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My Immigration Story

This is my own immi­gra­tion story, plus some resources for all your immi­gra­tion needs. Here is the summary:

Just a few basic rules to start. I’m always happy to answer ques­tions about life in Canada or immi­gra­tion to Canada. I’m not an immi­gra­tion expert, so don’t expect me to have an answer for every­thing! Please note that I only know the Cana­dian immi­gra­tion sys­tem, not the Amer­i­can one. Yes, believe it or not, Canada and the U.S.A. are two sep­a­rate countries.

I’m not an immi­gra­tion con­sul­tant and I will answer your ques­tion for free. The only thing I’m sell­ing on this blog is my pho­tog­ra­phy. I’m a human being, not a sophis­ti­cated com­puter pro­gram, there­for I appre­ci­ate when you acknowl­edge my reply. I tend to find it frus­trat­ing when peo­ple ask very detailed ques­tions, get their answer and never email again. To put it sim­ply, it doesn’t encour­age me to be helpful.

Note that I’m not per­fect: a few emails or com­ments occa­sion­ally slip through. Don’t hes­i­tate to con­tact me directly using this form. If I don’t reply within a few days, try again or leave a com­ment below. Emails occa­sion­ally end up in the spam folder (and I know you are not this obnox­ious spammer!).

This page is updated very often with new resources. Don’t hes­i­tate to sug­gest new top­ics or rel­e­vant resources.

Have fun brows­ing this blog!

Why I moved to Canada

I first came to Canada in Feb­ru­ary 2002 at the end of a long back­pack­ing trip from Mex­ico to Brazil (yes, by bus). I hadn’t planned it but I got a good deal on a one-way ticket from Rio de Janeiro to Toronto and I fol­lowed Feng, my Cana­dian travel-partner-turned-partner, to Canada.

I came back in 2003, before head­ing to Cen­tral Amer­ica. We came back early 2004, broke and tired. I stayed in Canada under a “tourist” sta­tus to see if I actu­ally wanted to move there.

In Sep­tem­ber 2004, I applied for a Work­ing Hol­i­day Visa dur­ing a short trip to France. I came back to Canada in Novem­ber 2004 and started work­ing right away, while com­plet­ing my uni­ver­sity degree in France (yes, it was chal­leng­ing). By mid-2005, I was ready to apply for per­ma­nent residence.

I decided to apply in the spon­sor­ship cat­e­gory. Feng is Cana­dian so it made sense.

My immi­gra­tion timeline

  • March to April 2005: Pre­pared the appli­ca­tion, gath­ered all the documents.
  • April 19, 2005: Took the com­pul­sory med­ical exam in Ottawa.
  • May 19, 2005: Sent the appli­ca­tion to Mis­sis­sauga, Ontario.
  • June 13, 2005: The appli­ca­tion was sent back because it wasn’t clear whether I was liv­ing in Canada or in France. Gee, it wasn’t even clear to me!
  • June 18, 2005: Amended my appli­ca­tion and sent it back.
  • July 7, 2005: Sent our mar­riage cer­tifi­cate that was orig­i­nally missing.
  • June 30, 2005: Received the first acknowl­edg­ment let­ter: Feng is eli­gi­ble to spon­sor me.
  • August 5, 2008: My appli­ca­tion is for­warded to the Cana­dian embassy in Paris.
  • Sep­tem­ber 27, 2005: The Cana­dian embassy in Paris acknowl­edges receipt of my application.
  • Octo­ber 20, 2005: “Deci­sion made”, my appli­ca­tion is approved and I’m granted per­ma­nent res­i­dent status.
  • Novem­ber 17, 2005: Five days before the expi­ra­tion of my one-year Work­ing Hol­i­day Visa, I became a landed immi­grant. I had to travel to Prescott, U.S.A. in order to become a landed immigrant.
  • August 5, 2008: I’m eli­gi­ble to apply for cit­i­zen­ship. I sent my appli­ca­tion.
  • Novem­ber 12, 2008: I receive the acknowl­edg­ment letter.
  • June 11, 2009: I took the cit­i­zen­ship test in Ottawa.
  • July 3, 2009: I took the oath of cit­i­zen­ship and became Cana­dian around 12:30 p.m.

Look­ing for immi­gra­tion info…?

If you are look­ing for info on how to immi­grate to Canada, be sure to check the series How To… Immi­grate To Canada. The Immi­gra­tion cat­e­gory also has a lot of first-hand infor­ma­tion on how to set­tle in Canada, how to deal with immi­gra­tion issues etc. To know more about Canada in gen­eral, you can read arti­cles in the Cana­dian Life category.

Look­ing for Cana­dian cit­i­zen­ship info?

For info on how to apply for Cana­dian cit­i­zen­ship, check out these arti­cles.

You can read about my expe­ri­ence fill­ing out the cit­i­zen­ship appli­ca­tion, about my cit­i­zen­ship exam in Ottawa and about the oath cer­e­mony.

Look­ing for a job in Canada?

I wrote a ten-post series, How to Look For a Job In Canada, which cov­ers the hir­ing process, work cul­ture tips and how to tackle poten­tial challenges.

For first-hand expe­ri­ence, check out the posts tagged Work­ing Girl.

Immi­gra­tion resources and use­ful web­sites about Canada

The fol­low­ing is a list of use­ful resources you may want to check out:

  • Set­tle­ment: this web­site aims at help­ing new­com­ers to set­tle in Ontario. It has very use­ful info on health, hous­ing, employ­ment etc. It also fea­tures a forum where you can ask questions.
  • Going to Canada: a Gov­ern­ment of Canada web­site with sev­eral use­ful sec­tions, such as “get to know Canada”, “live in Canada” etc.
  • Wel­come to Canada: this is a sec­tion of the CIC web­site that cov­ers all that new­com­ers to Canada need to know.
  • We Wel­come the World: a wel­come cen­ter for new­com­ers’ families.
  • Cana­dian cul­ture arti­cles: this Wikipedia page has a lot of arti­cles related to all aspects of Cana­dian culture.
  • Canada Kicks Ass: A Cana­dian por­tal of Cana­dian cul­ture, trivia and news.
  • Red­dit Canada: Cana­dian news.
  • Use­ful blogs that deal with Cana­dian immi­gra­tion top­ics: The Zieglers Blog (y en español aquí), and How To Live In Canada.

Good luck with your immi­gra­tion project!