Thank you!
I actually toke at least two hours every week day, after coming home from work, to study before doing anything else.
I know life can get in the way, but I really don't think I'm naturally gifted, just very focused when I want something. And we all here want to go to Canada real hard.
It is a shame that in your country they don't give the TEF exam, as that could really be a nice incentive for you to get to continue learning. But, hey, you can always continue to learn in Canada.
As for the forgetting your knowledge part, I try watching movies and tv series in french (with french or english captions) at Netflix USA (I use a VPN), because my region doesn't have many french titles. But it's an option to watch and listen to french things to force you to remember the words. Also, you can download ebooks in french versions, I find that it helped me a lot to improve my reading skills to read a short novel, as practice.