amrsoudy said:
Bro congratulations and welcome back!!AbdelAllah said:Aslamoalaykom brothers .... long time since we had our last interactive discussions, isn't it ....
So .... Al7adule Allah I did landing and come back .... if you are interested to hear the details, write here and I will come back with details
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medwiz said:
medwiz said:
Thank you AbdelAllah very interesting and detailed information to help all of us as usual... I just have a few questions if u can clarifyAbdelAllah said:Bros, I will mention the main bullet points of my landing:
- I landed in Ottawa, I was told that it is better to make my first point of entry is Ottawa, not Toronto -as Toronto airport is so busy specially with Syrian refugees-, it was a real helpful advice.
- Landing was smooth, except when was POF, where the officer counted every pound (yes even the Egyptian money) we have. I heard that this doesn't happen, but it did for us. He was polite but so slow. I had cash with me.
- I spent around 6 days, focusing on the main things I need to do.
- I took pictures at COSCO, in case the ask for new photos (which they did for me and my wife later after we left Canada) we sent it, but till now we haven't received our PR cards!!!!, the officer told me you may need to send us new photos!!!
- I did the G1 test, I only used one application, a very good android application called "Ontario G1". They hand over you a "temporary" license till they send the original one in 2 weeks.
- I tried to apply for OHIP, but they required PR card or a driving license, but I didn't have either so I couldn't.
- I opened 2 bank accounts, one HSBC, so I can transfer from Egypt, the other one is in TD.
- HSBC one, they lady there didn't want to open the account as she wanted to know where I got the money from, I told her it is my landing money, but she wanted to know where I got it from, I had to call HSBC Egypt and send her a copy of my statement proofing that the money was in my account before coming to Canada. The funny thing is when I came back to Egypt and tried to transfer between my two accounts, HSBC Egypt said (1) I can't transfer between "joint accounts" (2) if you create a new account, you have to wait for 90 days before use it to transfer money (3) you can't use the HSBC global transfer facility!, you have to do a manual transfer which will charge you around 750 LE!!! and I called the bank and visited couple of branches, each one gave me different answers!!!, very unprofessional and one major reason is, the central bank many new regulations applied to banks on foreign currency.
Will provide more details once I remember anything else.
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I applied for several programs.. About 7 or 8 universities and got accepted in 2: Acadia University and Saint Mary's University both in Nova Scotia..AbdelAllah said:
medwiz said:Thank you AbdelAllah very interesting and detailed information to help all of us as usual... I just have a few questions if u can clarify
- u mentioned they counted your cash? Was that at immigration when they ask for POF? Or in customs after u collect your baggage since you are carrying more than 10K u need to declare hence they counted?
No it was the POE officer not customs
- you took your entire POF in cash? In Egyptian pounds? Bit risky to carry all this cash with you I think...
No I took in USD, but had like 500 LE for me when I'm coming back to Egypt
-This photo thing I heard of as they have changed the format of the PR card starting Jan this year so the photos we previously sent during our application no longer meet thier new specifications... So i'm just going to have new pics with me... The question is did the immigration officer ask you to give him the photos right there? I heard they can photograph you in the airport is that right? Can u clarify what happened to u with regards the photos? What Is Cosco?
Correct about photo dimenstions, but funnt they processed my daughter's PR with the old photos, and not my and my wife's PRs. COSCO is a big shopping market which has a photo taking facility
- HSBC is probably the worst bank in the world not just in Egypt... I opened my Canadian bank account with them only because I had no other options and I wanted to open an account there before arriving... It took a long time and thier customer service is useless... But i managed to do it in the end and transferred my funds to that account... So I'll just have my bank statement from HSBC Canada as POF... I'll also have cash too but not a big sum.. Couple of thousand dollars or something
-finally interesting point about choosing Ottawa... I'm landing in toronto and have a connecting flight to Halifax later in the day... Inshallah I'll have time at the airport to finish the landing procedure even if it's a little crowded...
Can you make your first POE Halifax?
Anyway welcome back bro and inshallah u'll return there soon...
All universities did... Either IELTS Academic or Toefl... I sat the IELTS Academic... But my advice is go for toefl as the University requires the language test to be sent to them directly by the testing institution.. Toefl has an electronic system to send the results which is much quicker and easier while the IELTS results have to be sent by courier from the British CouncilAbdelAllah said:
medwiz said:
