Undergoing the Medicals

You’ve been waiting for this ever since you received your Positive Eligibility Review. This shows you somewhat passed the “Background Checks”. You were checking your e-cas everyday for any changes and additional lines. Most of the applicants that I noticed from our forum happened to received the “Medical Request” after noticing the additional line “We started processing your application on “Date”, though I think I can only attest to Canadian Embassy Manila applicants. It was sent to my mailing address 3 days after the additional line and due to the “snail mail” strategy of Philpost, it arrived after 13 days, a friend of mine got unlucky and never received her letter.

Immigrating to Canada: Step 2 (CIO Document Checklist)

So I decided not to get an immigration consultant because of the hefty fine and fear of getting the fraud ones..but most especially for the attitude of wanting to know everything and taking control of everything..blame it to my nursing career which taught me to be OC (obsessive – compulsive).
Back to immigration steps. Since I finished reading the whole skilled worker guidelines and downloading the forms. I started reading the checklist for documents needed by the Centralized Intake Office (CIO) and Visa Office (Manila, Philippines), take note that every Visa Office has different requirements.

Document Checklist for CIO: Federal Skilled Worker Class
1. Application for Permanent Residence in Canada (IMM 0008-Generic): this form is downloaded from the Canada Immigration website and must be filled up by the PRINCIPAL APPLICANT ONLY.

2. Schedule 1 – Background Declaration (IMM 0008 – Schedule 1): this form is downloaded from the Canada Immigration website and must be filled up, dated and signed by the PRINCIPAL APPLICANT, SPOUSE OR COMMON LAW PARTNER AND EACH DEPENDENT CHILD OVER 18 YEARS OF AGE.

3. Schedule 3 – Economic Classes – FSW (IMM 0008 – Schedule 3): this form is downloaded from the Canada Immigration website and must be filled up by the PRINCIPAL APPLICANT ONLY.

4. Additional Family Information (IMM 5406): this form can be downloaded from the Canada Immigration website and must be filled up, dated and signed by the PRINCIPAL APPLICANT, SPOUSE OR COMMON LAW PARTNER AND EACH DEPENDENT CHILD OVER 18 YEARS OF AGE. A lot of people were having problems filling up this form because of the way the form was done. The applicant’s name will be changed as well as the spouse/common law partner’s name in their respective boxes and the respective parents’ names will be changed in relation to who is filling up the forms. Section B: Children and Section C: Brothers and Sisters column will also change depending on who is filling up the forms.
5: Use of Representative (IMM 5476): this form is downloaded from the Canada Immigration website, THIS FORM IS ONLY FOR THOSE USING A CONSULTANT TO REPRESENT THEIR APPLICATION and since I’m not using a immigration consultant, I have no idea how to fill this one up.
6: Fee Payment Form (IMM 5620): this form is downloaded from the Canada Immigration website. Follow the instructions written on the form, Credit cards, certified cheque, bank draft or money order can be the forms of payment, though I recommend using credit card and bankdraft than the rest. However in my case I used a bank draft using my dollar account in which the payment is in CANADIAN DOLLARS. Other forms of currency can also be made unfortunately this is risky since currency conversion is not that stable nowadays and incorrect payment can be a reason for the return of the application. Remember that in using a credit card for payment, the card must be valid for 9 months upon submission and for bankdraft, expiry date must be at least 5 months upon submission.
7. Photocopy of Passport’s Bio – data page: this is for the PRINCIPAL APPLICANT AND ACCOMPANYING FAMILY MEMBERS, just copy the area stating passport no., date of issue and expiry, photo, nae and date and place of birth.  If you live in a country different from your nationality, example are for overseas workers, include a photocopy of the visa for the country where you currently live. There’s a big question regarding whether to have the photocopies notarized or not, however for assurance that this will not be a reason for delay or return of the application, I had our passports notarized anyway. Others had tried just sending copies and passed. I just don’t mind spending a few hundreds just for peace of mind.
8. Self Addressed Mailing Labels, one in English or French and second in the official language of your country: this is the requirement that made me think and search for months because I was not sure what this pertains to. I knew its stupid, believe me I felt like a moron but the OC in me made look for the right answer. So the answer was simple and already in my face, its literally just labels on where CIO will send the results of the application. It can be printed on a paper, doesn’t matter what the size is, as long as it’s readable by everyone. Mine was printed on a sticker paper for convenience of the receiver.
9. Language Proficiency Exam – this pertains to a third party assessor, the following are the designated testing agencies: IELTS (GENERAL TRAINING ONLY), I found a lot of people asking if they could use their academic test results since it is used for professional accreditation and having another test is an additional expense plus the review. But I only recommend sending the GENERAL TRAINING RESULT, not to give the officer any reason to refuse the application. CELPIP (General Test) can be sent but it’s only applicable for people residing in Canada, since you can only take it there. It is a MUST to include the RESULT in the application. Results are said to be valid for 2 years at the time of submitting the application.
10. Additional Documents (FSW Category 2): this only pertains to people with arranged employment at Canada. For those currently working under the work permit: photocopy of the work permit is needed and for those who have a permanent job offer confirmed by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC): photocopy of HRSDC/Service Canada confirmation letter (Arranged Employment Opinion) which was sent to the employer is needed.
11. Fee Payment: this pertains to the mode of payment made whether credit card, bankdraft, etc. It is highly recommended to pay in CANADIAN DOLLARS to ensure correct payment.
12. Other Documents (To be submitted to the CIO by all Applicants): this is the Visa Office requested documents (VISA OFFICE DOCUMENT CHECKLIST). Include it in your package and the CIO will be the one to send it to the respective visa offices once Positive Eligibility Review (PER) is made.
Note Visa Office Document Checklist can be obtained on CIC website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/application/skilled-mission.asp.
13. Mailing the Application: there are options to mail the application. It can be thru REGULAR MAIL (snail mail, approximately a month to reach its destination) or COURIER (Express Mail Service, DHL, LBC, Fedex, UPS, etc, takes a week or less and has a online tracking system). Remember to use the appropriate address for each means of mailing the application. As a clarification Category 1 is for applicants without arranged employment and Category 2 for applicants on work permit or arranged employment.

Done with the CIO Checklist..whew!!!!

Immigrating to Canada

For nurses who plan to immigrate to Canada. These are the steps and time frame, I personally experienced in processing my documents.

Notes:

Jobs: Unfortunately there are no jobs offered for foreign nurses going to Canada here in the Philippines, and no agency will be able to provide us jobs as registered nurses. So in case my application will be approved, I have to start from scratch to Canada. (Lucky me!!)

Immigration Consultant: I personally didn’t want to invest on someone to process my application since all the documents will be processed by the applicant. You need to pay 50,000 – 100,000 ++ as consultation fee and all they can do was to update regarding the status and there’s a lot of ways to do that using the internet.

Step 1: Browsing the Canadian Embassy Website: http://www.cic.gc.ca

This is the website for all Canadian immigration information and forms.  It took me 1 week to read, research and analyse all the details since I don’t want any delays on my application due to missing documents. I was told that it would take 2-3 months to know if your application will be processed and they are strict on the requirements, mistakes on filling-up forms and incomplete documents can send your applications back to you.

For nurses, who has relatives in Canada, you can ask them to nominate you for the Provincial Nominee Program in their respective provinces, however, each provinces has its own requirements and its best to do some research to assess your self if you’re applicable for this program.

For nurses who want to migrate independently, you’re under the Federal Skilled Worker Program.

Note: Take the self assessment test to check if your eligible to pass since they require a minimum of 67 points for your application to be processed (however this doesn’t assure you that your application will be approved, it is still within the decision of the immigration personnel)

Here is the link for the forms:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/skilled.asp

Download the Instruction Guide (IMM EG7000) as an instruction for filling up the forms

Download the following forms:

1. Application for Permanent Residence in Canada (IMM 008)
2. Schedule 1: Background/Declaration(IMM 008 Schedule 1)
3. Schedule 3: Economic Classes (IMM 008 Schedule 3)
4. Additional Family Information (IMM 5406)
5. Fee Payment Form (IMM 5620)
6. Document Checklist (IMM 5612)
7. Visa Office Specific Forms (These are the other requirements required by the Canadian office in your respective countries)Link for Visa Office Specific Forms:http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/skilled-mission.asp

   All forms are in PDF file so you need an Adobe Acrobat for this.

View of Nursing in the Philippines…

Looking into the current nursing situation in the Philippines, makes a person think twice before getting into this field. I have known a lot of nursing graduates who weren’t able to find jobs related to their course. Some were able to work yet weren’t paid properly, others do volunteer work just to be able to write an experience in their resumes. Nursing is a very expensive course, not just during the school years but even after graduation. Investing on trainings and seminars is a must so that a nurse has an edge among other graduates. Yet after all the hard work and money invested for this, it still doesn’t secure a person the most coveted job in our country, who by the way pay so little for a work so multi tasked.

Our government knows the situation, they say they were doing something about it. And this was one of the reasons why I personally wanted to get out of this country.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Philippines, I still wanted to live here but there’s no security and this privilege comes with a high price. I don’t care if I need to pay a lot of taxes, as long as I get what I was charged for and not those corrupt officials who are very proud of their illegal affairs. This is the reason why even after knowing how depressing the current nursing situation is, a lot of people still take th risk because its thought to be a ticket out of the country. I am not proud of this, yet one needs to secure their own future and quality of life.

 

A Nurse Advice…

Nursing was a sought after course during my college years, I was a 2005 graduate. Our university even increased the number of sections just to accommodate the demand of students enrolling in the said course. The usual eight sections went up to 11 sections and a lot of clinical instructors were also hired with whooping salaries and scholarships for finishing their post – graduate courses, indeed Nursing was a booming industry in health care.
After graduation, a lot of students prepared them selves for the local boards as well as the plans of taking international exams. CGFNS, IELTS, NCLEX, etc; just to name a few was the topic for every nurse graduate. I personally told my self to step back and venture a different field since I was thinking that jobs related to this course will wait for me in case I decided to comeback. However after a lot of convincing from my family, I decided to join the nursing field and true; I was immediately hired even though I answered most questions incorrectly.
But now, the nursing field is not a ticket for greener pasture unlike what I thought before. Whenever I meet a student taking up this course, I always ask the reason behind such decision and I frown for answers that its for the money, stepping stone to abroad, etc; and not because they wanted this course in the first place. Nursing is a fulfilling job, due to the fact that we touch people’s lives. Yet, it is also a hardship to one’s life, why? Because a nurse encounters people in their most helpless situation. And a lot of us know that attitudes come out to this instances. That’s the reason why during our college years we were molded to be patient, compassionate and understanding to others. And because of this a nurse should love the profession, and not because of the lure of lucrative life abroad.
So to all students and nurses out there, ask yourselves before taking the plunge.