Many Nigerians have Canada as their dream country to migrate to. Hence, now and then they often shuffle the net looking for the travel requirements to Canada. Even more, Canada PR requirements for Nigerians. With the knowledge that having a Canadian PR gives them a more solid ground in the country and makes it easy for them to migrate anytime they choose without much hassle during visa application.
Meanwhile, recent statistics show that over 12,000 Nigerians own PR in Canada. This became possible due to the open arms of the Canadian government, while still, Nigerians have all the necessary skills, educational requirements, and energy-driven to live in Canada.
Nevertheless, it becomes worrisome how Nigerians in Canada can secure a PR as some Nigerians in Canada do not know how to go about obtaining PR in the country. Furthermore, those still back home also need information on how they can do this to make things easier for them during processing.
So, this leads our team of professionals to quickly respond to this heating query. Thus, we’ve carefully compiled a good guide on how Nigerians can obtain PR in Canada. While still on the other lighter side, we highlighted the 5 major Canadian PR requirements for Nigerians. Ensure you carefully read through this page to see the steps on how to go about this.
What Is PR?
PR in this context is an abbreviation referring to Permanent Residency. While permanent residency refers to a person’s legal resident status in a country or territory of which such a person does not have citizenship. Thus, with the PR they will have the right to reside permanently in the country. Therefore, the PR usually serves for a permanent period. While we refer to anyone with such legal status as a permanent resident of that country. Countries like the United States refer to such people as green card holders but more formally as Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR).
Meanwhile, note that permanent residency differs from the right of abode, which waives immigration control for such persons. So, people who have PR still require immigration control if they do not have the right of abode. On the other hand, having a right of abode automatically grants you permanent residency. Sometimes the right of abode also gives you access to work permits in most cases. Interestingly, in many Western countries, the status of permanent resident typically grants a right of abode to the holder despite not being a citizen of the particular country.
5 Canada PR Requirements For Nigerians
If you intend to go to Canada as a Nigerian, you need to determine what you want to do there before leaving. Even without determining this and clearly stating it, the embassy may reprimand your visa application. So, there exist many reasons one may decide to go to Canada. It may be for education or a job, or even a decision to relocate. Whichever the case falls under, we’ve highlighted the 5 Canada PR requirements for Nigerians in a nutshell. After which we carefully gave procedures on how to go about each of them. See them below;
How to Apply for Canadian Permanent Residency from Nigeria
We recommend you carefully follow the steps below to secure your Canadian Residency permit. We have carefully aligned the procedures, so pay to close attention.
#1. Check For Your Eligibility Requirements
The first step towards obtaining your Canadian PR includes checking your eligibility status. To do this, you have to follow the process below;
Step 1a – Take The Quiz To Find Out If You Are Eligible
You’d have to take a simple quiz online to determine if you can apply for the Canadian PR. The quiz is free of charge, and you can take it by yourself. During this simple online quiz, when you reach the point of filling for a language test, if you have not done a language test before, you can give yourself a speculative test score and fill out your other information. However, we propose you assign yourself a test score lower than what you think you may score in real-time. This is so you can gauge the amount of room you have to play around with.
Step 1b – Find Out What Your Work NOC Is
You also have to determine what the NOC of your work entails. NOC stands for the National Occupational Classification (NOC) in Canada. This system helps to describe the occupations of Canadians. It gives statisticians, labor market analysts, employers, career counselors, and individual job seekers a standardized way of understanding and describing the nature of work.
Hence, this comes with great importance as you can only color your work history in one NOC. This implies that if you’ve bounced around from one job description to another, you will need to select the one that you have the longest number of consistent years of work. It doesn’t matter if you have done multiple jobs as long as your jobs have all been in one NOC, they count.
#2. Document Requirements
While trying to obtain a Canada PR as a Nigerian, you have to consider that you have ready the necessary documents needed for the application. Among these documents include the language test document and your academic results. You can see the guide below on how to properly go about this:
Step 1 – Register For The Language Test And Get Your Result
After taking the eligibility quiz in the initial step, the next step includes registering for the language test. The language test usually costs around $208 which is equivalent to CAD275 or N75,000. Meanwhile, obtaining this document may take up to 2 to 3 months.
Eventually, everyone who applies for the Canadian PR permit has to take a language test to show proficiency in either French or English. Additionally, if you can prove both you get bonus points.
Step 2b – Prepare Your Documents For The Wes Evaluation
During your two or three months of IELTS preparation, we also recommend you prepare your WES degree evaluation, so you can save time. Thus, you can’t skip this process if you attended school outside of Canada. Furthermore, the Canadian IRCC also has a list of certified organizations that can validate your degree and associate it with a Canadian one. This usually costs around $230 which is equivalent to CAD305 or N83,000. While obtaining this document may take up to 2 days.
While still, you can choose to analyze all your degrees or your most recent degree. Thus, IRCC only requires your most recent degree but you can use your highest degree. You need to figure out what works best for you. Importantly, note that if you evaluate multiple degrees under one WES profile, it costs the same as evaluating only one degree.
List of requirements for Nigerian degrees You Can Use for WES Evaluation
#3. Create an Online Express Entry Profile
Now that you have checked your eligibility status and you have all the necessary docents including your WES evaluation report and your language test results, you can now create an Express Entry profile. A good tip; you don’t know what the cut-off score will become however you can check what the cut-off for the last draw was (the week or two weeks before you check). This way, you will have an idea of whether you stand a high chance in the pool or not.
The online express entry profile will close within 60 days of opening. That is if you do not submit it, we recommend you try to complete it as soon as you can. When filling out the online form, you’d need to fill in your personal information, work history, test scores, degree details, etc. Hence, all these details add up to give you the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) Score. Therefore ensure to remain truthful and consistent During the process. Immediately you complete and cross-check your Express Entry profile, go ahead and submit it. Congratulations you have officially joined the Express Entry Pool.
#4. Wait for an Invitation to Apply (ITA)
When you join the pool of Express Entry, every two weeks, they make a draw from the pool of submitted Express Entry profiles. This draw offers ITAs to selected candidates. An ITA implies that you can now begin the official application process for PR. The exact cut-off score used for the draw is determined by the number of selections the committee plans to select from that draw. For instance, if they need 4,000 selections from that draw, they pick the highest 4,000 candidates in the pool on that date and the 4,000th person’s score becomes the cut-off point. However, if a tie exists for the 4,000th person, they use factors like date and time of submission to break the tie.
Additionally, while you wait for an ITA, you can register in the Job Bank and start looking for jobs.
#5. Apply for Canadian Permanent Residency
If you successfully receive an ITA, you can now apply for your Canadian PR permit. You will need to prepare your application and submit all your documents. Importantly, note that your fee of CAD1,040 falls into two splits; CAD550 application fee and CAD490 right to permanent residence fee. If you do not successfully get the CAD490 will receive a refund. While you only have a duration of 60 days to complete this application.
This usually costs around USD 785 which is equivalent to CAD1,040 or N282,600 per adult applicant. While for a dependent child, it cost about USD 113 equivalent to CAD150 or about N54,000. It usually takes up to 6 months to see the outcome of the application.
Documents Required:
Thus, if you are sure you have all your documents ready, you can start your application on the portal and upload scanned copies of all your documents. Ensure to follow all necessary guidelines for the size, clarity, and resolution of all documents. You will also make your payment your payment online.
However, at some point, the Embassyor VFS may request you to come for your biometrics data.
Eventually, you will receive a PPR (Passport Request email Ready) for Visa.
Once you receive this letter, you can send in your passports. Your PR approval will also come with a deadline when you have to enter Canada or else they will invalidate your PR. This usually takes between 6 months to 1 year from the approval.
Frequently Asked Questions About Canada PR Requirements For Nigerians
If you want to relocate alone, you must ensure your proof of funds should be about N5,300,000 or more. Yes, you will not necessarily “spend” your proof of funds to relocate to Canada, however, you simply need to show it as proof that you have enough to cover your cost of living for at least 6 months when you arrive in Canada.
Yes, it may appear challenging to obtain. However, it is certainly not impossible. Meanwhile, there exist various resources and support systems ready to help individuals through the process. Nevertheless, one myth about the process includes the saying that getting PR in Canada is time-consuming. This is not true!
Facts about obtaining the PR in Canada include, you should score 67 points out of 100 in the eligibility factors. Thus, people who fall in the age range of 18-35 years get maximum points. While those above 35 get lesser points. However, the maximum age to qualify is 45 years.
After checking your eligibility status and you scored up to 67 points, you qualify to apply for Canada PR through Express Entry System. When they accept your application in the Express Entry pool, you will receive an invitation to apply (ITA) for permanent residence. However, you have to ensure to have a high CRS score if you want to receive an invitation.
The processing time for visas in Nigeria can take up to 30 days or more. This depends on some factors like the type of application submitted, the volume of applications received, and whether the application is complete. You can collect your passport and visa from the visa applicant center where applied or delivered via courier service.
Conclusion
Finally, obtaining a Permanent Resident permit in a tier 4 country somewhat looks like a golden achievement. As this will automatically secure your entry to the country anytime you choose. Hence, if you have carefully gone through these 5 major Canadian PR requirements for Nigerians you know the right step to take now toward securing your Canadian PR permit.
Meanwhile during this process, if you encounter any problem, always feel free to contact us or ask any questions still ambiguous to you.