kennyjoy:


I understand, but if you don't pass the first knowledge test, ICBC may retain your 9ja licence, and they will tell you to keep booking until you pass. Anyway, if you don't need a car right away and the job you're looking for doesn't require you to have one, you can go for it.

All the best my BC brother.

Alright boss, thank you so much for the info, I'll plan myself well before taking any move.
Hoping to connect with you one day in Vancouver.

Yemlizzy:

Sorry you had to go through all of these experiences. Our country needs help obviously. Thank God it was settled eventually. Congratulations on your eventual landing. May Canada favour you in all ramifications.

Amen to your prayers, and thank you so much.
All the best to us all.

kennyjoy:


Welcome to the Beautiful British Columbia bro,
Enjoy Victoria BC

Don't be too rush to take the ICBC knowledge test, but prior to the preparation for the test on Icbc App, you can still use your Nigeria licence to drive even till the duration of study.

Thank you so much bro.
Yeah, I understand I can drive with my Naija licence, but there are some things I need to do and the licence won't be accepted for it. Also, insurance with Naija licence is high. I can save up to $100 or more monthly on insurance with BC licence.

favourdamsel:

Thanks Toceen for your landing gist. Wish you success and favour in Canada.
Please Toceen how did you book Lufthansa airline and how did you pay for your fare since the air fare is quoted in dollars not Naira?

I booked through wakanow, they were the only one with fair price then, although I've booked since June 18.

afosoft:
Nice one, may Canada favour you, which did you enroll and what's the tuition like.

MA Educational Psychology (2 yrs)
$12,000/year

Hi guys, sorry this is actually coming late. The unimaginable stress at MMIA and trying hard to find my feet here makes it difficult for me to come online and drop my landing gist on time.

LANDING GIST
LAGOS - FRANKFURT - VANCOUVER - VICTORIA
Airline - Lufthansa / Air Canada
Date - August 18th/19th 2022.
Time - 11pm.

I never expected the rigorous stress I went through at MMIA. Got to the airport early at 6:45pm for 11pm flight, and went straight to weigh my luggage. I knew beforehand that I have 31 and 33, and 7 for carry-on bag, which I believe I will upgrade to 32, as per Lufthansa said it's possible. But their scale showed 32, 35 & 8kg. That is equally fine, I had no problem upgrading. But the lady who attended to me was just too crazy and started saying rubbish... That my only option is to look for extra bag and make it 3 bags, not exceeding 23kg each and I'll pay for one extra luggage. I never knew another wahala is underway. I bought a bag reshuffle and I got 23, 25, and 18. Luckily another staff told me to make it 32kg (pay for upgrade), 23kg (normal weight) and 12kg (I never knew passangers are entitled to 2 free carry on bags 8kg and 15kg (this can also be checked in). So I later paid to upgrade for the 32kg.

Now, this is where the stress began. Going through documents verification, my QR/Barcode on vaccination card only showed the 2nd Jab and date, the 1st was blank, because of that I was told I won't be allowed to board. (I've been fully vaccinated since Sept last year, and I do checked online myself even few weeks ago I checked, everything was showing perfectly well). I was told to call the number on the card if they can quickly rectify it, or go to the health service kiosk in the airport if anything can be done. That was how the trouble started o. Nobody could helped out, I was there calling the primary health care number on my card, moving from one place to another for over 2-3 hours. Nothing was done. Stressed and exhausted, I gave up, went back to the Lufthansa stand believing I'll have to book for another day, I asked for refund even if it's 70% (at least it's not that I didn't show up at the airport, so I should be entitled for a refund). It was at this point my brother in Ontario sent a screenshot on NPHCD site showing I'm fully vaccinated. I quickly scanned my barcode, still same issue, but on their site, using the personal identification number, it's showing the my full vaccination details. At this point, I reassured myself that Nigeria is truly a failed country. How could NPHCD site show different information on a single identification number. With the stress I went through, I cursed the country. Up till this moment if I scanned the barcode, it only show 1 jab, but if check on the site with the identification number, it shows the 2 jab. I was literally the last person on board. But luckily my window seat was still reserved for me.

I couldn't sleep much from Lagos to Frankfurt because of serious headache. In fact, I didn't enjoy the flight at all because of the stress. But after taking water and snack, I felt better and relaxed. We got to Germany - Frankfurt in the morning, around 6:30 am and from that point till my final destination, no single stress for me. The airport is massive, in fact, na train I take to my next Gate Porte (B-22). Went through security check and seated at the Gate Porte with other passengers going to Vancouver. Connected to the free Wi-Fi and made series of video calls. Our flight was delayed for about 2 hours.

Frankfurt to Vancouver was 10+ hours, so I slept, listened to music, watched a movie (Fatherhood) and before I know it, we are ready to land in Vancouver. I went to the self declaration machine, scanned my passport, all information appeared and printed out a receipt. I actually knew my bags would be sent to my final destination but a security officer said it would be in Vancouver. I waited for almost an hour and went to Lufthansa kiosk, the lady checked my details and said it's already sent to Victoria Airport. I went to immigration, spent about 15 minutes and my study permit was out (they only asked for my passport and LOI).

I missed my flight from Vancouver - Victoria. So, I went to the Air Canada kiosk and the lady issued a new boarding pass immediately without kobo. The flight was a short one, around 25 min, so before we knew it we are already in Victoria. When to pick my bags and everything was intact. CBSA didn't check anything, so everything I carried got to my final destination. Went out of the airport, took a yellow taxi to my airbnb accommodation. I was charged $65. If you know anyone that can pick you up at the airport, it'll be nice and save you some money.

Presently, I've got my SIN, Sim card, School ID and Bus Pass (till April 2023), opened bank account, got a permanent accommodation, booked appointment for BCID (British Columbia Identity Card) and preparing for my knowledge test so as to get my driver's licence asap.

Sincerely, if not for the wahala I went through at MMIA, it would have been a 100% stress-free journey. I couldn't even say goodbye to my people, couldn't snap a single shot with my wife and daughter. That thing still dey vex me till this moment.


Things are truly working here, pedestrian owns the road, not drivers. They must wait for you to walk through. Beautiful locations. Deers, squirrels and animals moving around and crossing the road, they no fear say someone go hunt them down
You go see car open mouth, Tesla na like Toyota, you go see one nearly every corner.
Many electric cars and products I've never seen or hear before. Infact, it's really good to experience living in a working system.

I wish everyone hoping and waiting a successful outcome. And to those that'll be flying soon, safe travel. Anyone coming to Victoria can reach out and I'll see how I can be of help/assistance. Thank you

Dailybox:

No, just the Nigeria driver's license

Please, do you know about British Columbia as well?
Thank you

XtyOgor4g:
Please are there people going to university of Victoria or Royal roads university British columbia here?

I dey here... Going to University of Victoria.
I'll be traveling on the 18th of this month. If you want to connect, lemme know.

Onweke:
My friend contacted MP and got this message. What does it mean please ?

Thank you for contacting the Ministerial Centre for Members of Parliament and Senators.

We can provide you with the following details about the status of the application for a study permit for ggggggg

The application was received at the Canadian visa office in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 11, 2022.
The responsible office is currently reviewing the application and documents submitted to determine if the applicant meets the eligibility requirements for a study permit.
The office will contact the applicant regarding the medical examination.
Due to COVID-19, IRCC is experiencing processing delays and we can’t provide you with accurate processing times for this application. Rest assured that we understand how important this process is for the applicant and are making all the necessary efforts to finalize the application as soon as possible.
As of today, no final decision has been made. The responsible office will inform the applicant in writing as soon as a decision is rendered.

Simply put... Your application is undergoing eligibility stage.
At this point, I'll advise you to go for medical, especially if you're for Sept intake. If it's January you may choose to wait for medical request, but it's not bad to also go for upfront medical too.

Litey8:
Hello all!

Please, read carefully.

Someone submitted her Study Permit Application in April without upfront Medical for fall semester.

Finally, decided to go for Upfront Medical after waiting for over 12 weeks without any updates or Medical request apart from Biometric Confirmation from April.

Upfront Medical was done in July because of difficulty in getting an appointment in June.

Medical status got updated to pass in about 4/5 days after Submitting Med information sheet via webform.

It’s over 13 weeks now and Eligibility review doesn’t show on gckey that it has started.

Questions:

1. Is it possible to get ppr without eligibility showing it has started on gckey?

2. How long does eligibility review last before ppr? That is, the expected duration. I know everyone case would be different.

3. Since the application is over 13 weeks and fall Semester is just a little above 1 month from now. Is it ideal to send emails to MP to inquire about the status of her visa ?

I’ll appreciate your reply if you have any other suggestions. Thanks

Hello boss

1. It's very possible that eligibility has started without reflecting on your portal... Mine wasn't updated till after PPR dropped, and I've seen a lot of people here with same experience.

2. No one can provide a definite answer, some take few hours, some - days, some - weeks, and for some months.

3. Your application has passed the processing time. Start sending lots of webforms and mails to Nairobi, Abuja, Lagos, London and Beijing. Also reach out to MP's to help inquire from IRCC. In addition to that, request for your gcms note now, so that you can know how far your application has gone... If you have your departmental or international center email of your school, they can also help to inquire from IRCC.

I wish you all the best.

Which school are you going?

IamTheJ:
Good day great Nairalanders,

Am I the only one here going to University of Ottawa this Fall ? Who else, please?

Still rooting and praying for all PPR hopefuls. It'll end in praise for all.

A friend here is going to UOttawa
Onethe (that's the moniker)

SoteriaMo:
Passport request!

Backstory: My husband got a job in Canada. He was in US while I was in Nigeria. He submitted both of us application together under his GCKey.

Both applications submitted on January 6, 2022
Husbands application approved March 4, 2022. He didnt need medicals and his application was obviously faster cos of his location.
We thought our applications will be treated from the same office but apparently mine was still transferred to Nairobi.

my SOWP timeline:
Application submitted: January 6th, 2022
Biometrics: January 7th, 2022
Biometrics updated: January 10th, 2022
Medical requested: March 5th, 2022
Medical passed: March 26th, 2022.
BVL: July 25th, 2022
PPR: July 27th, 2022.

Congratulations to your family...

Apparently, for your husband to receive PPR on March 4th and you received medical requests on March 5th shows that your application was treated together. They've actually made decision on both applications by then, assuming you did an upfront medical, it would have been PPR same time.

Congratulations once again!

Leyemoshood:


Thank you sir, I'm in Vancouver. Have a safe trip boss

Welcome to the warmest province in Canada

Thank you sir... I'll have a few hours layover at Vancouver Airport. Final destination is Victoria, BC.

Leyemoshood:
It's good to be back here to assist people since I got my visa last year. School and work choke for Canada. Anyone coming to British Columbia soon?

Good to see you here again... Where in BC are you?
I'm coming by August!

Lilknight:
I just checked for flights, and my intending date of travel is August 17th with United airlines due to less duration and unnecessary stop overs(they have just one connecting flight in Washington), prices i saw are ranging from 1.2M �� never knew they’re that expensive lol, congrats in advance to those who expecting their PPR!!!

I hope you have a transit visa to go through US?

trinityconcept:
Hello everyone please I have a challenge

I graduated with a 2:2 here in Nigeria
3.05/5.0, candian universities use 4.0 so when I convert mine to a 4.0 scale I get like 2.44.
Almost all schools I've tried applying to in Canada have a general admission requirements of lowest 2.7 to 3.0.

Even though I now have a rich work experience I don't know if I should ignore their cut off and just apply


What's your Advice please
Do you think I stand a chance

I will advise you go for a Post Graduate Certificate/Diploma program. Getting admission to masters program in Canada with 2.2 or cgpa lower than 3.5/5.0 is really difficult, but not impossible.

If you want to try your luck, you can.
1. Calculate your CGPA for the last 2 years of your Bachelor’s program and see if it's higher than the overall CGPA. That could give a chance.

2. Apply to universities that are less competitive in Canada. If you apply to top universities like, university of Toronto, McMaster, Manitoba etc, they are competitive and they have higher number of applicants yearly. (You can check the top list of canadian universities and apply to lower 20+)

3. Use your years of working experience to your advantage. In your SOP for graduate studies, indicate how your years of experience has improved your skills and development.

4. Try to do some online courses related to your proposed program, it could give you upper hands. Check Coursera, Udemy etc... If you can write GRE or GMAT, it'll as well boost your chances.

Note - If the program requires securing a supervisor before applying, try as much as possible to get one. That is actually a Jackpot to getting admitted.

Ladielarrie1:
Please how will I make appointment for upfront medical

Book an upfront through this site if you want to use IOM...
https://mymedical.iom.int/apps/omas/#_frmHome

zsuby:


Sorry for the late reply. I've received a couple of interests in the room of late, so sorting through them. The room(one of a 2 bed) is $900 per month, fully furnished and with utilities. The move in date is September 1. And a male is preferred.

Thank you for your response... I'm a male and Sept 1st is actually what I'm looking for, so I'm really good with it. I've actually booked an airbnb for Aug 18th - 31st, so the timing is perfect for me.
Can you respond to my mail so that we can conclude there, or send me your contact to finalize this? Thank you.

Odyree:
Good morning, Nairalanders.

This is my first post here, and I just had to make it after reading other people’s comments about their study visa application. I must say this has been the most nerve wracking moment of my life.� I really wish I came across this forum much earlier before I started my application.

I submitted my application 2months ago, May 20th 2022. I had my biometrics done prior because I had applied for a visitor visa before. Eligibility review started June 30th and I have been waiting for the medical request. I didn’t think I could do an upfront medical exam anymore since I had already submitted my application that was why I was waiting for IRCC to contact me. I have been freaking out lately because my school is resuming on the 8th of September 2022 (today is 19th July) and I feel I’m seriously running out of time to get this visa approved. That waste a lot of time.

Anyone also facing this same situation??

Any helpful advice from the experts on here would be very much appreciated. Thank you.��

Don't wait for medical request, time is running out for you already. Book your medical and get it done asap. Send through webform and email to IRCC immediately and hope it gets updated within days... After that you should keep expecting PPR to drop.

If you chose to wait for medical request, you don't know when it'll drop, and if it drops, think of how long before it'll be done and get updated. Recent timelines show that people with medical request wait for more than one month after medical has been updated before PPR dropped.

chytai:
Please any other means to pay for study visa application. I have tried GTB naira Master card it's not going. I don't have dollar debit card.

As it stands in Nigeria today, it's only dollar card that can work. All virtual cards and their companies are wipe out of the country.

zsuby:
If you are coming to the University of Victoria this fall and looking for accommodation dm me. There is a fully furnished room in a 2-bed that will be available starting September 1st. Let me know if you are interested.

Is this still available? I've quoted and sent you a message but you didn't respond.

zsuby:
If you are coming to the University of Victoria this fall and looking for accommodation dm me. There is a fully furnished room in a 2-bed that will be available starting September 1st. Let me know if you are interested.

I'm coming to Uvic mid-August... I'm super interested. I've been looking through kijiji and Facebook market for weeks...
The funniest thing is that I've asked here and other "living in Canada thread" several times and didn't come across your post. I've sent you a mail.

dobianyi:
Have you done biometrics? Has it been updated to completed? If yes, I think you just have to exercise some patience.

You quoted the wrong person.

Kolajero:
Please, I gave birth to my baby more than one year before my marriage to my husband who is also her farther.

So, the date on her birth certificate is more than one year earlier than our date of marriage recorded at the marriage registry.

Please, how do treat this in our family application?

Is it not a red flag that my child is older than my marriage?

Kindly share your experience with me on this.

That's not a problem at all. So far you have your child's birth certificate and your marriage certificate there's nothing like red flag in it. Just explain in your SOP that you had your baby before legally getting married... In fact, they acknowledged common law partners or cohabitation contracts as well, so that of yours is not a red flag.

Deronke1:


How about medicals? Should I re-do it maybe they'll remember my application?

If the one you have has not expired, you don't need to do another medical. Just keep sending it through webform and mails to Lagos, Abuja and Nairobi.

bisimo:
I am in Royal Roads University.
Accommodation is a big issue here o.. Please get 2 / 3 weeks Airbnb first.

Hello Bisimo, please how can I reach you, I need to talk to someone presently in Victoria. I'll be landing next month... I've already booked an airbnb for 2 weeks.

nik0022:
Hello. Now on many services you can make a reservation online. I ride the Seattle Ferries to Victoria BC Canada using https://www.ferrytravel.com/seattle.htm. Their service and quality are top notch.

Hello, please do you live or know someone in Victoria, BC?
I want to make enquiries as I'll be in Victoria next month.

Deronke1:
Hi Fam, I applied through the new portal since June 10th and no update yet.

I'm thinking of applying again through Gckey, hope no problem with that? Maybe they'll respond to the Gckey

Or should I re-do my upfront medicals maybe they'll remember my application

No, don't try it. You can't have same application running concurrently, unless you withdraw before having the other. The fact is, It's not about New Portal or GC Key that determine how fast you'll receive a final decision.

Aissy:
carry the following ArriveCAN receipt, passport, letter of introduction, letter of admission, tuition receipt and any other important document carry it with you. And no return ticket is mandatory for PTa

Please, at the bolded, I want to be really sure... No return ticket is mandatory for PTA?
IF YES, which bank I beg?

Ketima:


Hello,

Yes I used the same GCKey I used for my study permit to apply for spouse SOWP as well. I even used the same email I used for my study permit application that is bearing my name for spouse SOWP.

Hello Ketima, in a situation where I used the new portal for my study permit, do I or my spouse open GC key for the SOWP and VV our child, she's 6 months? What do you suggest please?

chigirllll:
For those that need proof of funds, I just got mine. You can email eddyj1378@gmail.com for yours. They are very fast and secure.

Yeah... Until you receive a procedural fairness letter and run back here seeking for remedy... Na you sabi o

vividlooks:
Please does anyone traveling to Canada via airfrance require transit visa?

If you'll be having a layover only in France, you don't need a transit visa... But if it'll be in 2 European countries or in US you'll need it.