Ray of Hope - 70th Draw!

[andieangel]

Thanks for sharing Andie!
I agree with the previous posts that fellow members have written.
Now to add my two cents worth. A lot of persons are not familiar with hardship so they tend to give up at the first sign of difficulty.
I am grateful for the hardships I faced in life because they have 'toughened' me.
And as persons have said before, we need to do our research while we wait. Find out which province has a great demand for our skillset or start thinking of ways to gain Canadian qualification.

I agree with everything you said. Everything we went trough in life made us who we are today.

 

[Jojolet]

Hi guys. Pls help me out here. The UCI no showing on my expired profile is like this CAN000000........ But when I try yo put it in the new profile it comes up with an error message that UCI should be in the format 000000, so I imputed the nos without the CAN but the error message persist. Anyone faced this challenge before?

 

[Fishal2017]

Hi guys. Pls help me out here. The UCI no showing on my expired profile is like this CAN000000........ But when I try yo put it in the new profile it comes up with an error message that UCI should be in the format 000000, so I imputed the nos without the CAN but the error message persist. Anyone faced this challenge before?

I think that UCI number is an eight (8) digit number without any alphabets.
What u are quoting is, I presume the EE number which is a (10) digit number with alphabets.
Please have a look again in your application.
You will surely find it.

 

[Jojolet]

I think that UCI number is an eight (8) digit number without any alphabets.
What u are quoting is, I presume the EE number which is a (10) digit number with alphabets.
Please have a look again in your application.
You will surely find it.

Thanks for the prompt response. My EE no starts wit E and is different from this. This has UCI on it cant miss it.

 

[BillHyatt]

Hey Bill, Thanks for the update. It's true as Medical pass date has reached to 27th July now as they have almost cleared 3-4 months of medical in August and we still have 10 more days left. Only that some files are getting updated faster than the others. Any idea why PPR's are still getting delayed for Feb-March PNP-O files. Although it's moving now but pace is too slow. (I have almost left 5 Watsapp group of PNP's as everyone is crying over it.)

I don't know why but CIC style of work is very different. The PPR will be issued faster for June and especially July 2017 onwards applicants. This means anyone with AOR before that day will have same 6 months to 8 months processing time for PNP-O.

 

[Waqasalibabar]

Any predictions on the dates and score now ?

 

[BillHyatt]

Just read some depressing posts regarding Canada job market. So would like to share few things you need to do immediately after getting to Canada.

1. Get help of your province who nominated you and register with local councils as unemployed skilled worker. Also, get SI Number in the first week.

This improves your employability chances and they will call you for sessions and walk in interviews. I have seen many people getting good jobs through this. Many good jobs are generated internally through these councils in Canada so don't avoid these.

2. Assume your international qualifications are freezed unless you complete a diploma or degree from Canada. Once you do a short time Diploma in Canada your international qualification will become very important. Please remember that as a PR your fees can be paid by government.

3. Attend free online courses available at CIC or partners site before landing and face to face session once you are landed. These are really helpful for networking.

4. Get appointments of key personals of companies through LinkedIn. This is the single most successful tip so far. Most of the people found job through LinkedIn connections and meetings. Don't hesitate to ask for an appointment. Trust me this technique has highest success rate so far for finding job.

5. Don't focus on same level jobs you did in your home country. It is better to start from a lower level to improve chances of selection and to adjust with Canadian Style of work.

6. Try to immediately look for gig economy as it has far more chances than permanent jobs and payscale is much higher. It will also give you temporary stability and sense of security.

7. Gap years or paid apprenticeships are also good way to start with.

I have seen many people following these things and getting jobs within 6 months in Canada. First year maybe the hardest of your life but if you succeed in that then you will probably love Canada standard of living.

I am gathering information on jobs and steps to get it and will write a separate thread on it in few weeks.

Good Luck to all.

 

[trumprefugee]

Thanks for the good tips, @BillHyatt. I will also add that you don't need to be in Canada or even have your permanent residence to begin your job search, but it's best to wait until you are close to getting the permanent residence. At that time, you can start updating your resume to the preferred Canadian format and start posting your profile to the major job boards. You should also get a Canadian phone number. You can get one for free with TextNow, an app that will forward calls and texts to your Canadian number to your current cellphone. First interviews are over the phone anyway. You can say that you are in the process of moving to Canada and are waiting for your permanent residence card to arrive in x weeks, etc.

 

[lino82]

Just read some depressing posts regarding Canada job market. So would like to share few things you need to do immediately after getting to Canada.

1. Get help of your province who nominated you and register with local councils as unemployed skilled worker. Also, get SI Number in the first week.

This improves your employability chances and they will call you for sessions and walk in interviews. I have seen many people getting good jobs through this. Many good jobs are generated internally through these councils in Canada so don't avoid these.

2. Assume your international qualifications are freezed unless you complete a diploma or degree from Canada. Once you do a short time Diploma in Canada your international qualification will become very important. Please remember that as a PR your fees can be paid by government.

3. Attend free online courses available at CIC or partners site before landing and face to face session once you are landed. These are really helpful for networking.

4. Get appointments of key personals of companies through LinkedIn. This is the single most successful tip so far. Most of the people found job through LinkedIn connections and meetings. Don't hesitate to ask for an appointment. Trust me this technique has highest success rate so far for finding job.

5. Don't focus on same level jobs you did in your home country. It is better to start from a lower level to improve chances of selection and to adjust with Canadian Style of work.

6. Try to immediately look for gig economy as it has far more chances than permanent jobs and payscale is much higher. It will also give you temporary stability and sense of security.

7. Gap years or paid apprenticeships are also good way to start with.

I have seen many people following these things and getting jobs within 6 months in Canada. First year maybe the hardest of your life but if you succeed in that then you will probably love Canada standard of living.

I am gathering information on jobs and steps to get it and will write a separate thread on it in few weeks.

Good Luck to all.

thank you bill for such a thoughtful & kind reply...
it is encouraging to know how there are people keen to go out of their way to extend to help others & how it is possible to shed light into someone's life without being physically around...
the forum & the thread means a lot more to life than just about the Canada dream for the hundreds following it here..I'm sure perspectives will change from knowing ppl like you...
hope, help,empathy,drive to succeed,passion,patience perseverance optimism...this ray really brings in a bit more than just hope..
thank you @BillHyatt......

 

[shaun75]

Welcome to the club of people who want to go to Ontario and are anxiously waiting for OINP to reopen. I really want to be in Toronto.

20 years?? Now that is a real dream and patience and dedication! I will think of you (and others here such as @andieangel and @tjsecondtry among many others who have been waiting for over a year and/or face the age related point loss issues I have) the next time someone suggests that I should give up on moving Canada because the immigration and job search take time (unfortunately I do have a couple of friends and acquaintances who think like that and I try to avoid them whenever possible).

Please share your 20 year dream and journey. I am really curious.

Okay my American friend. I'll gladly share my journey. For those who have heard it before or are here for immigration advice, look away now. Please, you have been warned.

My love affair with Canada started during my university days when I was younger, much younger. I did an IT degree in a university in Northern Ireland and as part of all our IT degrees in Northern Ireland we need to do one year of work experience. I expect this is similar in other countries. Most of my fellow students did their year of work experience in a local business, a few go across the water to Great Britain, but in our university one lucky student gets to do their work experience in Waterloo, Canada in Wilfrid Laurier University. The work was to be the dedicated IT assistance to the School of Business and Economics (SBE). This assistance for SBE was in addition to the normal IT provision to the rest of the university staff. This department is probably the most prestigious in the entire university and as such probably had the budget to hire an Irish student to be their personal IT help for a year so they didn't have to wait for the normal university IT help. They have been taking an Irish student since way before I arrived in 96 and when I went back in 2013 they were still taking them. It truly is a win win situation.

I was the lucky student to get picked. To be honest Canada was my second choice for a destination, but as I quickly found out there was no placement in Australia and the only placement outside the UK and Ireland was Canada. Luckily Canada was number 2 on my 'want to be there' list and even before Canada I knew that Northern Ireland was quite near the bottom of my list. I passionately hated the sectarism here and still do, albeit it's not as bad as it was during the troubles. But from an early age I knew I did not want to bring children up steeped in that Catholic vs Protestant environment. Religion has so much to answer for, but that's another drunken conversation.

So I landed in Waterloo in the summer of 96 and lived with 12 other students in a house near the university. I spent a wonderful year there and very quickly decided I needed to live there. Canada became the number 1 on my 'want to be there' list. I started to plan how I could make that happen. I was young, free and smart. How hard could it be?

I loved Canada and the university, particularly SBE which had their flagship program, their MBA. I decided to pursue this avenue and sat the GMAT (which you needed to pass before they would even consider you) and passed. They gave me a conditional offer to enrol for their MBA once I finished my degree, on the condition I obtained a 2.1 classification in my IT degree. That was it. Simple. Go home after my placement year. Sit the final year of my degree. Get my 2.1 classification and Wilfrid Laurier would offer me a place in the MBA program starting 1998. I knew from my friends doing the MBA there that they were snapped up by Canadian firms and citizenship was assured.

I went home home studied hard, just managed to get a 2.1 and sent off my results to Canada. Wilfrid Laurier sent me back my offer of a place and that should have been it. Objective achieved. Mission accomplished. Dreams come true.

But during that final year when I was trying so hard to get the 2.1 that I needed for a place in Laurier, I met the only thing in this world that I realised I loved more than Canada - my future wife. I also received an excellent job offer from a local company and decided to accept the job offer, delay the MBA enrollment for a year while I convinced by girlfriend that Canada was the place for both of us. The delayed enrollment turned into two years delayed enrollment and then Laurier stopped asking me after that. My new company offered me the opportunity to do an MBA in Northern Ireland and I convinced my then girlfriend to take up the future wife role permanently.

However Canada was never far from conversation, but there always seemed to be something that was just more pressing, like a wedding, or building a house or having our first child, or our second or our third. Years passed and then looking back I realised that I wasn't 21 anymore. I now wasn't one of those people who pass through this forum asking if 467 is going to get me a ITA and why is there not a draw this week because I've been waiting for a week already.

It was 2012 when I woke up and started to really push for my dream. And I mean my dream, because I'm still not 100% sure my wife shares my dream, but again a story for another day. So in 2012 we looked again seriously into immigration. I had to convince my wife to give Canada a try for a few years. We sat the IELTS and started to work through the complicated application process. A friend a mine had recently been turned down after 5 years because he has twin boys who are both severely autistic and they failed the medical. Back then processing time were measured in 3 to 5 years, so forgive me if I don't have the patience I should for some of our fellow forum members who are in a little more of a hurry.

We both passed the IELTS and started to complete paperwork, but ironically Canada got in the way. My work had an assignment based in Canada to work in Toronto for about 6 months. I jumped at the chance and took my family with me for a large part of it. It only reinforced my desire to immigrate and my wife enjoyed the experience as well. That actually distracted us from following through with the old paper based application. I have actually still got the copy printed out and half filled in.

When we came back and finally made the decision to try again it was the start of 2016 and EE was upon us. EE is so much better than what went before. I entered the pool with so much enthusiasm in June 2016 and that enthusiasm turned sour very quickly. The CRS scores were consistently above 450 and not looking like they would budge anytime soon. I realised that the only way (or thought the only way) I was going to be able to get the required points was to get a job offer. Easy. I was a senior IT Manager, with an MBA and had loads of very highly desirable experience. I was enrolled in the Job Bank (as you had to be back then). How hard could it be?

I applied to about 20 jobs over 6 months and only one (Deloitte) had the decency to send me a rejection email. A company in the Job Bank even invited me to apply and they never bothered to reply. Many of the jobs I was applying for were below my experience level and I could have done them with my eyes closed. It was a real eye opener. While I agree with lots of the comments that were said to @andieangel post, I do expect it will be much tougher than you imagined to get a job. Don't underestimate the effort and time it will take to get the job you deserve. It will probably be much harder than you expect, but more worth it as well.

At that point I decided to stop applying and ignore the Job Bank emails. The only thing worse than rejection was hearing nothing. To be perfectly honest I lost hope and gave up on the idea. I thought that I'd missed my chance. That was until I happened to look at the CRS cut offs in early June and saw the legendary 413. I quickly got excited, started doing some research and found this forum and my new friends here.

The positively here has been really inspiring and has actually got me to get off my ass and got me to do something. Our score has been increased. We have a plan A, plan B and now plan C. I can now see a way forward and options. I can see it happening, maybe not this month or possibly even this year, but by early 2018 at the latest I expect an ITA.

That brings me up to the current date. I've just scanned back over what I've written and want to apologise for any of you who have actually waded through my journey. I expect that's not what you expected @trumprefugee when you asked for my 20 year story. That's it, warts and all.

If you've got this far I just want to cover one more point - my regrets. I don't regret choosing my wife over Canada, and still would in a heartbeat. No question or contest. I do regret taking the 'bribes' that have kept me here; the comfy job, the local MBA and the easy path. I wish I had just been more focused and determined before.

But on the bright side I'm only 42. I have more than half my life ahead of me - I hope! And I'm going to get to share the best place in the world with my best friend and 3 wonderful children.

That's my story, my journey and I can think of no more fitting way to finish this stage of it than to get drunk and reminisce with my new found friends here watching the Northern Lights at the Yukon party. Thanks for listening.

 

[srvsh.pawar]

Thank you very much for sharing this article dear @andieangel. We know there will be a challenge and I tell you what, wherever you live, even in your country life is the biggest challenge you may ever face. The author of this article might think that life in Canada is heaven or there could be an immediate offer with $5000-$6000. You know what, we must build that kind of life with our try and hard working skills.
With all due respect to the person, I do agree with you all on the point that this person got his/her ITA and PR too easily. Another thing is that this person has never got an info or learnt anything about Canada at all in my opinion. Wherever you go, you have to be well informed, do some research, you must do everything step by step, do not try to jump over a big wall, otherwise you will be broken.

To me, I will do whatever I have to do to be able to integrate in the Canadian society as a successful person, it may take a year, 2 or even 3, but I will never give up. I'm doing all these for my family and most importantly for the future of my kid (there will more to come in Canada hopefully ).

I tell you my Canadian journey, I was in Quebec city, Montreal city and Toronto as well long time ago. I did work there (but that work was under type C job according to NOC and I didn't know about points for only type 0, A and B jobs), so before getting any qualified job according to your profile, you begin with small things like I did. Finding a small job is a piece of cake in Canada, I did find my first job for 3 days only. But I do understand that well qualified job may take some time, and be ready to face some local candidates too.
I have a lot of friends in Canada, mostly students and immigrants. All of them are very happy to live in Canada and some of them became Canadian citizen. Here is story to tell you my friends: one of my friends did not speak English or French, but she tried so hard to learn and got just beginner level (if I take IELTS system that could be Band 4.0) and she got the job even she can't understand everything, some time later she learnt her job very well, speaks French very good, understands English and now she is one of the supervisors of that Company. She did one thing in her life: she NEVER GAVE UP! Now she is very happy and recently got a beautiful house with 5 bedrooms in Montreal (for $180.000).
To sum up, everything depend on our knowledge, willing, patience, accepting a big challenge, life and work experience and so on... That's why, do not pay attention to the people who made everything impossible for themselves. There is only one person to be blamed and that's her or him!

Did you finish the reading of my long comment, a big BRAVO to you and now you may smile

This is so positive.... That's the best message to read today morning... Friends we have to remain optimistic with an eye towards reality..... Let's keep the Ray Of Hope stronger....

 

[alphash2017]

Okay my American friend. I'll gladly share my journey. For those who have heard it before or are here for immigration advice, look away now. Please, you have been warned.

My love affair with Canada started during my university days when I was younger, much younger. I did an IT degree in a university in Northern Ireland and as part of all our IT degrees in Northern Ireland we need to do one year of work experience. I expect this is similar in other countries. Most of my fellow students did their year of work experience in a local business, a few go across the water to Great Britain, but in our university one lucky student gets to do their work experience in Waterloo, Canada in Wilfrid Laurier University. The work was to be the dedicated IT assistance to the School of Business and Economics (SBE). This assistance for SBE was in addition to the normal IT provision to the rest of the university staff. This department is probably the most prestigious in the entire university and as such probably had the budget to hire an Irish student to be their personal IT help for a year so they didn't have to wait for the normal university IT help. They have been taking an Irish student since way before I arrived in 96 and when I went back in 2013 they were still taking them. It truly is a win win situation.

I was the lucky student to get picked. To be honest Canada was my second choice for a destination, but as I quickly found out there was no placement in Australia and the only placement outside the UK and Ireland was Canada. Luckily Canada was number 2 on my 'want to be there' list and even before Canada I knew that Northern Ireland was quite near the bottom of my list. I passionately hated the sectarism here and still do, albeit it's not as bad as it was during the troubles. But from an early age I knew I did not want to bring children up steeped in that Catholic vs Protestant environment. Religion has so much to answer for, but that's another drunken conversation.

So I landed in Waterloo in the summer of 96 and lived with 12 other students in a house near the university. I spent a wonderful year there and very quickly decided I needed to live there. Canada became the number 1 on my 'want to be there' list. I started to plan how I could make that happen. I was young, free and smart. How hard could it be?

I loved Canada and the university, particularly SBE which had their flagship program, their MBA. I decided to pursue this avenue and sat the GMAT (which you needed to pass before they would even consider you) and passed. They gave me a conditional offer to enrol for their MBA once I finished my degree, on the condition I obtained a 2.1 classification in my IT degree. That was it. Simple. Go home after my placement year. Sit the final year of my degree. Get my 2.1 classification and Wilfrid Laurier would offer me a place in the MBA program starting 1998. I knew from my friends doing the MBA there that they were snapped up by Canadian firms and citizenship was assured.

I went home home studied hard, just managed to get a 2.1 and sent off my results to Canada. Wilfrid Laurier sent me back my offer of a place and that should have been it Objective achieved. Mission accomplished. Dreams come true.

But during that final year when I was trying so hard to get the 2.1 that I needed for a place in Laurier, I met the only thing in this world that I realised I loved more than Canada - my future wife. I also received an excellent job offer from a local company and decided to accept the job offer, delay the MBA enrollment for a year while I convinced by girlfriend that Canada was the place for both of us. The delayed enrollment turned into two years delayed enrollment and then Laurier stopped asking me after that. My new company offered me the opportunity to do an MBA in Northern Ireland and I convinced my then girlfriend to take up the future wife role of permanently.

However Canada was never far from conversation, but there always seemed to be something that was just more pressing, like a wedding, or building a house or having our first child, or our second or our third. Years passed and then looking back I realised that I wasn't 21 anyone. I now wasn't one of those people who pass through this forum asking if 467 is going to get me a ITA and why is there not a draw this week because I've been waiting for a week already.

It was 2012 when I woke up and started to really push for my dream. And I mean my dream, because I'm still not 100% sure my wife shares my dream, but again a story for another day. So in 2012 we looked again seriously into immigration. I had to convince my wife to give Canada a try for a few years. We sat the IELTS and started to work through the complicated application process. A friend a mine had recently been turned down after 5 years because he has twin boys who are both severely autistic and they failed the medical. Back then processing time were measured in 3 to 5 years, so forgive me if I don't have the patience I should for some of our fellow forum members who are in a little more of a hurry.

We both passed the IELTS and started to complete paperwork, but ironically Canada got in the way. My work had an assignment based in Canada to work in Toronto for about 6 months. I jumped at the chance and took my family with me for a large part of it. It only reinforced my desire to immigrate and my wife enjoyed the experience as well. That actually distracted us for following through with the old paper based application. I have actually still got the copy printed our and half filled in.

When we came back and finally made the decision to try again it was the start of 2016 and EE was upon us. EE is so much better than what went before. I entered the pool with so much enthusiasm in July 2016 and that enthusiasm turned sour very quickly. The CRS scores were consistently above 450 and not looking like they would budge anytime soon. I realised that the only way (or thought the only way) I was going to be able to get the required points was to get a job offer. Easy. I was a senior IT Manager, with an MBA and had loads of very highly desirable experience. I was enrolled in the Job Bank (as you had to be back then). How hard could it be?

I applied to about 20 jobs over 6 months and only one (Deloitte) had the decency to send me a rejection email. A company in the Job Bank even invited me to apply and they never bothered to reply. Many of the jobs I was applying for were below my experience level and I could have done with my eyes closed. It was a real eye opener. While I agree with lots of the comments that were said to @andieangel post, I do expect it will be much tougher than you imagined to get a job. Don't underestimate the effort and time it will take to get the job you deserve. It will probably be much hard than you expect, but more worth it as well.

At that point I decided to stop applying and ignore the Job Bank emails. The only thing worse than rejection was hearing nothing. To be perfectly honest I lost hope and gave up on the idea. I thought that I'd missed my chance. That was until I happened to look at the CRS cut offs in early June and saw the legendary 413. I quickly got excited, started doing some research and found this forum and my new friends here.

The positively here has been really inspiring and has actually got me to get off my ass and got me to do something. Our score has been increased. We have a plan A, plan B and now plan C. I can now see a way forward and options. I can see it happening, maybe not this month or possibly even this year, but by early 2018 at the latest I expect an ITA.

That brings me up to the current date. I've just scanned back over what I've written and want to apologise for any of you who have actually waded through my journey. I expect that's not what you expected @trumprefugee when you asked for my 20 year story. That's it, warts and all.

If you've got this far I just want to cover one more point - my regrets. I don't regret choosing my wife over Canada, and still would in a heartbeat. No question or contest. I do regret taking the 'bribes' that have kept me here; the comforty job, the local MBA and the easy path. I wish I had just been more focused and determined before.

But on the bright side I'm only 42. I have more than half my life ahead of me - I hope! And I'm going to get to share the best place in the world with my best friend and 3 wonderful children.

That's my story, my journey and I can think of no more fitting way than to get drunk and reminisce with my new found friends here watching the Northern Lights at the Yukon party. Thanks for listening.

Interesting read. What are your plan A, B and C, if you would like to tell.

 

[EmmEmm]

recently got a beautiful house with 5 bedrooms in Montreal (for $180.000).

wow, a 5 BR in 180k.. thats simply awesome..

 

[shettyskumar]

thank you bill for such a thoughtful & kind reply...
it is encouraging to know how there are people keen to go out of their way to extend to help others & how it is possible to shed light into someone's life without being physically around...
the forum & the thread means a lot more to life than just about the Canada dream for the hundreds following it here..I'm sure perspectives will change from knowing ppl like you...
hope, help,empathy,drive to succeed,passion,patience perseverance optimism...this ray really brings in a bit more than just hope..
thank you @BillHyatt......

very True .. I am really happy.... while browsing somehow got to know about this forum & now am part of it ..

 

[trumprefugee]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to share your story, @shaun75. I really enjoyed reading it, warts and all. Especially the warts, as they make the story genuine and yours. Gosh, tell me about the years passing by as life happens. I can't believe 20+ years have passed since I first turned 20! But yes, we still have more than half of our lives ahead of us, and we will be spending it in Canada, which I think will be the best place for me to spend the next half of my life!

Anyone else want to step up next to share their journey to Canada? Planning my future in Canada and reading about other immigrants' personal journeys helps keep my spirits up during this stressful time.