Hello. Salam.
I’ve been
wanting to write in this blog for a while. Previously, writing is one of my
hobbies, which was good. But with the emergence of Instagram, I rarely write
but I like to take photos and upload it on my Instagram mainly on the foods I cooked or
places I went.
Anyway,
today is a special day and I decided to write this post to share with you guys
the journey I went through to get my Canadian permanent resident. Today is the
final day where the journey has ended, no more waiting and worrying. I just
received my PR card in the mailbox. If you follow me on Instagram, you will
know that I am currently living in Canada, but I didn’t come to Canada as a PR.
I came here with a working permit and just recently my PR application was approved.
Applying PR was not an easy journey (for myself). It involved a lot of
processes, paper works, emotions, and of course money. I referred to many
websites, blogs, forums to go through it. So, now that my journey has ended, I
thought sharing it here would give some insights or assistance for anyone who
is looking for some information related to it.
Note that
my decision to apply for Canadian PR is purely because I want to have a better
life, not running away from my country. I love Malaysia so deeply and I will
never replace it with another country.
Firstly,
why Canada? At first, I had 2 choices either Canada or Australia as these 2
countries are providing PR schemes for foreigners not living inside the country
to apply. My first choice was definitely Australia as it is near to Malaysia,
but unfortunately, I couldn’t achieve the minimum score to enter the pool. Both
countries are using a scoring system to select eligible candidates to apply.
Therefore, candidates have to meet specific requirements to get certain scores
which include age, education, English proficiency, and especially working experience (because I applied for Federal Skilled Worker scheme). I
won’t be detailing the scoring as you could find it in their immigration
websites.
So, my
journey started in December 2018. The first step was to meet the English
language requirement, which I chose IELTS exam. I tell you, this is the worst phase
for me. You know I am not an English speaker, among the four skills in IELTS
exam, to get the minimum band 7 for writing was not easy. I sat for 5 exams, I
received the required bands for all the 3 skills in all the 5 exams, but for
writing, I only passed on the last attempt. So, finally, in April 2019 I passed
the 1st requirement of IELTS, L8.5, R8.5, W7, S7. I remember the day
I received the results, I was so happy and I shared it with my students in the lecture 😊. Maybe they’re clueless but that
day I didn’t feel tired for the whole 2-hour class. If you’re looking for a
reliable resource to improve your IELTS score, I highly recommend IELTSadvantage . I got the required band 7 only by using their
free resources. You can go to their facebook page to read many success stories. *Note that English requirements for each individuals vary depending on the PR score you want to achieve.
After I
received the IELTS score, the next thing was applying through the Canadian
Immigration and Citizenship (CIC) portal. Because of some circumstances, I only
did this in August 2019. I waited for the draw based on my score and I received
the invitation to apply in September 2019. I guess I was lucky to get it this
fast, Alhamdullilah. Here where the hustle came where I had to compile
documents from many places including, current and previous employer for working
experience, certificate of conduct from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
medical checkup at a selected hospital, translation of birth certificate and
other docs that are in Malay language, proof of finance, proof of education to
be sent to World Education Services, etc. It took almost a month for me to compile
everything and in October 2019 I managed to submit all of the required docs. Now, this is where the long waiting time started. For me, it took 5 months to receive
the confirmation of PR (COPR), in March 2020. FYI, the delay in processing
was because of the COVID-19 (tell me what was not affected by this deadly virus 😒). The next step was to ‘land’. Since I’m already in
Canada, landing process should be done at the government office, ‘Service
Canada’. For those coming from outside, the landing should be at the point of entry, could be the airport or any other border crossings.
Because of the COVID-19, the procedure has changed dramatically. Instead of
going to Service Canada (which was closed because of the pandemic), I did
landing by post where I mailed the required docs to CIC. After this process,
the last one is to wait for the PR card. So, 7 months after COPR, today I
received the card. In total, it took me 1 year to end the process. Without
COVID-19, it might be cut in half!
Now, I am happy that Allah has granted me another wish that I asked. I am a very positive person and I believed that we can get the things we want if we fight for it and let Him decide the outcome. On the road, there must be ups and downs. When you feel insecure or hopeless, you might cry, but in the end Insyallah you'll see the outcomes.
I’m missing my home country that is so far from here, but I have dreams to catch… I pray and wish that your dreams also come true one day, and we can live happily in this lovely world..but 1st let us end the pandemic. Keep safe everyone. Enjoy some photos below (1 for each season) in my new residing country, Canada. Ta dafeye baad...khoda hafez
Winter
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