LANDED NAIJA APPLICANT PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERINCE

[EMO]

In case we have landed Naija that are engineer in any province, please put something here for the intending ones here. i can see Tinu connecting well with BabaIyabor.

Thanks.

 

[zajeb]

Sorry I didn't get back to you as soon as anticipated.. These work matter dey keep me busy..but any way, for your questions;
Calgary is among the cities in Alberta that's growing rapidly due to the nature of it's expansions. The city was designed for a certain number of people (not too big) and now the rate of migration (progress to the city) is making officials expanding several aspects of the city. I would say to my knowledge, that the health care and oil/gas professionals are making the best of their professions in Calgary (top of their game). In the other hand if you be sharp guy, do things as soon as you get any opportunity. Take for example a good friend of mine studied statistics her in Canada as an international student from India, he was smart enough and secured a position U of A. I can confirm that he receives a 6 figure pay check annually. So , it's all about "doing it wise" and luck! trust me, Calgary is a good place to live and if you've got kids it's good for their growing up too

Weather here is fair. If you want all natural weather you can get them all here. On like other provinces, they get cold at all time. But truthfully, it's really cold here when it's winter and it's very hot here when it's summer. Average cost of living: Mortgage is $1600 (if you buy), For Rent: $1200 - 1300 for a nice place to live.For almost all apartments, the utilities are included. Utilities if you are renting a single house or if you buy your own property: $300 - 350 / month. And for other stuff (petrol, food...etc..) you could budget $400. And hey, you must have a vehicle here during winter, i.e. if you have kids. Some people don't have though but it's much more convenient especially if you are making a big weather change (Nigeria ---> Canada)

I'll be in touch real soon.

hello babiyabor,
how u dey and how is life in canada.thanks a lot for your wonderful input. I intend to land in edmonton bcos i hav a friend there but with ur recent post,i think i might have a change of mind and settle in calgary. I intend to take up further studies in d university but wat to know how soon can i apply for student loan,and if i do not qualify , wat other option is available.ur reply will be highly appreciated.thks

zajeb

 

[RN]

Hello Zajeb

I know that to apply for the governments student loan in Ontario, you must have been a permanent resident for one year. Remember that usually to begin a university program, you would need to apply 8 months before your proposed start date. Most programs begin in September and the deadline to apply is in Jan or Feb.

Hope this helps.

 

[spicey]

Baba Iyabo!!!!!!
Glad to have you share and help we promise not to abuse it knowing fully well how busy you guys are over there.

I was thrilled to read that you are an audit manager, am an auditor myself in Nigeria though i work with the public sector, i am also a chartered Accountant (ICAN) here in naija and very recently started ACCA since i hear canada CGA recognises ACCA i hope its worth doing?

Truth is its very stressful preparing for the ACCA and i wld not be happy to finish it and realize is not so useful in canada after all so please share your opinion!!!!!

How is Iyabo doing? and how is Canada generally? i plan to land in Manitoba because i learnt i would be able to ss sponsor my younger ones under the PNP stream otherwise i would have prefered Calgary as i also have a Masters in Energy Finance!!!!
Cheers

 

[zajeb]

Hello Zajeb

I know that to apply for the governments student loan in Ontario, you must have been a permanent resident for one year. Remember that usually to begin a university program, you would need to apply 8 months before your proposed start date. Most programs begin in September and the deadline to apply is in Jan or Feb.

Hope this helps.

thks RN,
very useful info, but wat about student line of credit offered by some banks like scotia, Rbc ,Td canada trust. Is it advisable to go for dat or will i qualify for dat as a landed immigrant even if i open an acct with them.

 

[tinuadeadebola]

Hello Zajeb

I know that to apply for the governments student loan in Ontario, you must have been a permanent resident for one year. Remember that usually to begin a university program, you would need to apply 8 months before your proposed start date. Most programs begin in September and the deadline to apply is in Jan or Feb.

Hope this helps.

RN

Glad to read from you again how are you doing? how is the family and work generally in Canada? we hope to join you guys soon by the grace of God. Thanks for always making out time to share.

Cheers
Tinu

 

[Oloye]

Folks,
Good to know that some members will be landing soon. Kindly let us know what kind of help landed Naijas can do as we are always available to help in terms of information and useful search.

Oloye

 

[Right]

Folks,
Good to know that some members will be landing soon. Kindly let us know what kind of help landed Naijas can do as we are always available to help in terms of information and useful search.

Oloye

Oloye, God bless u real good GBAM!

 

[EMO]

Oloye, God bless u real good GBAM!

He is really good.

 

[Kcsider]

Folks,
Good to know that some members will be landing soon. Kindly let us know what kind of help landed Naijas can do as we are always available to help in terms of information and useful search.

Oloye

Thanks for offering to assist. He that watereth shall be watered 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[ladapo4luv]

OLoye thanks for all your supports.

 

[Babaiyabor]

hello babiyabor,
how u dey and how is life in canada.thanks a lot for your wonderful input. I intend to land in edmonton bcos i hav a friend there but with ur recent post,i think i might have a change of mind and settle in calgary. I intend to take up further studies in d university but wat to know how soon can i apply for student loan,and if i do not qualify , wat other option is available.ur reply will be highly appreciated.thks

zajeb

Once again my apologies for responding late. About your question, I can confirm that you will qualify for both Alberta & National student loan (I did exactly the same) as long as you are a confirmed Landed Alberta / Canadian resident & you will be enrolling for a full time program. Downside of the loan is the paying back as usual. however, you can apply for a payback assistant if after completing the program and still can not find a well paid job (they will pay up 45% - 70%).
I hope this helps and good luck with your landing process. happy Easter!

 

[zajeb]

Once again my apologies for responding late. About your question, I can confirm that you will qualify for both Alberta & National student loan (I did exactly the same) as long as you are a confirmed Landed Alberta / Canadian resident & you will be enrolling for a full time program. Downside of the loan is the paying back as usual. however, you can apply for a payback assistant if after completing the program and still can not find a well paid job (they will pay up 45% - 70%).
I hope this helps and good luck with your landing process. happy Easter!

Babaiyabor, thank you for that info, highly appreciated.i have been told that i have to live in alberta for more than a year before i can qualify for such loan without been on a fulltime education. I really want to pursue my dream in canada but dont want to be financial stressed while studing . I also read on alis that they will do a credit check as well since i have not lived in canada,how will dat be possible. thks pls do keep in touch and dont stay off to long on this forum.greeting to a whole family.God bless u

 

[Jada]

Hello everyone, it's been a while since I viewed this thread and for good reason too. By the grace of God I and my family have finally landed in Canada ;D ;D ;D The story goes thus:

24th March 2012
After a week of virtually little or no sleep, we were set to leave Enugu for good. Unfortunately Aero contractors decided to show themselves by cancelling our flight So we were scheduled for the next day's flight and off we were to Lagos.

25/03/2012 - 29/03/2012
It was a hectic week in Lagos My family and I went about visiting parents and loved ones saying not so tearful goodbyes :-\ Lagos traffic no be am On the 29th my son clocked 1yr old,a happy day. Plenty packing and buying of foodstuff and the eventual giving away of things so as not to have excess luggage.

30th - 31st March 2012
D-day! We took off from Ojota at 4pm and got to Murtala Muhammed Int'l airport by 5pm,I was shocked , no traffic! It took us 3 hours to get checked in,our bags checked by customs and immigration to let us through to the boarding gates. Because we were extra careful, we had no excess luggage. Trust our customs people,they took one look at my food items and named their price. I gave them less than half and we went on our merry way. By 8pm we were waiting to board our 9:50pm flight which delayed for another 2hrs . Then we were in the air and I had my first cold shock. The plane was coooooooooooolllllllldddddddddd. No idea why it had to be so cold. A little sleep and we were in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt wasn't as cold as I expected. The airport is massive. My son had a ball running around and I had white people staring at me whenever I backed him : The 6 hour wait went by quickly especially when we bumped into a friendly Nigerian woman who was also going to Canada. We were transfered to Air Canada and they took off on time. I loved their hospitality. Their food was nice,edible and given frequently. Enough movies too watch. Unfortunately I couldn't watch any as I had to chase my son all over the plane :-[ The guy was so excited and kept going for the white women The air hostesses nicknamed him 'a ladies man'

It took 9hours to get to Calgary, Alberta and once again it wasn't as cold as I thought. I did get tired of the flight though. The immigration process didn't take time as there was hardly anyone there. We were through in about 30 minutes and then we were met by a friend who came to pick us up. He took us to his place,fed us with pounded yam and ogbono and the off we went to our rented apartment. All of a sudden it got very cold at night and we were shivering before we got to our place. Thank God for portable heater.

1st April till date
It has been a hectic week. We had to go get our SIN number before we could get a sim card : and then shop for some necessary items. I only just got connected to the internet 30minutes ago and here I am giving you guys my landing story. It snowed a bit 2 days ago and we're supposed to be in spring :-X Shovelling snow can be annoying. On the job front, I have been visiting immigrant services centres and I hope to hear good news soon. Many people have said this before and I want to repeat it, money goes FAST in this place. Come with enough. Calgary is a very big place and Canadians are friendly people. I look forward to you guys coming over.

Egrace yes I am here Barsindoo!!!! To others who have progressed in their applications in one way or the other, congrats. And yes landed folks please holla so we can connect. I still don't understand this skype of a thing :-[ God bless you all.

 

[jadwig]

Hello everyone, it's been a while since I viewed this thread and for good reason too. By the grace of God I and my family have finally landed in Canada ;D ;D ;D The story goes thus:

24th March 2012
After a week of virtually little or no sleep, we were set to leave Enugu for good. Unfortunately Aero contractors decided to show themselves by cancelling our flight So we were scheduled for the next day's flight and off we were to Lagos.

25/03/2012 - 29/03/2012
It was a hectic week in Lagos My family and I went about visiting parents and loved ones saying not so tearful goodbyes :-\ Lagos traffic no be am On the 29th my son clocked 1yr old,a happy day. Plenty packing and buying of foodstuff and the eventual giving away of things so as not to have excess luggage.

30th - 31st March 2012
D-day! We took off from Ojota at 4pm and got to Murtala Muhammed Int'l airport by 5pm,I was shocked , no traffic! It took us 3 hours to get checked in,our bags checked by customs and immigration to let us through to the boarding gates. Because we were extra careful, we had no excess luggage. Trust our customs people,they took one look at my food items and named their price. I gave them less than half and we went on our merry way. By 8pm we were waiting to board our 9:50pm flight which delayed for another 2hrs . Then we were in the air and I had my first cold shock. The plane was coooooooooooolllllllldddddddddd. No idea why it had to be so cold. A little sleep and we were in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt wasn't as cold as I expected. The airport is massive. My son had a ball running around and I had white people staring at me whenever I backed him : The 6 hour wait went by quickly especially when we bumped into a friendly Nigerian woman who was also going to Canada. We were transfered to Air Canada and they took off on time. I loved their hospitality. Their food was nice,edible and given frequently. Enough movies too watch. Unfortunately I couldn't watch any as I had to chase my son all over the plane :-[ The guy was so excited and kept going for the white women The air hostesses nicknamed him 'a ladies man'

It took 9hours to get to Calgary, Alberta and once again it wasn't as cold as I thought. I did get tired of the flight though. The immigration process didn't take time as there was hardly anyone there. We were through in about 30 minutes and then we were met by a friend who came to pick us up. He took us to his place,fed us with pounded yam and ogbono and the off we went to our rented apartment. All of a sudden it got very cold at night and we were shivering before we got to our place. Thank God for portable heater.

1st April till date
It has been a hectic week. We had to go get our SIN number before we could get a sim card : and then shop for some necessary items. I only just got connected to the internet 30minutes ago and here I am giving you guys my landing story. It snowed a bit 2 days ago and we're supposed to be in spring :-X Shovelling snow can be annoying. On the job front, I have been visiting immigrant services centres and I hope to hear good news soon. Many people have said this before and I want to repeat it, money goes FAST in this place. Come with enough. Calgary is a very big place and Canadians are friendly people. I look forward to you guys coming over.

Egrace yes I am here Barsindoo!!!! To others who have progressed in their applications in one way or the other, congrats. And yes landed folks please holla so we can connect. I still don't understand this skype of a thing :-[ God bless you all.

Welcome to Calgary! All the best as you settle in...