NIGERIA APPLICANT PLEASE LET US NETWORK.

[neddy]

@Jibaba
congrats on your landing, your story is quite inspiring

 

[toyeeen]

@ Jibaba...am loving Ur Post wiv rgds to Ur landing experience, really inspiring. Wishing a beautiful stay wiv ur family in Canada. Cheers toyeeen.

 

[jedidiah]

@ Jibaba... I'm truly inspired. Thank you for the wonderful write-up

 

[mayoress]

People , just to share a bit of my experience so far:

I am excited reading the Accra stories, better awaits you on the way to Canada !


my intention was just to land - so that the deadline will not expire , spend some weeks looking around , test the job markets and return to nigeria, to analyse and strategize. Expensive option uhn??

left naija with little air , loaded my gtb and had like 2k usd cash ; the experience was just like everyother ones, though we (wifey and 2 wonderful kids) left with BA , stayed like 5 hours at Heathrow airport and we then took off to Toronto. I noticed my kids were unusually happy , smiling and very excited for more than 24 hours and i begin to feel concerned ( positive concern though !)

At Toronto airport , we met lot of chinese waiting to complete their landing as well, since it is a big airport , and a weekend , i wasnt surpise by the queue , it moved so fast . at the immigration desk i was asked about my POF and i told them i had less than 10k , with 2k on cash , and rest on ATM , i was asked again what was the total amount i am bringing in ; i just said 40k ...by faith . SHe didnt ask to see it physically though .
an observation here ,i noticed one of kids name was shortened, funmilayo to Funmil ...on the COPR form i got from Ghana. i didnt see this until i went in for my SIN the following monday and i was asked at the point of entry if i have checked that all the information were correct which i noded in affirmative . please go through all the COPR and make sure all the info are correct and if there are issues , let them know at the point of entry . Anyway i was reassured there shouldnt be any problem especially for the kid.

my host has been wonderful and i wasted no time getting the SIN , opening a bank account with RBC , got a 1000 USD credit card which i have been spending - i understand it is good move to help build credit history ..going forward. and generally looking around .

Being an oil and gas person , calgary seems to be the right place , so i thought i could quickly jump on a plane and get myself in calgary within minutes , like Lagos-port-harcourt moves !! i was taken aback when i realised the lowest fare was like 700$ returns and it will take 4 hours to get there and the time zone is like 2 hours ahead ! so i decided to check a train or bus options ......may be it might be cheaper ...more surprise, it will take minimum of 3 days and the fare could rival the air fare... this underscores wat is being preached here everyday ..planning , planning ! you cant miss it with good planning and asking questions .........but i thank God i took the trip to calgary , i fell in love with the place ......well planned , simple and beautiful .I only planned to look around , test the job market and go back to Toronto before leaving for Naija again ...Well i have spent just 2 days in Calgary and there are interviews lined up for me ! Thank God i brought a suit and some nice shirt !
i wont advice anyone to take my route again , as in , if you are looking at calgary , come straight to calgary , even if your brother is in toronto !

May be this may interest the person asking about integration and leaving the naija certainty for canada , there is big demand for PM and BA here and with the right footing , you will get a good job . plus a community of very helpful and nice human being , in a well organised environment that money and next 10 years of "serious hard work by a focussed government in naija will not acheive .The few Nigerians i have met are extremely wonderful ...eager to help, happy with what they are doing and not regretting moving here ..even now i am playing with the option of resigning my job over the phone in Naija and stay back as there is great prospect here ....but i guess i need to go back and put things in proper shape....


i noticed i am spendig quite a lot on phone calls, and most people are not reaching me on the line . i got a rogers line and was thinking i could load it with like 100$ when leaving canada so that recruiters can reach my voice mail and leave messages for me , which i can then access from anywhere and then take action . i guess that was rather expensive plus i got the phone in Toronto and all calls i am making in calgary are charged as long distance call, thot it was like naija gsm same rate from maiduguri to okija , i am shopping for cheaper options as i will still be in calgary for a while ... i could still use my naija bb through wireless internet , so i am stll kind of connected when ever i am at my host place .

+1 for u.
I titled ur post as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".

 

[4glory]

People , just to share a bit of my experience so far:

I am excited reading the Accra stories, better awaits you on the way to Canada !

my intention was just to land - so that the deadline will not expire , spend some weeks looking around , test the job markets and return to nigeria, to analyse and strategize. Expensive option uhn??

left naija with little air , loaded my gtb and had like 2k usd cash ; the experience was just like everyother ones, though we (wifey and 2 wonderful kids) left with BA , stayed like 5 hours at Heathrow airport and we then took off to Toronto. I noticed my kids were unusually happy , smiling and very excited for more than 24 hours and i begin to feel concerned ( positive concern though !)

At Toronto airport , we met lot of chinese waiting to complete their landing as well, since it is a big airport , and a weekend , i wasnt surpise by the queue , it moved so fast . at the immigration desk i was asked about my POF and i told them i had less than 10k , with 2k on cash , and rest on ATM , i was asked again what was the total amount i am bringing in ; i just said 40k ...by faith . SHe didnt ask to see it physically though .
an observation here ,i noticed one of kids name was shortened, funmilayo to Funmil ...on the COPR form i got from Ghana. i didnt see this until i went in for my SIN the following monday and i was asked at the point of entry if i have checked that all the information were correct which i noded in affirmative . please go through all the COPR and make sure all the info are correct and if there are issues , let them know at the point of entry . Anyway i was reassured there shouldnt be any problem especially for the kid.

my host has been wonderful and i wasted no time getting the SIN , opening a bank account with RBC , got a 1000 USD credit card which i have been spending - i understand it is good move to help build credit history ..going forward. and generally looking around .

Being an oil and gas person , calgary seems to be the right place , so i thought i could quickly jump on a plane and get myself in calgary within minutes , like Lagos-port-harcourt moves !! i was taken aback when i realised the lowest fare was like 700$ returns and it will take 4 hours to get there and the time zone is like 2 hours ahead ! so i decided to check a train or bus options ......may be it might be cheaper ...more surprise, it will take minimum of 3 days and the fare could rival the air fare... this underscores wat is being preached here everyday ..planning , planning ! you cant miss it with good planning and asking questions .........but i thank God i took the trip to calgary , i fell in love with the place ......well planned , simple and beautiful .I only planned to look around , test the job market and go back to Toronto before leaving for Naija again ...Well i have spent just 2 days in Calgary and there are interviews lined up for me ! Thank God i brought a suit and some nice shirt !
i wont advice anyone to take my route again , as in , if you are looking at calgary , come straight to calgary , even if your brother is in toronto !

May be this may interest the person asking about integration and leaving the naija certainty for canada , there is big demand for PM and BA here and with the right footing , you will get a good job . plus a community of very helpful and nice human being , in a well organised environment that money and next 10 years of "serious hard work by a focussed government in naija will not acheive .The few Nigerians i have met are extremely wonderful ...eager to help, happy with what they are doing and not regretting moving here ..even now i am playing with the option of resigning my job over the phone in Naija and stay back as there is great prospect here ....but i guess i need to go back and put things in proper shape....

i noticed i am spendig quite a lot on phone calls, and most people are not reaching me on the line . i got a rogers line and was thinking i could load it with like 100$ when leaving canada so that recruiters can reach my voice mail and leave messages for me , which i can then access from anywhere and then take action . i guess that was rather expensive plus i got the phone in Toronto and all calls i am making in calgary are charged as long distance call, thot it was like naija gsm same rate from maiduguri to okija , i am shopping for cheaper options as i will still be in calgary for a while ... i could still use my naija bb through wireless internet , so i am stll kind of connected when ever i am at my host place .

Congrats on oyur safe landing in Canada, God will perfect everything that concerns you and all yours.

 

[jodav3]

@ Tinu and Jibaba

Congrats. Nice posts. It is well.

 

[Akerekoro]

My Dearest Forumites,

Thank you for the well wishes. I know many have really missed me but the truth is I miss you more than you miss me. We are like united Nations, all for one and One for all!
The journey was not smooth at all but if God has destined one for a place, no matter what; you must be there.
Yes, we boarded on Saturday 18th Aug. to montreal via doha but we missed our connecting flight to Montreal and the next flight is on Wednesday; unfortuately, we don't have the transit visa to stay in Doha for more than 24hrs! We have to come back to lagos to reshedule our flight. :-\ :-\ :-\

Lesson one for us all,
Please check your connecting flight to know if they fly to your destination on a daily basis. This was my error as I thought Qatar flies Canada daily.
Lesson two,
Transit free visa will only last 24hrs within the airport (Though I stand to be corrected), As I planned to check-in at any hotel but was refused for lack of transit visa.

We came back to Lagos on Monday to rebook our flight. Guess what, all seats were fully booked. Just like what happened in Doha when I asked to be placed on any other european nations or US. The London olympic and holiday returnees made seats unavailable. The only available seats we got was a bit on the high side and you know that yours sincerely we do the calculation to the nearest kobo! So I gave a tall order to search during the midnight. Alas we got 3 cheapest seats on United Airways for Saturday 25th August (A week after our first aborted journey!) wonderful!!!! while the last seat was N25,000.00 costlier on same plane o! We all have US visas, so no qualms passing through US. But if you must pass US, omo ready for regorous search and please declare all your POF. I did!

LANDING EXPERIENCE
We boarded on 25/08/2012 to Huston Texas at 10.50pm Naija time. Got to US at 5.05am Texas time. Went through the Immigration and Customs (Thank God one of my sons is US citizen) the queue na DIE! So we were allowed to pass through US citizen line. We were sent to the custom room for the declaration of above US$10,000.00.

Went straight to connect our Calgary flight. We wondered for sometime before check-in which actually started at 11am Texas time. We took off to the Holy Land of Calgary at 12.40pm and landed at about 4.00pm Calgary time for a 4hrs 19 mins flight. Note Calgary is 1hr behinde Texas.

AT POE
We were welcomed to Canada and Calgary in particular. Our passport was stamped and visa cancelled since it is for only one leg! We were asked to provide address for PR cards which the man said we come on 6weeks time.
AT CUSTOM POINT
I gave them the declaration form and nobody was even interested in my POF sheewww #hiss# all the houlabaloou that we make on the forum sef! I gave them my list of Goods to follow and was stamped and signed. Meaning any time I decided to bring those listed items, I pay no charges and I included food stuffs, furniture and cars in case I need to ship some items from Naija I heard it is easy and cheap if you got a good exporter. Am negotiating with one now and the price seems reasonable enough. Whats the point using like $5,0000 to equip your house when you got some of the things in Naija which you could ship for say $900.00 to $1,000 (am not Ijebuish but just being PRUDENT!)

FINALLY
I had called Gents2,Moegbenga and theJackson. I will call Seglad, Oloye, BDPA, and iii today. And anyone who I have the fone no.

Calgary is expanding o. The place cold small sha and the roads are bigger than Naija own. So far, am enjoying myself ooooo.

Pa Right has landed gbam gbam GBOSA oooooooooooooooooooo ;D ;D ;D

Congratulations Pa right.

 

[EMO]

My people
I salute all of una.
Congrats to Anty TINU and others who got Visa

Pa Right--- Na wa for youoooo Wetin carry you go Doha? Lagos-Europe -Canada is still the bestoooooooo


For those who are not sure about coming to Canada, please my advise is

1 Return your visa and face your lucrative business in Nigeria
2 Withdraw your application and apply to be the Governor of Central Bank




I have stayed here for 30 days. This is the only place I have seen where a man in his 50s-60s is happy being a" SALES BOY" with a house and a car. In Niger, every goes to school , then graduate, get a good job , get a car and a house.It is not so here in Calgary
A plumber, factory worker, carpenter etc all have houses and cars. Thanks to the wonderful system.


Educational Qualifications are not glorified here. I have Ex - Medical Doctors , Bankers etc working as middle-level men with pride.
If your dream is to sit in an airconditioned room, sip a glass of tea, signed some document, then stay back at Ikoyi and V.I.

Finally men and brethren, the Canadian system is working. People are coming from USA, Australia England, Ireland, France , Italy to Canada
Na you when dey Ajegunle, Mushin, Umunede, Sapele, Otukpo, Zaria, no go come?

Frank talk there brother. Our circumstances are varied and there will always be a way to appropriate the privilege.

God bless

 

[mic_silas]

Congrats again Tinu and Jibaba, pls advice...i dint include my siblings in the IMM008 form at the time i applied.... Can i refill the form and include them when i get to Accra? Were you required to fill the form in Accra? Pls your opinion will be appreciated.

 

[gent2]

People , just to share a bit of my experience so far:

......... i am spendig quite a lot on phone calls, and most people are not reaching me on the line . i got a rogers line and was thinking i could load it with like 100$ when leaving canada so that recruiters can reach my voice mail and leave messages for me , which i can then access from anywhere and then take action . i guess that was rather expensive plus i got the phone in Toronto and all calls i am making in calgary are charged as long distance call, thot it was like naija gsm same rate from maiduguri to okija , i am shopping for cheaper options as i will still be in calgary for a while ... i could still use my naija bb through wireless internet , so i am stll kind of connected when ever i am at my host place .

Magic jack is your best option for this...

 

[EMO]

Jibaba
Congratulation on your landing experience and the joy expressed by your children, that part of the post caught my attention.

Please in addition, try to see if you can get a kind of employment transfer from your company in Naija.

That is a possibility too.

Also the idea of going to a place because one know someone there is not bad, but what I will rather go for is the prospect of landing a job.

Canada a gbe wa o

Cheers

 

[Busy-Bee]

@ Jibaba & Tinu, congratulations on you successful landing and PR Visas respectively. & thanks for sharing. Alot of people have shared their landing experiences and their experiences in Accra but I keep learning something new with each story.

@ all, please keep sharing, there is something unique about each person's story and I know people are taking key learning cos I know I am.

As for me, still learning french and absorbing all I can about Quebec in readiness for my interview in Accra.

............ reason why you have to stay tuned and glued. Hw are you preparing for your "la farancie interview"?


Busy-Bee

 

[Busy-Bee]

People , just to share a bit of my experience so far:

I am excited reading the Accra stories, better awaits you on the way to Canada !


... i could still use my naija bb through wireless internet , so i am stll kind of connected when ever i am at my host place .

Congrats, nice n beautiful post.

@ Tinu & Alayo congratulations.

Busy-Bee

 

[Ikemba]

Accra, today marks exactly one year of receipt of my PER and one year, two months and two days of AOR. Hmmmmmmmmm. We still dey waitooooooooooooooooooo :-X :-X : : :

 

[jameslew45]

@Ikemba yes dont worry everything will be fine such thing happened to me also..God will do it soon.