Canada Here We Come!

Integration accomplished

2007-01-02T22:03:00.000+01:00

So it's been already seven months now since our arrival. Overall our immigration seems a complete success so far. My wife and me we both have stable and well-enough paying jobs and in July we will be moving into a condo that we just bought.
We have so many things to do and discover here that I don't have time to update this blog here anymore.
For any questions just leave me a comment.

Fall leaves

2006-10-14T00:59:00.000+02:00

Fall leaves
Originally uploaded by oHoTos.

Fall has arrived and the colors are just beautiful even here in Montreal!

Sorry, busy...

2006-08-08T00:46:00.000+02:00

...found a job, no time for blogging these days!

Our cards arrived

2006-07-20T13:22:00.000+02:00

We were told that it would take 4-6 weeks to receive our permanent resident cards, but yestarday, after only three weeks we already received them. These days we are busy going to an information meeting about Quebec's economy and jobmarket, so I have to catch up with some stuff that I wanted to blog about later.

Our first two weeks in Montreal

2006-07-14T13:14:00.000+02:00

So now it has been over two weeks already that we landed as immigrants, I finally got hooked up for Internet by cable so I can resume writing this blog.

Immigration at the airport was a very smooth procedure, verification of passports, visa and permanent resident confirmation by the first agent, then another agent verified again and filled out all the paperwork, then we went to Quebec immigration where we were enrolled for an information session for new immigrants and given a few explanations and helpful stuff like bus and metro maps. After realising that two of our checked bags hadn't arrived in Montreal we finally went through customs and then took our first steps out of the airport to breathe our first Canadian air before taking a taxi to our new home in Montreal.

Having never been to Canada before landing here, our first impression of Montreal is "this is just like the US but in french". Generally we like everything we've seen so far and we have a lot more to discover. What have we been up to? Paperwork mostly, the first days we went to get our social security number here and then made our application for our health insurance cards here.

Enough for today...

Canada Here We Are!

2006-07-03T14:15:00.000+02:00

Already five days! Still busy with administrative stuff but we're happy. More details will follow as soon as I have Internet at home.

Appartment found

2006-06-22T21:05:00.000+02:00

About two days ago we finally found a nice new home for us in Montreal. With the help of Marie from IDEAL Canada we found a very nice 3 1/2 in Côte-des-Neiges.
Six more days and we'll be on the other side of the big pond!

Reduction of Right of Permanent Residence Fee

2006-05-03T17:56:00.000+02:00

Some rather good news today, after the Right of Permanent Residence Fee change we are entitled to a 50% refund which is quite a considerable amount. More about this here: CIC Canada Reduction of Right of Permanent Residence Fee

Just a short post...

2006-04-21T11:08:00.000+02:00

...to keep this blog going. No real news these days. Our bank account at the RBC was created and our place is a complete mess while we try to get us motivated to sort through our stuff and get it packed. Time is flying and we also have to find a place to stay in Montreal.

How to open a bank account from outside of Canada

2006-03-24T15:41:00.000+01:00

During the last days I have been gathering information on how to open a bank account when you're not yet in Canada. After checking the conditions of several banks the National Bank of Canada and RBC Royal Bank made it to my shortlist so I contacted them via their e-mail forms on their websites:
NBC Contact & RBC Royal Bank - Contact Us
RBC Royal Bank promptly sent me an answer and asked me to send them my destination, arrival date, name, address and telephone number so that they could forward this to one of their branches who would contact me with the documentation to fill out. Five days later I received a mail with instructions, an account application and a signature card attached in PDF format. I had a few questions about the things to fill out on the application and they promptly replied with their answers.
So today I went to the Canadian Consulate here in Barcelona to get certified photocopies of my passport, drivers license and I got a stamp and signature to validate my signature on the RBC signature card. For this I had to pay a small service fee of 14 Euros... nothing for free but at least the assistant to the Consul that I dealt with was very nice and even asked me some questions about the visa procedure for Canada.
Now I still have to get a recommendation letter from my bank here and then I will send everything to the Royal Bank and they will open a deposit account for me upon five days. To withdraw money from that account I will have to be in Canada and I will be able to change to the type of account that best fits me once I am over there.

Busy times ahead

2006-03-23T09:15:00.000+01:00

Only 97 days until we leave! I haven't updated this blog lately, but this is what I've been up to:

looking for an appartment
trying to open a bank account
organising the transport of our stuff
starting to look for a job

Some things seem to be quite easy even if you're not in the country yet. What particularily strikes me is that almost all the people I have been in contact with are very helpful. As soon as I have more details on what I have accomplished so far I will post them here.

Le Québec en photos

2006-03-07T14:11:00.000+01:00

A very nice blog, check out these photos of our future home:
Urbanisme II - Le Québec en photos

Yes, I know that Canada is a bit colder

2006-03-07T12:49:00.000+01:00

What happens when someone throws boiling water into the air at temperatures like this -40C in Satkatchewan Canada? Watch for yourself:

They are beautiful

2006-03-01T09:09:00.000+01:00

Well, maybe that's exaggerated, but it is certainly a nice feeling to finally see the visa in the passport. I was a bit surprised that there is no photo on the visa itself, they even sent back the additional photos that they asked us to supply.

One year, day for day!

2006-02-28T09:53:00.000+01:00

Yesterday evening we received the notification that a letter from the Canadian embassy is awaiting us for pick-up at the post office today February 28th. Very nice coincidence considering that we started this whole adventure exactly a year ago when we sent our application for a Quebec selection certificate on February 28th, 2005! I can't wait to see our visas apposed on our passports this evening.

We've got a date

2006-02-14T16:36:00.000+01:00

Reservations are made. We leave from Barcelona on June 28th on an Air Canada flight to Montreal via Paris.

Our Passports went on a trip

2006-02-14T13:40:00.000+01:00

A quick photosession, ran to DHL, measured the ID pics - too small! Back to the photographer, got yelled at because what we needed was not standard, new pics (for free and correct size this time), ran back to DHL, stuffed passports, declaration and ID pics in the envelope, wallet 30 Euros lighter... and they're sent.

That was our evening yesterday. Now we just have to wait until they send us back some nice visas!

"Nous sommes prêts à emêttre vos visas..."

2006-02-13T16:29:00.000+01:00

This noon we finally got the big surprise in the mailbox, that famous brown envelope from the Paris embassy. Our application was accepted and our visas are ready to be issued. 350 days exactly after we started this adventure by sending out our application for a Quebec selection certificate. Now we have to get some more photos done, send them with our passports to Paris and wait for them to be returned with our visas! It's a good feeling, knowing that everything is OK and that we can now start to really prepare our move.

YES, YES, YES!!!

2006-02-06T11:08:00.000+01:00

Finally, after checking our application status for the second time this morning:

Now I am starting to bug them a bit

2006-02-01T15:39:00.000+01:00

It's quite hard waiting, waiting, waiting... It's been over three months now that we have done the medicals and a decision should be just around the corner. But I don't like sitting around and doing nothing so I sent a fax to the Paris embassy yesterday to request an update about the status of our visa application. Let's see if they answer anytime soon.

No news is good news?

2006-01-09T15:12:00.000+01:00

... I would have preferred to get some news from the embassy today - nothing! Empty mailbox, no e-mail, no fax, no phonecall... the wait goes on.

The big silence

2005-12-28T11:06:00.000+01:00

Ever since we did our medicals back in October it has been the big silence from the Paris embassy. Even though I saw on the Forum Immigrer that some people who have passed the medicals on the same day or right after us already received their notification letter I guess we will have to be patient a bit longer. The application status on the CIC Site still shows "in process" - my hope is that it will change to "decision taken" on January 9th!

RPRF paid

2005-10-26T16:06:00.000+02:00

This morning I went to my bank to make a wire transfer to the embassy to pay the right of permanent resident fee (RPRF) which must be paid before the immigrant visa is issued or before the applicant becomes a permanent resident in Canada. For my wife and me we had to pay 1380 Euros, it's CAD $975 per person as you can see on the CIC Canada Fee Schedule Page. The corresponding amounts in Euro for those who apply like us through the Paris embassy can be found at the embassy's immigration fees page.

The immigration service asked me to submit some additional information as well and now that I have posted everything the waiting can go on.

Some vocabulary and expressions from Quebec

2005-10-24T15:34:00.000+02:00

Just found this French blog, I'll have to take a closer look when I have some more time: L'immigration au Quebec d'une tite francaise!

Another step done: medicals passed

2005-10-21T08:48:00.000+02:00

So last week Friday my wife passed the medical examination and I did mine before yesterday. Everything more or less alright except my wife had a urinary infection that she wasn't aware about so we'll probably receive a request for additional exams for her from the embassy. The actual examination consisted of a long questionnaire and then the doctor looked at things like eye-sight, anatomy, hearing, heart condition and all the usual stuff that is being done during a medical check-up. It took about one and a half hours for each of us plus we had to do the blood analysis and chest x-ray in two different labs. We're happy that this is done now and go into another waiting period...

This goes soooo fast!

2005-10-03T14:14:00.000+02:00

Today we already received the instructions for the medical examination, about two months earlier than we anticipated. Probably we'll have our permanent resident visas by December.

Small centres will benefit from immigrant influx

2005-09-29T15:01:00.000+02:00

Another interesting article at TheStar.com:

Existing studies show immigrants who settle in smaller places experience labour market advantages over those in the larger gateway cities.

In British Columbia, for example, recent immigrant men who settled outside the large cities earned several thousand dollars more annually than their urban counterparts in
Vancouver or Victoria. In addition, the labour force participation rates of newcomers in non-metropolitan areas are similar to those of locals and higher than those of immigrants in Vancouver or Victoria.

A final interesting component of Volpe's proposal is that he wants to "put in place a process that allows for the integration process to begin at the moment an application is deemed to be ready."

This component of Volpe's plan should include foreign credential recognition, job search and settlement assistance. When immigrants can apply their skills and receive decent wages on the day they arrive in Canada, they will not have to rely on the low-wage labour market of large cities as a survival strategy.

Instead, they will have greater flexibility of settling in a wider range of communities.

- the writer concludes: "Let's make sure that plan stays on track."

Immigration overhaul

2005-09-26T15:24:00.000+02:00

Ottawa announces overhaul of the current immigration system.

Canada's current immigration levels would rise 40 per cent within five years under a plan that will soon be presented to the federal cabinet, The Canadian Press has learned.

Prime Minister Paul Martin described immigration in a speech this week as key to Canada's economic success in an era defined by low birth rates, an aging population and an ever-deepening shortage of skilled workers.

Read the full National Post article here.

More details can be found in this Globe & Mail article:

(Immigration Minister Joe Volpe) said his department has focused on five themes: Increasing the overall numbers. Providing better service both in bringing in immigrants and issuing visas. Matching immigrants with jobs needed to fill gaps in local markets. That also means allowing potential immigrants to get matching credentials in Canada before they apply, or before they are accepted. Regionalizing so that areas outside major centres can recruit people they need. Mr. Volpe said that many communities envy the numbers that head to Toronto, because they see it as a “wealth-creation dynamic.” Keeping people who are already in Canada, for example by making it easier for people with student visas to stay after they graduate.

Federal AR

2005-09-26T14:41:00.000+02:00

Today we had a nice surprise in our mailbox: the letter from the embassy acknowledging receipt of our application has arrived. It seems that everything is OK and a file was opened. Within the next three months we should receive instructions for the medical visit.

New MICC guide "Apprendre le Quebec"

2005-09-16T16:23:00.000+02:00

It seems that this new guide helping to prepare for a new life in Quebec is only available in French. Just a bookmark to this PDF so I don't forget reading it.

Canada ranks second behind Australia as world's favorite nation brand

2005-09-13T15:38:00.000+02:00

This Anholt-GMI Nation Brands Index ranks power and appeal of 25 Nations:

The second quarterly NBI report analyzes the brand values of more countries (25 compared to 11) than the first report published in May 2005. Australia, a new entry in the NBI, has replaced Sweden as the world’s strongest nation brand.
Canada is ranked number two, Switzerland three and the UK is fourth, with Sweden fifth. Overall, the U.S. is now eleventh, rather than fourth; Russia and Turkey remain at the bottom of the overall ranking at 24th and 25th, respectively.

Canada not all about Mounties, mountains and moose?

2005-09-06T15:02:00.000+02:00

To some this might be surprising, but Canada has more to offer than Mounties, mountains and moose.

Ontario immigration funding

2005-09-06T14:33:00.000+02:00

The Star has an article about Ontario's struggle to obtain federal funding to help immigrants find employment, get language training, move into an apartment or upgrade their qualifications. Read full article here

Quebec's housing affordability improves

2005-09-06T11:36:00.000+02:00

RBC's analysis suggests that housing affordability in Quebec is improving:

"Quebec's homeownership costs improved as a combination of weaker housing demand and rising supply put the brakes on house price growth," said Allan Seychuk, RBC economist. "Across our four housing types, prices rose one perc cent or less from the first to second quarter, dragging the annual rate of growth down to the single digits from the double-digit range that prevailed at the end of 2004."

The full RBC Housing Affordability Index report is available online as a PDF file.

Euro to Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate

2005-08-22T21:08:00.000+02:00

I hope that the exchange rate EUR-CAD will go back to the level of the beginning of the year until we have to exchange our savings next year!

We were getting desperate...

2005-08-21T20:20:00.000+02:00

During the last days we were preparing ourselves for the worst. As the postal acknowledgement of receipt for our federal application hadn't arrived after over a month we already filed a complaint at our local post office and decided to gather all the documents again to resend the application. That would have meant to get new police certificates and to pay again for their translation... yes we were quite demoralized. But then, this morning someone rang on the door. It was an elderly man living down next street, he handed me the acknowledgement of receipt and said that this might be important for me. I was so happy! Actually the postman delivered the mail to the wrong street. So now we're really relieved that our application is on track.
Since a week or so we have Internet access at home, so I am planning to update this blog a bit more regularly.

By the way...

2005-07-12T11:30:00.000+02:00

Back in march I posted about the freezing winter temperatures in Quebec. I have been following the weather reports closely and was very surprised to see that cities like Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto had even hotter weather than the already hot Barcelona during the last 30 days.

Federal application ready to be sent out

2005-07-12T11:15:00.000+02:00

Today my wife will go and post our federal application. Yesterday I went through all the paperwork for the gazillionth time making sure that there is not one single tiny mistake... everything OK. That until my dear wife found that I mixed up two birthdates on one form. I rapidly corrected the mistake and now hopefully everything should be complete and to the entire satisfaction of the visa officers at the Canadian embassy in Paris who will have the hard task (or should I say honor?) to evaluate the application.

We were not really in a hurry to post the application since we received the selection certificate from Quebec immigration, we are timing it a bit because we only plan to leave after next year's summer. But now that it's done we'll be happy/anxious to wait for the first signs of life from the embassy's immigration service!

How to start building a credit history before arriving in Canada

2005-06-07T15:53:00.000+02:00

Today I applied for an American Express card here in Spain after learning that this could be the easiest way to start building a credit history that you can transfer to another country. Big credit card companies such as Visa and Mastercard don't seem to offer anything similar to the Global Card Transfer by American Express. Theoretically this should be quite a nice possibility to build a credit history that we can take over to Canada once we move.

Ottawa Citizen - Gatineau housing prices on the rise

2005-05-19T10:55:00.000+02:00

I am keeping a closer look on what happens in Gatineau as this city is one of those we are considering to settle in. The Ottawa Citizen had this article today commenting the real estate situation in the Ottawa and Gatineau region. Housing prices are rising but still very affordable compared with what we have here in most parts of Europe.

Finally got it!

2005-04-26T12:12:00.000+02:00

Yesterday evening, coming back from work I see a big white envelope sticking out of our mailbox. My heart beating faster I rush inside and rip open the envelope… scanning the first lines of the cover letter I quickly understand: we just received our Quebec selection certificate!

Wow! Even though it has only been 56 days since we sent in our application we were kind of impatient to get some news. This is probably the best news we could expect… and we don’t even have to go through a selection interview!

However, I quickly discovered that my name was misspelled on the certificate so I called the Quebec Immigration Office in Paris this morning and they instructed me to send back the certificate along with another photocopy of my passport and that they would correct it.

While waiting for this correction we’ll probably get our federal application ready.

Patience!

2005-04-18T10:25:00.000+02:00

This morning I called the BIQ Paris because it has been 50 days since we sent in our selection certificate application and were starting to get worried because we still haven't received the acknowledgement of receipt. The lady I spoke to was very kind and confirmed that they have received our application and were currently reviewing it. She said that the processing times are up to four month for Quebec selection certificates and that we should not worry and will hear from them in time.

CBC News Indepth: Immigration

2005-03-24T08:37:00.000+01:00

Some interesting statistics in this article: CBC News Indepth: Immigration

Differences in climate

2005-03-18T16:57:00.000+01:00

It will probably be quite hard for us to adapt to the climate in Canada. Today for example we have almost 20°C here in Barcelona and it's something like -10°C in most parts of Quebec. Brrrrrrrrrrr... and that's not even cold for them!

Our DSC has arrived in Paris

2005-03-08T16:53:00.000+01:00

Today we received the postal acknowledgement of receipt with a stamp from the BIQ Paris showing that our package arrived on the 2nd of march. Now we're still waiting for the official AOR from the BIQ...

First waiting period begins

2005-02-28T14:31:00.000+01:00

My wife just went to the post office and sent out our application for a Quebec selection certificate. The normal processing time for a CSQ is three and a half months but from what I have read in some forums it is sometimes only a month. First I was worried that the whole process would take much longer than I planned and now I start to worry that it will be too fast...

Once we get our permanent resident visas we plan to land in Montréal but lately I have started to look for information about the Gatineau-Hull region which seems to be quite nice.

The trouble with the photocopies

2005-02-23T09:06:00.000+01:00

In order to apply for a Quebec selection certificate you have to provide certified photocopies of all the documents. Here in Spain it seemed impossible for us to get them, unless we were ready to spend something between 5 and 14 Euros per page to get them certified at the German or French consulate or at a notary. So finally we decided to drive up to France where, in my parent's hometown's town hall they certified us our stack of about 50 pages within a matter of minutes, for free! Before yesterday I went to my bank office to request a bank cheque in Canadian Dollars to pay the application fees. First they said "no, sorry, we can only make out cheques in USD", but after a short discussion and showing a printout from their website they said I can request the cheque over my online account, which I did that afternoon. I will check at the office today, normally it should be ready to be picked up. Now I still have to translate my resume in french and then I'll make a nice package to post to Paris in the next days.

This looks better!

2005-02-15T14:43:00.000+01:00

After about a week of careful reflection my wife and me decided to try our luck in Quebec, not in Ontario like we planned before. The processing times are closer to what we have planned and anyways, Quebec is maybe colder but I love snow and Montreal is a very nice city as well. I think we'll try to establish ourselves in the Montreal area and if we don't like it we can always think of moving elsewhere later.

CIC Canada | Application Processing Times: Applications Processed Outside of Canada

2005-02-10T11:46:00.000+01:00

On the 7th of february the processing times were updated again on the CIC site. It seems that they are getting longer and longer... In our case we should now expect between 27 and 40 months for an application in Paris. CIC Canada Application Processing Times: Applications Processed Outside of Canada

Got my translations!

2005-02-09T17:11:00.000+01:00

Today I received the translations that I was waiting for. Two work contracts, two police certificates, two residency number certificates and a bank statement, all in all about eight pages that were translated from spanish to english. I paid 190 Euros for 1650 words which is a pretty good price (0.12 Eur/word).
Hopefully by next week my manager will have some time to do the reference letter I still need and then I will be able to send out everything before the end of the month.

Interesting Article

2005-02-08T15:02:00.000+01:00

I had read this article some weeks ago and just found it again. Very interesting! TheStar.com - Why Immigrants fare better outside GTA

UPDATE: The original article doesn't seem to be online anymore but I found it as well at: http://www.promptinfo.ca/MediaCSS/Jan9,05StarImmgFareBetter.html

Worries about processing times

2005-02-08T10:18:00.000+01:00

Our project is to leave good old Europe somewhen between spring and summer 2006, but lately I am beginning to worry that this might be impossible. I have heard all kinds of different experiences now, people who get their visa in a year and those who wait for two years already. The processing times indicated on the website of the Canadian Embassy in Paris are between 24 and 36 months for federal skilled workers. The service standards on their application kit indicate a span going from 7 to 22 months. It seems that it really depends on every single case. Well, I am trying to get some other opinions now.

Waiting for translations

2005-02-01T16:46:00.000+01:00

I just sent out some documents that need to be translated from spanish to english: my work contracts, spanish residence number, our spanish police certificates and an extract of our bank accounts. For these certified translations I found Ibidem Group here in Barcelona, they offer their translation service at a very fair price compared to other companies that sent me quotes.
The translations will be ready next week and I am only missing a reference letter from my current employer to complete our application.
Once I have sorted through all the documents I will give you an overview of what I needed for our application.

Who are we? - Part I

2005-01-21T16:54:00.000+01:00

Let's say we are real Europeans. Born in Germany in 1977, I grew up there until my whole family moved to the south of France in 1992. After getting married to my wife Fadéla (24), who is french and of Algerian descent, we decided to move to Barcelona in Spain about 2 years ago.
...to be continued...

Preparing the big adventure...

2005-01-21T11:40:00.000+01:00

As me and my wife get closer to completing the paperwork needed to submit our application for an immigration visa to Canada I would like to share the experience we will go through from now on.
Why did we chose Canada? Where do we come from? What requirements did we have to fulfill? What are we looking for?
...to be continued...