Pre-Arrival Service: Pathways to Canada

Two Pre-Arrival Services

There are two Canadian pre-arrival services funded by the Government of Canada available for immigrants to Canada here in the Philippines. First is the Planning for Canada and the other one is Pathways to Canada by Multicultural Helping House Society.

Even though we are still waiting for our Passport Request (PPR) but my family and I was able to attend a pre-arrival orientation conducted by Pathways to Canada – Multicultural Helping House Society in Davao City on February 19, 2018.

Last February 9, 2017, I sent a private message in their Facebook page inquiring if we do qualify to attend their orientation even though we haven’t received yet an email from IRCC inviting us to avail one of the available pre-arrival services.  And we are still waiting for PPR but we have already passed Medical and have UCI. Within an hour, they responded our inquiry. Good thing they have a branch office in Davao City so people from Mindanao can attend an orientation anytime without traveling to Manila.

After we provided our contact number, the Davao Branch Office contacted us and registered our family for an orientation over the phone. What was asked was our name, the UCI of the principal, birth date and our applicable NOC. Then after 10 minutes we received the confirmation of appointment through email. Date and time of the orientation, office address, the topics to be discussed and the documents we need to bring were noted in the email.

We Got Lost

Davao Office was located at Unit 2H Anda Corporate Center, F Inigo St (formerly Anda St), Davao City. Came February 19, 2018, around 9 am we were already in the area trying to look for the office. But we can’t find any signage of the Multicultural Helping House Society. We cannot find it also in Google Map nor Waze applications. We texted the office contact number but we received no reply.

Finally Found it!

As we drove along the street, we found the AndaRizal Center beside the CAP building. We thought this is the building we are looking for. We waited until 10 am but the building was still closed. So we decided to asked the guard of the adjacent building and found out we that waited for nothing. The Anda Corporate Center was in the next block. It was already 10:15 am when we arrived at the office.

Fritz and I had a personalized orientation with our facilitator Ms. Jen while the kids were assisted by the other staff (I forgot her name).  As we started with the session, she provided us with a notepad and a Study Guide for New Immigrants. The topics discussed are the following:

1. Interview process and procedure at the port of entry
2. Documents needed: travel and settlement documents
3. Philippines airport procedures, taxes and fees
4. Overview about the Province of New Brunswick and Canada as a whole
5. Things to be accomplished in the first 2 weeks in Canada
6. Tips on preparing resume
7. Tax and benefits

Since the session was only for both of us, Fritz and I can freely asked questions along our discussion. The atmosphere was very light that we won’t hesitate to ask some questions. Ms. Jen was generous enough to share with us the soft copy of the training materials and forms.

Even though we already do some research but still we learn something from the session. We are now two steps ahead of the rest. Hopefully PPR will arrive soon.