Day 1: Got a Mobile Phone

One of the first things on my agenda upon landing was getting a mobile phone number.

This was a simple 30 minute job.

I went to Future Shop because it was close to the hotel. At Future Shop, I explained that I had a GSM phone that was an open line, meaning that it was not locked to my previous Philippine mobile operator. I also confirmed that my unit could operate within the band spectrum in use in Canada.

After that, it was a choice of operator. I was offered Chatr, a new operator that offered unlimited Canada incoming and outgoing calls. I didn't choose that because most of my calls would be to the U.S. I also looked at Rogers as an option.

I ended up with Fido $35/mo, which offered 350 minutes, with unlimited evenings (7pm - 7am) and weekends. Evenutally, I added Caller ID for $7/mo and lower U.S. long distance rates for $5/mo.

There are things you have to think about in choosing a plan, as compared to what we are used to in the Philippines are the following:
* Airtime minutes are used up for incoming and outgoing calls outside your unlimited window. In the Philippines, we are used to free incoming calls. Here, you have to consider the time that people call you!
* You pay long distance for calls to the U.S. So, if you are calling a vonage number or a magicjack number, those are long distance, not international.
* You do not pay long distance charges when you have incoming long distance calls.
* Caller ID does not come with your plan automatically. You have to pay for this.
* Voice mail does not come with your plan automatically. This is also an extra service. In the Philippines, we are offered this for free and you only pay when you use it.

Pre-Paid / Pay-As-You-Go Plans are different, as well. In the Philippines, you just load up when you want and your load balance is reduced every time you use your phone. You can actually have a P1 balance on your phone. Here, in Canada, you commit to monthly usage; meaning, your credit card will be charged a monthly rate which is consumed. Then, you add to your load balance when you need more.

Using my international credit card, I was able to get a monthly plan, that even gave me a free touch screen LG quad-band phone (LG GR500FD)! Initially, I used the hotel address as my mailing address. Three days later, after I moved into my apartment (that's another post), I changed my address online.

I'll be editing this to add a comparison chart.

Applications Received Per Occupation - as of 19 Oct 2010

Hi Friends,

Here is a link to the CIC website showing the list of approved applications per occupation. Keep in mind that under the new rules, only 29 occupations shall be allowed under the Federal Skilled Worker program for applicants starting 26 June 2010. Further, the total of those approvals for the next fiscal year will be 20,000, with a 1,000 cap per occupation. (Note that these limits do not apply for those who have Employment Offers).

Here's the table taken from the site on this day.

- - - - - - -
Applications received toward the overall cap: 2,226 of 20,000 as of October 19, 2010

Applications received per eligible occupation:
Eligible Occupation
(by National Occupational Classification [NOC] code) Number of Complete Applications Received*
0631 Restaurant and Food Service Managers ........................ 83 of 1,000
0811 Primary Production Managers (except Agriculture) ............ 18 of 1,000
1122 Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management.. 739 of 1,000
1233 Insurance Adjusters and Claims Examiners .................... 28 of 1,000
2121 Biologists and Related Scientists ........................... 95 of 1,000
2151 Architects .................................................. 125 of 1,000
3111 Specialist Physicians ....................................... 93 of 1,000
3112 General Practitioners and Family Physicians ................. 117 of 1,000
3113 Dentists .................................................... 125 of 1,000
3131 Pharmacists ................................................. 192 of 1,000
3142 Physiotherapists ............................................ 34 of 1,000
3152 Registered Nurses ........................................... 296 of 1,000
3215 Medical Radiation Technologists ............................. 5 of 1,000
3222 Dental Hygienists and Dental Therapists ..................... 4 of 1,000
3233 Licensed Practical Nurses ................................... 13 of 1,000
4151 Psychologists ............................................... 23 of 1,000
4152 Social Workers .............................................. 57 of 1,000
6241 Chefs ....................................................... 11 of 1,000
6242 Cooks ....................................................... 32 of 1,000
7215 Contractors and Supervisors, Carpentry Trades ............... 13 of 1,000
7216 Contractors and Supervisors, Mechanic Trades ................ 39 of 1,000
7241 Electricians (except Industrial and Power System) ........... 22 of 1,000
7242 Industrial Electricians ..................................... 28 of 1,000
7251 Plumbers .................................................... 2 of 1,000
7265 Welders and Related Machine Operators ....................... 6 of 1,000
7312 Heavy-Duty Equipment Mechanics .............................. 11 of 1,000
7371 Crane Operators ............................................. 0 of 1,000
7372 Drillers and Blasters - Surface Mining,
Quarrying and Construction .................................. 2 of 1,000
8222 Supervisors, Oil and Gas Drilling and Service ............... 13 of 1,000

*The number of complete Federal Skilled Worker applications received as of October 19, 2010, is approximate.

NOTE: Because application intake fluctuates, these figures are meant as a guide only. There is no guarantee that an application sent in now will fall within the cap.

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Day 1: My Landing Experience

Here's an excerpt from a letter I sent to my friend about my landing experience.

ABOUT LANDING

Ok, here are some things to remember when you land.  When  you go down the escalator from the arrival area to enter immigration area, there are signs pointing to immigrants.  You will go through a special corridor on the right side.  Don’t worry because there is a greeter there who will keep announcing “New immigrants, this way.”   Very organized.

When you enter the special immigration area where you will be interviewed, you will first see the queue entrance where people fall in line.  Don’t go there right away.  If you look behind the line there is a counter on the left side.  That’s the first step.  It is the immigration welcome desk.  They will give you some pamphlets and do orientation that you probably already know.  When I was there they were giving out numbers and taping it to the outside of the passport.  There are chairs there, so you can just have your kids sit down with your carry-on luggage while you get oriented.  After that counter, they will tell you to get in line.  

When you are in line, take out your PASSPORTS, your CPRs and the CUSTOMS DECLARATION FORM that they gave you on the plane.  (For the customs declaration form, there is a portion that says detach here – Don’t detach it. Basta keep the entire form as-is.  The girl beside me detached hers and the officer asked her why she did that.  In my mind, I was like, “The form said detach here.” Although, in fairness, the instructions did not state to detach.  These guys are very exact.).  

Also have ready the print out of the GOODS TO FOLLOW and GOODS WITH ME lists that you prepared.  You need 2 sets of that.  They didn’t want my goods with me list, but you might as well have it ready just in case. 

When I was in line, because the line was so long (took me 1.5 hrs because there were so many people in line), I put my documents back in my envelope.  So, when I was called to the counter I didn’t have them out.  The officer told me,  “You know that you’re supposed to have your documents ready when you get to the counter.  You should have done that while you were in line.”  But, it wasn’t really negative.  Other than that, the questions are very very simple:

Why are you here?

What is your job category?

What is your occupation?  

Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Refused entry?

Are you bringing over 10k w/ you? Yes (GIVE THE EXACT AMOUNT).  I bought something on the plane and I was asked to count my money.  Good thing I knew exactly how much I spent of my funds so I just subtracted, and I didn’t need to count.

After that, the officer told me to sit down while my papers were prepared for signature.

Then, the officer gives you some reminders about what to do when your goods come in.

After that the officer attaches your CPR to your passport and you are done.

When you exit, you get your bags, unless either one of you has already been asked to do so by the ground staff.  In my case, because I was pretty much at the end of the line for immigrant arrivals on my flight, my bags were the only ones left, so they asked me to go out; but, because I was still in line, they had a porter get my bags from the conveyor belt and wait for me to finish.  Not bad!

Just Landed

Hi Everyone,

I landed Canada Saturday at 4pm.  I'll be posting more about my exit from the Philippines and my step-by-step experience after I get settled in.

Right now, the first thing I did (with the help of my sister and her husband -- I love you both for all your help!) was get a mobile SIM card.  We went to the closest electronics store to the hotel (Future Shop) and bought a SIM.  IIt's a good thing that they accepted my international credit card and US debit card so I was able to get on a monthly plan right away.  I slapped that SIM into my new Samsung Galaxy S and I'm good!  I ended up going with FIDO (which is part of the Rogers network) but also looked at Rogers and Chat-r.

The following day (yesterday), we spent the day house hunting.  We must have visited around 6 apartments, but drover around neighborhoods and other apartment options the whole day.  I think the total list of possibilities was around 18.  It was a crazy day, so we treated ourselves to a hefty dinner in the city.

More to do today.  It's a Monday when the sun rises and I'll need to open up a bank account.

More details to follow soon!