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Ray of hope - FSW - 1

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Sharanm7

Star Member
Mar 23, 2019
199
89
ZAtoCD said:
Anyone know if the Canadian VFS offices in India are open? Someone posted an article that multiple had opened, but it didn't say which ones.
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Canada VFS is still not opened in India. No opening date is mentioned in the website too. But I heard VFS office of few other countries in India have opened.
 
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aj534160

Hero Member
Apr 13, 2019
492
487
Anigow1234 said:
It has already resumed I think... someone I know took..please check
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Paper-based tests have not resumed anywhere. Few centers run the computer-based assessments and that too only IDP. Running the Pencil/Paper assessment now is really suicidal. That is the same reason govt has strictly ordered Schools, Colleges, Univs to be closed.
 
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Rebeca.hochman

Full Member
Jul 25, 2019
30
6
ns317 said:
Here you go. I've tried to make a timeline of the whole thing:

October 2019 - I entered the pool finally after getting my WES ECA, which had taken ages, at a CRS of 463. (I have a masters', max IELTs, my wife has two degrees, max IELTS, but unfortunately we are both in our mid-thirties). When we started planning this immigration (March 2019), 463 looked like a shoo-in for an ITA.

November 2019 - The CRS had shot up and my birthday has arrived. My CRS drops to 458. I decide to start learning French.

Nov-Dec - My wife helped me learn the basics, she had already studied French in school (couple of decades ago!) and knew enough to help me progress to A2-B1 quickly.

Dec-Jan-Feb - I spent a lot of time listening to the Coffee Break with French podcast (every day during office drive and in the gym), learned grammar textbooks from scratch (Basic, Intermediate, a bit of Advanced), started writing essays for the writing section, started speaking in French to my wife for ~15-20 minutes a day, watched French news daily (TV5 Monde or France 24), did many TV5 apprendre exercises online (free).

Feb 28 - Wrote TEF the first time and got B2 in all 4 skills. But only 8 points added to the CRS. I moved from 458 to 466.

Mar - FSW draws stopped.

Mar-Apr-May - Focused more on the speaking and writing parts. Increased french speaking a little more, while continuing to listen to news, more documentaries, Wrote A LOT of essays and fait divers. Started reading french books. Finished 2 books by Fred Vargas (This is one of the most pleasurable side-effects of learning French for me.. discovered an excellent crime novelist).

June 8 - Wrote TEF the second time as soon as exams restarted in South Africa after the lockdown. Got C2 in Reading, C1 in Writing, C1 in Listening and B2 in Speaking. 8 more CRS points. I've moved from 466 to 474.

So roughly 7 months in total to get the 16 points.

Now for all I know, FSW draws might get delayed a lot more and I might have to aim for the bonus 30 points also. So I'm not gonna stop learning French. Leaving the immigration part aside, it has been a really joyous experience and it's always great to have a new language to communicate with.

The main thing I'd advise for a beginner is to get the grammar in order first. So you must study the grammar textbooks. Once you get the hang of it, it's a really solid foundation to build on. Then the sources I mentioned in my timeline would all be really useful. They are all free. There are many more paid ones available online which could help you as well. Getting a partner who wants to learn French or who already knows some French could be really useful as well. Learning a language is far easier as a team task than as a solitary task.

Lastly, what's as critical as anything else is to have an inclination/passion to learn a new language. If you don't like learning new languages, it's going to be much more difficult. I suggest considering a Canadian degree as an alternate to French if that's the case.
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Wow, congratulations! That is really inspiring.
I have recently started to study French and hopefully I will get some extra points as well :)
 
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Majid Nawaz

Hero Member
Feb 9, 2016
354
49
Hello everyone, as I discussed earlier that I will loose 15 points of my husband's Canadian brother if he left before my application submission. So in order to gain the CRS points I am thinking very seriously to apply alone (independently) to obtain Canadian PR and come back to Pakistan and after that I will apply for my husband's PR. Will it be a wise decision to apply alone? I mean what are the odds I will face in future. Also for how long my PR will be valid? With husband score is 455, without husband 465.

Asking for a friend.
 
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AverageIndianGuy

Star Member
Apr 10, 2020
197
239
Just out of curiosity,
Which one should we take for french scores?
TCF or TEF?
and whats the difference?

Asking For someone completely new to french...
 
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