Timelines and a bit of reality. Pandemic came

 It  was silent... 

Our dream was not provided. 

 It was not yet time.

I had been silent about this. I was almost resigned. I kept rejecting the thought that EE was hard. Mahirap tumaas ang score. Mahirap mainvite. This will give a quick glimpse to what happened. 

I re-entered the EE pool when it expired after a year. I kept applying to jobs. I do not even want to count how many cover letters I wrote and resumes I sent out. I know that I am more than qualified but it was not yet meant to be. 

I researched more and read more. I talked to my friend from Nova Scotia. We met with relatives visiting from British Columbia. Because of my age, I know that I have to take a different path way. But we know we have to sound it off to people who know better. 

2019 was a blur. Suddenly it was gone. 

In February of 2020, we attended the Educanada fair. This time, I have 2 provinces in mind, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. We are not really looking at the big cities and these two appear to be perfect — the right amount of city bustle but with the laid back feel of the countryside with its nearness to nature. 

This time too, I am looking at studying further. Aside from honing my current skills and making me a better fit for our plans, it will also give me the opportunity to have a “feel” of the country. 

I applied at Nova Scotia Community College and New Brunswick Community College and they were already responding and requesting for additional documents. 

But then the pandemic happened. 

The country was in lockdown from March until June. My mind was preoccupied with work and fear of the disease. Almost all the other countries including Canada was in lock down. There was nothing that we can do. 

My IELTS, and with it, my EE expired. There was a big gloom hanging over my head. 

The country only eased the lockdown in June. Still, we were not confident to come out.

In August 6, IDP Philippines conducted a short seminar on studying in Canada. I signed up and scheduled a counseling session for August 29. Since I wanted a Saturday session, that was the earliest they can give me. 

This was the time too that I got in touch with my school for the additional documents. My school took longer to process the documents given the skeletal workforce. 

On the day of my counseling, counsellor AG explained to me what to do. (More about this in another post). She advised me to research and promised to email me additional details. 

We agreed on October for me to submit my documents to her. 

One month to research, to pray more, and to get ready. 

Half a year check

 It's been 7 months. No word yet. Sometimes I get frustrated because I do not know how we can get an invitation to apply. 

I have joined whatsapp groups. 
I have read several blogs.
I have joined Facebook communities.
I have sent job applications and resumes, I lost count. 
I have received several rejection letters. 
I have lost points when my birthday arrived....

We have argued. 
At times, I lose hope. 
At times I want to cry. 

Still we continue to believe. 

Just send those application and resumes. 
Continue to read blogs. 
Watch out for news. 
Our time will arrive. 

Everything in God's perfect timing. 

If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. 

Facts, dreams and an act of faith

 10 days since the re submission of my profile.

Nothing has happened yet. So I do what I should. Read, read and read some more. Trying to absorb everything. There are things I found:

1. Ontario has not yet had its draw since our first EE profile. Their last Notifications of Interest under Human Capital Priorities Stream was in March. I keep hoping that they would soon conduct their draw, and they would find my profile interesting, and nominate me. 
2. Saskatchewan EOI which they launched last July 16 is only for those whose NOC falls under their in demand list. I actually started a profile but could not progress because they were asking me to choose from a specific NOC list only. 
3. Nova Scotia PNP for Category B (for an opportunity occupation without job offer) also still has not opened yet. My chance is to have a job offer as Category A  (with job offer) remains active throughout the year. Currently I am concentrating my job application with Halifax. 

I have been reading about the province. The pictures and what I have read so far have made me fell in love with the place. The waterfront, the sea, some of the festivals I read - these are the stuff of my dreams especially when I read novels. I can imagine my baby E growing up here, and even us growing old.... Sigh. 

I have also been reading fora on the province. How I envy their timelines. And I see that most of the people in the forum have landed. 

Whenever hubby and I discuss our plans, I keep encouraging him, that someday we would wake up and we would be in our dream province, starting a new life for the family. This does not mean that I am always positive. Believe me, there are times when I do not know how to move forward. I feel the weight on my shoulders especially since I am the principal applicant. There are times I just want to cry. But I need to dismiss and just move on forward. And just believe. 

"Faith is the substance of the things hope for, and the evidence of things not yet seen"

I am in my 42nd job application now...

Just continue to believe, and pray. The time will come when we would be the ones to share our success stories and help and encourage others. 

I saw this in one of the fora. I just cant resist to share as I believe it is talking to me. 

Just trudge forward.

Soon. 

Eligible to Ineligible and back

Things got busy at work and I found less and less time to apply. But during the last month too, I was able to get some references from my previous company.

Just a backgrounder, I was seconded and absorbed by my current company. However, my former company closed so I have no idea how to get reference letters. This is one of the dilemma I have been searching on. Various sources cited to just contact former colleagues and managers. I plan to do that but just not yet, as my former manager is also my boss here in my current job, as we were seconded together.

Anyway, when digging through some files, our HR found my old files from my previous employer which were mistakenly kept. I asked her if I can keep it as a “souvenir” since the former company is no longer existing. Imagine my joy when she gave all the documents to me. The documents contain promotions, merit increases, evaluations – documents normally kept as part of the 201 file. Yey! I less worry. I was thinking I can attach this when I finally get to apply.

I was looking at the documents and I noticed that I had some of my promotions, dates inputted wrong. So I tracked the positions I have held, and on July 14, I finally had the time to update my work history and change my NOC code in my EE profile.

But lo and behold, when I clicked update and submitted, my profile turned ineligible. You could not imagine how my heart stopped. I told hubby about this and he couldn’t believe it either. We even had an argument because of this.

I quickly googled on what could have happened and checked how I could rectify it. I learned that with this scenario, there is no other way but to create another profile, as once you are ineligible your profile can only be viewed, but no longer updated.

I quickly gathered my documents and went about filling up the forms again for a new EE profile. When I was filling up my spouse’s information, I stopped, put the baby to sleep, and asked my husband to sit beside me while I fill it up.

I cannot explain how my heart was beating, and how I was praying so hard, when I was putting baby to sleep. All thoughts were running in my head! And I was praying so hard to make me eligible again. This is our ticket for our baby’s future, and the family’s future as well. We cannot afford not to be in the pool.

After a few minutes, I went back to my application. I filled in hubby’s details.  Before I clicked send, hubby and I prayed again to give us the opportunity.

When I clicked send, I waited for a few minutes, and then the email arrived. I was eligible again! I have the same score but still...Whew! You cannot imagine the relief I felt.

I have a new express entry number, and our profile is now valid until July 14, 2019. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, I really don’t know. But the new profile has now given us 3 more additional months in the pool.

It has also renewed my resolved. I think this experience reminded me not to be complacent. But to just trust and move on forward. Not to stop but continue on. Just to trust and everything would fall into place. 

Our express entry and CRS scores

 I woke up at around 5 am today and immediately checked my cellphone for any message from WES. And there it is. An email from WES saying that they have completed their evaluation and that I should log on to my account to view it.

I immediately went to my WES account and was able to download a copy of my evaluation. The report said that my institution is recognized and I have a Canadian equivalency of 4 years. Yey!

So now it's time to complete our express entry.

Believe me, I had butterflies in my stomach as I was filling out the forms. We were very careful with all the details because an error can lead to not being accepted in our application later on, or being barred from the pool for 5 years.

There were a lot of information that we need to be ready with. Fortunately the website had instructions and clarifications.

Finally, we were done and our Comprehensive Ranking System points were generated. We were also given a job seeker validation code. So we went to Job Bank and created a profile as well.

Our CRS was just 359 points, way below to be able to get an Invitation to Apply (ITA). The lowest scores of those being invited were at around 440 and up. 😕

But then I remembered a recent news about Ontario inviting those with scores for as low as 351. This was just in March 2018. There is renewed hope. We prayed after getting our score and we believe that as long as we trust in the Lord, He will continue to direct our path. Right now, all we need is faith and trust in Him, and to continue working towards our goal.