Police clearance:
Nigerian Police certificates only have a 3 month validity, so it should be one of the last things you get prior to submission. You can get one the same day (within a couple of hours), just get to Alagbon Ikoyi early.
A police clearance certificate is required for every country, other than Canada, that the primary applicant, spouse and kids over 18 have lived in for six months or more in total within the past 10 years. In total means cumulatively. In our case, we had to also get from the UK. Check your travel history, some countries take up to 14 weeks to give one. Cost – N6500 and £80 each.
Medical:
We used The Children’s Practice in Ikoyi, Lagos. Take passport photographs and two copies of passport data page for each family member to the clinic. One can find a CIC approved physician to perform the medical at http://www.cic.gc.ca/pp-md/pp-list.aspx
The physician enters all your medical results onto an online system which the CIC has access to, so we never actually saw our results. You could ask for them if you want though. You just need a "Proof of medical" form (or the IMM 1017B upfront medical report form) from the physician which you upload during the application.
Cost – N28025 per family member. Date of medical – 06Mar17
Proof of funds:
One has to prove that you have the minimum required funds, in my case for a family of 4 (see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/funds.asp). These funds have to be readily available, so can't be in the form of property or the like. I got my bank to provide their letterhead indicating when I opened my accounts with them. I also printed out 6 months of statements (with the branch stamp on each page) for each account. I scanned in all these with a cover page summarizing what I had in each account. I also included statements from my foreign US account.
There have been cases where an application was refused because the required funds were "gifted" to the applicant a relative/sponsor. I am not 100% sure but I think one can have funds gifted to you, but you have to prove the money is not borrowed. Get the gift notarized. In your letter of explanation, have a financial section to explain with detail every major deposit that is not usual income with proof.
Proof of work experience:
The CIC requires proof of your current and previous work experience. This is reflected by a reference letter and pay slips (where available) from your current and previous employers.
The reference letters should adhere to the following:
Proof of Education:
Here we scanned each person’s degree certificates and WES evaluations into a single PDF file. A common mistake is uploading only WES evaluations, it seems the CIC actually want a copy of your degree certificates also.
Digital Photo:
The specifications for the digital photo are as specified here. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/pdf/5445EB-e.pdf
Passports/Travel Documents:
We scanned the data page and pages containing Visas and custom stamps that we had received in the past for both current and expired passports. I scanned all passport pages into a PDF file and uploaded (not sure you have to upload your expired passports, I did just in case).
Application:
Many of the fields in the application are carried over from the application to the EE pool, but there is still quite a lot of information to be filled in. Immediate Family Members, Address history, Personal History and Travel History to name a few. After all the forms have been filled in the above mentioned documents need to be uploaded.
Payment:
After the application is complete you can submit and arrive at the payment page. You have the option of paying the processing fee and the Right of permanent residency (RPRF) fee, or just paying the processing fee. If you pay just the processing fee you will be requested to pay the RPRF at a later stage when your application has progressed further. I paid both fees anyway in an effort to save time.
I used my US bank card to make this payment, you would have to figure how to pay from Nigeria with all the restrictions.
Processing fee – 550 CAD for each adult
RPRF – 490 CAD for each adult
RPRF – 150 CAD for each child
Application submitted – 07-Mar with a total of 2,380 CAD paid.
Submission and Waiting:
All you do from here is wait and check your MyCIC account for status changes. Join forums like canadavisa.com to link up with other applicants and see what the progress is like for those who submitted around the same time. The Immitracker website is also a good resource and there are WhatsApp groups for discussions. People also order GCMS notes after waiting a while.
Acknowledgment of receipt (AOR) -
The AOR is a letter that is sent to the MyCIC account. You'll get an email indicating that there is an unread message in your MyCIC account. You then have to log in and download the message as a PDF file.
I received my AOR one day after my application was submitted, 08-Mar. Some people receive this a few minutes after submission, others a couple days afterwards.
Medical Passed - 03-May
Background Check:
This changed from “Not Applicable (NA)” to “Next Step to conduct BG Check (NBG)” aka IP1- 03-May
“Next Step to conduct BG Check” to “Not Applicable (NA)” aka NA2– 06-May
“Not Applicable” to "We are processing your background check" aka IP2- 27-Sep
Passport Request (PPR) – Received as a notification for a new message in my MyCIC account on 28-Sep Note though, some people have received their PPR directly via email.
As far as I know, PPR indicates your application is pretty much approved and complete. All that remains is for CIC to stick in your single-entry Visa and issue a “Confirmation of Permanent Residence” (COPR).
Instructions were to send our passports to High Commission of Canada in Ghana along with a completed IMM0008 form, Updated Height and Eye Color Chart and recent passport photos (stamped by photo studio). Make sure you download the updated IMM0008 form from the CIC website, some people had theirs returned because they used old forms. The instructions recommend (not insist) submitting by courier with a pre-paid return envelope. However, DHL advised that we submit our passports one-way (No return envelope) and wait for notification from Ghana. My wife and I were emailed that our passports were ready for collection. We authorized DHL to pick them up as soon as we received the email.
Date passports sent – 29-Sep
Cost of Passports Courier to Ghana VFS – N 19,575
Date passport received by VFS – 02-Oct
Application approved status on MyCIC profile – 06-Oct (Passports stamped)
Email notification for passport collection received – 10-Oct
DHL authorized to pick up passports from Ghana VFS – 11-Oct, Cost of Courier - N 20,221
Received stamped passports and Confirmation of Permanent Residence (CPR) forms – 17-Oct
Timeline summary
ITA received – Feb 08; App submitted – Mar 07; AOR – Mar 08; Meds passed – May 03; BG check "IP2" – Sep 27;
PPR - Sep 28; Passports sent - Sep 29; App "Approved" – Oct 06; Passports returned – Oct-17 (223 days post AOR).
Total cost of Express Entry (so you get an idea what you are getting into financially)
IELTS test – N 120,000 (for 2 adults)
Degree Transcript request and courier - N 31,000.
WES ECA - 400 CAD, Delivery - 14 CAD (I chose standard delivery. Courier delivery is 85 CAD each) (for 2)
Police Report – N13, 000 and £160 (for 2 adults)
Medical – N128, 100 (for 4)
Application Processing fee – 1100 CAD (For 2 adults) and RPRF – 1280 CAD (for 4: 2*490 + 2*150)
Passport Photos – N 6,000
Passport submission to VFS – N 17,575
Courier of passport back from VFS –N 20,221
Total cost of application - N 1,216,568 (Approximating 1 CAD = N 288, 1GBP = N 475 bank rate).
On top of the total cost one obviously still needs the minimum required funds for the required 6 months duration available to you.
Nigerian Police certificates only have a 3 month validity, so it should be one of the last things you get prior to submission. You can get one the same day (within a couple of hours), just get to Alagbon Ikoyi early.
A police clearance certificate is required for every country, other than Canada, that the primary applicant, spouse and kids over 18 have lived in for six months or more in total within the past 10 years. In total means cumulatively. In our case, we had to also get from the UK. Check your travel history, some countries take up to 14 weeks to give one. Cost – N6500 and £80 each.
Medical:
We used The Children’s Practice in Ikoyi, Lagos. Take passport photographs and two copies of passport data page for each family member to the clinic. One can find a CIC approved physician to perform the medical at http://www.cic.gc.ca/pp-md/pp-list.aspx
The physician enters all your medical results onto an online system which the CIC has access to, so we never actually saw our results. You could ask for them if you want though. You just need a "Proof of medical" form (or the IMM 1017B upfront medical report form) from the physician which you upload during the application.
Cost – N28025 per family member. Date of medical – 06Mar17
Proof of funds:
One has to prove that you have the minimum required funds, in my case for a family of 4 (see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/funds.asp). These funds have to be readily available, so can't be in the form of property or the like. I got my bank to provide their letterhead indicating when I opened my accounts with them. I also printed out 6 months of statements (with the branch stamp on each page) for each account. I scanned in all these with a cover page summarizing what I had in each account. I also included statements from my foreign US account.
There have been cases where an application was refused because the required funds were "gifted" to the applicant a relative/sponsor. I am not 100% sure but I think one can have funds gifted to you, but you have to prove the money is not borrowed. Get the gift notarized. In your letter of explanation, have a financial section to explain with detail every major deposit that is not usual income with proof.
Proof of work experience:
The CIC requires proof of your current and previous work experience. This is reflected by a reference letter and pay slips (where available) from your current and previous employers.
The reference letters should adhere to the following:
- Printed on the company letterhead.
- Company’s contact information (address, telephone number, and email address).
- The signature and/or business card of either your immediate supervisor or personnel officer.
- All positions held at the company and current Job title.
- Duties and responsibilities (must match those specified by the National Occupation Classification (NOC) (see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/noc.asp) on your application because a few applicants claim they were rejected because these did not match).
- Dates worked for the company.
- Number of hours worked per week. (To evaluate your hours against a 40hr work week).
- Annual salary and benefits. All the documents should be scanned into a single file (a separate file for each work experience if you have more than one)
Proof of Education:
Here we scanned each person’s degree certificates and WES evaluations into a single PDF file. A common mistake is uploading only WES evaluations, it seems the CIC actually want a copy of your degree certificates also.
Digital Photo:
The specifications for the digital photo are as specified here. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/pdf/5445EB-e.pdf
Passports/Travel Documents:
We scanned the data page and pages containing Visas and custom stamps that we had received in the past for both current and expired passports. I scanned all passport pages into a PDF file and uploaded (not sure you have to upload your expired passports, I did just in case).
Application:
Many of the fields in the application are carried over from the application to the EE pool, but there is still quite a lot of information to be filled in. Immediate Family Members, Address history, Personal History and Travel History to name a few. After all the forms have been filled in the above mentioned documents need to be uploaded.
Payment:
After the application is complete you can submit and arrive at the payment page. You have the option of paying the processing fee and the Right of permanent residency (RPRF) fee, or just paying the processing fee. If you pay just the processing fee you will be requested to pay the RPRF at a later stage when your application has progressed further. I paid both fees anyway in an effort to save time.
I used my US bank card to make this payment, you would have to figure how to pay from Nigeria with all the restrictions.
Processing fee – 550 CAD for each adult
RPRF – 490 CAD for each adult
RPRF – 150 CAD for each child
Application submitted – 07-Mar with a total of 2,380 CAD paid.
Submission and Waiting:
All you do from here is wait and check your MyCIC account for status changes. Join forums like canadavisa.com to link up with other applicants and see what the progress is like for those who submitted around the same time. The Immitracker website is also a good resource and there are WhatsApp groups for discussions. People also order GCMS notes after waiting a while.
Acknowledgment of receipt (AOR) -
The AOR is a letter that is sent to the MyCIC account. You'll get an email indicating that there is an unread message in your MyCIC account. You then have to log in and download the message as a PDF file.
I received my AOR one day after my application was submitted, 08-Mar. Some people receive this a few minutes after submission, others a couple days afterwards.
Medical Passed - 03-May
Background Check:
This changed from “Not Applicable (NA)” to “Next Step to conduct BG Check (NBG)” aka IP1- 03-May
“Next Step to conduct BG Check” to “Not Applicable (NA)” aka NA2– 06-May
“Not Applicable” to "We are processing your background check" aka IP2- 27-Sep
Passport Request (PPR) – Received as a notification for a new message in my MyCIC account on 28-Sep Note though, some people have received their PPR directly via email.
As far as I know, PPR indicates your application is pretty much approved and complete. All that remains is for CIC to stick in your single-entry Visa and issue a “Confirmation of Permanent Residence” (COPR).
Instructions were to send our passports to High Commission of Canada in Ghana along with a completed IMM0008 form, Updated Height and Eye Color Chart and recent passport photos (stamped by photo studio). Make sure you download the updated IMM0008 form from the CIC website, some people had theirs returned because they used old forms. The instructions recommend (not insist) submitting by courier with a pre-paid return envelope. However, DHL advised that we submit our passports one-way (No return envelope) and wait for notification from Ghana. My wife and I were emailed that our passports were ready for collection. We authorized DHL to pick them up as soon as we received the email.
Date passports sent – 29-Sep
Cost of Passports Courier to Ghana VFS – N 19,575
Date passport received by VFS – 02-Oct
Application approved status on MyCIC profile – 06-Oct (Passports stamped)
Email notification for passport collection received – 10-Oct
DHL authorized to pick up passports from Ghana VFS – 11-Oct, Cost of Courier - N 20,221
Received stamped passports and Confirmation of Permanent Residence (CPR) forms – 17-Oct
Timeline summary
ITA received – Feb 08; App submitted – Mar 07; AOR – Mar 08; Meds passed – May 03; BG check "IP2" – Sep 27;
PPR - Sep 28; Passports sent - Sep 29; App "Approved" – Oct 06; Passports returned – Oct-17 (223 days post AOR).
Total cost of Express Entry (so you get an idea what you are getting into financially)
IELTS test – N 120,000 (for 2 adults)
Degree Transcript request and courier - N 31,000.
WES ECA - 400 CAD, Delivery - 14 CAD (I chose standard delivery. Courier delivery is 85 CAD each) (for 2)
Police Report – N13, 000 and £160 (for 2 adults)
Medical – N128, 100 (for 4)
Application Processing fee – 1100 CAD (For 2 adults) and RPRF – 1280 CAD (for 4: 2*490 + 2*150)
Passport Photos – N 6,000
Passport submission to VFS – N 17,575
Courier of passport back from VFS –N 20,221
Total cost of application - N 1,216,568 (Approximating 1 CAD = N 288, 1GBP = N 475 bank rate).
On top of the total cost one obviously still needs the minimum required funds for the required 6 months duration available to you.
