Our Canadian Dream

Disclaimer: I am no expert in Canadian immigration. These are all based on my personal experience that worked for our family.

The application.
How do I start? It took us so many tears and fears and tons of discussions to even start anything. We both had nice, comfortable, familiar lives in the Philippines, our friends and families are there and to tell you honestly, there's nothing much we need as we were both living well. But when we look at our son and his future, we wanted him to have the options and the many opportunities in life and a government that works for the people. We want more transparency, less if not none of the graft and corruption, and more accountability, free healthcare especially when you’re too old to get an insurance, and more and we found it in Canada. Although there are still other countries worth checking out. It all depends on what you want in life and what you intend to do in the future.

There are many categories to choose from. Canada has express entry, provincial nominees, skilled workers, caregivers, study permit, work visa, start-up visa, temporary foreign worker, family sponsorship and many other pathways to Canada. I will put the link of resources at the end of this. It all depends on your credentials. Canadian immigration is on a point-based system just like NZ and Australia. The more points you have based on several factors, the higher the chances for your application to be approved.

Since my sister already lives in one of the provinces in Canada, we decided to apply for the Provincial Nominee Program (Manitoba). The requirements for this one will depend on the province you intend to immigrate and it will  also depend if you have a strong family connection to support you. They also require sufficient funds to start and settle in Canada based on how many family members you have. They have a chart for that based on the prevailing rates.

I personally don't recommend agencies based on my experience. But I respect those who opted to get one. The reason I don't is because all the information, resources and requirements are online. You just have to have the patience to read, read, read and understand. There are tons of reading materials and a lot of online groups you can join to know how different people undergo different scenarios in applying. The requirements are all about you and your family -- education, work, certifications. And to tell you honestly, the bulk of the work will be about gathering the documents and making sure that these are all correct, authenticated and certified. The submission part is the easiest one.

Once you have gathered all the necessary documents, next step is wait for the invitation to apply which differs for different people and will also test your patience especially now with Covid. Invitation to apply took us a month of wait based on the draws at that time. From application/submission until we finally received our approval for PR status took us about less than a year. As I've mentioned, it is different for different people. No two applications and timelines are the same. And the waiting game is also one of the hardest. But it's all worth it.

We have been fulfilling our Canadian dream for almost 5 years since we decided to immigrate. And we're also officially Canadian citizens now. It's different and it's humbling but it's all good.

Goodluck and whatever path you choose, hope you achieve it.

Useful link:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada.html