Choiiii!! Congratulations Newmum0615. I am happy that this day has finally come. May GOD be praised. You are a great person, may greater things be your portion in canny land. Newmum0615:
Can everyone take a seat please? It’s going to be quite a read.
It’s my turn. 
PPR has come to the glory of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
It has been a lonnnnng but rewarding experience here on this thread and in this EE journey. I have learnt a lot through months of research and waiting. If you had told me anything about relocating from Nigeria before the second week of August 2017, I would have rolled my eyes at you in apparent indifference. I was never one for living abroad. I love visiting on vacations, buying plenty stuff and coming back home. However, one day at the end of the 2nd week of August 2017, I was in the car with my husband, on our way to work and I remember vividly how I stumbled on Testden while browsing through the internet that morning. I decided to read a little and I just became fascinated with the practice texts and solving the questions. A colleague of mine who moved to Australia last year had been harping on about migrating, but I had no such plans. Hubby and I are doing quite well here, and I am also so close to my parents that the thought of staying so far away from them kept me from taking the leap.
Initially, practicing the IELTS questions was just for fun but I had a light bulb moment one day while still recovering from a surgery that almost cost me my life in a Nigerian hospital. A supposedly ‘big’ hospital. Why not take the test and work towards getting outta here? I asked myself. Hubby didn't agree at first. He is a believer now.
So voila! My first connection to anything Canadian was the IELTS test discovery via Testden. During my recuperation period, I decided that I needed a better life not just for myself but also for my kids. I considered Australia, but there is a disconnect between my first degree and work experience so I didn’t stand a chance. Canada was next on my list. I went on to research on the internet; CIC site and Nairaland popped up first among others. I have always engaged Nairaland as my go-to place for 1st hand practical experience on just about anything. It really needs to be rated among the top internet search engines in the world. We are great like that!
So, lemme not bore you with my long story joor.
Here is my timeline:
Decision to immigrate: 2nd week of August 2017.
WES evaluation received: 15th November 2017
IELTS: L8.5 R9 S7.5 W7.5
Hubby: Did very well. Maxed out on scores.
EE profile created: 1st December 2017
ITA: 6th December 2017
AOR: 1st February 2018
NA1: 2nd February 2018
Medicals passed/IP1: 12th February 2018
NA2: 16th February 2018
IP2: 27th February 2018 (the mass movement)
1st GCMS notes (ordered via gcmsbuddy.com): April, 2018 Received in less than 2 weeks
2nd GCMS notes (ordered via gcmsbuddy.com): June, 2018 Received one month later
ADR: 2 days ago. Day 179. Height & Color info + Copies of passport biodata pages (as if I didn’t provide it before) 
PPR Mail: 1st August 2018. Received around past noon today. I was actually speaking in faith this morning when I was teasing y'all about having correct news . I just had the feeling.
VO: Almighty London
AOR to PPR: A whooping 181 days! 
Other details:
POF: I used 3 T-bills certificates, account statement and other sources of funds. Reference letter from bank and letter from hubby giving consent to use his own portion of the funds. Used affidavit and LOE to explain huge inflows from hubby cos they were quite significant (upfront allowance from his employer). I had almost 3 times the amount needed for a family of three, so I had to exclude other sources of funds so that I don’t complicate things with a bulky upload and overwhelm the VO.
Whew! It was a battle getting that file to compress. After a 6-hour battle on submission day, I was finally able to compress it to 3.7mb. Made a mistake on the LOE in calculating total amount, was about to upload the whole file in the POF placeholder when I got a call from hubby that he had observed a mistake from his review. Had to abort mission ( ), correct it, rescan before remerging and uploading.
Employment: Got letter from my previous employer (didn’t use it in the end cos I couldn’t decide on the right NOC for it), added role in personal history. Used the one from my current employer, LOE explaining NOC change, work mails, Tax card, Staff ID card, my call card and that of my line manager. No payslips or SOA. Although I got maximum score for my previous role with current employer, I also declared my one and half year current role, same employer under my work history cos both roles showed on the same reference letter anyway, and so I had to upload the same doc again for this current role (Thanks happytbaby for calling my mind to this one. I might have missed it). Hmm, was so scared throughout the process cos I had used a different job title and NOC before ITA, but apparently, it wasn’t a biggie (thanks to @cochtrane, @einsteino, @happytbaby & @Blackbuddy for allaying my fears on this).
Education: IELTS TRF, ECA report, Degree certificates. ECA process was pretty straightforward, Naija Uni represented well. UK school, of course didn’t disappoint.
Hubby’s Education: No ECA done for either degree.
Medicals: Done at Q-Life a day before I submitted (I no dey plan travel soon, so had to shift it as far away as possible). Very seamless process.
Photos: Studio 24. The hard copies we did have expired in the wake of this delay. We have to retake them.
Legal document for name change: Submitted one & the same person affidavit for hubby.
LOE: Submitted Schedule A, old UK Visa refusal notes for hubby and 1, Travel History form, affidavit for one & the same person for hubby and his birth certificate (for different names on his docs).
CSE: I noticed that I had mistakenly swapped documents in the wrong placeholders. Raised CSE and notified them of the error.
GCMS Notes: 1st & 2nd were fine. No issues.
So, as I drop my pen, abi fingers ( ), let me acknowledge and thank everyone for the great job we are all doing here. You guys are amaaaaazing! Agents and consultants are seriously learning compared to us.
As I say thank you to each and every one, lemme send a special shout out to people who were and have been consistent in making this thread a success: @40manlappy (you no answer some of my PMs in the early days of my membership here sha, I still dey beef you-smiley), @Kontagious, @happytbaby (God bless you plenty), @Glitteringstar, our able landlady and data analyst, @cochtrane, @einsteino, @Blackbuddy, @mcstan18 (you snuck up on us and became a formidable “elder” smiley), @Hephgirl (I miss you in our midst.), @Elfmannisback (thank you for being our police here), @ysteph, @Ethelia, @luffyhaki, @Tojued, @ArabianRose @TEECANN, @Threemg, @vcole @smslive2 @agates @ jholarharde and many many others I can’t name here. Una too plenty ooooo. Thank you for all the love and support. You guys made the wait easy to bear.
I kept trusting God and believing that my turn will come one day. Months back, I wrote my goods-to-follow list, made a list of all that we were going to sell off. I even decided on the school my son will go to if we were ever able to get a house within the boundary of the school board. I have researched and researched, now it feels like I already live in Canada (except for the cold. ). I appreciate the Planning for Canada session I was privileged to attend. It’s a pity that the opportunity may end soon. It really helped with my planning.
I appreciate you all for all the times you wished that this day would come sooner. Every time I saw a post praying for my PPR, I would pray and ask God to answer the prayer. May God Almighty, the One who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we can ever think, ask or even imagine make our ways prosperous and grant us all fulfilled lives in Canada.
We shall meet in Canada one day. One day soon.
Excuse my dramatic post. I wasn’t going to type all these, but you guys have waited for this day, so I didn’t want to fall hand. It has been one hell of a wait. I was expecting serious excitement the day this PPR would come, but I am not as excited as I thought I would be. It’s even surprising to me. I think I am even a little afraid, but God has got me. We will all flourish in Canada. It's a must!
PS: To all our newbies, please take time out to read and understand this process. When you take offense at people who ask you to read more, it gives the impression that people that did exactly that are foolish. Imagine that no one took out time to study the process, who would you have confidence to ask for guidance? Please read, read and read. It can be overwhelming, I know, but the benefits surmount every stress you might encounter in figuring where and how to start. To access even the most basic of services in our Maple Leaf country, you would need to read and understand your rights and entitlements as a PR, T&Cs of certain services and all. Why not start now and imbibe that behavior?
…Off to continue dancing! See you guys lerra. |
Travel › Re: Canadian Student Visa Thread Part 21 by Thefil: 5:11pm On May 25, 2022
