Thank you for your response. I can't go the PTA route because of the return ticket policy. I won't mind to know about the CAD black market process, please. Thank you again 🙏🏽

Abercrome:


Yes, I landed safely and I’m adjusting well. My husband got $2k from his bank (FCMB) through the PTA route. We supplemented this by buying CAD from the black market. My brother helped me with this one but I can ask him what the black market process is. We also still had quite a lot of NGN when we landed and will be looking to convert this soon. Have you tried PTA?

Hello,

I hope you landed safely and doing well.
Thank you for your help so far. I intend to arrive in Canada next month and I'll like to know how you bought CAD before landing. Thank you very much 🙏🏽

Abercrome:


Ohh really. I think FCMB still has a $4k limit. It seems a number of banks are gradually reducing their limits though but CBN portal still allows you to input $4k. Thankfully, we have return tickets so fingers crossed that we get approved.

You should definitely take advantage of the $2k if you can. I bought CAD this week from some black market dealers in Canada (Nigerians) and I bought in two batches at N560 and N562. I was just hissing like Naira is so useless.

Abercrome:


Congratulations bro! Next steps are for you to send your package to the VFS of your choice. The basic things to send in a single package are:
* international passport (you, spouse & kids)
* 2 copies of passport photo (one stamped with studio’s logo and signature and date at the back. You also need to write your full name and DOB on the stamped copy. The second copy should be left blank). These photos are to be in the dimensions specified in Appendix 1 on your RFV email
* Completed height and eye colour chart (Appendix 2)
* Printed copy of your RFV email
* 1 CVAC form completed by the primary applicant. This is consent form for the VAC and you can just Google Canadian CVAC form and fill it as the primary applicant
* If there’s been a change in your family composition, you may want to fill IMM008 as well

You can send these to any VFS of your choice. If you choose Lagos, you can just walk in between 8am to 10am on any weekday and present the proof of biometrics if you did biometrics in Lagos. If you have a kid that didn’t do biometrics, you’d have to pay 9k plus for each child. It seems Lagos currently sends their stuff to Accra and it takes about 4 weeks at the moment. PS: For Lagos, make photocopies of all the docs in your package just in case.

If you want to send your package to Kenya or the new Yaoundé (Cameroon) which have faster turnaround times, you’d have to pay for dispatch but you can send it through Lagos. You’ll pay N18k for each person included in your application. They charge dispatch per intl. passport not as a single package. The 18k is for Kenya, Cameroon’s dispatch fees may differ slightly. Turnaround time for Kenya is about two weeks while Cameroon has been responding within days to a week. These are the ones I enquired about.

I’ll be going to Lagos VFS tomorrow to send my package. All the best

Thank you very much for this detailed response. I'll endeavour to go tomorrow as well.

Abercrome:
PPR finally came in today 🙏😅🥳 I don’t know how to behave. I ran downstairs to show my husband and we were jumping quietly together so as not to wake our toddler.

Timeline below:
IELTS exam: 20th August 2022
EE profile created: 12th September 2022
ITA received: 26th October 2022
Submission & AOR: 25th December 2022
Spouse’ BIL: 11th January 2023
Biometrics passed: 20th January 2023
Web form raised: 8th February 2023
Ready for visa email: 9th March 2023

No updates on the application tracker; eligibility and background check are still shown as “Not started” till now. Don’t be worried if you don’t get ghost updates or any similar clues we often track.

By the way, my international passport will expire on 5th September this year. Should I submit it like that for COPR processing or try to renew first? Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of this? I also would appreciate advice on what visa office to send our package to.

Thank you to everyone who has helped and encouraged me in this journey. Some of you have made such helpful posts that I have screenshots on my japa folder. God bless you all @Bilingualism @Graciouswords @Debie with the many e’s @asetake ati beebe lo

Hello, many congratulations on this. I wish you and your family the very best. I also got my RFV mail the same day you did, but I'm super confused on the EXACT next steps to take (I'm sorry for the emphasis on the exact). Do I need to book an appointment with VFS for submission or do I just send all required documents to them by courier. I'll be grateful if you can share any information you have regarding this. Thank you.