I read this amidst tears and smiles! It ended in praise!! But your brother sef

TrudeausGirl:
Hi Fam!

Silent reader mode deactivated. It’s COPR!!

I’d like to thank everyone who’s poured of themselves into this forum. God first- He’s too much! and in no particular order- Newmum, Ifeoma and joo2018, godisincontrol. twetey, 40manlappy You guys really helped me. God will always show up for you guys.


IELTS 1 – January 20, 2018
IELTS 2- November 10, 2018
WES – October 30, 2018
ITA – December 19, 2018(Cut-off 439, CRS 440)
MEDS - JAN 29, 2019
AOR – February 14, 2019
MEP – APRIL 2, 2019
BIL – APRIL 3, 2019
PPR – July 15, 2019
VO – Ottawa
COPR-August 15, 2019

Typed up most of this on the 14th of February in faith.


, even with the knowledge that worrying won’t change a thing. Don’t fret and don’t give up. Keep a positive mindset at all times. Do exactly what you’ve been instructed to do, be very clear and concise in your application. Avoid discrepancies and oversabi.

It ended in praise.

Yes am in Lagos I also finished from the Lagos study centre. Thanks

Anikeblessing:
Where is your centre? Are you in lagos? Let me know so that I can help you.

TrudeausGirl:
Hi Fam!

Silent reader mode deactivated. It’s COPR!!

. I can’t explain the joy that comes with the golden email. I can only pray that all of you waiting for it will receive it speedily in Jesus name., I don’t care what anyone says, PRAYER helps.
It’s hard not to worry, even with the knowledge that worrying won’t change a thing. Don’t fret and don’t give up. Keep a positive mindset at all times. Do exactly what you’ve been instructed to do, be very clear and concise in your application. Avoid discrepancies and oversabi.

It ended in praise.

Amen to your prayers, Wow! What a journey! God bless you in Canada.
Congrats.

Canadagirl20:
I read this admits tears and smiles! It ended in praise!! But your brother sef

Lol. He said congrats later on. He just didn't understand the tears �

Chriswazo:


Amen to your prayers, Wow! What a journey! God bless you in Canada.
Congrats.

Amen. Thank you so much.

ladymarshall:
Amen thanks

Am telling you, I have been waiting for yours so tey.
It will end in praise

ladymarshall:
4 months+ but it feels like 4 years tho

Wow

For those who have gotten PCC for the UK, is it true you can't pay for it with a Nigerian debit/credit card? A lady on Twitter said she couldn't pay for hers and a representative of their organisation said due to Nigeria's notorious 419 issues, they don't accept payment from Nigerian cards.

ednut1:
fetch it

Lol!
When you want to apply for a remark, go to their site and read their remark policy.
You can actually browse and read.
Yes you can.
Cheers!

Mariesio:



I have ATS, Bsc Econs and MBA, age is not on my side thats why am contemplating PNP

You have masters? That's enough. The next one that is higher tgan masters is PhD

Dinma27:


You have masters? That's enough. The next one that is higher tgan masters is PhD

For Sach, 1st degree has to be in the NOC you want to apply for

If a married couple gets PPR and after they do the first landing, Can the Principal Applicant travel out to complete a degree he/she is undergoing outside of Canada while the partner who is not the PA remains back in Canada? the Principal Applicant will come to Canada during the vacations and stuff until the program is complete (in 1 year)

Hi everyone, please I'm new here and want to join the race to Canada . I need an information concerning WES. I'm creating a profile for my wife on WES. Should I use her former surname as it appears on her educational documents before marriage or her new (married) surname?
Thanks.

Yes!

Vousmevoyez:
If a married couple gets PPR and after they do the first landing, Can the Principal Applicant travel out to complete a degree he/she is undergoing outside of Canada while the partner who is not the PA remains back in Canada? the Principal Applicant will come to Canada during the vacations and stuff until the program is complete (in 1 year)

ladymarshall:
Send a pm

Pls I'd like to join the August AOR WhatsApp group too. Sent you a request

Mariesio:
For those who have evaluated ATS ICAN , how many years of diploma is it pls? Thanks in anticipation

One year

Silversurfer1:
For those who have gotten PCC for the UK, is it true you can't pay for it with a Nigerian debit/credit card? A lady on Twitter said she couldn't pay for hers and a representative of their organisation said due to Nigeria's notorious 419 issues, they don't accept payment from Nigerian cards.

Well they accepted my gt card and this was around June 2019. I would also advise you to request for the completed certificate to be sent to a Uk address and ask the person to scan it to you since u only need d scanned copy. You save money on delivery costs to Nig.

Vousmevoyez:
If a married couple gets PPR and after they do the first landing, Can the Principal Applicant travel out to complete a degree he/she is undergoing outside of Canada while the partner who is not the PA remains back in Canada? the Principal Applicant will come to Canada during the vacations and stuff until the program is complete (in 1 year)

Yes o, once you become a PR there's hardly anything like primary applicant again

Silversurfer1:
For those who have gotten PCC for the UK, is it true you can't pay for it with a Nigerian debit/credit card? A lady on Twitter said she couldn't pay for hers and a representative of their organisation said due to Nigeria's notorious 419 issues, they don't accept payment from Nigerian cards.

You can. Paid for mine last month with my Zenith Bank debit card

I paid with a GT MasterCard

Silversurfer1:
For those who have gotten PCC for the UK, is it true you can't pay for it with a Nigerian debit/credit card? A lady on Twitter said she couldn't pay for hers and a representative of their organisation said due to Nigeria's notorious 419 issues, they don't accept payment from Nigerian cards.

Please how long did it take for your endorser to get the mail and how long did it take for them to post it to the UK address.

Bazbaby:

Well they accepted my gt card and this was around June 2019. I would also advise you to request for the completed certificate to be sent to a Uk address and ask the person to scan it to you since u only need d scanned copy. You save money on delivery costs to Nig.

Hello wonderful people of nairaland, please I need an answer, can your NOC be different from your certificate, if you have experience in an NoC different from your qualifications?

thanks

CanadaPR:


No it's not. Till October for another class. Please watch out from September.

Dinma27:
If you wish yo writeBCS by September, you can self study and need the materials and past questions, you can send me a pm.

You can check my profile for my number too.

Remember registration ends this month

Please, I have sent you a PM. I also need the materials. I will appreciate your response. Thank you so much.

ladymarshall:
Sis!!! I am so happy for you. Just as I was about to write congratulations that day, BOT banned me What a long wait. Super happy for you. Awaiting the full gist, and I reserve your bonus marks because you were one of the very helpful fellas on this thread when I joined. Wish you a stress-free landing prep.

Thanks dear, I'm even hesitant to post the gist as I started using it as a diary at some point. The thing is long gaan..

Matrix414:
good morning guys, please anyone with BCS study materials should kindly assist me by sending to alexshepherd414@gmail.com.

thanks

Hello, please were you able to get the study materials? If yes, please can you help send to me? Thanks

Well, I was able to pay with my gtbank master card

Silversurfer1:
For those who have gotten PCC for the UK, is it true you can't pay for it with a Nigerian debit/credit card? A lady on Twitter said she couldn't pay for hers and a representative of their organisation said due to Nigeria's notorious 419 issues, they don't accept payment from Nigerian cards.

Mariesio:


For Sach, 1st degree has to be in the NOC you want to apply for

please I need your advice for Saks pnp Dimma.
I am a lawyer and I have a masters degree in law which is under evaluation with WES.
I have a 2yrs diploma in Social work in 2002 b4 I read law and has never worked with the diploma Cert.
Social work is in demand not law but some of the duties social wokers do is what I do as a lawyer.
The requirement under Saks pnp is that if you have a BSC or Masters in social work that it must be assessed by CASW( Canadian assiciation of sicial workers). It also said that if your discipline is in another field, get your own evaluation.
Beside it, it says that you must have at least a diploma in social work.
1. How can I use law as my NOC as per it would fetch me higher point though it is not in demand but it is during my practice as a lawyer that I do some social work works.
2. Must my NOC be social work knowing that is a diploma cert and would not fetch me much points.
3. They require that if your discipline is another field then get your own ECA. Do you think I can come under this.
4. For assesment by CASW they requires BSC and Masters in social work not diploma.
Can I apply with law and just upload the social work diploma cert without any evaluation.
Please advise me.
Thank you

The full version of my PR Story!!!

On 15th of August, 2019, I woke to the 'Ready for Visa Mail' and was so overjoyed, grateful and full of thanks to God, coz if not for him on my side, this journey would have been fruitless. And so I would like to first give a big shout out to the Almighty for everything he has done for me thus far, Thank You Jesus!!!

Now, the story in detail

Timeline:
SINGLE APPLICANT
NOC: 2263 (Health and Safety Officer with 1 year Experience)
1st EE Profile: November 26th, 2018
2nd EE Profile: March 4th, 2019
IELTS: November 26th, 2018 (LRWS: 8.5,8,7,first and only attempt
WES Completion: March 4th, 2019
ITA: March 20th, 2019
Medicals & PCC: March 20th, 2019
AOR: April 1st, 2019
MEP: May 17th, 2019, received a ghost update at this point
BIL: May 20th, 2019
Raised 1st CSE: June 1st, 2019 for addition of new Intl. passport
Raised 2nd CSE: July 1st, 2019 for Application status and to know my VO
Called CIC once: July 17th, 2019
2nd Ghost Update: August 14th, 2019
PPR Mail: August 15th, 2019 dated 9:59pm on 14th august.
VO: Ottawa

How it all started:
In January 2018, a friend of mine who had just migrated to Canada told me about the opportunity and wanted me to give it a try. She explained some part of the process to me and even sent me a CIC document highlighting a step by step process of all that is required. After some thought about it, I decided to consider it as an option to move to the abroad although I didn’t have enough work experience at the time as I was just about 5months into my new job.
Prior to this time, I was considering the Education route for Austrailia with one bobo that wasn’t serious (we were going to go as a couple but God had His own plans), and then I had a PHD in America option which was looking more achievable than Austrailia in the pipeline as well. As God would have it, The bobo broke off the relationship in December,2018(said his vision was not with America, lol except it was Austrailia or Canada, lol and at this point, I was the only one preparing to write IELTS and I was also studying for GRE, and he kept on postponing preparations for the exams). Before this time, I already enrolled at a study centre back in 2017 for IELTS Academic but I didn’t write the exam that period. Fast forward to 2018, the classes I had came in handy and was very useful when I started practicing to write IELTS General.

IELTS:
Ielts preparations was a bit easy to study as I already went through some rigorous lectures for IELTS Academic which is generally harder than the General, although I had to do some more brush ups as I had forgotten a lot of the tactics used in answering questions. Also, it became a little stressful studying for the exam because this time, I had to combine practicing with my tight work schedule which wasn’t an easy peezy. Sometimes, I would have to study at work, thank God for my Engineer onsite who understood what I was going through or in the bus on my way home as I spend a lot of hours on the road commuting to work (living in mainland and working on the Island thinz, my Lagos peeps would understand this). I also tried studying at home sometimes too after work but mehn, It wasn’t easy, infact I remember one of the days I tried this after getting home past 10pm, I prepared coffee to help keep me awake while I study,lol. I remember placing all my reading materials on the dinning table where I usually study and my coffee and then I decide to go into the room to just lay a little and then get set to read, lol. Omo, the next thing I heard was my 4am alarm, lol chai , see me laughing at myself. Meanwhile, I still met my coffee and reading materials on the table chilling and waiting for me lol. In all, thank God the result came out great.

Study materials I used were; Jay’s videos(I used more of this), Liz videos, practiced some online daily listening and reading tests everyday, I had a Barron’sIELTS textbook as well and I made sure I practiced, practiced and practiced. I wrote my Exams on November 10th,2018 and results came out on the 26th.

EE Profile & WES Evaluation:
So immediately my IELTS result was out, I quickly opened an EE Profile as I had already evaluated my degree (B.Sc and Masters) for the American PhD Parole with WES US and I thought I could use the same evaluation for the express entry, although a friend of mine who was also in the process told me since I had done WES evaluation before, it would be useful. Anyways, I later found out that same day that there was a WES Canada for this process, chai, see me thinking I was getting ITA in the week to come,lol. I sha then opened a WES Canada account, requested that my documents be transferred from WES US to WES Canada which was done the next day, sharp sharp. Then Wes Canada told me they had received all my documents and that it was being reviewed and so I had nothing to do but to wait. I thought at this point that the evaluation had started so I was sure I was getting ITA soon, yimu lol (anyways, It was at this point that a friend sent me the link to this nairaland thread in part 6 and so I started to read, eat, drink, and digest from page 1 to the page I met and was confused with so many info but I was patient, asked some questions though and then gradually I understood and was able to even start giving advice and all) Only for them to get back to me after 2 weeks that I needed to submit my waec, bla bla bla, mshew as I didn’t have to include waec when I did WES US coz they had not started requesting for it then. The next day, I was at WAEC office in the morning and #25,000 sorted everything, thank God. My waec didn’t get to WES until January because of the Christmas break which caused some delay. Anyways, WES evaluation got completed on March 4th, 2019 and dived straight into the pool right away.

ITA, MEDICALS & PCC:
I received ITA with CRS Score of 453 (draw score was 452) on March 20th, 2019 and coincidentally on that day, I went in for my Medicals at IOM which was a breeze and also had my PCC at Alagbon (a Nairaland member on this group gave me a contact and I did it for #3,500 with one woman, can’t remember her name).

AOR:
I submitted my application on April 1st, 2019 and documents I submitted were:
• Work reference letter in CIC format on the company’s letterhead from HR and I claimed just 1 year (I didn’t submit any other document with this, just the letter alone as I was no longer working the organisation)
• POF was 100% from my Dad, he did a Gift deed and notarized it. After he paid the money into my account, I immediately invested in money market funds with Axa Mansard (thank you @Claire18 for your help on this one) as I was scared of leaving the money in my savings account. So I printed a statement of account showing the input of the POF into my account and the movement of the money into Axa Mansard Money Market Account. I then requested for a reference letter from Axa Masard in CIC’s format for the money invested and a statement of my investment account from them as well and submitted all this as my POF documents (I didn’t submit any 6 months statement, just a statement for the days I did the transfers)
• Medical Paper from IOM
• PCC (Scanned the whole pages including finger print pages)
• Data page of Intl. Passport
• Digital photo that I took using a photographer on my street, I sha gave him the specifications and he did a very good job, I even consulted with Ifeoma77 on this coz I wasn’t sure, her comment made me blush, lol, thanks Ify .
• For Education, I submitted my Masters Degree, B.Sc, IELTS and ECA report all in 1 PDF file.
Can’t remember if there’s anything else to add

After AOR:
After AOR, my medicals passed and i received letter for Biometrics on May 17th, which was a breeze and got a Ghost Update and then the silence started. Although I had to raise a CSE for addition of my new International Passport as the one I submitted was expiring soon. Afterwards, I was curious to know my visa office and the progress on my application and so I raised another CSE. The response I got wasn’t clear, though I sha saw Ottawa and assumed it was my VO. At this point, I joined so many whatsapp groups just to keep myself abreast of situations and progress here and there. The whatsapp groups were very helpful although the Indian groups can give one heart attacks if one isn’t careful, lol. I also made 1 call to CIC and the Lady on the phone told me I had just submitted my file recently(this was in July o) and that I was still within the normal processing time and that I should be expecting my PPR in October/November which was the the end of the 6 months period. Well, I really didn’t have anything to say as regards her comment but I sha knew I was getting in the end.

On 1st of August, I decided to go take my passport at Studio 24 just to prepare myself for the mail, I just had a hunch to do it and also requested for GCMS note on the 7th of August (yet to receive that though). On 14th of August morning, I saw a ghost mail in my application and I just started jumping for joy that atleast my file was being worked upon. My people on the whatsapp group started congratulating me that PPR was close by and I kept that faith burning. Lo and behold, I woke around 3am on the 15th of August (dated 14th August) and decided to check my phone, hmmmmmmm, READY FOR VISA MAIL (PPR) was sitting pretty in my mail and I almost went numb. Wow, the feeling was indescribable mehn, I couldn’t hold the joy and the fact that I was now fully a Canadian,lol. Guys, the whole journey was worth it mehn and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. Thank you all for reading and I can’t wait to see you all in canny land (my Beloved Country)

Maritee:
A short version of my story, the main one is still coming o

NOC 2263: Health and Safety Officer (Claimed 1 year with a single employer)

CRS: 453, Masters degree
*ITA* : 20 March
*AOR* : 1 April
*MEP* : 17 May
*BIL* : 20 May
Ghost Update: August 14
*PPR* : August 15, 3am(email dated 14 Aug, 21:59pm)

*VO* : CPC Ottawa

*FSW-O* Nigeria, Singly Single�

Details: I know I had one ghost update after MEP and then one more in the morning before PPR and I just started jumping up and down the house��
I raised 2 CSEs; 1 was for addition of my new Intl. Passport and the other was to know my VO(of which I didn't understand their response �‍♀, all I know was that I sha saw Orrowa�� in the reply and took it as my VO).
I also called them once when I clocked 3 months and the lady told me I was within the normal processing time and that I should be expecting the final decision in October/November �‍♀, and that my application was still within the case processing office in Canada, Ottawa�. Anyways, her comments didn't get to me sha�‍♀ as I sha knew I was getting the Visa whether they liked it or not��.
On August 7th, I decided to request for GCMS notes which hasn't come yet though� and then in the morning of August 14th, I saw a ghost update on my profile and my background changed to we are processing, I was just jumping up and down the house ��. By 3am, I woke and saw the ready for Visa mail sitting politely in mail�� and I was in mild shock �

Travel History - UK, last travel was in 2008 and so I was silent about it in my application .
NO ADR
I return all Glory to God coz he is the only one that could have done this���
I wish everyone waiting for this joyful mail a speedy PPR, thanks guys, you guys kept me motivated ���

How the lesbians got PPR��
TIMELINE:
IELTS(ONCE) LSWR 8.5, 8, 7, 7.5
Spouse 3rd Attempt 8777(PA)
Spouse ECA: WES- Applied in May received July- B.A and CIPM
CSR: 454
ITA: 22nd Aug 2018
AOR: 5th Sept 2018
Med passed/Biometrics request: 28th September
Biometrics Completed: 28th September
ADR: Nov27th RPRF and Authorization to travel for dependent child.
ADR provided: Nov 29th
DEADLY SILENCE
ADR2: May 29th 2019 Interview Invite to Accra
Interview: June 13th
ADR3: June 14th
PPR: July 8th
Passport Submission: July 9th
Application Approved: July 22nd
COPR: July 29th
Type of Application: Common-Law
Family of 3.
VO: Initially Ottawa but transferred to Accra Feb 4th

Someone said Nigeria has a way of making you think you are going to blow very soon and then boom its been 10years and you never still blow instead you are still managing and shouldering on. My spouse and I started thinking of migrating in 2017 when 2 of her colleagues got PPR. I strolled to CIC website and convinced myself that it was impossicant cause of POF. Saving that money go hard and its not as if your daily/monthly needs were going to be on hold while one saved, plus the friend recommended an immigration lawyer whom we contacted, and she gave us her own bill (about 5k USD for both of us) and a breakdown of what the process entailed. We fashied it and continued with our lives. Towards the end of the year we started thinking of migrating again. I am not a fan of US because of all the gist I have heard of what people had to go throw to either remain illegally or legalize their status, my power no reach and UK is almost out of reach. We circled back to Canada and decided to go through the school route. We found some affordable schools (about 5k CAD per semester) up north and decided to contact our schools for transcript only to hear of NASU strike. We decided to wait for the strike to be over. Before you know it was 2018 and strike was not still over. Then my spouse calls me one night (she travelled to India for work) to say another family friend has gotten PPR o and her bestie too. Choi, it was as if the Lord was telling us something. We kept wondering, can we do it ourselves without paying that agent?? Her brother said we could that we don’t need an agent. So, I went back to CIC website and started studying the process. Then my colleague turned bestie now mentioned how her bro said Nairaland had all the information and how someone helped deliver something to him free and how another lady on their thread said she was going to give a single lady room and board in exchange the lady babysits her kid twice a week in the evenings. I was like ahh, the people there are nice o. I googled nairaland and searched “Canada” and that was how I landed on Part 3 of the thread. The rest is history.
I was supposed to be the PA because of age but with my 1 degree and scores not coming down, we were at 436 till mummyjaygirls mentioned that people with CIPM could evaluate it too, we sharperly added it my babe’s Wes profile and somehow the Uniben delay wasn’t so terrible. My babe then became PA and CRS went to 454
WES: As schools were still on strike, I saw a post by Mcstan that told me he was a UNN alumnus, so I PMed him asking for help with transcript. He said he had a contact, but their fee was way higher than the official price and I was skeptical about their delivery, so I kept digging. I found another post by someone else detailing the whole Unn process plus verification, I saw yet another post about a lady to call to fast track the verification I bookmarked both. I finally applied on the website after I saw an article on how UNN VC employed PGD students to do the work of the striking NASU members (ekele diri Chukwu). Within a week transcript was with Wes. I used their contact us form to inform them about the delivery. Within a week they had sent the verification request. I sent the brother that posted about the verification lady a PM and he gave me her contact. I called her after I made payment on the portal and sent her my details. The next day I send her 1k voucher to please call me if she needs any info from me(format). Then towards evening I called again, and she said she had done it. I informed Wes yet again and by the next day they had given me completion date. My spouse and I created Wes profiles same day but Uniben ehhh, ya dibara Chukwu. After much much that one was ready.
IELTS: I got loads of links from here and shared with my babe and we practiced together most evenings. I made sure I did one listening practice at work, and one reading and listening at night. Speaking I watched clips and practiced in my head. Writing I didn’t practice (didn’t think it was going to be a problem for me) but I did look at samples to get an idea of what to expect and read tips. I got the magic score on the first attempt, but my spouse didn’t. A .5 in listening was needed. So, she registered again and this time a .5 was need in writing. We applied for remark and it came out unchanged. She registered yet again, and we practiced and practiced. Everyday we get home from work I will give her 2 writing tasks and mark when she was done (baby sorry I pushed so hard, you know I love you). I kept praying the 3rd would be the last cause her morale was low, and as she put in more than her best to practice, I wasn’t sure how she’d feel when that one comes back without the magic scores. Well, it was the last.
POF: From looking like an impossible task it became possible. It was even chilling while we waited for IELTS. We used my FD with Wema, her Mutual funds with Stanbic, my Leadway assurance savings plan and her pension with ARM. I wrote a letter of authorization and we notarized it. We tabulated it with xe and oanda conversion rates.
COMMON LAW: We had lots of doubts about applying together because our relationship is all manner of wrong in Nigeria. Common law is not recognized, and lesbians could be jailed. We contacted the immigration lawyer again and told her that we are coming o, that we were readying our Eca and Ielts but that we wanted to know if we can apply together instead of separately. She said we could as Canny recognizes both relationships. We weighed the pros and cons- one application meant I could tap into my bae’s 2 or more cert, if not I for perish for 438( I would have done something to boost it sha), it also meant we could pull our monies together and meet up with POF for 3 people instead of her paying separately for herself and I pay for myself and our son. The total sum would have been higher. It also meant PPR would come once instead of one person getting hers first and then waiting for the other. There were really no cons so, we went ahead with it. We downloaded the common law declaration form, filled and notarized, attached 2year rent receipt and lease agreement all bearing both names, joint bank statement(6months), our son’s bank statement showing cash inflow from both of us the whole of 2016. We also attached pictures of us from 2015 with our baby to now.
DEPENDENT CHILD: We have a 2year old, biologically mine, his father’s name wasn’t in the hospital birth cert, but they insisted it must be in the NPC cert when I sent someone to get it for me, I uploaded both. In our LOE, we explained that his name is on there as a requirement not because he was/is a part of our lives. I also attached a single mother affidavit I had sworn to in 2016.
WORK EXPERIENCE: This was almost a problem till Newmum0615 came to our rescue with suggestions and even followed up.
THE WAITING PERIOD: After the first ADR requesting, we get our son’s father to sign the IMM5406 form and RPRF, we wrote another letter of authorization emphasizing that this man was not in our lives and it was impossible to reach him. Then it was silence. I kept calling CIC and was told our file was in Ottawa and being worked on, till sometime in February when I called again and was told it had been transferred to Accra, so no more access to our file by the customer agent. We ordered our 2nd set of GCMS notes in January which came with no mention of Accra, so when the lady said it was in Accra we ordered for a 3rd set to determine why. At this point I had stopped visiting Nairaland cause my anxiety was at an all time high. I promised myself I wasn’t going to bother anymore and simply joined the Accra VO group. I was silent in the group but was just observing the trend. As God would have it Accra started releasing PPR March/April/May, I was hopeful but still told myself not to stress. Ko easy. At a point, I told my babe we should prolly withdraw the application so she can apply alone cause I felt I was holding her back, as I was convinced the issue with our application was me not being able to provide the authorization to travel.
Then on May 29th, we got an Interview update, we were both asked to come for the interview, with proof of relationship(lease agreement, joint bank account, pictures, screenshots of Whatsappchats, mails, IG chats, Messages), historical proof of identification( First school leaving cert, Waec results, LG identification, Old Int’l Passport) and proof of employment(Offer and termination letters) for my babe. We were happy, thinking it was coming to an end cause most people in AVO Whataspp group that went for interview came back with COPR. So we quickly got all requirements for immediate PPR ready as well as prepped for interview and off to Accra we all went on June 12th.
June 13th, we showed up at the embassy for our 9:30am interview. We were delayed till 11am and were last to be interviewed. My spouse went in first. I overheard her say something about me being bisexual at a point and I was like what is this girl saying, who is bisexual. I don’t identify as bi, I made a mental note to correct that when its my turn to be interviewed. According to my babe, she felt she was being drilled and asked to defend her sexuality, the kind of questions she was asked, how long have we been together, how come we live together, are we not scared, have we been harassed and the rest. Her interview over, someone came to call me before she even left the booth. In I went, the lady read the clause about the 5year ban if I lie and I was smiling and nodding my head, so she asked if I’ve heard those lines before and I said yes, its on CIC website, and then we started gisting. Told her how I met my babe through a mutual friend (babe saw fine girl and kept hounding our mutual friend for my contact). We were gisting and laughing. The black lady sitting through the interview said our story was like a reality TV show. The white lady said they’ve never seen an application like ours, they mostly see Nigerians claiming asylum because they are being harassed for being gay but never 2people living as normal as we are with finances and investments together. She asked if it was trend and I told her I honestly don’t know any other gay couple that have a life together. So, she asked about my son’s father and I gave her gist of how it was a fling with an old acquaintance that wouldn’t let me be and how the fling led to pregnancy and we decided to have our baby. She then said she would have given us COPR on the spot but Canada is very strict when it concerns kids because they don’t want anyone coming to sue them tomorrow for taking their child, since we can’t get my son’s father to sign, I can go to court and get full custody. I told her we have little time before Medical expires and I wasn’t even sure Nigerian courts will work fast, she said oh no that they have seen people provide this within a month, that once we have it I should bring it to her. I asked her where I will find her to give her na, she laughed and said I should just upload that she would see it and she would approve our application immediately. So, they called my babe and told her about getting the full custody, she said hello to our son, asked him his name and was generally playful. After the interview my babe said she kept wondering what we were talking about because the laughter was too much, but she told herself laughter meant the interview was going great.
The next day, our profile was updated with an ADR to provide either the authorization letter or full custody document from me, and for my babe to inform them if we need more time so they can request for a re-med.
That was how we came out and started looking for a lawyer. My AVO interview group advised we do it outside Lagos in a magistrate or customary court so it could be swift. And we did. Within days the lawyer had our son’s father served and got a court date in less than 2weeks. Thankfully he lived in the city we chose so I only had to travel down a day before the court date, he showed up in court and admitted he was liable, judges ruled in my favor as what was admitted needed no probe. My lawyer was able to get the court document same day and I uploaded sharperly and also raised CSE uploading the document and telling them no, we don’t need more time so please don’t ask for a re-med. This was on a Thursday. On Wed of the following week, I was reading out the document to my bestie only to realize that my surname was missing a letter. I don’t know how we all missed this after going over the document severally, but then again, my surname is quite long. So, we quickly contacted the lawyer and she went back to court to get it corrected and scanned to us. On Friday, I raised another CSE explaining the error and uploading the corrected document. By Monday it was PPR. We were ecstatic.
We quickly submitted our passports at VFS the following day. A day to 2weeks after submission, my babe got a call from the high commission asking if we would be ready to travel immediately as our medicals would expire in about a month’s time. We were ready dudes! We been ready a long time. By nightfall, we logged into our account and our application had been approved, exactly 10months and 17days later.
I went into all these details for people that might be queer or for anyone who is a single parent. If you know you can’t get the father to authorize you to travel with the kids, please start the full custody process early. I believe if we had this we wouldn’t have been delayed so much. That interview was for research purpose (this is our opinion o) because it seemed they were intrigued that 2 lesbians from Nigeria applied as common-law partners. They didn’t even mention anything about the employment history they asked my babe to bring neither were we asked for an updated POF after all that time.
So here we are, on our way to our new life. Thankful to God that it indeed ended in praise and ready for whatever the future holds.
P.S: If you are homophobic, your negative energy got nothing on me, I am going to Canada, I can’t be assed by your comment so don’t waste your time. This account will be active for a week from today so I can answer any questions anyone might have.
I’m certain all the people I started this journey are almost gone from here, to anyone who is still here, I say hang in there. Its not over until its over. What I know is that the process is very fair. So long as you are honest, you will get PPR, it will only be a matter of time.
UPDATE: I wrote this a long time but haven’t been able to post. We are in Canada now and settling in just fine!