Thanks for joining me!

Every achievement begins with a humble thought. Canada is good choice for Immigrants especially if you are skilled in any profession. I would like to narrate the entire story, me and my wife gone through this time consuming process. It may look daunting task at the beginning but once you start the initiative, then rest of the pieces comes in place automatically. It’s similar to solving a big puzzle card with a beautiful image under it .all you need to have a patience and lot of it.

Deciding to come to Canada:

Once we have decided to have our career growth in Canada, we checked our eligibility in CIC portal .and we opted for FSW (Federal skilled worker) program, where they take people to Canada based on their CRS (comprehensive ranking Scheme). CRS score is provided based on many criteria like Experience, Educational Qualification, age, etc.

Creating Express Entry profile:

We have created our express entry profile in CIC portal. They will provide with unique login id and credential where you can track your application at various stages.

PRE ITA (Invitation to Apply) Phase:

A .Preparing for IELTS

I would say this is most crucial part in Express entry. The CRS is score is fully based on your IELTS score. We started preparing for IELTS General Test. The minimum score eligibility was CLB 9 ( Listening -8 , Reading -7, Writing -7, Speaking -7) I had to take this exam couple of time in both British counsel and IDP even then my score din’t improve much , I was lucky enough to have my wife scored well in all Competencies. And Guess what J we got a decent CRS score.

B .Getting the Transcript from University

This process varies from one varsity to other. In our case its Anna university .They provides transcripts online as well but it takes more than a months’ time. So better I decided to take it directly from University itself .I took three DD’s in favour of Anna University and provided necessary copies of the marks sheet, Degree certificate and Valid ID proofs, WES Academic Request form, and a request letter in a cover .They took roughly around 10 days to give the transcripts back. Since my wife was in US she applied transcripts online and it took more than month.

C .Getting ECA from WES

WES (world education service) is a non-profit organisation which provides ECA (Education Credential Assessment report. We have created our account online through WES portal where you can track your application as well .They will be asking a payment of around 300 CAD for application processing including international courier changes. After making payment, I have sent the sealed transcript from university along with the copy of my degree certificate and passport to WES through Blue dart couriers .They have taken around 45 days to revert back with ECA certificate, Anyways we were closely following up with them tracking the progress through WES portal.

 

D  Submit Express Entry profile:

Once the IELTS scores and Transcripts are ready we submitted our Express entry profile in CIC portal .Now the only thing was to wait until the CRS score reaches our marks .And yeah!! We got ITA within a month’s time after we submitted our application.

 

Post ITA phase:

1. Getting AOR(Application of Receipt) :

Once we got ITA we were pretty much sure that we have crossed the half way mark. Next step is to pay the VISA fees and submit the application and obtain AOR. The most tedious part was doing the paper work for gathering all the relevant documents like PCC, e-medical form, Experience letter and payslips.

1. Proof of Funds:

Canadian government asks for proof of 12,000 to 15000 CAD in your account .This is just to ensure that you can survive in Canada even if you don’t find any jobs immediately. Since my wife was already working in US for a year we were able to show relevant proof of income.

1. Getting PCC certificate

This is one of the time taking process to obtain a Police clearance certificate in India . It takes more than 2 months of time and consumes lot of your patience. I have scheduled an appointment with PSK Chennai online and waited for more than 4 weeks for police to come and inspect and to get the certificate it takes another 2 weeks. In my experience I would suggest you can start applying PCC before ITA phase itself

D     Getting medical certificate

This part is somewhat lighter one compared to other parts .Just ensure the hospital we are doing medical test is available in CIC portal. Mostly in Chennai Apollo does this medical checkup and it’s valid for Year . Yes of course they charge you for the check up and they will send the rest results directly to CIC . And you will receive e-medical form copy.

E.Pay fee to get AOR

And yesss !! Now all the paper work is all over and all set to submit all your documents and pay the VISA fees . Please remember the fee that your paying is non-refundable .After submitting the application , We got the confirmation message in the form of AOR (acknowledge of receipt)

 

Post AOR phase:

After all our hardwork , In this phase we can just relax . As from our side there is nothing else we need to do, unless CIC ask for some clarification related to the documents that we submitted.

NA–>IP–>NA–>IP–>NA–>PP–>COPR .

Even I’m not sure what these abbreviations are , but you can notice that there is some changes in the status of application.

d .PPR stage

PPR is nothing but the confirmation email you will receive after documents are ok .Once you receive this email there is very less chance or we chance that your application will be rejected after this . At this time your CIC application will change into various stages like

1. Submitting your passport for VISA stamping.

After obtaining a PPR email, I just submitted my passport to the nearest vfs global center (Canada Visa Application Centre) along with 2 passport size photos in the Canada specification .Please refer the photograph dimensions they have mentioned in PPR email. Here also they will charge for the service they provide. But in my experience I would say VFS global was very professional and accurate.

d obtaining VISA and COPR

It took around two weeks to get my passport back with Maple leaves VISA imprinted on it. Along with They will send you a COPR letter (confirmation of Permanent Resident). This is what we have been dreaming for the whole year and we were extremely happy about it.

Landing & Immigration Process:

It’s quiet simple and straight forward process I would say .Primary applicant must be landing before the dependent. In our case my wife was the primary, so she did her first landing and they later I did .In the immigration department you need to show the documents such passport. COPR and proof of income .Please have one Canadian address handy , It’s required for applying PR card .once your landing process is over You will get your PR card in 90 days from the day of landing .Just make sure to buy proper whether gears such as coat , shoes etc if your landing during winter .

Timelines:

1	Transcript from Anna university	June 2017
2	IELTS Test	July 2017
3	WES application submission	July-Aug 2017
4	Submit scores in Express entry profile	Aug 2017
5	Received ITA	Sep 2017
6	Police clearance certificate	Sep –Oct 2017
7	Proof of funds	Oct 2017
8	Medical Clearance	Oct 2017
9	Submit all documents	Oct 2017
10	Obtain AOR	Oct 2017
11	Obtain PPR	Dec 2017
12	Submit passport to VFS	Jan 2018
13	Obtain VISA and COPR	Feb 2018
14	Primary Landing	Mar 2018
15	Dependent Landing	June 2018
16	PR card received	July 2018