LIFE IN QUEBEC, MONTREAL.
Landed on May 25, 2014 in Montreal.
LOL, LOL, LOL (You must be thinking what kind of start i am giving)
"Please use bathrooms before going to time consuming process of immigration clearance for IMMIGRANTS especially."
Montreal Airport has wifi which you can use but it doesn't work inside the Immigrants processing room.
After landing at PE Trudeau Airport in Montreal, you will go to CBSA passport checkpoint, there are 2 separate sections, on left (half portion of total) for noncanadians and other half on right side for Canadians, then you will wait for your turn and once your turn comes, you will handover your passport and custom forms filled by you to CBSA officer and you will say that you are completing your landing in Montreal as you are a new immigrant, then CBSA officer will scan your visa on the machine and after verifying it, write with red sketch/marker pen/dark pen on the custom forms which airline will give you to fill, "Imm......" and then you will go by his side take a right turn go down stairs and then pickup your luggage and go towards Custom check point with your passports and custom forms and just b4 the exit, one officer will check your custom forms and tell you to turn to left in a big hall, don't worry at all, but the same room for checking baggage for illegal persons carrying illegal items (you will see big metal tables in that room, but it's not for immigrants) and for new immigrants
. Once you will enter in that room with your bags trolley, another CBSA officer will greet you "Bonjour/Hi" (Respond in your language of preference) and will ask you why you are here then you will say that you are new immigrants show him/her your custom forms then he/she will ask you to bring out your COPR and passports and gave it to him/her and then she will put all in one file and tell you to sit on a place most probably on your left hand side, you will take your trolley and park it somewhere near the seats (you will see that there are lot of trolleys parked). Pray to god that there are not much immigrants cuz i landed at 5.30 pm and reached there by 6.15 to 6.30 and it took me 3 hours to come out and there are only 7 or 8 immigrants were ahead of me, but the CBSA officers were really working slowly. Remember the CBSA officer which took your COPR and Passports, she will put your file in a box where they usually put all immigrants file and serially they will pick. If you will sit facing towards CBSA officers then you will on your extreme left QUEBEC Immigration office too, this is the second stop, you have to take a ticket number from the automatic machine and wait for your turn, the number will display on the board and they dont take much time, they will free you in 10 mins max (they can talk in Eng and French and if French, they will talk very slowly, dont worry) but you can only go there once you are free with CBSA officers (FEDERAL ONES). At CBSA desk in hall, once your number will come, they will call your name (most probably principal applicant's name), they wont use any mic so hear carefully. When they call you, they will fill some forms, you will see that they have already put your address on the forms copying from custom forms which you filled, only if you filled the address in the custom forms which airline will give you, they will keep that address as your current address in Quebec, don't worry if you don't know the zip code, they will fill by checking Canadapost website i guess. Even if they don't ask you that are you going to bring any stuff, money, jewelry later, you can tell them if you will bring any stuff later (dont think that they will ask you, just tell them on your own so that if you bring next time, they wont charge custom duty/tax on those money/jewelry/ and other costly item), if you will tell them that you will bring later, they will mention it in records. In the end, they will ask you the cost of stuff in your bags (approximate value) and the money you are going to bring later, jewelry value, like we told them that we have a house in our home country which we will sell, then the CBSA officer told us give her the approximate value and then she wrote the total approximate value which we will brought in later, wrote that amount on the COPR's REMARKS section with black pen, they only use black pen and will give you the black pen to sign the COPR. If you have some jewelry which you will bring later then take pictures with you on your first visit, e.g., if you have 5 rings, 2 chains with pendants, etc. then put 5 rings altogether on white paper and take one picture of those, i hope you understood my point, don't make 5 pictures of 5 rings. If you have pictures then give it to the CBSA officer even if they don't ask you, then she/he will take from you and go inside another room covered with mirror (which we think only mirror but actually behind those mirrors, they have their rooms), she/he will photocopy all the pictures, CBSA officer will give you your original pictures back, one photocopy for your records and after finishing the formalities, she will tell you to sign the COPR in front of her and date it in front of her and there is a section in the middle of COPR which says about immigrants that "you have no police cases, any illegal activities, bla bla bla i dont remember exactly," she will say right NO (if someone has any cases or police arrest can type YES too (just kidding) and give your initials rather than full signature. You will see on the back of your COPR that officer has stamped it and wrote a file number or record number that you will bring some stuff later so that number will show officer where to look for the info which you gave to her at your first landing. The lady officer who was handling our case, i was asking her about her job, etc, i told her that we brought some food items with me she then said did you bring "any Ghee/Oil" i asked her how she know the term GHEE, she said before CBSA officer she was a food inspector at the airport so she know, then she told me bring out the ghee (oil) which i brought, she saw and told it's fine as it is a vegetable ghee/oil, and she also gave me free advice that whenever you bring this sort of stuff, it should always be vegetable or it should be made up of less than 50% fat or milk quantity something like that. She gave some phone number's CIC customer care for address change, etc. After Federal ones done, you will go to Quebec immigration section also, you will take the coupon/number from the machine from the automatic machine attached at the Quebec immigration gate and then you will go inside, show the officer your CSQ and passport if she ask for it and then she will talk to you in french and then ask you English/French (usually in Montreal, they say "Hi/Bonjour", if you say Hi, they will start in English and if you say Bonjour, they will start in French. So just 8 immigrants family ahead of me took 3 hours inside airport, we landed at 5.15 pm or 5.30 and went out of the airport at 9 p.m. I was talking to the CBSA officer very gently so i asked her in the end can i make a call to my friend who can pick us up at this time, then she personally took me to one counter where 2 CBSA Lady officers were sitting, she told them in French and she dialed my number and then gave me the phone to talk to, all in all gr8 experience but very long as kids were getting bore. (bring some Cartoon movies in your laptop if you are carrying one and put it on the floor infront of kids and play it so that kids will watch cartoon movies, as one European Family did the same and our kids also sat with their kids and were kind of quiet most of the time.
It was 9 p.m. in Montreal on May 25, 2014 and outside it was showing as 5-6 p.m. it wasn't dark outside at all. Water bottles are pretty costly inside the airport.
If someone wants to use wifi outside Montreal airport then stand near the STM buses number 747, they have open wifi which your cellphone can catch and then you call your loved once using skype or viber or use whatsapp and tell your loved ones where you are waiting for them. Police dont allow cars to stand longer. If you are 5 or 6 people or more, then either take big taxi or 2 taxis or if your loved one is coming to receive you at the airport then request him to bring big car. It's not like in India if one family has 7 people then they all can sit in one car and police wont say anything. Here passenger depends on the number of seat-belts in the car. if 5 seat-belts then only 5 passengers including driver, if you are with kids and and don't have child seat...then what to say, try your best that police wont see you lol, one must have that.
You go to your hotel and rest cuz first 3 days you will try to learn at what time you should sleep and at what time you should wake up. You will see in summers that days are prettyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy big 9 pm it's like 6 pm lol and mornings starts very early, sun come out as it went to take shower in the night and after taking shower it came out again lol.
Go for SIN number first at Canada service center near your area where you are staying (avoid fridays and Mondays as Canada service center lady officer in lasalle was saying they have rush on these 2 days) but i was surprised what RUSH is in their dictionary, very few people on the road (whole Canada's population is less than California's), it is a 15 mins process max, take your COPR, passport and CSQ with you (originals i mean). Now a days they don't issue Card form of SIN only paper format, keep them safe. Use google map a lot before leaving your home where to go, how to reach, Google maps are more reliable than BING's, so i would suggest you to buy Android phones rather than Windows phone (-okia). By using Google map you can check how to go to one place to another, it also shows what bus numbers go to that place, bus numbers and timings and 99% correct for timing bus comes 5 mins late. Going to one place bus-stop is different than coming to that place's bus-stop, as some streets are one-way street so one bus might take you from there but when you come back to that place, the bus will drop you to a different street but nearby street that's for sure. Kids below 6 are free, as bus-driver on their own says they are free, 2 dollar for kids above 6 years and 3 dollars for adults (i might be at mistake ohhhhhhhhhhhh god how can i forget that, as may be i bought a bus pass thats why) One ticket is valid for 2 hours, same ticket works in STM Metro too but i don't know whether same ticket works while coming back to that stop or just going going going to other stops (sorry for confusion). Saturday and Sunday are free for kids so no need to buy tickets in Buses and Metro). You can buy STM bus/metro cards from Beri UQAM metro station or any PHARMAPRIX store, check google map where are pharmaprix located near you, it's cost 6$ (just for card), monthly unlimited fee is 80$ that you can charge just 3 or 4 days in advance for next month, it's not like that you buy that card on 15th of July and say that you want for a month, it runs from 1st to 30/31st of the month, and you can refill it just 2 or 3 days in advance and better you charge it in advance. All pharmaprix charge them, some small shops/stores/depenaur (wrong spelling i know) and metro stations. You can charge it with 10 trips, bla bla in the middile if you want.
Take phone number first, i would suggest Chattrwireless (CHATTER when spoken). They are cheap and unlimited plan is of 35$ a month you can take 20$ one too and if you register your credit card with them so that they can automatically deduct monthly fee i.e., 35 then they will give you 20$ sim card free, if scheme going on. Once you get the card free, you can remove credit card from automatic deduction and tell customer care that you don't want credit card to deduct the amount as you will recharge your own, this way you can get 20$ sim card free, i bought from Futureshop.com mall at Lasalle, but i didn't have credit card so my friend gave his credit card so that i can get the sim free and first 35$ under my name and i paid him 35$ cash and once i got the credit card from bank i called the Chatrr customer care and changed the credit card number and gave them my credit card number so that it deduct from my credit card and not from his.
THE MINIMUM AMOUNT WHICH QUEBEC GOVT SAY THAT IMMIGRANTS HAVE TO BRING IT IS VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY LESS, SERIOUSLY FIRST MONTH LEARN YOU OH THAT I SHOULD NOT HAVE SPENT, I COULD HAVE GET IT FROM HERE, ETC. SUPER-C MALL AND WALMART ARE CHEAPER THAN SOME OTHER MALLS, E.G., IGA, MAXI. SMALL DEPENAURS (wrong spelling) are costlier always 2-3 dollars. DO GROCERY SHOPPING ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, IT'S CHEAPER ON THOSE DAYS. YOU WILL GET SHOPPING COUPONS AND PAMPHLETS, AD-PAPERS ON YOUR DOORSTEPS ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAYS. On weekend, mall opens till 5 p.m. DOLLARAMA STORE IS GOOD ONE, you can buy anything, i mean chips, toys, paper, copy, pen, colors, anything for household stuff from 1$ to 3$, visit to understand.
Guys dont assume that after 1 month, 2 months, or even 3 months you will get a job. You need to have a good good good knowledge of French. Agencies which helps new immigrants (Montreal i am talking about), they are not bothered (most of them) that you get a job or not, they are bothered for their business. Business in a sense that, the association we visited in Lasalle as it was near our place Lachine, was concerned about French course we enroll so that they can get Money from Govt. but the lady answered all the questions which i asked. No association will help you a lot. Yes child care allowance you can get but that too after 2 or 3 months and that too if you fill the forms quickly. Please please write Mother name first in child care benefits forms, and not father's if mother has immigrated. No matter who is principal applicant, mother name should be first entered in the Child are benefits forms in Quebec, for other provinces i dont know, if in doubt call their call center. There is a question regarding your last 2 years salary here you can fill your home country's annual salary whatever it might be in Canadian dollars, cuz they know that you were not in Canada earlier.
Please dont think you will get your profession's job pretty quickly, i have experienced by my own eyes the same problem with me and one bulgarin immigrants who has auditor experience and marketing experience, they are not getting jobs it's been frustrating. Learn the truth, FIRST Job should be any Job, they respect you no matter what work you do, everybody does here, shortage of population so everybody does every work, throw your EGO at your home country seriously telling you guys. I tell you it's very hard to get job here, right now summer vacations are going on and all the students getting the walmart's, other so called petty jobs, and if employer higher students they get tax rebate. Try to find employment agencies, find in yellow pages, try this www . yottpersonnel . com. Apply for Walmart jobs, and after applying, take their online test, questions will be like what if customer say hi do you say hi or bye or chai or etc. lol so there will be 4 options, (a) somewhat agree, (b) somewhat disagree, (c) Fully agree. (d) Full disagree. I would suggest answer should be Fully agree or Fully disagree, nothing sort of in somewhat ones but a few i gave was somewhat ones too. You might get their call (especially from Dorval's Walmart), then they will ask what's your experience, about you, what position you applied for, part-time or full-time, what if they offer you full-time will you take, what shift, and finally WHY YOU WANT TO JOIN WALMART, the bomb question, after that she will say whatever she has to say either will call you later or don't know what as i am still waiting for their call, I don't know what they are looking for.
BRING ENOUGH MONEY. WINTERS ARE WORSE HERE, THOUGH I HAVE NOT TASTED IT BUT PEOPLE SAY THAT LACHINE CANAL WAS FROZEN ON APRIL 20TH.
You will Get into Depression, severe depression, severe severe depression, Achey wala depression, ESPECIALLY IN WINTERS WHEN SNOW EVERY WHERE AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE TO GO IF YOU COME IN WINTERS, you will think that what are you doing here, you were well off in your country, suddenly there will be a 1000% more love in your heart for your home country, your relatives, your brothers, sisters, etc. but i would suggest dont go back, once you will reach your home country, you will see oh my god why i came, i was just 24 hours away from my family or country, i could have come later, bla bla bla. Even if you get into depression and you really wanna go back to your country please, leave only once you get your PR Cards, dont go for travel document which you can get from Canadian Embassy abroad but it takes lot of time. For new immigrants it's somewhat easy to get as they have to prove that they will be able to spend 2 years out of their 1st 5 years for residency obligation but those who already spent 5 years and did not take citizenship and someone has expired PR Cards or someone has lost pr cards and they are abroad and some have left country without renewing their cards as they expired after 5 years and they are outside their country and b4 issuing Travel document, canadian high commission checks your last 5 years from the date they receive your application for travel document. Suppose you need to spend 2 years (730 days) out of 5 years (1825 days) and according to you, you have spent exactly 731 days (one day more than required minimum days) out of 1825 days and also you spent exactly 5 years and you left canada without PR cards and apply for travel document lets say after 7 days of landing in other country so Canadian high commission will start counting days the day receive your application, in this case 7 days plus 5 years (according to you you have spent 2 years) but because CHC receive your application 7 days later then you will lose 7 days from residency and you will lose your PR status. So either take citizenship or dont leave or lose your PR card outside Canada.
Sorry for mistake, and dont think you will get Job easily. All the best
