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FSW WORLDWIDE
- Thread starter js555
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Hey, I need a draw thats 480 or less, regardless of NOC. Honestly, my NOC falls in marketing / advertising. 0 category. I mean, typically one would imagine they are just looking for developers and engineers, if not doctors. I wonder what are the in demand professions.
I have been in a limbo for a little bit, honestly. I am 37 now. But still considering studing outside of my field. E.g. I did study and comeplete the CSC test from home, and now I have a licence. I am also studying coding. These are all just to diversify myself. Testing the waters so to speak. I doubt I want to take up learning french though. Maybe if I am already settling in Canada, I might consider picking that up. But I have already spent a lifetime honing my English speaking, reading, writing, listening skills.
Also, somewhat knowledged about Canadian icons - Diana Krall, M J Fox, K-os, Much Music, Gretzky, M Atwood, DVP, 401 etc.
I only know M J Fox, knowing these individuals won't give you points... Focus on the things that do
We have seen people learn french from scratch and get B1 and B2s in a matter of months, aim for NCLC 7 and you have 50 extra points
months? Seriously? Not saying that im totally not optimistic...
"According to the Alliance Française, from learning how to say hello in French to reaching a B1 level requires 360 hours of training, whereas B2 would take about 560 hours of intensive courses (about 20 hours/week) "
I got B2 (TCF Canada) after 8 and a half months of intensive study. Others on the forum have said that they have done it in less time than that.
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Deleted member 1006777
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Very subtle way Alliance Francaise lies to you. It is an organization that wants your money after all. Yes, it takes 500 hours of learning. It DOES NOT take 500 hours of intensive courses. Not even close. About 25% of my time learning was in courses. The rest was my own practice. Funny thing is when I took my A1 intensive at AF, the instructor very clearly said it is not possible to get to B2 in a year. I don't know if that's ignorance or intentional lying, but she was about as wrong as she could have been. Even with half assing my studies for several months, I got to B2 in 8-10 months.
I have made posts on how I learned french from scratch. So have others. And I know you're aware of this. If you don't want to learn French, that's totally fair. But unless you have $100k lying around to burn, you're not getting to Canada with a 480 in the near future, unless your NOC gets picked. You want to play dice on that, that's your choice too. You have the resources and info available. But in the end you're the one who has to make a decision and stick with it.
When draws resumed, it took 6 months to get scores to 490. Now there has been a 4 week gap. The 480+ range is the densest score bracket. And even in the high 490s, scores only dropped a couple of points or so per draw desite increasing draw sizes. You can do the math on how long it'll take to get to 480, if at all. And that's not even considering how draws will be impacted once the new system is implemented.
If you're not going to learn it now, I guarantee you will NOT pick it up in Canada, where you will have additional stresses of job hunting and copoin with the higher cost of living. You will have sufficient number of excuses at that point to not start.
I don't understand why or how this is relevant.
Edit: By the way, the only reason I recommend learning french for immigration purposes is that I believe it is being massively overvalued right now. Nothing about getting a B2 justifies 62 goddamn points. With more and more people willing to do whatever it takes to up their scores,this french boost thing won't last forever. Back in 2018, a masters and 3 years of exp was conidered very valuable (for immigration purposes). Now it's not even the upper limit of average.
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I really appreciate your response. I have considered learning French. In fact I have studied it in school for about 2 years (many years ago obviously).
Currently I hold a full-time job. So learning anything outside of that at a good expertise level in a short time gets difficult. But as you say, it's a big gamble waiting on 480 at this stage.
But even if someone were to learn French and attain a B2 or B1, but their NOC does not get invitations, they will still be in the same predicament, no? But I guess you cannot give me any absolute guarantees. I still sincerely appreciate how you have broken it down and explained it for me, and for others in a similar situation to reflect on and make a decision.
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Deleted member 1006777
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Just to add a couple of things.
Not saying this about you in particular, but I have very little sympathy for excuses. Not only have I heard every iteration of the "I don't have enough time" excuse, I have used most of them. Because it's so much easier for me to sit on my ass and convince myself it's not possible, than to try at the risk of it not working out.
Yes, it's all hypotheticals. You can play that to your advantage and doing doing EVERYTHING in your control. Or you can wait and HOPE for the best and ruin your mental health in the process. Isn't really much of a choice to me. The ultimate outcome doesn't matter. Start thinking about things in terms of probabilities. And increase your odds of getting that ITA. Whether you actually get one or not is an entirely different discussion, one that nobody else other than you will be interested in.
Ultimately, whether you want to put the time into it or not is completely up to you. There are other ways to get to Canada, but for now, they are all significantly more expensive and will take more time. If IRCC suddenly decides that they will no longer give the 50 point bonus, I'll be the first to say it is not longer worth the effort.
That's an excuse. I used the exact same one for quite a while. Then I started learning anyway, while working fulltime, and studying to change my field of work. Another member, dayocanny, got a B2 (in 6 months) while working fulltime as a nurse and being a mother to a very very young baby. You can go look at their post history if you want. I don't want to tag them for no reason.
Not saying this about you in particular, but I have very little sympathy for excuses. Not only have I heard every iteration of the "I don't have enough time" excuse, I have used most of them. Because it's so much easier for me to sit on my ass and convince myself it's not possible, than to try at the risk of it not working out.
I already talked about this twice. Nothing is a guarantee, it's about increasing the probability that you get an ITA. If you attain a B2, and you don't get an ITA, okay, you gave it your best shot, time to move on. What if you didn't learn french, and later it turns out that there will be French draws independent of NOCs? Will you start learning it then? Along with everyone else attempting to do the same? Guess what. By then, French will no longer be an advantage, it'll be the average.
Yes, it's all hypotheticals. You can play that to your advantage and doing doing EVERYTHING in your control. Or you can wait and HOPE for the best and ruin your mental health in the process. Isn't really much of a choice to me. The ultimate outcome doesn't matter. Start thinking about things in terms of probabilities. And increase your odds of getting that ITA. Whether you actually get one or not is an entirely different discussion, one that nobody else other than you will be interested in.
Ultimately, whether you want to put the time into it or not is completely up to you. There are other ways to get to Canada, but for now, they are all significantly more expensive and will take more time. If IRCC suddenly decides that they will no longer give the 50 point bonus, I'll be the first to say it is not longer worth the effort.
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There is a risk in learning French in that you spend months of your life studying for something that you will never use and not getting the ITA anyway because they change the system. We don't really know how the new system will work either.
So, even learning French is a big gamble, you can use the time learning to do something else that is more useful in your life and career. If besides learning French, you just stay at home and watch movies, probably there are no downsides to learning French. However, you can always use the time to do something more useful for your life and career than learning French (which I doubt you will use that much once you arrive in Canada either).
I have spent months almost one to two years studying for IELTS and bumping up my scores by taking certificates and yet until now, I do not even get ITA and they are trying to change the system. Imagine if I use all my time to study IELTS and take some certificates to learn some web development and programming, and advance my career. At least English is more useful than France..
#StopTheFrench
Sounds quite reasonable to me. Great advice here about improving the probability of an ITA. Thanks a lot Mush. You are explaining the matter in a very logical fashion that makes sense.
I'll start looking into learning French.
Im still a little worried since my education was done in 2013 december. That's nearing 10 years. After the 10 years pass, I dont think FSW considers that education anymore.
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Deleted member 1006777
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I have never read anything about education needing to be recent etc. Your ECA needs to be less than 5 years old, that's all.