beyond toxicity

My family and I aspire for a better life; who doesn’t ?

But before you think of anything, we’re NOT going to Canada yet, at least for now.

Two weeks ago, Tina submitted our CVs to a Canadian Consultancy firm that emailed me few days after. We were told that I qualified for the present minimum point-system immigration requirement for Canada. However, their office is located too far from our place so I canceled our reservation to attend their free orientation.

Then another Canadian Consultancy and Recruitment agency texted Tina and invited us to attend to a similar activity. The venue was in Ortigas Center, which is more accessible for us. The 3-hour-free orientation was held at Development Academy of the Philippines on an early Saturday morning.

As expected, it was well-attended by various professionals.   Some people like us came with their kids and spouses.  The speaker and facilitators were compelling. The entire seminar was never boring and we felt the honesty and legality of the talk.

At the end of the orientation, each of the attendees sat in a one-on-one assessment to verify whether one qualifies to apply for an immigrant visa to Canada. And like what I have read from the email of another agency, I’m eligible despite I haven’t taken an English proficiency exam yet (IELTS/International English Language Testing System).

It was Tina who passed IELTS twice with both band scores of 7.0 (perfect score 9.0); first when she took it while we’re on a 7-week-break in Auckland, New Zealand then 2 years after it expired (IELTS has validity of 2 years), she took it again,  here in EDSA Shangri la conducted by British Council Philippines.

She took  IELTS test as a part of the requirement that led her to enlist herself under California-Board of Registered Nursing (yes, my wife is already registered nurse in Ca-BON) and also gained her a US Visa Screen Certificate issued by CGFNS (Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools) which is valid until 2014 (it has 5-year validity).  So needless to say, my wife only lacks a petition for a working visa from an American employer that will enable her to claim her license from Ca-BON.  *opportunity, where are you?*

Going back to Canadian dream, the seminar we attended enlightened us to these facts on how an applicant qualifies for an immigrant visa as of present :

• Education ———————————————maximum of 25 points
• Ability to speak English and/or French———————-24 points
• Experience—————————————————————21 points
• Age————————————————————————10 points
• (21-49; age over 49 lose 2 points for every year)
• Arranged employment in Canada—————————-10 points
• Adaptability (relatives, spouse in Canada)——————10 points
• Total of 100 points and the current eligibility passing point is 67.

Since my wife and I are both in the health and education sectors, our professions and jobs qualify under the present Canadian list of 38 high demand occupations. But what limits us from furthering the lodgement of our application is the required PROOF OF FUNDS (or what’s common to many as “show money”).

PROOF OF FUNDS – ability to practically support him/herself and accompanying members of family on basic needs; amount of money to support your family is determined by size of your family.

Meaning the more children/dependents you have, the more moolahs you need to have in the bank.

Settlement money

• # of family members                          funds required
• Single——————————-CAD $ 11,000 (PhP 498, 870)
• Single with dependent———–CAD $ 13, 801 (PhP 621, 045)
• 3 ————————————CAD $ 16, 967 (PhP 763, 515)
• 4————————————-CAD $ 20, 599 (PhP 926, 955)
• 5————————————-CAD $ 23, 364 (PhP 1,051, 380)
• 6————————————-CAD $ 26, 350 (PhP 1,185,750)
• 7————————————-CAD $ 29, 337 (PhP 1,320,165)

PLUS consultancy fee of more or less PhP 90K, medical exam fee of PhP 4,000 per applicant, and a whopping CAD $ 2,1000 for the total application fee.

Do you have interest in migrating to Canada?

Do you have that fortune to apply for Canadian Immigrant Visa? (fees exclusive of job offers)

We don’t.

For readers who have been to Canada and who are living and/working in Canada, is it really that practical to splurge and invest on that huge amount of money in exchange of a better family life?

Alas, we continue to seek possibilities here and in other foreign countries.

So help us, God.