Our Journey to Another Land: The Flight

I have 5 more days to go before I start work (I’ll be sharing my experience in another post) and with a lot of things to share, I am using whatever free time I have left to write.

April 17, 2016 is our flight date, we’re flying with Philippine Airlines bound for Toronto with a technical stopover in Vancouver. We stayed in a hotel near the airport for easy and hassle free ride to the airport. But yeah, hassle happens.

Our flight tickets indicate that our departure port is at the Main Terminal and all along we assumed that it is NAIA Terminal 1. After saying our goodbyes to our family, we rode an Uber to the “Main Terminal” 4.5 hours before the flight. Since we have a lot of time, we tried to relax and enjoy our last few hours in Manila.

We are about to enter Terminal 1 when the guard who asked for our tickets told us that we are at the wrong terminal and that we are supposed to be in Terminal 2. After I did some verifications (through the information section and of course the internet), we are indeed leaving through Terminal 2 (PAL’s Main Terminal). With 3 hours to go, we arrived at Terminal 2.

Unfortunately, there were many passengers at that time and we have to queue for 30 minutes just to enter the terminal. Here you’ll see people bribing airport employees just so they can enter the terminal instantly. This is one of the reasons why you’ll want to leave the Philippines.

We are supposed to do a web check-in  and since PAL’s online applications are so reliable, we were not able do a web check-in and have to do it the old fashion way. After another 45 minutes, we were able to secure our boarding passes. Note that you need to pay travel taxes for all the people who will be travelling with you. You can look up the rates here http://tieza.gov.ph/travel-tax/. We paid a total of PHP 4250 for two adults and one minor.

After securing our boarding passes, we went to the immigration officer. Here, they will ask for your passports. You have to tell them that you will be migrating. They will then validate your PDOS sticker, your visa, as well as your passport details. It usually takes around 5 minutes if there’s no problem. After an agonising 3.5 hours we arrived at our gate. We boarded at round 3PM and due to some circumstances, we flew at around 430PM (1.5 hours delayed).

The seats that were provided to us were very comfortable with excellent leg room. We were transferred to a better Choice Seat. This is our first long haul flight and it was a good experience (at least the inflight experience with PAL is good). We arrived in Vancouver after 12 hours. Some passengers alighted here while Toronto-bound passengers stayed on the plane. After an hour, the plane continued its flight to Toronto for another 4.5 hours. We arrived at around 9PM Toronto time, 25 minutes earlier than the estimated arrival.

Be sure to fill-out the arrival card (one per family, be sure to declare monetary instruments that are more than CAD 10,000) provided by the flight attendants that will be presented to the Canadian immigration officer. After presenting your passports to the immigration officer, they will ask you to queue to another room where they process new residents. Here, you will present your Certificate of Permanent Residency (COPR), passports and other documents for after around 45 minutes. Then, they will welcome you to Canada and will tell you that your PR Card will be sent to your indicated address in 4-6 weeks. They will also give you an instruction sheet on how to update your address if ever you will be changing your address.

You will now collect your luggages and will proceed to customs. Here you will declare monetary instruments exceeding CAD 10,000 and if the customs officer deemed necessary, a detailed list of all belonging accompanying you and those that are to follow. The officer only asked for the E677 – CROSS-BORDER CURRENCY OR MONETARY INSTRUMENTS REPORT form and after that, we were able to exit the airport. We were welcomed by my cousin and a brother in The Feast.

It has been a week and three days since we’ve arrived and we are still adjusting to the time difference and of course, the cold weather. This post ends this section. I’ll be starting a new section soon where I will share all our experiences here as new permanent residents. Until next post.

Our Journey to Another Land: Things to Bring

Before flying, we made a checklist on what to bring. This will ensure that we have all the needed documents before we move out of the country. It’s actually not so hard to research since most web sites and blogs have a section on “things to do/bring before landing”.

My favorite sites for these kind of research are either canadavisa.com forum or settlement.org. Be sure to bring whatever you think you’ll be needing since it will be hard for you to get these documents/things once you’ve landed.

To Bring	Description
Passports	Must not be expiring within 6 months
Confirmation of Permanent Residence Form	This document should be included when they give you your visa, one for you and one per individual coming with you.
B4E – Personal Effects Accounting Documents (Accompanying items) B4A – Personal Effects Accounting Documents (Items to follow)	All items listed here will be tax free. Downloaded here: B4E: http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/publications/forms-formulaires/b4-eng.pdf B4A: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/forms-formulaires/bsf186a.pdf
E677 – CROSS-BORDER CURRENCY OR MONETARY INSTRUMENTS REPORT	If you are bringing more than CAD 10,000 (cash and any other monetary instruments) you need to declare this with the Canadian customs. http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/forms-formulaires/e677.pdf
Foreign Currency and Other Foreign Exchange-Denominated Bearer Monetary Instruments Declaration Form	This is the counterpart of form E677 in the Philippines. http://www.bsp.gov.ph/publications/tables/2012_11/news-11132012a1.pdf
Birth Certificates	Bring at least two copies per person. This can be ordered online now through this site: https://www.ecensus.com.ph/Default.aspx
Marriage Certificates	Bring at least two copies. This can be ordered online now through this site: https://www.ecensus.com.ph/Default.aspx
Medical Records	Bring all medical records, including the one you’ve submitted during your medical exam. This should be typewritten.
Dental Records	Ask your dentist for your dental records. Our dentist used the form from the Philippine Dental Association.
Children’s Vaccination Form	If you have children coming with you, be sure to have their pediatrician list down all the vaccines administered to your children. The form should also be included in your Visa pack but, if it’s missing, you can download it here: http://www.chinacanada.ca/ss/down/immunization.pdf
IELTS	Bring your original IELTS results
ECA	Bring your original Education Credential Assessment document
Transcript of Records	Bring at least two original or certified true copies of Transcript of Records coming from your school
Diploma	Bring the original diploma
COE	Bring original certificates of employment from all the companies that you and your wife worked for
Drivers License	Bring driver’s license and receipt
LTO Certification with Red Ribbon	Bring original document. Note this document has a 6-month expiry.
Bank Draft and Canadian Dollars	Bring all monetary instruments with you, you must declare if more than 10,000
Medicines	Bring medicines, especially if you have maintenance meds

In filling out the personal effects accounting documents, you need not list down everything per piece (although this one is advisable). You can lump it into logical groups such as clothes, gadgets, shoes, food, etc. In our case, the customs officer didn’t ask for this form and told us that the goods to follow form is what matters.

We still have jet lag, thus this post at 6 in the morning EST. Until next post.

Our Journey to Another Land: Getting your DFA Certified LTO Certification (Red Ribbon)

A week before our landing, after much pondering, I decided to get an LTO Certification with Ribbon so I can drive in Canada under G2 license without having to undergo G1 (Student License) training and examination (http://settlement.org/ontario/daily-life/transportation/driver-s-licence/i-have-a-driver-s-licence-from-another-country-how-do-i-get-an-ontario-driver-s-licence/)

Surprisingly, this process is not too tedious. Overall, even  though I’m dealing with two Philippine government agencies, it just took me a total of 35 minutes, which by Philippine government service standards is extremely rare. Anyway, below are the steps you need to do:

LTO Main Office (5-10 minutes to complete)

1. Photocopy your Driver’s License and License OR (do bring the original document)
2. Go to LTO Main Office located on East Ave, Quezon City
3. Go to Window 10, you can ask the security guards, it is within the vicinity of the chapel
4. Usually, there’s no line so just approach the officer and tell him/her that you’ll be applying for a DFA certified LTO Certification. Give them the photocopy of your license and OR.
5. The officer will give you a stub and will ask you to pay in Window 3.
6. Return to window 10 with the receipt, the officer will give you a claim stub that you will use when claiming the LTO certification from DFA Aseana after 5 business days (claim date is indicated in the stub)

DFA Aseana (30-40 minutes to complete)

1. Go to Gate 2 then drop your claim stub in window 4 (Be sure to check the claim date in the stub to ensure that your LTO has already forwarded your certification to DFA.) then wait for your name to be called either from window 5 or window 7.
2. Once your name is called, the officer will give you a payment slip that you need to bring to window 9 (Be sure to remove the stapled payment slip from the other documents to avoid delay). The cashier will give you a receipt.
3. Bring the receipt together with all the documents given to you in window 7 or 5 to window 9 and write your name in the claimant registration form. Sit down and wait for your name to be called again.
4. Once your name is called (either from window 5,6 or 7), line up and get your DFA Certified (red ribbon) documents. Ensure that you have two documents (the DFA certification and The LTO certification) and that the details are correct.

Although the process is quite fast, I believe they can make it faster. Maybe by having a DFA processor in LTO or the other way around.

I’m lagging behind on my blog posts, as of writing, I’m already in Canada and I’m writing this entry at 3AM due to jet lag. The next post will be about our departure and arrival.

Our Journey to Another Land: Securing the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) Sticker

We’re almost ready to fly to Canada in two weeks time, but before that, we need to secure a Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) sticker from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO). Immigration officers need to see this attached to your passport before they put a stamp during your departure from the Philippines (note that if you’ll be travelling from any country other than the Philippines to Canada, you may not attend the seminar, but this is not recommended.)

So what is PDOS and why do you have to secure one? PDOS is a free country-specific seminar conducted by CFO for people immigrating to different countries, note that this seminar is different from the one being conducted by POEA which is specifically for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). In this seminar, they will tell you  high-level information about the pre-departure processes and information, departure and landing processes, what to do as soon as you arrive in Canada, how to maintain your PR and how to get Citizenship to name a few. Personally, I find this seminar really helpful and yes, I recommend my fellow countrymen to attend this seminar.

Fortunately, starting April 11, 2016, they will be implementing the online registration fully for CFO Manila office and no walk-ins will be accepted anymore. This means that you can now select the date and time of the seminar that is most convenient for you. They conduct seminars from Mondays to Fridays at 930AM-12Noon for Canada bound immigrants. You can visit https://cfo.ph/PDOS_Reservation/ for reference.

You’ll be needing the following documents on the day of your seminar:

• Original and photocopy of passport (must be valid about six months before date of travel)
• Original and photocopy of visa
• Original and photocopy of Confirmation of Permanent Residence for Canada-bound emigrant (must not be torn or signed before departure).
• One (1) 2×2 or passport-size photograph
• One (1) valid identification card with photograph (eg., SSS ID, GSIS E-card, PRC ID, driver’s license, postal ID, ARC, etc.)
• Payment of Php 400.00 registration fee
• Photocopy of employment contract (for immigrant workers)

The filling-out of forms is really tiring. Ensure that you are entering the correct details. Although your COPR document states that your dependents are also primary applicants, during the registration you have to ensure that you tag them as dependents. This error cost us an additional two hours of waiting and queueing (once you have a correction, they have to encode it again, which doesn’t make sense). Also, note that although children 12 years old and below are exempted from attending the seminar, you still need to register them in the system and pass the requirements indicated above to CFO.

Now that we’ve completed the last requirement for pre-departure, all that’s left for us is to fly. I’ll be sharing this experience in my next post.