₦airaland Forum

eddycross:
Thanks.

Routine questions were:
- Have you ever been convicted of a criminal/offence
- Have you ever been refused entry to Canada, or required to leave Canada?
- Do you have any other family members other than the ones listed (on your COPR)?
- Has the configuration of your family changed since being issued the COPR?

All these questions are listed on the COPR though, they read them out, wrote down the answers, and asked us to sign against the answers.

kay2011:
Long post Alert. Make una no vex abeg.

hayor2014:
At what point did u register for the pre arrival service, is it to early just after AOR

eddycross:
My people, please just send email to all three mailboxes below:

info@frsc.gov.ng, NDLVerification@frsc.gov.ng, helpdesk@frsc.gov.ng

I noticed that when I escalated to especially the NDLVerification email, I got response. You don't need to pay. And also don't need to shout.
If they have not responded to you for months or so, just send a follow up and beg them. I did and got a response to pick up next day.

If you have ever gotten any feedback with a mobile number, call and ask the person to please help.

Canadianfly:
Maybe your bed game is tight and them hear about am Or could be a case of Get Out (watch the film).

Lol I kid.

themaestro212:
Hi guys. Here’s my Landing Experience

Flight
I travelled with Ethiopian Airlines from Nigeria on March 15. It was a 24 hour flight. First leg was from Nigeria to Ethiopia for 8 hours and then Ethiopia to Dublin for another 8 hours. At Dublin, we stopped to refuel for an hour before the final leg to Toronto for 7 hours 45mins.

The airline was good. Ethiopian allows 2 bags of 23kg each. They let you slide with an extra kg or 2...anything more than that will be rejected and you will have to shed the weight. I had issues with my baggage because I weighed it at home and it was the specified weight. Also, when I got to the airport, I weighed it again and it was still the specified weight. However, once I got on to the check-in counter, my bags were surprisingly overweight by about 4kg. I had to convert some of the suits in my bag to hand luggage which became really stressful. The plane we took on the first leg to Ethiopia was big and spacious with good leg space. If you have kids, you won’t have much trouble. Kids had enough space to play and sleeping was comfortable. We were served with one meal.

We stopped at Ethiopia to connect to the second leg of the flight. Buses were there to pick passengers at the terminal. They prioritized the passengers connecting to Saudi Arabia and Dubai flights because their flight time was near. The bus picked those who were going to the US and Toronto last. The check-in process for the second leg was pretty long and stressful but it was smooth. We got onto the flight to Toronto at about 10:50pm local time in Ethiopia.

The airplane to Toronto was noticeably smaller than the first plane. So little leg space and tighter aisles. We were served with two meals before we got to Dublin to refuel. At Dublin, the temperature was 2 degrees celsius. We all waited in the plane and it became super cold. I had to put on my winter jacket and socks. Finally, we left to Toronto. We were served with another two meals.

Landing
We landed at 7:26am local time in Toronto. The temperature was -7 degrees celsius and snowing. Immediately I got to the door of the plane, the cold hit me. The worst cold I have ever felt. It felt unreal. With 3 shirts, one turtle neck and a winter jacket, I was still freezing. Buses came to pick us up from the plane as there were no available jet bridges. My fingers were getting stiff just between the plane and the bus.

Immigration
Inside the airport, we got to a huge hall. There’s a place where people with US and Canadian passports can scan their passports themselves. But I needed to go to the immigration counter to scan my passport. The IO collected my declaration card and asked how much I was traveling with. I was traveling with USD2,500 so I told him. I clarified what “commercial goods” on the declaration card meant just to be sure I wasn’t carrying any then I ticked “No”. He scanned my passport and made a few funny remarks. He welcomed me to Canada warmly and directed me to the new entrants section inside a separate room. This took about 3 minutes.

New Entrants Section
The room I was directed to had about 15 agents. There was a long queue. Typically, some of the agents would ask to submit your passport and CPR then direct you to sit while they verify your application, some others will do it fast while you stand. The officer that attended to me was very quick. She asked if I’m married, if i have kids and how much I’m traveling with. I told her USD2,500. She asked for address for PR Card. I gave her. She asked if I’d been convicted of any crime or refused admission to any country etc. After answering, she wrote my answers on the CPR and told me to sign on 3 different spots on each copy of the CPR. She welcomed me to Canada and directed me to Service Canada section. I was so excited. This all took about 5-7mins.

Service Canada
I was asked to fill a short form and then meet with one of the Service Canada officers at the counter. They collected the form and told me to read about the Privacy of my SIN. After I read it, I was issued my SIN and told to keep it very safe and if possible memorize it. This took about 5 minutes.

Customs
I went to fetch my bags at the carousel. At the exit, they collected my declaration card and because I had nothing to declare, I went straight out.

Exit and Settling
I hired a car from the airport to Brampton for CAD45. The driver was very nice and told me a few things about Canada. He dropped me at my Airbnb in Brampton where I dropped my bags. I could not check-in till 3pm and this was 10am so I told him to take me to the Bank and to the mall for an extra CAD10.

I went to TD (Canada Trust) to open an account but I had dropped my CPR at the Airbnb, forgetfully, so I couldn’t open an account. You would need your CPR and Passport to get a new entrant package as the lady told me. She set an appointment with me for 10am tomorrow when I will be going back to open the account.

I got a Fido SIM card at the Square One Mall in Mississauga. I have to say at this point that Canadian mobile phone service is quite expensive. My package was CAD55 monthly for unlimited Canada wide calls and texts and 2GB data.

I bought a few winter clothes to add to the ones I had bought in Nigeria. Jackets were averagely CAD35 but depends on the store you’re buying from. I also went to Burger King to eat while waiting for 3pm. I got an Uber from there to my Airbnb in Brampton for about CAD19.

Next Steps
I plan to look for a permanent place to stay in Downtown Toronto from next week as that is closer to my new office where I resume in April.

I need to get and load a Presto card for bus service. I also need to go back to the bank to deposit my dollars and wire the money from my Nigerian account.

mosquitoway:
hi everyone, if you are looking for a place to stay in Mississauga

ray78:
Good day nairalanders.Anyone using a GT Bank Mastercard?I just heard we cant withdraw via ATMs.I'm stuck as i have naira in my account thinking i could withdraw it in CAD only to contact GT customer care and be told it is no longer possible,unless i use it for POS/WEB payments??Please what step can i take to get my money in CAD?

mosquitoway:
hi everyone, if you are looking for a place to stay in Mississauga area on landing , pm me, thanks

ray78:
Good day nairalanders.Anyone using a GT Bank Mastercard?I just heard we cant withdraw via ATMs.I'm stuck as i have naira in my account thinking i could withdraw it in CAD only to contact GT customer care and be told it is no longer possible,unless i use it for POS/WEB payments??Please what step can i take to get my money in CAD?

KMBA:
hi KMBA. if you don't mind me asking, what part of Quebec do you live in? can you expand on the standard of living there, and how deeply the "french language policy" affected your job search opportunities. Pardon me if it seems i'm asking for too much but i'll be moving there before month end and i just need to hear from seniors in that province. thanks for your help

Thank you for your analysis. I agree with you that it is widespread, more so than some people would want to admit by claiming it is prominent in one particular province. I believe that ultimately, human beings will always find something to discriminate against others for, even when they are of the same skin color! Case in point - Nigeria! All this one we are spending plenty time to talk about Quebec (where I live by the way), no be we we dey discriminate against the Ghanaians - on nothing less than jolly rice!? Are they of a different skin color? Not to talk less of the ethnic bias we have to deal with amongst ourselves. Racism will always be there, for some blockheads, the color of their skin is the only thing they can lay hold to especially in front of intelligent people who do not look like them...there is an element of fear and self-loathing in the notion, i think....but then that is just my position.

eddycross:
Hello Nairaland Fam,

Landed in Toronto 3 days ago.

***FLIGHT***
Flew KLM. There was some issue at the time of boarding regarding excess hand luggage, but we survived. No excess check-in luggage - we had two bags of 23kg each.

Flight duration was about 6 hrs to Amsterdam, 4 hrs layover, and 7 hrs to Toronto. Landed 11AM.

Point to note: KLM weighs your hand luggage before you board (all your bags are placed on the scale and must not exceed 12Kg, ie, back pack plus any other bag together)

***LANDING***
Landing experience was okay.

One thing has changed though - there is no longer a need to fill the landing card. When you land, you go to a computer and fill in your landing details + any thing to declare, and you get a print out which you will eventually show to customs.

We had our passports checked and proceeded to the immigration officers who collected our COPRs (both copies), asked a few routine questions and asked us to sit and wait. In about 15 mins time, our names were called and we collected our copies (one copy each) all signed and stamped and ready to go.

Next, we proceeded to Service Canada to get our SIN. This took a while, about one hour - mainly due to crowd - and we were off to pick our bags. We got our bags and were directed to customs.

Customs asked how much we had in hand, and collected two copies of our "Goods Accompanying list", We stated that we had no additional goods to follow. They didn't check our bags 'since we declared what we were carrying - meat, fish, etc'. After a few mins (10 - 15mins), we were issued a 'receipt' for the goods accompanying, and we were welcomed to Canada and ushered in.

We got a taxi outside to take us to our Airbnb in North York (taxi cost CAD59). That's where we are now. Got bank accounts opened, and got mobile numbers. The welcoming weather has not been the best, but hey, it's Canada... cold is synonymous with Canada.

Point to note: Change your USD to CAD in the airport, the taxis won't accept USD conversion. They will however accept the same cmount whether it is USD or CAD, so if your bill is say CAD 50, they will gladly accept USD 50, but then you will be losing.


***WHAT NOW?***


Now looking for apartments, and the credit score is a real downer.

Anybody who can help with alternatives, info on available 2 b/r apartments in Toronto, agents that are willing to consider newcomers, or general tips would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

maternal:
There's an English community in Montreal. You can do well in Montreal as an English speaking person.

kachikapor:
hi,

Thanks for sharing.

You stated that you wrote down meat and fiah. Did they really allow you to bring in meat?

thanks

eddycross:
Well, we brought in dried snails, but we did not bring the meat (we actually planned to bring dried goat meat but decided against it, in case it is confiscated). However, if we did, we would have passed through ...but who knows, some other customs personnel may not be too lenient to let "you" go without a search.

eddycross:
Hello Nairaland Fam,

Anybody who can help with alternatives, info on available 2 b/r apartments in Toronto, agents that are willing to consider newcomers, or general tips would be greatly appreciated.[/color]
[/size]

Thanks

mosquitoway:
hi everyone, if you are looking for a place to stay in Mississauga area on landing , pm me, thanks

ray78:
Good day nairalanders.Anyone using a GT Bank Mastercard?I just heard we cant withdraw via ATMs.I'm stuck as i have naira in my account thinking i could withdraw it in CAD only to contact GT customer care and be told it is no longer possible,unless i use it for POS/WEB payments??Please what step can i take to get my money in CAD?

eddycross:
Hello Nairaland Fam,

Landed in Toronto 3 days ago.

***FLIGHT***
Flew KLM. There was some issue at the time of boarding regarding excess hand luggage, but we survived. No excess check-in luggage - we had two bags of 23kg each.

Flight duration was about 6 hrs to Amsterdam, 4 hrs layover, and 7 hrs to Toronto. Landed 11AM.

Point to note: KLM weighs your hand luggage before you board (all your bags are placed on the scale and must not exceed 12Kg, ie, back pack plus any other bag together)

***LANDING***
Landing experience was okay.

One thing has changed though - there is no longer a need to fill the landing card. When you land, you go to a computer and fill in your landing details + any thing to declare, and you get a print out which you will eventually show to customs.

We had our passports checked and proceeded to the immigration officers who collected our COPRs (both copies), asked a few routine questions and asked us to sit and wait. In about 15 mins time, our names were called and we collected our copies (one copy each) all signed and stamped and ready to go.

Next, we proceeded to Service Canada to get our SIN. This took a while, about one hour - mainly due to crowd - and we were off to pick our bags. We got our bags and were directed to customs.

Customs asked how much we had in hand, and collected two copies of our "Goods Accompanying list", We stated that we had no additional goods to follow. They didn't check our bags 'since we declared what we were carrying - meat, fish, etc'. After a few mins (10 - 15mins), we were issued a 'receipt' for the goods accompanying, and we were welcomed to Canada and ushered in.

We got a taxi outside to take us to our Airbnb in North York (taxi cost CAD59). That's where we are now. Got bank accounts opened, and got mobile numbers. The welcoming weather has not been the best, but hey, it's Canada... cold is synonymous with Canada.

Point to note: Change your USD to CAD in the airport, the taxis won't accept USD conversion. They will however accept the same cmount whether it is USD or CAD, so if your bill is say CAD 50, they will gladly accept USD 50, but then you will be losing.


***WHAT NOW?***


Now looking for apartments, and the credit score is a real downer.

Anybody who can help with alternatives, info on available 2 b/r apartments in Toronto, agents that are willing to consider newcomers, or general tips would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

eddycross:
Hello Nairaland Fam,

Landed in Toronto 3 days ago.

***FLIGHT***
Flew KLM. There was some issue at the time of boarding regarding excess hand luggage, but we survived. No excess check-in luggage - we had two bags of 23kg each.

Flight duration was about 6 hrs to Amsterdam, 4 hrs layover, and 7 hrs to Toronto. Landed 11AM.

Point to note: KLM weighs your hand luggage before you board (all your bags are placed on the scale and must not exceed 12Kg, ie, back pack plus any other bag together)

***LANDING***
Landing experience was okay.

One thing has changed though - there is no longer a need to fill the landing card. When you land, you go to a computer and fill in your landing details + any thing to declare, and you get a print out which you will eventually show to customs.

We had our passports checked and proceeded to the immigration officers who collected our COPRs (both copies), asked a few routine questions and asked us to sit and wait. In about 15 mins time, our names were called and we collected our copies (one copy each) all signed and stamped and ready to go.

Next, we proceeded to Service Canada to get our SIN. This took a while, about one hour - mainly due to crowd - and we were off to pick our bags. We got our bags and were directed to customs.

Customs asked how much we had in hand, and collected two copies of our "Goods Accompanying list", We stated that we had no additional goods to follow. They didn't check our bags 'since we declared what we were carrying - meat, fish, etc'. After a few mins (10 - 15mins), we were issued a 'receipt' for the goods accompanying, and we were welcomed to Canada and ushered in.

We got a taxi outside to take us to our Airbnb in North York (taxi cost CAD59). That's where we are now. Got bank accounts opened, and got mobile numbers. The welcoming weather has not been the best, but hey, it's Canada... cold is synonymous with Canada.

Point to note: Change your USD to CAD in the airport, the taxis won't accept USD conversion. They will however accept the same cmount whether it is USD or CAD, so if your bill is say CAD 50, they will gladly accept USD 50, but then you will be losing.


***WHAT NOW?***


Now looking for apartments, and the credit score is a real downer.

Anybody who can help with alternatives, info on available 2 b/r apartments in Toronto, agents that are willing to consider newcomers, or general tips would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

Dammie2017:
Hello all...
Landed in ottawa a couple of days back.

I flew air canada as i was in the uk for a bit after i left nigeria. The flight was ok. Landed at ottawa around 6:50PM.The airport was rather quiet as it seems not to be a major airport. Did the kiosk declaration and proceeded to get my bags. I was then directed to immigration. He took my passport and COPR , asked the same questions on he copr and told me to initial and sign on both forms, was given a print out on steps on gettig SIN and told me to go to customs since i declared i had food. The officer asked what i had and i said powdered milk , spices, ground pepper,and he asked to see the milk, then he asked if i had the chocolate milky thing as well and showed him the milo and he says while smiling "i heard its good stuff but ill have to bin them as its not allowed in canada" welcomed me to canada and showed me the way out.

2 days after went to service canada for SIN and opened an account with RBC, now job hunting....

Ottawa people please holla oooo, im in need of friends...lol

AZeD1:
I'm in Ottawa.
Is the iPhone SE promo still on with RBC?

Also try and get a new comers credit card from RBC and start building up your credit history.

If you don't mind working in Government, now is the time to apply. A new budget season just started so offices would be filling up vacancies.

Dammie2017:
No the iphone promo is not on, i was given a credit card , the lady said it would be mailed to me. just sent you a pm

alt3r3g0:
Welcome. In addition to the point to note, Its advisable to change only what's needed because you'd get a better rate at the banks and the mall than @ travellex/ airport rate.

lilyandie:
Please do NOT change money at the airport, i did and those guys scammed me. Their rates were horrible.

Dammie2017:
Hello all...
Landed in ottawa a couple of days back.

I flew air canada as i was in the uk for a bit after i left nigeria. The flight was ok. Landed at ottawa around 6:50PM.The airport was rather quiet as it seems not to be a major airport. Did the kiosk declaration and proceeded to get my bags. I was then directed to immigration. He took my passport and COPR , asked the same questions on he copr and told me to initial and sign on both forms, was given a print out on steps on gettig SIN and told me to go to customs since i declared i had food. The officer asked what i had and i said powdered milk , spices, ground pepper,and he asked to see the milk, then he asked if i had the chocolate milky thing as well and showed him the milo and he says while smiling "i heard its good stuff but ill have to bin them as its not allowed in canada" welcomed me to canada and showed me the way out.

2 days after went to service canada for SIN and opened an account with RBC, now job hunting....

Ottawa people please holla oooo, im in need of friends...lol

kachikapor:
interesting.... so he allowed the milk but not the milo. did he state why?