Hi all.. just wanted to share my detailed experience with you all...
Me and my wife filled our Quebec Immigration Application on 12th Dec 2010.. from UK, England and got the interview call for 21st Aug 2011, which we postponed and then another interview request came for 16h Nov 2011.
Our Interview was in the Paris on 16th Nov 2011 at 2:30pm. We got there at 2:15pm and waited for the interviewer to call us in.
We were called in, after an hour of questions we got the CSQ.
Detailed stuff prior to the interview:
Me and my wife took 6 weeks French course from the language school, we got a certificate of them, which we inserted in our file submitted initially. Also, later on near the interview time, we took some private lessons of learning French for 2 months.. I also reckon anyone who is learning French, start with Michel Thomas learning and lessons of coffee break with French. This will really help you learning in a quick time.
We arranged for a trip to Canada – Montreal for 2 weeks in September 2011. It turned out to be a really good research trip.
We hired a self catering apartment for the duration and lived there as we were living there from a long time. We did grocery shopping, explored the city by visiting all the tourist places and also explored the neighbourhoods.
This Trip had been very benefited for our interview as we kept hold of all the receipts and the places we visited.. which later on we inserted in the file we prepared for our interview. Also, if you have stayed in Canada for at least 2 weeks you get 1 point too but most importantly it shows the interviewer you are serious and have solid plans to make that province your future home. I would strongly recommend if you can afford the time and money, please do make an effort for that visit.
Secondly, we prepared the file with the following documents..
- our detailed financial plan – stating how much money we had and what are outgoings would be.. i.e. rent, utility charges, grocery, transport, telephone.. (Interviewer didn’t ask for it though.. we just prepared to give him all this.. Also we took recent bank statements but when we took it out from the file, he said I don’t want to see any of your bank statements.)
- then we inserted all the job search we did.. study of the market in Montreal.. list of all the agencies or company’s in Montreal.. any job offers or even any current job adverts.. we didn’t had any job offers, we just took some job adverts with us. (which the interviewer was quite impressed with)
- Then we inserted our plans for learning French.. we took some leaflets from the Mcgill University (in Montreal, Quebec) and inquired for the French course, which we inserted in our prep file. Also, we took a letter from our private tutor, who stated our progress to what we had learnt so far.. i.e. phrases, tenses, colours, numbers, introduction.. very basic stuff.. (he was very impressed with this and said that’s very good that you are taking pains in learning French)
- Then we inserted the knowledge we have about Quebec.. the seasons it has, the holidays, about the tax.. (Interviewer didn’t see any of these though and didn’t even ask anything about it.. but it’s good to have..)
- Then, we inserted all the places we visited in Montreal… all the research we collected from there.. i.e. where would we get our phone contract from, where and how to get metro – fares.. (Again, the interviewer didn’t see any of these.. I guess he was quite impressed with us already with our job searches.. but I would still suggest to prepare this detailed file.. it gives you such a confidence that you are prepared to answer any questions..
Detailed stuff during the interview:
Me and my wife both are a very basic French user but did prepare our answers in French.. and put quite a lot of effort in learning the phrases and a bit of vocabulary.
Our Interview was in the Paris on 16th Nov 2011 at 2:30pm. We got there at 2:15pm and waited for the interviewer to call us in.
Our Interviewer was very gentle and humble.. As we sat down, we did general French gestures and first thing the interviewer said.. I know you are a basic French user, so don’t worry I will test your French learning later on in the interview.. I will talk to you in English.. (we felt very relived but still tried to answer in French where we could.. and kept on inserting little French gestures, later on the interview he never asked us anything to test our French.. I guess he didn’t left with any time.. as our interview was later in the afternoon, he was in a rush to finish off with us)
Then he started confirming our names, addresses.. and asked for our passports and nationality.. asked if we had any kids.. (we answered all this in English.. )
Then he asked me about my work.. which I mentioned about where and what I work,. I showed him the appreciation letters I received from my work, which the interviewer quite liked.
Then he asked us that we have been in UK from last 10 years, now why do we want to migrate to Quebec.. what are our reasons and what adjustments did we had to make when we came over to UK.. (which I answered all in English)
And straight after this We mention to him about our visit to Montréal.. that we went there as a research visit and explored it.. and to which we showed him our flight itinerary and all the receipts and places we had visit..
He was quite impressed with our research visit though.. specially we plan it to explore the city.
Then he asked us if we know any job market in Quebec. To which, we showed him all the companies we searched within our field.. and the job adverts we saw onto those companies.
Then he asked my wife about her work, even though it wasn’t calculated into any points.
Then he asked us if we have any kids.. we said not yet but are planning to have once we reach to Montreal.
In between some where in middle of asking questions.. he said don’t worry I am going to give you a good news shortly.. and then carried on asking few more general questions about our plans of learning French and telling us in general about Paris and Quebec..
Then he said welcome to Quebec.. and he printed off the CSQ.. and then he told us to start collecting all our documents which were on his table (the documents which we have been taking out from our files to show him) and then he printed the other useful letters along with the CSQ, which told us the procedure of what to do next.
This whole interview process took an hour.. but questions in general would have been only 20 minutes.. it was a very relaxed interview. I would say 90% in English and 10% in French..
I would suggest.. wear smart clothes, be confident in showing any document and talk clear and honest.
Good Luck..
