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Travel / Re: Living In Canada/Life As A Canadian Immigrant Part 2 by Utonne: 2:02pm On Aug 13, 2019 |
Sharing my landing gist cos i enjoyed reading others and it kept me hyped while waiting. Trip was for Fri Aug 9, Got to Airport 7pm. There was a lot of traffic getting right into the airport. Flew KLM with an itinerary of Lagos-Amsterdam-Calgary. They were pretty organized and decent for check in. Both my bags weighed 24 and 25 respectively while my hand luggage was 15 and they were really generous. Departure was delayed and we left lagos at 22:30 instead of 21:45. Flight was pretty ok. I just need money to start flying business class. Lol. Meal was pretty decent. Main meal was mashed potatoes and chicken and a couple of others snacks. Wasnt interested with the on flight entertainment. I was drained. Just listened to music and slept. Got to Amsterdam 20 mins ahead of schedule at 5:00am. Layover was pretty much 6hrs. Boarded for the flight to Calgary at 11:45am. Flight was 8hrs 35 mins. Watched Endgame. Inflight entertainment was good. Had rice n barbecue chicken. I must say KLM had nice meals and snacks. Landed at Calgary at 13:25. No more landing cards, you are required to self check in digitally. Got to immigration for landing procedures, spent over an hour till it got to my turn. Took about 15 mins for the landing procedures. Just asked the statutory questions and had me sign off. It was quite cold and i was freezing. In August? Wow. It was a good trip. Thankful to be here. My journey has come full circle. Praise be to God. 74 Likes 5 Shares |
Travel / Re: Living In Canada/Life As A Canadian Immigrant Part 2 by Utonne: 9:47am On Jul 31, 2019 |
[quote author=jossy26 post=80715247][/quote] Hmmm. This seems like a new law. Passengers with Nigerian passports are required to have a validity of 6 months to travel out. I inquired also with Qatar and was told same. It’s just ridiculous. I’m also stuck becos i enrolled since June but passport booklet scarcity wahala. And visa expiry is fast approaching. What a country |
Travel / Re: Living In Canada/Life As A Canadian Immigrant Part 2 by Utonne: 10:48am On Jul 30, 2019 |
TITILOLA88: Sorry. My bad. Carry on is 8kg not 9 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Living In Canada/Life As A Canadian Immigrant Part 2 by Utonne: 7:27pm On Jul 29, 2019 |
TITILOLA88: Carry on is 9kg. Check in is 23kg x2 bags |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 4:33pm On May 10, 2019 |
Guys, Please I need your help. Med expires mid Aug. Passport expires December 30. Do I need to travel before the validity of my passport is less than 6 months i.e June 30th or I can wait all the way out to mid Aug when meds is expiring. I'm vaguely aware of some airlines with the policy of 6 minimum validity travel. Please help... @Topsmamen @Stephanie09 @Youtook @ifeoma77 @raphrulz @ladymarshall, Anyone? Thanks |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 3:25pm On May 10, 2019 |
ladymarshall: Thank you. That was the total aim. Keep pushing....x |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 3:19pm On May 10, 2019 |
raphrulz: Ah! Am I worthy of this awesome grade. 9.9? Thank you able Prof 2 Likes |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 3:18pm On May 10, 2019 |
CanadianNaija: Awesome. Thank you. Is it safe to book ticket now. Lol. I was thinking on receipt of COPR |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 12:33pm On May 10, 2019 |
CanadianNaija: Hey hey. PPR finally came yesterday. Thanks for the advise and being there. Canada here we come. Hope you already dropped your passport. Dropped mine today. 6 Likes |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 12:30pm On May 10, 2019 |
kiari: Lol. Thanks. Just to encourage you that its gonna turn out ok. Its a long road but the end of the tunnel is near. Thank you so much 2 Likes |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 12:29pm On May 10, 2019 |
Jennypharb1: Just hold on babe. You also encouraged me back then. Keep the faith and look for something to direct all that energy to. All patience was spent. Nothing again. Couldn't even sum up excitement when it showed up. Don't worry, It will come soon. Just follow up with mails,calls & CSEs. 4 Likes |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 12:22pm On May 10, 2019 |
cmaamaa: Lol. Glad you did. Just here to encourage everyone. All the best...x 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 12:21pm On May 10, 2019 |
GozyNA: I can totally understand. Thanks so much |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 12:20pm On May 10, 2019 |
Thank you guys @joo2018 @topsmamen @Stephanie09 @Youtook @ifeoma77 @avidreader748 @AzariahYaa @Pharmbb @cmaamaa @DrMrsCK @Debsify @babeasquare. You guys are all amazing and I wish you the absolute best.....x 4 Likes |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 12:16pm On May 10, 2019 |
CoCoLav: Hi. No mine was Local Govt issued by Lagos Island while his was NPC issued. No attestation nothing. Jus submitted the certs, one & same person affidavit for exclusion of my middle name on the cert and an LOE. Hope this helps 4 Likes 1 Share |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 9:04pm On May 09, 2019 |
PPR!!!!!!!!!! IELTS- LWRS-9, 7, 7.5, 8.5 EE Profile Created-31 July ITA- Aug 8 2018 AOR – Aug 24 2018 MEP/BIL- Sep 18 2018 BIL Completed- Sep 25 2018 IP1 & Job Mail - Oct 2 2018 IP2- Nov 22 2018 File transfer from Ottawa to Sydney- April 16 2019 Ghost Update- 06 May 2019 PPR-09 May 2019 Pre-ITA Decision to travel has always been there. After my trip to America in 2012, I made up my mind that I was never gonna live and raise a family in Nigeria. Nigeria is unnecessarily hard. Tried DV lottery twice, but to no avail. In 2014, I went to England for my Post grad degree. Got my dream job right after my degree, but my for Nigerian passport. Basically, sponsoring my Tier 2 work visa became impossible. Even an opportunity for them to move me to an African country still didn’t come through. It was such a painful experience that I am not sure I’ve fully gotten over it. Anyways I came back to Nigeria with as little optimism and met the recession. Now I’m gonna be totally honest, this was the worst period of my life. I stayed at home for 11 months because I couldn’t get an aPPRopriate job. I ended up settling for one in Dec 2016 and found myself in a weird toxic work environment. Anyways I became friends with a colleague who always encouraged me to give EE a shot. He started his process way back in 2014 and wasn’t really conversant with how EE was. Never knew it was a DIY process and reached out to an agent and was asked to pay $3500 and im like hell nah. How am I gonna afford that?? I was totally unhappy. Job was shitty, pay was even shittier. Work environment was toxic and sucked so bad. I needed a break. Decided to go on vacation in England and come back and resign. So, I travelled in December 2017. Living in a sane society for a month had me reassessing my life in Nigeria and my colleague brought up EE again and was able to convince me that it was a total DIY process. There and then, I decided I was gonna go for this. However, this meant going back to my shitty ass job because I needed an income and savings to run this process. I thought oh well, I’ll be gone by the end of the year and I could stick it out. Hopped on Nairaland and came across the thread. Met the thread in part 4 and went all the way back to read Part 1. I just wanna point out that 95% of the information I got for this journey was gotten from this thread. Now im gonna be totally honest I was confused at first, the acronyms and all but I just kept it moving. I got discouraged so many times but this thread gave succour. This thread gave me the much required information which I will always be grateful for. I took screenshots of different information not knowing when it would be relevant. First step was degree evaluation. I used WES to assess my foreign Master’s degree. It was pretty straightforward and I received my evaluation on April 09 2018. Being the queen of procrastination I delayed so much on taking IELTS. I was so scared of flunking it that I decided to give myself 4 months to study. At the end I only studied for a month and used a week for intense preparation. I got all the study materials from this invaluable thread. I majorly used Barrons, Cambridge 1-13, YouTube listening & speaking videos and IELTS Liz. I eventually registered for IELTS Jun 30 with MOD IDP. My greatest fear came true 2 weeks after and I had 6.5 in writing. Nairaland really came clutch for me here; I never would have known that remarking was possible. I requested an EOR and followed up with Australia and my writing came back changed to 7. I was overjoyed. Profile created Jul 31 2018. ITA Received Aug 08. POST ITA Created a folder for the different documents for upload just as someone said. Medicals was done at Children’s Practice Ikoyi. All the information required prior to this was gotten on here. PCC UK was pretty simple. Ordered online and had it delivered to a friend’s place to save cost and she scanned to me. PCC Nigeria was done at Alagbon with ASP Moshood. 5k POF was 100% gift deed. My mum came through and transferred on 9th Aug. I attached a gift deed notarized, credit alert, statement of account, fixed deposit certificate and LOE. Data page was uploaded with pages and visa stamps. Passport photographs were taken at Studio24. Soft & Hard copies were gotten. I didn’t end up using the hard because my processing went beyond 6 months. Education included BSC & MSC certificates, ECA & TRF. Proof of Work experience was reference letter gotten from my employer and pay stubs for the period points were claimed for. Claimed 15 points through sibling. Proof of relationship was my sibling and I’s birth certificates, LOE and one & same person affidavit. Affidavit was required because my middle name isn’t included on my birth certificate. I also uploaded his PR card and utility bill. Submitted on August 24. Prayed against Accra VO (LMAO) and for favour on my application. All was awesome and imagined at the most I was gonna be outta here in December. God must have had a real good laugh. Post AOR Medicals passed and received BIL on 18 September. Went in for biometrics the next day and village people (Lol, I learnt this phrase here and it really cracks me) struck. Network was down and I spent my entire day achieving nothing. Went back on the 25th and got it done eventually. All these while I had screenshots of PPR stories and would read them over the weekend to encourage myself. I never took screenshots of those with long processing times. I was projecting positivity putting it out there and expecting same. Lmao. Oct 02 I received “how to find a job in Canada” mail and moved to IP1. Sent a mail to Ralph Oct 23 cos everyone on the Aug AOR group was doing so and I was quite curious what my VO was. VO was Ottawa. Eligibility was passed and security & criminality was yet to begin. I was overjoyed and expected PPR in another 2/3 months. Signed up for Preparing for Canada and went for my session on Nov 6. I got the idea to attend this on this thread. It was super enlightening and I was 100% charged up and certain that I had made the best decision on relocating. This period I went through my MAP and read up on all the documents given. Nov 22, I got a ghost update and moved to IP2. PPR was clearly near. I was elated. I started giving thanks to God every day that PPR was coming. I was singing Travis Greene’s you made a way and Hillsongs Season gearing up. The progress bar was introduced and was obviously no help. December came to an end and no PPR. Ehn, No wahala the 6 month mark had not been reached, we move. Moved into the New Year full of anticipation. In Feb, i started getting frantic as the 6 month mark was fast aPPRoaching. I had abandoned my MAP and had no interest in all of that. Even applying for jobs and working with people on adjusting my resume were halted as morale come drop. I decided to order GCMS on Feb 6. Made my first call on Feb 12 and was told eligibility met, criminality passed and security not started. 6 months passed no PPR. Chai. Unbelievable Received my notes in March and everything was perfect. Only snag was security was still yet to begin. Meanwhile my file had been parked and untouched since Nov 23 which apparently from the notes showed that was when my criminality was passed. I eventually discovered when I was added to an “eligibility met” WhatsApp group, that there were tons of us with parked untouched files in Ottawa. Was also added to an Aug 23, 24, 25 group with all of us with similar issues. Groups were exhausting and hundreds of anxious people with several speculations. I became frantic as it was becoming obvious that my plan to zap out and start life in Canada in Q2 2019 was no longer visible. After the 6 month mark, once a month I’d raise a CSE, mail Ottawa, call the center. I also mailed Minister Hussan and was told background checks in progress. Ottawa & CSEs were responding with their templates. It was freaking exhausting. I was losing it It wasn’t even easier with people with later AORs getting PPRs. The situation was real funny when people with RR and Eligibility not met (they got the info through GCMS and acted proactively addressing what the concerns) were getting PPRs. The race is not for the swift truly. All the kabashing against Accra VO, meanwhile people with my AOR in Accra got PPRs. People were already landing sharing their new lives in Canada and had even received their PR cards, meanwhile man still dey here dey wait PPR. Wawu The wait was the absolute worst. I started to lose my mind around the 7th month. Tracking and voraciously reading up, analysing every detail, still PPR didn’t come. I was so stressed. Never encountered stuff like this where I had absolutely no control. It was rather humbling. On the spiritual front, I prayed and even fasted. Not a catholic but even participated in the Novena to St Jude the Patron Saint of desperate and impossible cause. I even developed the unhealthiest coping mechanism and eventually had to get a grip of myself. This journey was my life. I woke up every morning checking my mail, starting and ending my day reading the thread and canadavisa. I slept and dreamt Canada. It was a vicious cycle of tears, prayers, anger, inability to pray but just worship. I literally had no life outside this journey. I was saving 75% of my salary and using the 25% to meet my expenses. Last year’s vacation would never have happened if I had this relocation in sight. It was so challenging. I couldn’t give myself treats or hangout with friends. The focus was Canada. I couldn’t even meet some family obligations due to all of this. I denied myself so many things. For a whole year and till now, I literally didn’t splurge. All I did was SAVE, SAVE and SAVE some more. I was so darn frugal. It was that bad that it began to affect me mentally and I had to take a step back and reassess the situation. It didn’t help that I had the world’s shittiest job in the worst toxic environment possibly. It was getting unbearable daily. Easter holiday came around and I was like hell naw, im gonna have fun. I couldn’t come and kill myself. Hung out with friends, attempted to learn how to Zanku & danced with a strange guy. Lol Easter Sunday came and I asked God that the resurrection power of Christ be used to revive application. Someone also talked about matching action with faith, I decided to write my PPR story and take my passport photograph. April 16, Files were redistributed to CIO Sydney Nova Scotia. Found out mine was also transferred. Status remained the same. The agent I spoke to even mentioned that express entry is no longer express that it’s taking beyond a year and if I don’t hear anything by September, (Lol) I should reach out to them again. Clearly Ottawa had some backlog. Decided at this point to move on with my life and keep it moving. Picked up a job offer on May and made a decision to forget about the entire process and immerse myself in the job. May 6, Ghost update and I called. I was told that all assessments were passed, awaiting final decision and should expect the letter in a few weeks. Phewwww. Finally some good news. May 9, at exactly 15:00hrs, there was a PPR storm in the group and I decided to check my mail and right there in my junk folder at 14:00hrs received the “Ready for Visa letter” sitting in my junk. I was numb. No excitement cos the wait wore me TF out. After 8 months, 2 weeks and 1 day of waiting, just like that it finally showed up. Im just grateful. I just wanna say thank you Nairaland fam. You guys have been solid and invaluable throughout this journey. I could never have done it without this thread. I’m grateful. It has finally ended in praise. I took my time out to really write this out to encourage everyone on whatever part of the journey you’re at. Please READ, READ, READ. Read everything you literally can get your hands on. All the information needed is here and can be gotten through further research. It literally won’t kill you to. Be open-minded. Be flexible and adaptable to whatever situation you find yourself in. Anything can happen. CIC is a general unto itself Have something healthy to keep you going. Gym, Dance, work whatever. Just to get your mind off all of this. It really is pertinent you do Finally, if you feel strongly about this journey, GO FOR IT. Sometimes we get in the way of ourselves, we come up with excuses why and how not to. I delayed so much just by discouraging myself several times. It was either I was wondering where the funds were gonna come from or being mad that I wasn’t in my career path while looking out for NOC. There’s always gonna be something so you might as well just go for it. JUST DO IT. Don’t delay. Help just popped everywhere. Wes was paid by a friend, IELTS was paid by my colleague who encouraged me at the start just to give me a head-start, POF was given to me by mum and my application fees were paid by my bro. I only paid for my PCCs, Medicals, Passports, Notarization of Gift deed. The past 4 years have been the toughest and I’m really looking forward to a new life. I feel like this is my new lease on life and I’m seizing this opportunity to reinvent myself, go after my desired career path and dream job, making new friends and build new relationships. Please keep pushing whatever stage you’re at. God’s got you. Every day is a step closer to your dreams…..x 122 Likes 11 Shares |
Properties / Re: Find A Roommate In Lagos(only Graduates Please) by Utonne: 11:06am On May 05, 2019 |
cherryll: Hi. Is this still available? |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 7:22pm On May 02, 2019 |
[quote author=bronze25 post=78047368]It's PPR guys *Timeline* ITA --- Oct 3rd 2018 AOR --- Oct 26th BIL -- Nov 29 ADR -- March 9 Submitted- March 26 Interview invite - April 12 Interview April 30 PPR-- April 30. quote] Wow. What a rollercoaster you've been on just to get to where you are. Congrats. It has ended in praise. You having amazing friends. Best believe that. God bless you and enjoy your new life. Saskatchewan, here you come. 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 9:21am On May 01, 2019 |
mmaryam: Lol. It’s just getting scary?? It’s mindblowing. I’ve also seen those with RR and others under SS issued pprs. Clearly there’s a backlog but it makes no sense because this same VO is issuing pprs. Anyways confirm that your file is still in Ottawa because files were moved to CIO on April 16. You can only watch & pray. Quite unfortunate 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 8:08am On Apr 25, 2019 |
CanadianNaija: Thank you. I will definitely let you know. Thank you for always being there |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 8:04am On Apr 25, 2019 |
EndInPraisess:Love your resilient spirit. Shout out to your partner for being so supportive. Congrats. Best wishes 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 7:11am On Apr 25, 2019 |
CanadianNaija: Yay!!!! Congrats.. I was gonna reach out cos im aware Accra VO gave out pprs last week to our AOR. Congrats. I still dey here. Ottawa has been one helluva ride. Hope you’ve submitted your passport? |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 6:56am On Apr 25, 2019 |
waynetemi: Congrats. This spoke volumes to me. We’ll never understand their working pattern and why this has happened but all that matters is that it finally came. It ended in praise. I wish you all the very best in all that is to come...x 2 Likes |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 9:35pm On Apr 17, 2019 |
Congrats @Gozyna @joo2018 & @petrichor. 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 7:50pm On Apr 09, 2019 |
Popscicle: Yay!!! Congrats Pops. Delightful news. Ottawa has been tripping. I definitely feel you on how the long wait has killed the anticipated euphoria. Still we move. Hope you’ve gone to vfs & we await your detailed gist. @CanadianNaija, we are next. � 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 6:19pm On Mar 27, 2019 |
yemblaze: Thank you very much. You are far too kind 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 5:51pm On Mar 27, 2019 |
joo2018: Lmfao. That made me laugh out loud in the office. Meanwhile I was using them Osaze in Part 5/6 to gauge. Ottawa then was churning out pprs in 3-4 months. It is well. 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 5:48pm On Mar 27, 2019 |
CanadianNaija: Lol @ prayer & fasting thing. Listen! E don reach that level. Honestly, Im at the point of putting in my resignation. Jus stepping out but scared of how long the wait might continue to be (if im up for it) and the backlash from my folks because no one is gonna understand how u can resign from a job for something you have no control and is not in plain sight. Im at a crossroad 4 Likes |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 5:32pm On Mar 27, 2019 |
Zutlin: Phewww. What a journey. Been waiting to read your PPR story.Congrats once again. Cant imagine all the emotions through this journey. The seemingly endless wait and then the interview. Thank God it turned out all splendid. Here's to an amazing life in Canada. 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 5:22pm On Mar 27, 2019 |
AzariahYaa:Thank you so much 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 4:46pm On Mar 27, 2019 |
Popscicle: Mehn same here o. GCMS looked fine. File was just parked and untouched. Only security yet to start but on my last call, the agent mentioned it was in progress. Was also hopeful with this week with that long ass maintenance but nada. . . May God help us 1 Like |
Travel / Re: Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 7 by Utonne: 4:43pm On Mar 27, 2019 |
CanadianNaija: Lucky you. Im trying my best to occupy myself but I don't derive any form of satisfaction from my job. Toxic environment. |
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