15 Days After Landing

Bonjour mon cher blog.

This is my first time to blog on what we have been doing for the past days here in Canada. You heard me right, Canada, not in the Philippines, giggling me.

We arrived in Fredericton on 3 May 2016 and stayed with the FCNB President's (Ate Gina) home for 9 days. Why 9 days? Because looking for a 1-bedroom apartment is a bit of a challenge and is subject for an approval from your personal reference. Good thing Ate Gina is there as our personal reference and later on we ended up on a 2-bedroom apartment, LOL, after looking into 5 apartments.

Okay, so, on 4 May 2016, through the help of Kuya Roland and Ate Gina's family, especially on transportation and going around downtown Fredericton, we went to Service New Brunswick to apply for our respective medicare cards. I, being the principal applicant, just filled up a form for the two of us. I just presented our passports with visa and COPR attached to it. Yes, our respective COPRs were stapled on our respective passports so whenever you needed an identification just present your passport and it is all there. After the staff entered the details on their database, he told us to wait for 4 weeks for our medicare cards to be mailed on our given address. We have used Ate Gina's address as our temporary address even in our PR cards.

Next, this time Kuya Rudy, a fellow pinoy, accompanied us at the Municipal City Hall to get maps, guides on trails and Fredericton as a whole, bus schedules and others. The staff who assisted us is super friendly. Oh, everyone of them. Actually, people here are very welcoming. Even if we do not know them, they will all say "hi, good morning" or just smile at you and nod and all we do is to greet them also, LOL. Even when entering an entrance, they will smile or greet you and even hold the door open for everyone.

Afterwhich, we went to Service Canada, still at downtown Fredericton, and applied for our respective Social Insurance Number (SIN). We got our SIN numbers, without a card, on the same day because according to the staff they are no longer issuing SIN card since February 2016. Our SIN were printed only on paper with our number and name. They told us to keep the paper on a safe place and never ever give our SIN numbers to anyone except our employers. This is to safeguard us and prevent us on tax fraud.

Note that all government services here are all free of charge, even using their library is free of charge and free wifi, LOL. Oh, and Fredericton has a free wifi, "fred_zone". Unfortunately, in some places it is slow or sometimes cannot be reach, LOL. Also, always bring with you your passport for identification, refer to above details. Oh, and do not forget to take your selfies, LOL, it is cold here but the views are just amazing.

Okay, the day is not yet over, after eating our lunch in a buffet restaurant courtesy of Kuya Rudy (everyone here has a way of welcoming us), LOL, he accompanied us to Atlantic Superstore to open an account with President's Choice (PC). He told us to open one for purposes of getting reward points when we buy groceries. PC is a sister company of CIBC Bank (mother bank). In Canada, when you put money in the bank, we are charged for a service fee but in PC there is none but they do not have joint accounts. So, we opened our respective chequing (i'll start to use this as the spelling from now on, LOL) accounts with a debit card and a credit card. However, we were only given a debit card because we only have a temporary address. We have yet to go back to PC for our present address and contact numbers to avail of our respective credit cards and cheque books. We plan to use our respective PC accounts for building our own credit standing and maybe payroll.

We then were accompanied by Kuya Roland to a different bank, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). They have a promo for newcomers where they give us a temporary cheque (for rental purposes) and credit card (to be mailed though) right away. And in RBC we were given a joint account for chequing and savings accounts plus individual debit and credit cards. We applied for a cheque book (we chose joint also) just 2 days ago because the address and a contact number is needed to put on the cheque itself plus our names. We are required to pay for a service fee of CAD$14.83 every month but we chose the promo of free service fee for 6 months instead of getting a mini ipad and pay a CAD$253 in a year. Good thing I do not like mini ipad (and I have an ipad), or else hahaha. Our RBC account are for our everyday expenses, for our families (chequing) and for our little R (savings).

To end the day, I registered online for a family doctor. Just google 'Patient Connect NB' to register. They told us that getting a family doctor is a tough one because we need to wait until one is available. However, if one will refer you, like in our case, we accompanied Kuya Roland's mother to her doctor (also their church-mate), 3 days ago, and told him that we are just new in Fredericton and we are looking for a doctor, bla-bla-bla. Then the doctor told us that once we get our medicare cards, we can give him a call, through his clinic, to register as one of his patients. Nice, right, smiley.

On 5 May 2016, we reported to Population Growth Division (PGD). If you will read in the guidelines, nominated NBPNPs are required to report with PGD once they landed. So we went there but we were welcomed only by Linda B. She have me filled up an Update Form and asked for my contact number so I gave Ate Gina's number. Before leaving the building, I told her she was the one who received our full application last year, LOL. She told me "Oh, you remember me". In my mind, of course, I remember them all, LOL. Then after 30 minutes after leaving PGDs building, Kuya Roland told us that Linda called Ate Gina and they wanted to meet us the next day. She also emailed me to relay the message. They, as in, Ashraf and company, giggling here again.

So, next day, 6 May 2016, and before we end the week after our landing, we finally met Ashraf, Jake and Fatima (I personally requested her as per my fellow applicant's, kidjuwee, request) for the third time. Twice in the Philippines and first time here in Canada. I wanted so much to meet my Officer but sad to say I do not know my reviewing officer because I was directly nominated by NB. Okay, so again, we were the first ones to report with PGD. They do not actually know if others already landed but it was us who first reported to PGD under NBPNP EELMS. I will not divulge the good news here but if you are nominated, with PR visa and about to land here in NB as their provincial nominee, never forget to report to PGD because we reported and they told us that they will take good care of their nominees. And if ever we encounter problems, we are very much welcome at the PGD office.

Our 15 minutes encounter with Ashraf, Jake and Fatima was full of laughter and advises. Advises only a provincial nominee will know, so better report. But hey, I told my friends about it (Filipino First Batch NBPNPs). Laughter, LOL, because I requested Fatima and I told them why. I even told them the whatsapp chat (and they wanted to join, hahaha) and Fatima was laughing. Oh, Ashraf says, do not take it against Fatima, or whoever our reviewing officer is, because NBPNP goes into 3 reviewing officers then the nomination. I asked for a picture, knowing me who loves taking picture, but they politely declined because as per Jake the Federal Government and even NB forbids them to do so, sad face, but I understand. Did you notice I remove the ma'am or sir? Because Ashraf told me so. In Canada, everyone is treated equally so never address someone with a sir or ma'am even if he/she is your boss.

Okay, so the weekend is dance practice, LOL. June 18 is the gala night of FCNB and I was recruited (recruited?, LOL) to dance Singkil, LOL. Do not be surprise if you see pictures of me dancing. Also, we already tasted the famous lobsters of NB, yummylicious, LOL. We went back to Service New Brunswick to buy the booklet for driving. In here we have to review first the booklet, take an exam and if we pass only then can we start our driving lessons. Note that this is only applicable to newbies like us. And, hey, everything here is machine operated. I have a funny story to share with regards to dishwasher, hahaha. Okay, so first of all, there is no dishwasher in the mountains where I came from and I am thinking of a dish dispenser all the while and I thought the dishwasher is for storage of plates, etc. but I am also curious why they are putting used utensils in the dishwasher. What I did, I get them and wash it and nanay was on panic mode saying "why did you wash them, i was about to run the dishwasher, bla, bla, bla", I was actually again laughing to myself now, bwahahahaha. I am thinking not to blog this so I can get even with my friends who are coming here but it is too funny not to blog it. See you are laughing also, LOL.

Anyway, we started looking for an apartment only on May 7, 9 to 10. We have looked from Gorham, Killam and Colpitts Properties. We made reservations with Gorham and Colpitts on May 7 and 9, respectively. Both were subject for approval and a personal reference is needed since we do not have jobs yet. And both were also approved. We rented Gorham's apartment at CAD$760 (Colpitts is at CAD$750) exclusive of heat and power because it has a balcony and I really love balconies/terraces. We are near Fredericton High School, Priestman Elementary School and lots of commercial establishments. All walking distance.

Since we are occupying our apartment only on May 12, we are required to pay a pro rated rent and a security deposit in cash/debit card. The month to month payment will then be automatically charged in our bank account so we gave them our temporary cheque. The security deposit will be given to the rentalsman and this can be withdrawn when we wanted to move out in our apartment but subject of course to checking if the apartment is in good condition. We were required to call NB Power to put up electricity but ours where just a transferred account from previous owner so our heat and light is ready when we transferred. Water, parking lot, bathtub, washer and dryer (coin operated), range, fridge and dishwasher (LOL) are all part of our rent. It is in all apartments, except for the dishwasher (again, why always..., LOL) and bathtub.

Okay, so before moving to our apartment, we went to Surplus Furniture here in Fredericton to purchase our bed, mattress, dresser, sofa, center table and dining table. NBPNP First batch were already checking on the website since last year that is why we have budgeted a portion of our settlement fund to buy our things. Some of our things were donated by some Filipinos here.

On May 13, we tried to apply for our cellphones with Bell Alliant even without our RBC credit card. We have been waiting for it because they told us that we need credit cards to apply for a phone. Good thing our passports and COPRs are enough to have a postpaid phones. We bought our phones here. We have chosen the Family bundle where we will be paying CAD$65 for unlimited call and text Canada wide and shared 5GB data plan. CAD$100 each per month. One account, shared data and discounted internet, cable and phone at home. We were given discounts on our phones too and what we did is a one-time payment for each phone so that we will only be thinking of our monthly charges. We are planning though to remove the data on our phones since we already have a FibreOp at home.

Anyway, since we already have a permanent address here in NB and contact numbers, we just started sending applications online just yesterday, May 16. We also visited Ignite Fredericton and tomorrow we will be reporting with MCAF. All of these you will know when you attend your CIIP seminar back home. Thanks to Kuya Roland because he is the one coordinating us with the services above. Remember, all of these government offices are all free of charge. Also, I wanted to share what Ashraf and Julia (Ignite Fredericton) told us with regards to job hunting here in Fredericton or NB as a whole. They told us that here in NB, to land a good job "it is not what you know but whom you know" so they advised us to expand our network, attend social events (which they have given us in Ignite Fredericton).

Also, Ashraf told us to apply for a job based on our professions because we were already screened by them and we can compete here because we have our credentials. As of now, aside from sending out applications, I am also reviewing their accounting system here online. I plan to attend a seminar, not free, on accounting by June. Both me and my husband also plan to get a certificate with NBCC. We know that as a starter we cannot land a job based on our professions but, as Ashraf told us even CIIP, we do not want to just settle on survival jobs because we are under federal skilled worker express entry through provincial nominee program.

By God's grace, in His time, He will give us a job we would love. He did not put us this far to settle for less. Pray and believe it will come just like when we believe that everything will fall in the right place and time for our little R. Pray and have faith.

P.S. sorry if I cannot reply on your queries but
I will try my very best to answer them. Just give me time.

Landed Permanent Residents

Bonjour New Brunswick.

On 3 May 2016 at 5 am in the morning, Canada time, we finally did our landing to the maple leaf country at Toronto Pearson International Airport as our port of entry. 

Before doing the landing, be sure you have with you the following: (1) passport with visa and PDOS stamped on every member of your family; (2) Confirmation of Permanent Resident; (3) Form BSF186 and BSF186A for goods to bring and goods to follow, respectively; and (4) Form E677 if you are bringing more than USD/CAD10,000.00. Forms BSF186 and BSF186A were already discussed in my previous post.

With regards to Form E677. During PDOS, the staff there will tell you that you need to also fill up BSP Foreign Currency Declaration if you are bringing with you more than USD/CAD10,000.00 for AMLA purposes. I actually downloaded the form,  filled it up, signed and printed it because we are carrying with us CAD20,000.00 as settlement fund. Then we also downloaded, filled up, signed and printed Form E677. You can get E677 form HERE. Note, however, that I did not present BSP Foreign Currency Declaration at NAIA Terminal 1, Immigration because my husband and I decided to not to and the immigration officer (IO) did not asked for it. Good thing he did not.

Anyway, our tickets if for Manila-Shanghai Pudong-Toronto-Fredericton with 9 and 14 hours layover at Shanghai and Toronto, respectively. Here goes our detailed experience with our landing. First, in the Philippines, you may want to secure yourselves of the "tanim bala" modus operandi in our country so better seal your luggages with a plastic cover like ours. We used plastic wrappers for food. Oh, and if you are using a regular weighing scale at home, to check if your luggages are overweight (yes not you but the bag, LOL), do not worry much because it will not exceed the weight limit. Ours even drops to 1 to 1.5 kgs. If I only knew, I should have added a little more, hahaha. Payment for terminal fee for each member of the family is also required. Terminal Fee is at Php550 each. We did not pay for travel tax of Php1,620.00 because according to China Eastern Airline staff, it is already included in the tickets we purchased. Ooopss, we have extra Philippine money of Php4,000.00, LOL. 

Second, we need to pass by an IO. I only presented our boarding passes, departure cards (provided at NAIA) and passports. The IO just asked us if we still plan to return to the Philippines, our destination province, stamped on the passports, signed it and viola, off we go to the waiting area. Fact: I was actually very nervous with Philippine immigration because I know my country, the Government employees. That is why I was so relieved that we get through the immigration thingy.

Thirdly, at Shanghai Pudong International Airport via China Eastern Airline. We have the worst experience here so I advise do not get a stopover in China. Why? We have a 9 hours layover in Shanghai but during the check in, the airline staff told us that our flight will be delayed for 9 hours more. She gave us a meal complimentary vouchers for such delays amounting to Yuan 280.00. And yes, you are very correct that we only ate and ate there for stress reliever. We also exchanged our Php4,000.00 to Yuan Dollar for more food and drinks, LOL. Then came around 1:00 AM of 2 May 2016, the staffs again announces that there is an additional 2 hours delay time. If you were there, you can see the chaos brought about by the delay with no hotel bookings to pacify there customers. We finally boarded the plane at around 3:20 AM, 3 May 2016, Asia Pacific Time.

I am recommending not to get China as stopover for the sole reason that there is no facebook there. It is blocked. Imagine, we waited there for 20 hours without communication to our families. Good thing, I decided to bring with me my old cherry mobile phone for whatsapp purposes. I get to communicate with my 2015 co-applicants with our situation at Shanghai Airport. So what we did there is just eat, sleep at the benches and wait.

At the airplane, there is unlimited food also, LOL. It is our first time to ride in a very big airplane and travel a very long haul to Toronto. So, there is a small tv where you can watch movies or series, play games and a lot more. The funny side is that we thought that our travel from Shanghai to Toronto will only take 3 1/2 hours, LOL, as indicated in the ticket. NO. Note that because of time difference, our travel took 12 1/2 hours. Such a very long trip.

On 3 May 2016, again LOL, we finally landed to the maple leaf country with only almost 3 hours left before I flight to Fredericton. We were not allowed to go out the plane because we landed at 4:20 AM and the immigration office will open only at 5:00 AM. Another delay isn't it. Before we were send out of the plane, the staff there gave each one of us a Declaration Form where you use it during Custom Officer checking. I ticked more than CAD10,000 and goods to follow. So at the strike of 5:00 AM, we were in a hurry to pass by the security check upon landing, then as first time immigrant they directed us to the immigration officer. Checked on our passports, visa and COPR, signed both of it and viola, the immigration officer told us,"congratulations. welcome to Canada", ayyyiiieeee. Is this really true? The IO also asked me if I wanted to open a SIN but I declined because no more time to open.

So, off we go to a customs officer (CO). I printed  2 copies each of Forms BSF186, 186A and E677 but the CO asked only for 1 copy. He made remarks on each form, stamped ad signed it. Then he xerox a copy of the forms. He asked me to go to another window for checking. Then he printed a blue paper, attached it on our forms for goods to bring and follow. He get 1 copy of said forms and asked me to return to the CO officer. The CO officer says I must keep the other copy because he already entered the details on his computer. There you go, we are done with our landing. We went to the baggage counter to get our luggages and exited our port of entry as permanent residents. So, happy.

Just as you thought our travel is done. No not yet. So we transferred to another section of terminal 1 for our boarding going to Fredericton. Walking with so many blue or green or other colors of eyes is getting me overwhelmed hahaha. I was even literally smiling to each foreigner I meet along the way. But the funny thing is that we are the foreigners, LOL.

It was a sunny day at Toronto but in Fredericton, it was so cold. Here is the best part of our landing at Fredericton. The FCNB was there to welcome me and my husband to Canada. This was my greatest dream and we got it, LOL. We landed as the first Filipino under the NBPNP EELMS program. Nice hahaha.

In my previous post, I posted there that we will be leaving at Ate Gina/s place. True to her word. We stayed in their house. Their house is beautiful. They even cook so many yummylicious foods. First sight of Fredericton, I love New Brunswick the more.

So, hello our little R. Mama and Papa is already here in Canada. We pray that someday, in God's most precious perfect time, we will get to hold, love and pamper you with all our hearts. A dream is still a dream if you are not yet with us but our faith with our Father God brought us this far because He knows the desire of our hearts. We just cannot wait to be with you soon. A little more, little R, a little more.

Settlement Fund, Airfare and Accomodation

Please note that I have written this post on 20 March 2016 at 9:57 PM but due to security reasons I am posting this just today.

After receiving a PPR and waiting for PP to be returned with PR visa stamped on it, I thought the next stage will be easier. Preparing for landing is a much tougher work to do. So many in our to-do-lists especially that we are going to another country with no relatives or friends to help us during the starting stage. Adding to our agony is that we will be exiting our dear home country in just 1 month and 13 days. 

Anyhow, I know we can do this. We have prayed for our Canadian dream to come through and no backing out this time nor thinking of negative things. We can do our landing, settle in NB, find a job and eventually get pregnant (giggling, I can't wait for little R) all by God's grace.

So, let us discuss this one by one. First of all, our settlement fund. After going through senior Pinoy forumers who already landed in different provinces of Canada, my husband and I decided to take with us our settlement fund in cash (US Dollar or Canadian Dollar, we will update you soon). We declared a CAD$21,000.00 as settlement fund for a Family of 2 during our NBPNP and CIC applications. So, this is the amount that we will report at the port of entry.

Why? We have options on whether to order for a demand draft, bank draft or traveller's check. There is no traveller's check and bank draft in our Philippine bank, PNB, so crossed out. Demand draft there is but it will take 45 days for it to be cleared in Canada plus additional cost so crossed out too. There is a Startright Program offered by Scotiabank for newcomers. PNB confirms they can do the wire transfer if we go with Scotiabank but with additional cost of more than a thousand pesos. We do not like additional costs so we decided to just bring our CAD$21,000.00 in full cash. We just need to secure properly said cash.

UPDATE: We decided to buy CAD$ with a Money Changer. Sad part is CAD$ went high already unlike during our application stages CAD$ to Php is around Php35 something versus the CAD$. Now it is Php36.50 to Php37.50. Thus, we ended up having a settlement fund of CAD$20,000.00 because we bought CAD$ for Php37.00. Short of CAD$1,000.00 in our declared settlement fund but still more than the required fund for a Family of 2. My soon to be NB neighbor, fjd2011, confirmed that this is okay for as long as we do not go down the required settlement fund. 

Secondly, our airfare tickets. We have purchased our tickets at Flight Network. We tried canvassing first time immigrant ticket offers from different Philippine travel agencies but most of them do not allow us to pay in credit card (if and when they do, there is an additional minimum 3% additional cost for the transaction). Also, getting a connecting flight from Toronto Pearson Airport (our port of entry) to Fredericton NB Airport will give us an additional cost on our luggages.

We also checked on different online booking websites recommended by my fellow girltalk member of Female Network, my highschool friend and that of my fellow NBPNP Pinoy Applicants. We checked on Expedia, CheapOAir, One Travel, FlightHub, AsapTickets and Flight Network.

After, so many comparison of a much affordable tickets, we booked our flight with Flight Network. Thank you again to my future neighbor in NB, neilyong7, for confirming the legality of Flight Network especially that it is based in Ontario, Canada. Also, for confirming that we can use our Philippine international credit card, PNB Visa, to do the transaction.

We have chosen Flight Network because aside from it is the cheapest (P34,763.01 all in one-way fare for one passenger or a total of P69,526.02 for my husband and I) and after waiting for 2 days, I finally finally got the 11:55 AM arrival time in Fredericton through said site for 2 May 2016. It easily become sold out with the said time. We wanted to see the beauty of Fredericton that is why I waited for the 11:55 AM to come out again and it did. Our trip has a total of 41 hours travel time from Manila to Shanghai, China to Toronto and to Fredericton. We have 9 hours layover in Shanghai and 13 hours 15 minutes in Toronto. Haggardness, LOL.

There is a story about our airfare. So I booked here in the Philippines and what I got is a "reserved" status only. I have given my credit card numbers though but here in the Philippines we provide the code found at the bank of our credit cards for our transaction to be confirmed as paid. In Flight Network, they do not ask for the codes. So how on earth will they do the swiping of my credit card. Thus, I was stress the whole night praying for our e-tickets to popped out in my email. The morning came and still no email. There is no PLDT landline at home so good thing I remembered my friend google. I asked google how to call from the Philippines to an international toll free numbers. It says I can use skype. I logged in to my skype account, followed the instructions of my friend google and viola, I am talking to there customer service via skype toll free, LOL. I honestly do not know this can be done. Then, the agent emailed our e-tickets with a "confirmed" status. I felt so relieved. Who will not be when I was just charged a P70,000.00 or more to my PNB Visa.

As of 25 March 2016, PNB Visa charged us a total of P71,470.95 for our airfare. An additional P1,944.93 to the original price. How expensive a 1-way ticket is. Good thing, PNB gave me a credit card because of our savings account with them. Problem solved with the airfare, LOL.

Lastly, our accomodation. We were actually choosing between UNB Fredericton Accommodation (which is very near Population Growth Office [NBPNP]) and Howard Johnson Fredericton (which is 1 long straight way to Dundonald St [Population Growth Office]) and both are walking distance to Odell Park (our soon to be jogging place, LOL). However, my husband told me to better send a message to our Filipino Community in Fredericton at their FB Page. Eversince we attended the information session and out of curiosity, I asked google how NB looks like and it always, always directed me to the Filipino Community of New Brunswick (FCNB) so I have liked their page since then.

Good thing, I message them because they replied hours from when I sent them a message in FB. Ma'am Gina was very kind enough to reply on all our queries. All our worries from our landing to Frederiction just fades away. Ma'am Gina told us to not get a hotel room and just wait for her next message to me. Oh my, she even offered to pick us up at the airport. This is where I felt very happy because of my frustration on the "Welcome to Canada" hahaha with matching cake, teehee. Why? Because I always see this with my FB friends, LOL. Funny me. And of course, Ma'am Gina's welcoming really pacifies me. Imagine going in another place with no friends and families, only me and my husband. The adjustments are just terrible. Thank you, as in, thank you Ma'am Gina. One more thing, Ma'am Gina does not want to be addressed as Ma'am, she wants us to call her "Ate" (an elder sister), because there is no Sir and Ma'am in Canada. Either way, she is still so very kind.

UPDATE: We will be picked up by Ate Gina at Fredericton airport and will be staying at their house for the meantime while we go check on apartments. We told her that we wanted to check on apartments personally so we planned to stay on a hotel but Ate Gina offered that we stay at their house first. So happy here. God really sends angels when we needed Him the most.

Thus, I told my NBPNP friends and future neighbors to report to FCNB before landing. We will try our very best to go with FCNB and welcome each and everyone of you in NB. My husband and I cannot wait for our grand EB. We started as strangers but, strangers we are to each other, we found new virtual friends to forum friends to whatsapp friends to FB friends to NB neighbors and soon a NB family from each other. We may land on different dates and time but we will surely treasure our friendships brought about by NBPNP EELMS program. See you soon 2015 Pinoy NBPNP EELMS neighbors. Now, let us do the landing stage one by one.

P.S. If I cannot reply on your comments, please bare with me as 

I am looking for Jon Snow at Kingslanding. :) :) :)