soar1:
Congratulations on your arrival in Canada. A sweet end to a long journey. May Canada favour you

Thank you!!

tobe1997:
About the proof of funds; how much exactly and did you print a new bank statement, if yes how current...how much will be required as sufficient.
Thank you

They didn’t say how much you should have but I think you should just have that stipulated $10k for upkeep and your remaining 1 year fees

kennyjoy:
Congrats ManLikeMace. About the proof of fund how many months Bank statement do you print?

I printed a 6 months bank statement. It was a dollar account. You just need to be very calm with them. I think they are interested in your body language too.

Travel gist.

So at the Toronto airport I got my study permit in like 15 mins. The guy asked me for my arrive can, my letter of introduction, my LOA from my school, my proof of payment and also asked me for proof of funds. I provided everything.
He gave me my study permit and gave me a number to call to extend my permit if I want to stay longer.

It was very simple and easy.

If you have any questions you can ask me.

Updated travel gist.

My layover in Paris was really long but it was nice too. When I was boarding they asked for my passport and my letter it introduction I think. Either that or the PPR letter you get when approve your visa and that was it. I’ll let you guys know what’s happening at the border in Canada. If inside plane cold like this I wonder wetin outside go be like.

Osemigho:
Please what is the name of your airline?

Airfrance

Abeg where dem dey register for that pre-arrival test? I don check switch health website tire.

Trip update.

Time to board right? and the head of the cabin crew is talking about how I cannot checking both my hand Luggages. He was really rude about it but I stood my ground and he eventually let me in. About 1hr into the flight he came to apologize to me talking about how sorry he was and how stressed they were. Anyway I no gree chop their food for the flight as a be local man. Make I no go purge for Paris. I also got Wi-Fi on the plane so I can check my emails and reply messages. We’d be landing in about 30mins or so. I’ll update y’all on what happens in Paris.

Sapte:
Hello bro, thought your program is also for fall semester.

See ehn! Very long story. Program starts in September but my visa was going to expire in July. I looked for people with the same issues to see if there was a solution but didn’t get anyone so I spoke to my school and the best option available was to register for another ongoing course immediately so I can come to Canada and then get an extension. While it was an expensive option I felt it was the least risky option available. They said either I took that option or reapply again.

Legacyedition:
What about enrollment letter?. Did dey ask? Or it has been scrapped


When is your class starting?.


Safe Journey baba .

Omo nobody asked me for enrollment letter here o. It’s just Passport, ArriveCan, Covid test and vaccine. Do I know if they’ve scrapped it? I don’t. Maybe it’s the airline but don’t quote me on that.

Still on my travel gist.

Like a lot of people have said here. I’d advise you get to the airport early and finish everything you need to do so you can chill before your flight. I checked in my bags and went to have a meal with fam before I came back and now I’m passed customs. They just asked me to fill one yellow card they gave me (I paid somebody to do it) but it’s really ABC, you can do it yourself. Then they check your passport and stamp you in. There weren’t a lot of people at the customs area and I think it’s because the rush hour was already past by the time I got back. Right now I’m
Just chilling and waiting on my flight.
I also met two people I know that I haven’t seen in ages traveling to Canada too. Everybody dey run �

I know I cannot write a well documented landing gist because once I get there it’s back to work but I’ll keep
Updating anybody that cares on the journey.

Also hold small money if you are coming to the airport, it just makes things easier for you and if you have extra luggage?? Just bring your bank account with you. These guys are not playing here. People dey hawk bag inside airport ��

Semtu:
Safe journey

Which airline and where did you do the COVID test, how long did it take to get the results?

When you get to your final destination tomorrow or next tomorrow, please help us with a full landing gist.

I’m going with airfrance and I did my Covid test at synlabs. I think that’s the name. Did it yesterday before 11 and got my result at 3. If you do it before 11am you’ll get your result on time.

Teemenzo:
Oshey, you be man. Safe journey. By this time tomorrow. You go don dey pluck dollar for tree

Lmao! Amen o!

Travel gist!
I got to the airport at 4:30pm today and it was already crowded. My bags where overweight but luckily I took an extra bag to pack my groundnut and Garri since that’s all I eat �. I paid about N100k for the extra bag (most expensive groundnut and Garri I’ll ever have). Anyway they asked me for my passport(obviously), my ArriveCAN, my vaccination card and my Covid test. After that I checked in my bags and got my boarding pass.
Now I’m just having a nice dinner with my fam and a friend waiting to board.

I’ll be updating y’all.

bertv66:
No you do not ...

you can fly through Europe if you have a valid Canadian, USA, Japan or Australian Visa

Thank you

Hey guys please I have a question. Do I need a transit visa to fly from with Airfrance from Lagos to Canada? Thanks

Who’s in Thunder Bay, Ontario? Please holla

My people I get question for una. I do not know if anybody has had this issues before. My study permit visa states that I should enter Canada before July 31st but my program starts in September. I don’t know if anybody has had this issue before and if you have how did you solve it?

Bless

Auta04:
Good day Fam,
Please my brother got his visa approval after when he deferred his admission to one year academic session, but my question is...Can he arrive Canada one month after his medicals expires? His medical result expire 28th July 2022 is it okay to arrive for fall Sep, 2022 with same medical result? Or must he do another medicals. Thanks

He has to do another one

CONGRATULATIONS to everybody that has received their PPR and those those waiting it'll definitely end in praise.

I'll advise anybody on their way to Canada to learn a hand-work. It can be being a Dj, photographer, videographer, editor, Hairstylist, barber, e.t.c.. Do your research and find something you are passionate about and start learning. This can eventually turn into a side business for you as a student and eventually into a 2nd source of income when and if you eventually immigrate.

Legacyedition:
Okay boss... If you paid 4k cad . Ugo did it.


Ogayemi fee is 3500 but in USD.


Unless infoplace did a re-application instead.

All this can be unravalled with a single name though.

They didn’t do a re-application. My whole process was really transparent. I got all the letters from IRCC and had them Signed myself. So no it wasn’t a reapplication. I am telling you what my process was and you are looking for holes in it lol. Don’t be that guy

Let me share my own two cents about agents here. Please understand that this is my opinion and I know it’ll differ from yours and that is okay but there might be a thing or two to learn from both our opinions.

I’ve been following this thread since 2013 and when I wanted to put in my first application in 2017 I used a lot of things I learnt from here to make it happen. I worked on it with a friend but unfortunately I got rejected. My 2nd application was the same too. Now I’m not saying I got rejected both times because I did it myself, I got rejected because my application wasn’t strong enough and I didn’t have enough funds to back myself up. When I was ready to apply the 3rd time I got really busy and decided to use an agent but a lot of the changes to my application I made myself, like changing my course which I think had a big impact on the final outcome. The one thing the agent said I should do as a self sponsored applicant that I didn’t think about was to open a fixed deposit account and have the money for my tuition and living expenses kept there. I also got rejected for the 3rd application but because I knew my application was good enough to get me a visa and my agent knew too so she advised I try judicial review if I had the money and I did which ultimately got me my visa.

Before you get an agent you have to check if they are accredited by the IRCC and that’s really important. Don’t just get any Tom dick and harry to sort your thing out. This is your life we are talking about.

The only thing I didn’t like about using an agent was not having direct access to my portal. To check I had to send her a message and they’ll send me a screen shot but I mean maybe it saved me the headache of actually checking all the time because it messes with your head lol.

So can you do it yourself and save yourself a lot of money? Yes!! you have all the information you need in this forum to be honest. You just have to be ready to do your research, ask questions and be patient.
But if you decide that you want to use an agent because you were busy like I was or because you just don’t know how to do these things make sure it’s an accredited agent. Don’t use these people who aren’t. You need to be able to hold people accountable and have them loose their license if they mess you up.

That’s my 2 cents. I hope it helps somebody out there

Legacyedition:
Who is your lawyer?.

Ugo or Ogayemi?

If I say I remember I dey lie. I never spoke to him/her once. I just got the forms and the letter, read them thoroughly, notarized my documents and had them sent back. I trusted the lady at infoplace Canada because we had been talking for about 2 years.

Btw I’m not promoting them o. Just explaining how I went about my JR

Kobby84:
How long did JR take and what was your lawyer

The whole process took about a year to be honest and I got my lawyer through infoplace Canada. I started November last year and got my visa November this year lol

pufframmy:
please like how much you had in total before applying cause i wish to apply as self employ too kindly help with best amount of money someone should have in account thanks

This is different for everybody. I had half my tuition paid and had the rest for the next year and a half saved up including living expenses for two years. So just calculate yours and see what figure that gives you.

Junene:
Hello Prince!!! Big photographer fan here

Why's everybody calling me Prince? make una calm down abeg. I wish

Butterflyita:
Please how long did it take for them to send you PPR, after the settlement and submission on updated LOA and POF. Same thing happened to me and I’ve submitted my updated LOA and POF last month, I just want to know how long it’ll take for them to send me their decision.

It took about 7 months but its different for everybody. I've seen people who have gotten theirs in months and some in 3 months while I have also seen somebody that his took one year so there really isn't a timeline

Ibk2020:
Am really happy for you Mr.prince, I understand you are a celeb and won't want to share your identity yet...
Am also a photographer, also processing my student visa.
I have tone of your YouTube videos.
Mr.liberty will be happy to have you in Canada

Youtube? Liberty? Who's that?