After reading everyones Canada journey, i thought i'd share my story as well.
Although i had been to Canada a couple of times for holidays during my childhood, my first solid interaction was when i went there as a student for my undergraduate degree in 1996. My 4 years in Montreal were amazing, probably the best to date.
On graduation, i was interested in staying back, however immigration rules at the time did not allow me to apply for immigration as a student. And secondly, had to come back to my home country for family reasons.
Time flew by and my second attempt was initiated in 2008 when i applied for immigration through the simplified process. Since the que was a good few years long at the time, i just sat patiently for a response from IRCC. The wait turned out to be useless as in 2013 i received a letter from IRCC saying that a new law had been passed in the parliament whereby all applications that were filed in 07-08 which were still unprocssed were being returned. So that was the end of that. ( still waiting for my refund on that one).
Since then, i occasionally checked immigration requirements to see if i was eligible. Most of the times i would not make the cut, and secondly being turned down after 5 years of waiting made me skeptical.
Fast forward today, thanks to securing points for education and living in Canada, wifes degree, good Ielts result for both of us, and barely making it on the age bracket, am sitting at 420 CRS.
Hoping to make it soon.
