Journey to the Canadian PR
Our Canadian PR journey started back in April 2019. It was indeed a tensed process because of the waiting, but in the end it was worth the wait. This is mainly because I and my spouse went through the whole process on our own. We had to refer to a lot of websites since it was a bit hard to get all the information from a single source.
To be precise, we started our journey on the 27th of April, 2019 just after the Easter bombing incident in Sri Lanka. We started off with creating a WES Account since this alone will take nearly about 3–4 months.
After creating the WES Account we sent all the documents needed to WES through the universities. It took around one month for the certificates to reach WES, and around 2–3 additional months in order for them to finish evaluating the results to check the Canadian Equivalency.
Meanwhile, we thought of working on IELTS since we needed both WES and IELTS results to proceed further. Though we registered for the exam in advance we took it lightly and stayed until the last moment to go through the exam references. Actually we had about 1 week to get prepared for IELTS. During that week, we worked really hard and did 30 odd papers. While doing these papers, we got the flow of it. The IELTS exam will be easier, the more you practice. I would be writing another article on how to score well in IELTS.
After we completed IELTS and received the WES results on the 22nd of July, we created the profile with IRCC to enter the express entry pool. Luckily there was a draw which we knew about in advance, on the 24th of July 2019, and we were hoping to enter the pool for this draw. We got selected from the pool from the express entry draw which took place on the 24th July 2019. Back then the CRS cutoff score was 459 which was pretty low in comparison to the recent CRS scores.
We have created an Infographic to give a better idea about the timeline for the process from getting the ITA up until we received the COPR.
Since not every case receives an Additional Document Request (ADR), we were a bit stumped when we were requested to submit them. For each me and my spouse, the documents requested were;
- Additional Family Information form (IMM 5406 )
- Copy of the birth certificate with official English translation
- Provided copies of both the original and the translation, making sure the translation was carried out by a certified translator.
3. Copy of the National Identity Card.
- As our NIC is in Sinhalese (non-English), we also provided a certified translation in English just in case.
4. Proof of relationship to relatives in Canada.
- This did not apply in our case.
While the application was being processed, and especially after we received the Ghost Update, we tried to reach out to IRCC or Canadian Embassy to check on the status. We got through to IRCC over the phone, but they did not have any details since the application was being processed in Sri Lanka, and the Sri Lankan office was not reachable.
Nevertheless, we received the PPR in 5 months, within the timeframe IRCC promises to process most applications. With the current situation, the processing might drag on a little bit, but it looks as if IRCC is still processing the applications, which is good news. So if you have applied for the PR and is in the waiting phase, hope this gives you an idea of how it goes to calm your nerves.
To get more information about the step by step process we followed to apply to Canada please check on the following…
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