Hello friends.
It has been more than a year since I have landed in Canada. I have had many experiences, some good and some bad, which I want to share with all of you.
Please forgive me if my story seems boring to you.
I will write my experience in 3 parts.
1. From application to getting the visa.
2. A horrifying journey from India to Canada. (A very bad experience in plane).
3. My experience till now after landing in Canada.
Part 1 (from application to getting visa):
It was around Feb 2010 when I was sitting in my office and just surfing the net. In one of the websites, an advertisement of a renowned consultant popped up stating “Immigrate to Canada in less than 6 months.” Suddenly, the idea of moving to Canada stuck to me.
I went to the consultant’s office where the lady officer told me that I would be eligible to immigrate with my wife being the primary applicant under NOC 4131 as she was an IT trainer. So after considering all the factors, both me and wife decided to go ahead with it. So we applied, filled out all the forms and patiently waited for the next step.
Then one morning in mid of April 2010, I got a call from the consultant’s office that they have received a letter from Canadian High Commission (CHC) that my initial application has been approved and a file number has been generated. I was very happy that first step has been successful. I went to the consultant’s office to take a copy of that letter. Consultant told me that I have 3 months to collect all the documents. Then, started the painful process of collecting all the documents. It was really very tough getting transcripts from universities, reference letters from the employers, police clearance, etc. But I did it within one month. Submitted all the documents and fees to the consultant and was very happy that my Canadian dream was coming to be true. Then again, waited patiently for the good news.
In June 2010, we got the news that CIC has changed all the rules and they have put all the applications on hold that were submitted before June 2010 and then after that it was a long wait. Every Tuesday I used to check my ECAS status and every time it showed the same thing “Application Received”. I got fed up of this and stopped looking at the status and thought that just forget it for now and went on with my life, as I realized that what was supposed to be a fast track 6 months process is now going to be a long wait for many years. But I hoped that someday my application will be reviewed and I will get the good news.
Then in January 2011, my daughter was born, and I immediately applied for her passport and submitted her passport copy and all the forms and fees to the consultant to add my daughter’s name to my application. Now, after the birth of my daughter, I was in no hurry to immigrate as I wanted my child to have grown at least 2 year old when we immigrate. But I was very certain that sooner or later my application will go through and I was sure that we will be going to Canada one day.
Almost a year passed by and in February 2012, I GOT A SHOCK. I received a call from the consultant and they said that they received the letter from CHC that MY APPLICATION HAS BEEN REJECTED. I was shocked, shattered, and almost fainted. It was unbelievable. Everything was good and perfect. All my documents were perfect, then why?
I rushed to the consultant’s office to get the CHC letter. Upon seeing the letter, I just could not believe. Visa officer wrote that he was not satisfied that my wife has worked in NOC 4131. This was ridiculous, I submitted all the documents, reference letters, Form 16s and every possible document. Then why he was not satisfied. This was absolutely wrong and baseless decision. Consultant told me that they are just trying to reduce the backlog by rejecting the genuine applications. Consultant said that now the only way is to appeal against the decision, and that will cost a lot of money as I will need a lawyer for that, and certainly I was not able spend so much money, and moreover there is no guarantee. So, I asked the consultant to at least write a letter to CHC and explain everything. But the lady at the consultant office said there was no use of writing a letter and it will just go to the dustbin. And she did not send any letter to CHC.
For three days, I was in shock, but then I decided to move on with my life, maybe God has something better for me, but I thought before closing this chapter at least I should write a letter to CHC and let them know that their decision was wrong and baseless, and then I will forget everything and move on. So I sat down and wrote a 2 page letter, explained everything politely, and next day I courierd it to CHC New Delhi, and then I was back to my routine and enjoyed seeing my child grow. Everything became normal.
After about 2 months, I got a call from my consultant office. The lady told me she has received an email from CHC in which it was written that “in response to the letter I wrote to them MY CASE HAS BEEN REOPENED.” I was pleasantly surprised and happy that writing a letter was a good idea. My letter did not go in the dustbin. After about a week or so there was another email asking me to re-submit the fees that was earlier refunded.
After a long silence of 10 months, in January 2013, got a call from consultant’s office informing me that I have received the medicals and passport request. Then on, everything happened so fast. Within three weeks after doing the medicals, we received our passports back with visa stamped and our faces smiling. Consultant told me that it was first time in their career that a rejected case was reopened and that too with just writing a letter, no appeal, no lawyer, nothing.
Now, our next step was to resign from our jobs and book the airline tickets.
Well thats about it for now.
IN THE NEXT PART, I WILL WRITE ABOUT MY HORRIFYING JOURNEY FROM DELHI TO TORONTO
It has been more than a year since I have landed in Canada. I have had many experiences, some good and some bad, which I want to share with all of you.
Please forgive me if my story seems boring to you.
I will write my experience in 3 parts.
1. From application to getting the visa.
2. A horrifying journey from India to Canada. (A very bad experience in plane).
3. My experience till now after landing in Canada.
Part 1 (from application to getting visa):
It was around Feb 2010 when I was sitting in my office and just surfing the net. In one of the websites, an advertisement of a renowned consultant popped up stating “Immigrate to Canada in less than 6 months.” Suddenly, the idea of moving to Canada stuck to me.
I went to the consultant’s office where the lady officer told me that I would be eligible to immigrate with my wife being the primary applicant under NOC 4131 as she was an IT trainer. So after considering all the factors, both me and wife decided to go ahead with it. So we applied, filled out all the forms and patiently waited for the next step.
Then one morning in mid of April 2010, I got a call from the consultant’s office that they have received a letter from Canadian High Commission (CHC) that my initial application has been approved and a file number has been generated. I was very happy that first step has been successful. I went to the consultant’s office to take a copy of that letter. Consultant told me that I have 3 months to collect all the documents. Then, started the painful process of collecting all the documents. It was really very tough getting transcripts from universities, reference letters from the employers, police clearance, etc. But I did it within one month. Submitted all the documents and fees to the consultant and was very happy that my Canadian dream was coming to be true. Then again, waited patiently for the good news.
In June 2010, we got the news that CIC has changed all the rules and they have put all the applications on hold that were submitted before June 2010 and then after that it was a long wait. Every Tuesday I used to check my ECAS status and every time it showed the same thing “Application Received”. I got fed up of this and stopped looking at the status and thought that just forget it for now and went on with my life, as I realized that what was supposed to be a fast track 6 months process is now going to be a long wait for many years. But I hoped that someday my application will be reviewed and I will get the good news.
Then in January 2011, my daughter was born, and I immediately applied for her passport and submitted her passport copy and all the forms and fees to the consultant to add my daughter’s name to my application. Now, after the birth of my daughter, I was in no hurry to immigrate as I wanted my child to have grown at least 2 year old when we immigrate. But I was very certain that sooner or later my application will go through and I was sure that we will be going to Canada one day.
Almost a year passed by and in February 2012, I GOT A SHOCK. I received a call from the consultant and they said that they received the letter from CHC that MY APPLICATION HAS BEEN REJECTED. I was shocked, shattered, and almost fainted. It was unbelievable. Everything was good and perfect. All my documents were perfect, then why?
I rushed to the consultant’s office to get the CHC letter. Upon seeing the letter, I just could not believe. Visa officer wrote that he was not satisfied that my wife has worked in NOC 4131. This was ridiculous, I submitted all the documents, reference letters, Form 16s and every possible document. Then why he was not satisfied. This was absolutely wrong and baseless decision. Consultant told me that they are just trying to reduce the backlog by rejecting the genuine applications. Consultant said that now the only way is to appeal against the decision, and that will cost a lot of money as I will need a lawyer for that, and certainly I was not able spend so much money, and moreover there is no guarantee. So, I asked the consultant to at least write a letter to CHC and explain everything. But the lady at the consultant office said there was no use of writing a letter and it will just go to the dustbin. And she did not send any letter to CHC.
For three days, I was in shock, but then I decided to move on with my life, maybe God has something better for me, but I thought before closing this chapter at least I should write a letter to CHC and let them know that their decision was wrong and baseless, and then I will forget everything and move on. So I sat down and wrote a 2 page letter, explained everything politely, and next day I courierd it to CHC New Delhi, and then I was back to my routine and enjoyed seeing my child grow. Everything became normal.
After about 2 months, I got a call from my consultant office. The lady told me she has received an email from CHC in which it was written that “in response to the letter I wrote to them MY CASE HAS BEEN REOPENED.” I was pleasantly surprised and happy that writing a letter was a good idea. My letter did not go in the dustbin. After about a week or so there was another email asking me to re-submit the fees that was earlier refunded.
After a long silence of 10 months, in January 2013, got a call from consultant’s office informing me that I have received the medicals and passport request. Then on, everything happened so fast. Within three weeks after doing the medicals, we received our passports back with visa stamped and our faces smiling. Consultant told me that it was first time in their career that a rejected case was reopened and that too with just writing a letter, no appeal, no lawyer, nothing.
Now, our next step was to resign from our jobs and book the airline tickets.
Well thats about it for now.
IN THE NEXT PART, I WILL WRITE ABOUT MY HORRIFYING JOURNEY FROM DELHI TO TORONTO
