gracecheller:


WHT option did you use

Dsquare2017:
CANADA BIRTH PART 1

Good day all
This is to share the first part of my experience on the birth of my 2nd child in Canada. Please note that my wife and I had our first baby in Canada 2 years ago, the experience of which was shared on this platform. COVID happened few months after and this platform has been mostly quiet. So, I will give details of our journey so far.

Visas:
The visas used were the same visa we’ve had since 2017. Still valid until our passports expire next year. This is why I always emphasize that if you plan to give birth in Canada, please get your visa before you are pregnant. The visa will remain valid until your passport expires, so try to get it and you will avoid the problems that comes with having to apply based on medical grounds. Please don’t wait until you are pregnant to get a visa, it might almost be too late. If you had your visa already and you come in a year later to give birth, nobody can prove misrepresentation, since as at when the visa was given, you were not pregnant.

Flight and Accommodation:
Accommodation was in Mississauga, even though the plan was to use Humber River Hospital (It’s only a 30-minute drive). Mississauga was a better choice for us because it was cheaper to get a self-catering serviced apartment with free parking in the city center compared to Toronto downtown. Everything we needed was just within walking distance, except for African grocery shop which was like 5-minutes’ drive. The accommodation was found and booked on booking.com since around July 2021 (please choose the option of free cancellation). We had hoped that the travel restrictions will be lifted in September as announced in July. So, we booked accommodation without payment and held on for the flight until the restriction was lifted September 7th, 2021. Flight route was from Abuja to Toronto through Paris (Charles de Gaulle).

Preparation:
Please note that with the travel restrictions as at the time of travel, only vaccinated people were allowed to enter Canada for tourism (which includes giving birth). They are also required to present a negative covid test within 72 hours of their last flight to Canada and to fill the arrivecan information either on the site or on the app. The only exception for the vaccination is if you are exempted. So, my mother-in-law went for her vaccination. My wife and I also went for ours, but my wife was refused vaccination because she was pregnant. This on its own is a dilemma because on the NPHCDA site, it in line with WHO, recommends vaccination to pregnant women if they are at risk of getting the virus such as health workers or those who have comorbidities. I believe for the purpose of travel where there is mandatory requirement for vaccination, the decision to take the vaccine or not should be made by the pregnant individual and not by the vaccination team (My opinion though). But when you go as pregnant woman, you would be refused. So, for first time births in Canada, this will pose a problem if you’re not vaccinated. So, my proposed solution is to get the vaccine before you are pregnant (that’s if you’re not against vaccination). Fortunately for us, we fell under the exemption list. This list can be found on the IRCC website, and it allows Parents of Canadian citizens to enter Canada, even if they are not vaccinated as long as they quarantine. Children below 5 years are neither required to be vaccinated or do a pre-covid test, so my daughter was exempted. The rest of us had to take covid test that must be negative to be able to enter Canada. Finally, we filled the Arrivecan information on the arrivecan app to allow entry into Canada and to give proof of vaccination
Aside the arrivcan certificate, vaccination proof and negative covid test results, all other usual requirement had to be in place such as fit-to-fly medical certificate from the airport, passports, visas etc.

Point of Entry:
The journey from Abuja to Toronto through Paris was quite smooth. No drama, just the norm. At the Abuja airport, they asked for the negative covid test or proof of vaccination, arrivecan receipt, and fit-to-fly certificate from the airport port health authority. Then at the Paris airport, they asked for the arrivecan receipt, negative covid test and the vaccine certificate. I told them my wife was not vaccinated and that she is exempted. He initially asked to see a documentation that proves my wife is exempted and I directed him to the exemption list of the IRCC. He then asked for my daughter’s birth certificate and let us board after seeing a copy.
At Toronto airport procedure was smooth, but long waiting times. The first queue was meant to self-check with your passport scan on a scanning machine and declare whatever you need to declare such as animal pets, animal meat or foreign currency in excess of 10,000CAD. After that, we got on another queue which I believe is customs. Good thing a female officer noticed my wife was pregnant and called us out of the queue so as to hasten our check. We were asked why we’re here, what we were carrying, and our passport and vaccination proofs were checked. Since my wife was not vaccinated but was a parent of a Canadian citizen, she was given a quarantine instruction after confirming that we have a suitable place to quarantine. We got on the 3rd queue which I believe was immigration. We were not prioritized but my wife, daughter and mother-in-law were taken to sit somewhere while I waited on the queue. The wait was long though. Eventually we got to our turn. Immigration officer asked why we’re here (told her we’re here to give birth), what’s my relationship with those travelling in my group, how long we’ll be staying, the address we’ll be staying, if we have foreign currency and how much, what I do for a living, how much is my annual income, what my wife does for a living, how much is her annual income, what happens to our source of living while we’re here in Canada, if we’re on health insurance or will pay by cash, how much we spent on hospital bills the last time we gave birth in Canada as well as the receipts (good thing I carried copies), if we already have a doctor and a hospital, when do we plan to leave Canada, where are our return tickets. She wrote down all our answers and collected the documents including the vaccination proofs. She told us to go back to sit down while she reviews the information. She went to their supervisor’s office to discuss with him and came back after about 10 minutes to ask for the specific reason my wife was not vaccinated. I told her it’s because she was pregnant. She went back again and after about 25 minutes, she came back to tell us that entry has been granted and she’ll prepare a document for us. She gave us the document which was an approval to enter Canada to give birth. Both my wife’s name and mine were on the document as well as date to leave Canada (which was like 4 days after our planned return date). And that’s it. We were in! Such a huge sigh of relief it was for us, but God pass them. My wife is still on quarantine for now. Appointment has been made for first visit with Dr. Ted Kosalka after her quarantine ends.

Unfortunately, due to the Omicron variant of the covid virus, Canada has now banned flight from Nigeria except for their permanent residents and citizens who now must quarantine regardless of their vaccination status. I do not know if the exemption includes parents of Canadians though. I don’t know how those who plan to give birth there this year or early next year are going to go about this. An option to try though might be booking a flight through another country that is not on the red list after staying in that country for 2-3 weeks. For example, travelling to Ghana to stay for 2-3 weeks and then leave from Ghana to Toronto. In that case, it can be said that you have not been to Nigeria within the last 2 weeks (my opinion though). In any case, I hope that this restriction will be lifted within a few months as was the case with India and Pakistan.

That’s it for part 1. By God’s grace I will be able to share part 2 at the end of our journey. I do hope you guys have been able to grab a thing or two from my experience. Thanks to y’all for reading.

Debbieeeeeee:
Congratulations makylove101. Thank you for this feedback

ExcessShenny:



C

makylove101:
BIRTH STORY..Long Post alert:

VISA HISTORY:

My hubby and I got our TRV from VFS Abuja office via online application in 2019(4yrs and 10yrs visas respectively due to the validity of our passports). I posted about documents submitted and timeline in the Canada TRV thread. I wasn’t pregnant back then and had planned to use it for tourism in 2020 but then I lost my mum feb 2020 and COVID hit.

POE EXPERIENCE:

Got pregnant early this year and decided to give birth in Canada (we had our first son in the United States in 2018. We tried but couldn’t get a visa appointment date to renew our US visas which expired last year).

I am fully vaccinated so I travelled with my vaccination card and didn’t encounter any issues (From Sept 7th, foreign nationals are allowed to enter Canada if fully vaccinated and aren’t expected to quarantine either). I did my Covid test at Medicaid (N35k) and filled the Arrivecan form via the app 48hrs before my trip.

I landed in Toronto Pearson Airport, Canada from Abuja via British Airways on the 4th of Oct at exactly 32wks plus 6 days pregnant while visibly showing. Proceeded to fill the automated entry kiosk (filled in no of days to stay in Canada,Food items I came with etc) and then headed to immigration.
First officer asked my reason for being there, I told her that I came to give birth and for vacation. The immigration officer didn’t seem to know the questions to ask me and I was sent for secondary inspection.

The interview went like this;

Officer: Why are you here?

Me: For childbirth and vacation. Proceeds to give him my email appointment confirmation with a family doctor.

Officer: why would you risk traveling especially since blood clot at this stage of your pregnancy can kill you?. I know this cause my wife is pregnant and our doctor told her not to think of any long distance traveling as she is prone to having blood clots at this stage of her pregnancy.

Me: Well I have no history of blood clots during pregnancy and my doctor wasn’t worried about that being a problem for me hence my “fit to fly” letter

Officer: I am aware you have a fit to fly letter obviously cause you wouldn’t have been able to travel otherwise but still “blood clot” is a general thing for all pregnant women. Everyone knows this.

Me: I still insist it isn’t a problem for me. I am here and no issues obviously as you can see.

Officer: Okay so why give birth in Canada, why not in Nigeria?

Me: Better healthcare for baby and I and also cause I can afford it. Given how long it took me to have my first baby, I make it a point to get the best in terms of healthcare to avoid any stories.

Officer: But there is good healthcare in Nigeria too. Once you have money you should be able to get good healthcare.

Me: Sorry Sir, have you been to Nigeria before?

Officer: I have been to India and it’s the same thing with Nigeria. Same criteria applies to healthcare if you have money.

Me: India is not the same with Nigeria. Again I ask, have you been to Nigeria Sir?

Officer: I don’t have to be in Nigeria to know. It’s the same thing with India

Me: Yeah but the question is have you been to Nigeria?

Officer: * Pauses for a bit* Ok, so how much do you have with you?

Me: I came in with 9k US dollars cash. Do you want to see?

Officer: No, it’s fine. Generally it costs about 10k CAD to give birth in Canada but you are atleast expected to have minimum of 20k CAD in case of an emergency with the baby (not that we are praying for one)

Me: The estimate I was given is definitely less than 20k CAD. However, we are prepared in case of an emergency

Officer: Do you have proof of other funds just in case of an emergency?

Me: Yes. Logged into my USD domiciliary account in Naija and also showed him my husband’s BOA account statement.

Officer: Ok, I can see you have the funds in case of an emergency but do you have other funds or you are using all your savings for this childbirth?

Me: Yeah ofcourse. My husband and I work and earn monthly plus I have funds in money market investment and my hubby also has other savings. Do you want to see?

Officer; Yes please.

Me: Proceeds to login to my money market investment mobile app. He sees the amount in Naira and does a quick conversion.

Officer: OK, I see you have more than enough. Where will you be staying in Canada?

Me: Proceeds to give him the letter from my host with her phone no and the address I will be staying in and also stating that I paid her for a full basement apartment for a period of 2 months.

Officer: How did you get this apartment?

Me: It was a referral from a contact in Nigeria

Officer: Ok. Do have a lovely time in Canada, I wish you all the best and pray there is no complications with the baby. Congratulations in advance. Stamps me in.

Me: Thank you very much.

ACCOMODATION:

I got a two bedroom basement apartment to stay in for 62 days at Brampton Ontario. (I used a birth service company for this). Hired them to help with accommodation and doctor’s appointment but I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THEM. Crappy service to say the least!. Canada is a new turf for us and we barely have family or friends here. I was just tired after trying AirBnB and seeing some crazy rates. Our rent was a bit expensive ($1,900 per month plus cleaning fee $100 but better than what I got from Airbnb) plus the apartment was great and well situated. Most stores were within a walking distance so we were really good.

I bought my SIM card from Chatr mobile. See the link below for their data plans. It’s advisable to get one cause you will need to make calls, book appointments, use Uber etc.

https://www.chatrwireless.com/web/chatr.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PlanBrowse

*My hubby and son joined me in Canada on the 5th of Nov, exactly one month after. Hubby stated that he was coming in to welcome his new baby as wifey was in Canada to give birth when asked at POE.

HOSPITAL:

My first appointment was at Humber River Hospital with Dr Ted on the 19th of Oct at exactly 35 weeks. I eventually found out I didn’t need a referral from a family doctor to see him even though I could have gotten one from my appointment with a family doctor if they wanted.
Dr Ted was super nice, I liked him right away and he is quite familiar with Nigerian patients.

First Appointment fee: 120 CAD
Subsequent(went twice again): 60 CAD per visit. Overall total 240 CAD
Doctor: 2,500 CAD
Assistant: 500 CAD
Hospital (mum & baby): 0 CAD. Apparently due to COVID 19, some hospitals here in Ontario is free for all patients till the end of Nov 2021. I tried but they aren’t accepting payments even for Intl patients.
Peadetrician: 500 CAD
Epidural: 1,000 CAD
Lab: 99.03 CAD (I used Dyna care, it was just a walking distance from where I stayed in Brampton)
Scan: 82 CAD
Pediatric visit: 100 CAD (We used Dr Wise. subsequent visit 50 CAD. We went twice so a total of 150 CAD)

Ps: I am a CS mama.

*Baby boy was born on the 10th of Nov. I stayed at the hospital for about 36hrs before I was discharged.

Circumcision: We will be doing this in Naija as we did for our first son.

BABY DOCUMENTATION:

Birth certificate (Long & short): 60 CAD
We requested and registered baby’s birth online and paid for birth certificate on the 13th of Nov. It took 7 working days to arrive.
Baby’s Passport photo (4 copies): 33 CAD.
Intl Passport: 107 CAD. It took two days before we could pick up
Visa on arrival: $195 and N30k processing fee. It took two days.
BA ticket for baby: 355 CAD


SUMMARY:

Accommodation for Two months: 3,900 CAD
Doctor’s Appointment fee: 240CAD
Doctor’s fee: 3,000 CAD
Hospital Peadetrician: 500 CAD
Hospital fee: 0 CAD
Scan: 82 CAD
Lab: 99.03 CAD
Epidural: 1000 CAD
Pediatric visit: 150 CAD
Long & short Birth certificate: 60 CAD
Passport Photo for baby: 30 CAD
Intl passport (expedited): 107 CAD
Visa on Arrival: $195 and N30k processing fee
BA ticket for baby: 355 CAD

We are leaving for Abuja in 5 days time.

Ps: Please note that this is exclusive of money spent shopping for food, Uber and other essentials. We used a lot of Uber rides which didn’t come cheap. Hubby tried to rent a car but they kept insisting on a Canadian driving license and a Canadian credit card so it was Uber all the way for transportation.

I hope this helps someone...the thread has been quite dry for a long while.

It’s a shame that there is a ban against Nigeria due to the new covid 19 variant but hopefully that changes soon enough.

makylove101:
Thank you.

Yes, they issue visas based on the validity of your passport. My passport doesn’t expire till 2029 which was why I got a 10 year visa.

There’s only one visa fee.

makylove101:
I was a first time applicant and so was hubby. The information you have is false.

makylove101:
I was a first time applicant and so was hubby. The information you have is false.

Choiceart0710:


No. By first time applicant, I meant that I had never been to Canada at the time I applied but have been to other countries.


Please by first time applicants, do you mean you've never travelled with your passport cuz that's my case here and now I'm caught up between using an agent or doing it myself. I really do not know how to go about it, alot of cobtradicting informations.

Choiceart0710:


Thank you for this information.
Unfortunately I might just back out of trying as I've never travelled outside Nigeria before and I do not even know of any agent that's a bit reliable for now.

Hwaji:


I don't trust Cradlehavven.
I sent them some documents to support my application and few weeks later I saw 1 of my children's birth certificate (i had him abroad) on their Instagram page like it was 1 of their successful client's child's birth certificate.
Also poor customer service.

conyema12:
My wife applied for Canada visa around July this year . She had our first 2 kids there and currently on the 3rd pregnancy, unfortunately the visa needs to be renewed as it has expired. We ve been having challenges due to COVID issues.
Is there a way she can use our kids (Canadian citizens) as her reason for exemption to travel as she doesn’t have a resident sibling in Canada at the moment
Thanks

eclectic139:
Hello all. Good day. Please i have a question about Nigeria's visa on arrival. Is it enough to just follow the instructions on Naija immigration website? I noticed one of the requirements was a return ticket, the visa on arrival is for a new born Nigerian thats' yet to get a passport, will this return ticket still be required? Thank you.

Choiceart0710:
Good Morning everyone, I hope we are all enjoying the holiday?
Can someone please tell me the type of visa to apply for to enable someone give birth in Canada? Is it tourist or what?
Thank you in advance.

Choiceart0710:
Good Morning everyone, I hope we are all enjoying the holiday?
Can someone please tell me the type of visa to apply for to enable someone give birth in Canada? Is it tourist or what?
Thank you in advance.

atoke2021:
Hello all,
I just saw something that made me really sad.
I came across an Instagram post of a lady that had her baby in Canada and now she is selling a course on how to do it to the people. She is selling it for 125 dollars. It makes me sad because chances are she got all her information from places like this forum.

I just hope more people come across places like this so that they can have all the information they need and not depend on someone else packaging what is on here.

Everytime I see things like this, I wonder- do Nigerians get happy from exploiting their own?

makylove101:
I believe I know the lady you are talking about. Came across it too and was quite shocked myself!

atoke2021:
E shock you too abi. I know that birth companies do this but to see an individual offer this based on just at I have born in Canada is very surprising. As if the course will give you magic that grant you visa and entry at POE.
Reminder that we should try not to exploit each other and always think about how we would feel if someone did that to you.

Debbieeeeeee:

My thoughts exactly! The course doesn’t grant others visa so why exploit others to sell course too them. Even if it’s grants visa is she the visa officer or entry clearance officer, will she let them in at the border.
Only the gullible ones who cannot research what they want will buy.
I’ll also like to believe this so called person selling course has to be a celebrity or have a popularity of some sort on instagram.
It is well.