##### Applicants VO Vienna please join #####

[Poco_cro]

Hi all,

My wife and I eventually landed at Pearson Airport last weekend (27th Nov).
it was an extremely pleasing and easy experience at the airport.

I was carrying a lot of documentation based on various advice on separate threads. e.g. PR card application forms. Form B4, B4A etc etc.

Well, I realized you do not really need any of these.
The immigration officer takes required info for PR cards directly from the COPR and hence no application is required.
B4 forms are needed only if you have your goods coming through cargo.
We had everything we wanted in our check-in bags and no plans for a future cargo shipment.
Hence customs did not ask for any form.
Even the photograph for jewelry was not required.

The very next morning we managed to go to a mall and get decent postpaid phone connections.
The same day we managed to go to a Service Canada office and get our SIN.
You can get it right there at airport if you arrive Mon-Fri, 9-5PM.

Overall, a pleasant experience. We have already finalized a condo unit at Downtown Toronto and will be shifting later today.
Do drop me a message or reply here if I could be of any help.

Alok,

prior to arriving to Ca, have you managed to secure some job, even the survival one?
What postpaid phone connections would you recommend (can you write a bit more about he package you took - for instance internet traffic is something that is interesting to all migrants specially the new ones in the beginning. In my courty free wi-fi is available almost in every cafee).

Also could you write a bit more how you "survived" first (crucial) three days (new unfamiliar environment) and what (things such as acquiring SIN card, opening a bank account...) you did during that 3 days.

Thanks a lot !

 

[Poco_cro]

No one is at the forum anymore?
Where have you all gone ?

 

[La_LuNa]

Hi La_LuNa

Thank you a lot for sharing your experience as a newcommer in Morden.

Can you please share how much do you get from child benefits, and what are the positive differences between the life in Manitoba and Croatia ?

Thank you

Iforti

we're still waiting for child tax benefits (we landed on work permits so we applied for it after we got PR)
and if I start writing about differences, I'll write till next year, lol.
EVERYTHING is better here. well, at least for us. some of the people from Croatia say they're disappointed with food; we're not, because we're cooking, buying meat from Hutterite farm, reading labels to avoid too much sugar, buy bacon, ajvar and sausages from Ukrainian shop (Kolos)..
differences with employment and work conditions are HUGE, for the better.
I'd never go back, even if someone offers me 10 times bigger salary back in Croatia.
people tend to think that life in Croatia is good, because we're EU members and all.. but it's not! so much corruption, very high unemployment rate, cost of living same or higher compared to other EU countries, but salaries MUCH lower...
and so on and so on..
I have a fb page, Canada, eh? where I write a lot about our immigration and settlement. it's in English.

 

[Poco_cro]

First of all I wish you all happy New year!
For majority it will be the year of great challenge that we need to cope with... but eventually it will have positive outcome!

Question:
Have anyone of you used or applied for Employment Insurance Regular Benefits (http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/types/regular.shtml#eligible) ?
Surf'n the web I came across the above mantioned web site so this question arose.

Can we as Permanent residents who landed only a few days ago (or less than a month) apply for this weekly-based income? I presume that 50 CAD (or what ever the amount is/could be) would not save us, but at least it could cover some basic expenses such as monthly bus pass or cost of the home internet...

Wishing you all the best and a lot of new business opportunities
Poco

 

[alok4best]

First of all I wish you all happy New year!
For majority it will be the year of great challenge that we need to cope with... but eventually it will have positive outcome!

Question:
Have anyone of you used or applied for Employment Insurance Regular Benefits (http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/types/regular.shtml#eligible) ?
Surf'n the web I came across the above mantioned web site so this question arose.

Can we as Permanent residents who landed only a few days ago (or less than a month) apply for this weekly-based income? I presume that 50 CAD (or what ever the amount is/could be) would not save us, but at least it could cover some basic expenses such as monthly bus pass or cost of the home internet...

Wishing you all the best and a lot of new business opportunities
Poco

you need to contribute towards the EI for at least 6 months before you can avail assistance. this is what I understand of it.
You do not get it right from day one.

 

[BrettyMac]

I'm happy to be joining this group! My boyfriend and I live in Munich and I'm hoping to sponsor him as a common-law so we can move to Canada. Just sent off our application a couple weeks ago.. so we are in waiting mode Thanks for all your contributions on here!

 

[StevanK]

Hey guys. I'm new here, but the forum has helped me a lot. I am a Canadian, currently living in Serbia. I have sent a Spousal Sponsorship Application for my wife and now I'm waiting. I want to share the following info with you from my ecas:

Permanent Residence
We received your application for permanent residence on October 26, 2015.
We started processing your application on January 5, 2016.
Medical results have been received.
We sent you correspondence on January 11, 2016. If you have not yet provided the information or the requested documents, please do so as soon as possible. Please wait until you receive the correspondence before sending us additional information, as the correspondence will outline all information that is required.

From what I learned, this hopefully means that they have approved my wife for PR and we are now awaiting for them to return her passport so that we can move to Toronto. My only concern is this; is this moving too fast??

Any comment is welcome!

 

[alok4best]

Hey guys. I'm new here, but the forum has helped me a lot. I am a Canadian, currently living in Serbia. I have sent a Spousal Sponsorship Application for my wife and now I'm waiting. I want to share the following info with you from my ecas:

Permanent Residence
We received your application for permanent residence on October 26, 2015.
We started processing your application on January 5, 2016.
Medical results have been received.
We sent you correspondence on January 11, 2016. If you have not yet provided the information or the requested documents, please do so as soon as possible. Please wait until you receive the correspondence before sending us additional information, as the correspondence will outline all information that is required.

From what I learned, this hopefully means that they have approved my wife for PR and we are now awaiting for them to return her passport so that we can move to Toronto. My only concern is this; is this moving too fast??

Any comment is welcome!

From your post, it appears that they sent you a mailer on Jan 11 asking for some additional documents.

 

[StevanK]

From your post, it appears that they sent you a mailer on Jan 11 asking for some additional documents.

Hi! Yes, they asked us to mail my wife's passport and proof of payment. I don't know why they asked for proof of payment when we have paid the $1040 for both PR and application in general, which we included in the application when we sent it to Mississauga.

 

[alok4best]

Hi! Yes, they asked us to mail my wife's passport and proof of payment. I don't know why they asked for proof of payment when we have paid the $1040 for both PR and application in general, which we included in the application when we sent it to Mississauga.

cool. if they have asked for original passport, then application is kind of finalized.

 

[StevanK]

Thanks alok4best! Just strange, because the entire process hasn't even taken three months. That's what confused me!

 

[BrettyMac]

Thanks alok4best! Just strange, because the entire process hasn't even taken three months. That's what confused me!

Wow! That would be crazy fast! Definitely keep us posted on what happens and if it really comes back finalized!

 

[StevanK]

The passport was received by them on jan. 13, but the ecas status is still In Process. Does anyone know if we receive anything prior to them sending the passport back?

 

[alok4best]

The passport was received by them on jan. 13, but the ecas status is still In Process. Does anyone know if we receive anything prior to them sending the passport back?

How did you send the passport? Through a VFS center or directly by post.
If you sent through VFS, then they usually provide a tracking info.

Unfortunately there is no tracking for post unless you have sent a prepaid priority post envelope.

Also, do not bother too much about ECAS updates. ECAS is not reliable. For me Ecas was showing "Medicals received" even after 3 months of receiving PR. I had in fact landed by then.

 

[StevanK]

Ahhhh well there you go, I sent it via regular mail! And thanks, alok4best, for the info on ECAS!