Ray of Hope 68th Draw

[andieangel]

It´s way past midnight here, but I felt so familiarized with this post that I simply couldn´t wait to jump in.

We are in a very similar situation, my fiancée is not really that excited about moving to Canada, but she is on board pretty much because she understands how much I want it. She keeps saying that we don´t need to go to another country to have a prosperous life, and she is absolutely right.

My country is one of the most prosperous places in Latin America, people here don´t really emigrate in large percentages, in fact we get a lot of immigrants from our neighbors. We are not rich, but at the same time we are not as bad as other countries in our region.

When you tell someone that you intend to leave the country most of the time people will say things like this:

• "We are fine here, why do you want to leave?"
• "Are you unemployed or something? Can´t you find a job?"
• "We have a beautiful country, great weather, great people, you won´t find anything like this anywhere else."
• "Once you live overseas you´ll understand how great this country is"
• Etc, etc, etc...

Having said this, you might understand how lonely I feel when I say that I want to immigrate.

Just like Shaun, I have a very good life here. I live in a nice apartment, I have a nice car and a good job. In fact, just this past week I was offered a new position by one of our top bosses, apparently he liked the way I work so much that he wants me in his team. This new job will give me more visibility within the organization, will allow me to travel overseas frequently (something that I love) and will probably bring more money. I´m far from being rich, but I would say that I live better than 90% of the people in my country.

Despite all of the above, I still have a desire to leave.

The reasons are many:

• Yes, my country is safer than other places, but we still have high crime rates.
• Many people live in gated neighborhoods due to crime. Those who can´t afford living in gated neighborhoods need to keep their houses surrounded by bars, otherwise burglars would break into your house sooner or later. The scene of having most houses with bars is simply awful, it´s like living in jails.
• Don´t even think of walking around your neighborhood or city after 8 pm.
• We have a crumbling infrastructure.
• Public transport is terrible and it´s so easy to buy a car now that everyone owns one. The problem with this is that I said before, our infrastructure is so bad that our roads are the same as they were 40 years ago. As a result, we ended up having 50 times more cars with the same roads, which creates huge traffic jams. Many people easily spend 2 to 4 hours commuting everyday in distances not greater than 20 km.
• In order to get decent and not so expensive housing you would need to move far away to some almost rural areas. The closer you are from downtown the more you need to pay. Most of the time you spend a lot of money and the houses are not even that great.

Why Canada?

I´ll be honest, I grew up wanting to immigrate to the US, Canada did not come to mind until about a year ago. I´ve been to the States more than 20 times and know more than 30 states, east, west, south and north.

Every time I had to return to my country from the US I felt sad. Going from developed cities with great highways, great airports, etc to what we have was like going back in time. Given that immigration to the US is so hard now I gave up to the idea of living there.

Overstaying my visa and getting a job illegally crossed my mind a couple of times, but I wanted to do things legally. I could still apply for Permanent Residence through my sister-in-law, but it would take about 12 years to get it. At 35 this is simply not an option.

Then I heard about Canada Express Entry. Initially the CRS cut-offs were so high that I quickly dismissed the idea of applying. About 6 months later, at the beginning of this year, I surprisingly noticed that the calculation method had changed. I entered my data in the tool and voilà, it turned out that I was not that far from reaching an acceptable score. My postgraduate degree and years of experience helped me a lot and in some way compensate for the points I lose for age.

So, going back to the original question, why Canada? Well, Canada is very similar to the US in many subjects: language, city vibe, infrastructure, etc. In addition, it´s cleaner, people are friendlier, access to medical services is better, etc . I also want to live in a place where I know that winters are going to be cold and summers are going to be hot. A place where I can take a bus or a train, take out my laptop and not worry about something happening to me. A place where I can take a walk in the park at 9 at night without feeling insecure.

Many times, when I see people from very poor or war rotten countries trying to immigrate to Canada or other places and compare them to my situation I ask myself:

"Should I feel ungrateful to my country for wanting to live somewhere else despite all of the things I already have?"
"Is the rest of the people right when they say that we live fine here and that there is no reason to move?"
"What if I leave everything behind and then I regret it and can´t get back to where I was?"

Anyway, I feel I just got many of my feelings off my chest. It´s good to know I´m not the only one in this situation.

Beautiful story!

 

[Sararohit]

So 437 doesn't seem to have any chance in this draw according to predictions.

 

[Vikrant15]

My prediction the coming draw will be in 9th of August and ITAs will be 3200 the cut off 438+/-2

Hope your prediction is true.
But why are'nt u expecting a draw on 2 Aug?

 

[iamxty]

So 437 doesn't seem to have any chance in this draw according to predictions.

A newbie post! I like it!
Check my signature and show me that face again

According to my prediction, you have a good chance in the next draw.

 

[Vikrant15]

So 437 doesn't seem to have any chance in this draw according to predictions.

I am also at the same score. Its better not to expect any chance in next draw. We might have chances in consecutive draws. But chances in the next draw seems less irrespective of when the next draw takes place.

 

[mqamar1994]

Sshhh..I know I am!

You know the album title eh?

Yes. I know a few songs by Ariana. My favorite one was 'Love me Harder featuring The Weeknd'

 

[Vikrant15]

Today I got an updated message corresponding to my application and there is no change.. What does that mean ? Last time when draw happens i got the same message few hours before.. So is it the signal of any draw coming today.. Experienced folks plz clarify ....

Did u modify any information in past 2 days in ur profile and saved and transmitted it?

 

[KingKurly]

We are all sad that @xibalban thought it wasn't the right time in his life to go for the ITA.

Why would he say that is pretty surprising. After reading his posts before i became inactive, he seemed pretty keen and looking forward to ITA.

 

[KingKurly]

You bet! A very small country with shopping centres everywhere! Please tell me there are more shopping centres in Canada

I haven't checked the F1 schedule yet, but yes there will be different performers for each day. And you are right with the atmosphere here, from the Great Singapore Sale on June-July, followed by the National Day (also a big event here) in 2 weeks time, then the Grand Prix on September. Oh, did I just list some of the things I am definitely going to miss in Singapore?

Its amazing how such a small country like Singapore and S. Korea could be a economic force to reckon with. Singapore Airline say for example, astounding. No wonder with so much wealth at disposal the government would encourage shopping to shopping vulnerable people lol. At least i am hard to be persuaded and pleased about it lol. You better stay away from malls as the shopping season intensifies in couple of weeks time lol

 

[KingKurly]

Don't underestimate the ladies! But for a start, be prepared with some exotic drinks.

No i will never do the mistake of underestimating the ladies lol and i am all prepared for the big day. You my friend will be getting some Tiger beer for sure lol

 

[KingKurly]

Hey!! I also appeared for IELTS today, earlier score was L/R/S/W - 8.5/8/7/6.5

Not tooo confident about Writing again but I think i did little bit better than last time. Speaking test is tomorrow morning. Best of luck to everyone who appeared today.

Hope your Speaking part went well today. All the best for the result. Aug 11 it is rite?

 

[KingKurly]

@tjsecondtry @Wandering Mind @andieangel @shaun75
there's a lot going on in line with a Bollywood love triangle...
Shaun drowns himself in pints for wm giving him a slip (while his wife is cooking his favourite dish in the kitchen ) while Wanderingmind is all disheartened hopeless & sad despite her ita as her 'soulmate' kingkurly is absent from the scene for a fortnight (pretending to be preparing while in real catching up with his beauties from Ireland )
the moderator andieangel has disappeared without notice (must have gone to Toronto to have a word with cic on letting all these happen)...

That was funny hahaha. Good un lino

 

[KingKurly]

I was at the park with my spouse, now I'm home, you guys are here, missed you too, and @KingKurly welcome back
I see here all the active members, including me , so how's going on everything?

Thanks pess. Its good be back among us regular active members! Now draw this week CIC or else we gonna sue you lol, or maybe have a hunger strike like once arunroy recommended hahaha

 

[KingKurly]

That's so Canadian of you! I like that, drawing the line but I might challenge you when I am drunk, that is if you can get me drunk!

@andieangel will be on a heated debate with you here even when she is not drunk! Love you sis! <3

I love to see drunken ladies causing scene hehehe. It is so entertaining hehehe

 

[Titanium]

I knew nothing about the process about 3 months back...I spent some time here,& created my profile myself and by grace of God received my ITA in the last draw...
the process is simple...browse through the forums ,make an understanding & ppl will help out if you've done your homework......
most of the questions that may arise would already have been answered in the forum...search the forum with the key words of ur query & you are likely to get answers...
to start off, you can decline your ITA and once your profile expires,you can create a new one yourself...
You need your ECA report (number & date are required for creating profile ) your ielts result (TRF number and date are required ) ...rest all you can fill in...


http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/express-entry-in-a-nutshell.394158/

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/express-entry-step-by-step-instructions.273928/

Thankyou Lino, that's the plan now, i have been following the cic news, plus have learnt more here from just the ray of hope threads than my consultant. And this forum surely is loaded with information.