Making Important Connections

This is something that didn’t just happen by chance… it was divinely orchestrated…. I know sounds like a cliché, right? And believe me I love a good cliché but, in this case, it does happen to be true! How we came to settle upon the Visa Specialist of our immigration dreams was serendipity at its best.

To make sure we were heading down the right track we spoke with friends of ours who had successfully immigrated to Canada years ago and the most important bit of advice they could offer was to use a Visa Specialist which gave us the final bit of reassurance we needed. We were going to do this, we were going to find the best Visa Specialist out there, only in our usual haphazard and tumbleweed fashion (let’s just see where the wind blows us!).

Sometimes an answer not yet blowing in the wind is stirring in the breeze.

So, for us the processes of finding a Visa Specialist went as follows…. prepare yourself it is quite a complicated process: 1) We did a Google search on Canadian Visa Specialists, 2) We looked at the top 3 Visa Specialists listed, 3) Two of the three invited us to complete an online visa assessment, which we did, 4) We waited for the results of the assessments. Technical stuff eh!

I know you are probably thinking that we are a couple of morons with no clue as to what we are doing, bumbling from one stage of immigrating to the next and no real thought or plan behind it. I mean who in their right mind decides to pack up their whole life just because they have that Sunday feeling and are dreading Monday. You might possibly be right in some respects, but it seemed to work for us, within a short period of time we had one of the results of our assessments back.

Disappointingly this assessment result was an outright rejection! WHAT THE EFF! How can they decide we were not eligible just by an online assessment? They had and it was as brutal as that. In all honesty this result did knock our confidence a little, we were already imagining all the amazing opportunities a life in Canada could bring and rejection stings, so it did put a dent in our optimism.

Never give up! Rejection is the first step to succeeding.

Canada was our option A, an option B didn’t even enter the equation, in fact there was no option B! Call us naive but we were so certain of a positive outcome, the thought that it might not happen made us nervous, we did not want to even contemplate it.

The result of assessment two however was far more promising in that it wasn’t an outright rejection and more of a let’s have a chat about your situation and then we can make an informed decision. We contacted the Visa Specialist via email and planned to discuss our situation in a phone consultation for a small fee which would give us a definitive answer.

Introducing the A Team

Our phone consultation was to be with Louise Willis from the Canadian Visa Specialists company Canadian Visa Specialists based in Montreal, Louise is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant offering advice on visa eligibility and services on the preparation and lodging of applications for visa applicants.

This phone call was one of the most important calls we have ever made and was a pivotal point in our immigration journey, fresh off the back of the first rejection we were naturally apprehensive. After the initial introductions the first part of the conversation was based mainly around the results of the assessment and our eligibility to immigrate to Canada based on points under the skilled worker visa. It was a no go for us, Louise really did not feel we had a viable chance of success with this visa, we had not considered any other visa options at that stage, so we were crushed! Our disappointment over the phone was palpable.

Rejection is really redirection.

We really appreciated the honesty even though this response was a huge blow to us, but the proverbial fat lady wasn’t singing yet. All credit to Louise (who must at times feel like the crusher of dreams) she did not stop there thankfully for us, Louise wanted to know what we wanted to do in Canada for a living (thank the lord for professional curiosity) and this was where we poured out our hopes and dreams about starting our silversmithing business in Canada.

You have a what now??

Yes! We have a silversmithing business which has been operational in NZ on a part time basis for some years now, and we want to run this business full time in Canada from home. I guess you are wondering why we didn’t mention it sooner and why we didn’t lead with that snippet of information when first talking to Louise. To be honest we hadn’t realised at that point that it would make a difference to us getting into Canada, or that there was a more appropriate visa (yep confirmed morons).

The more and more we discussed our dreams and plans for the business the more and more interested Louise became, we sent Louise the link to the business website, and she looked through it whilst we continued to chat on the phone. Our spirits began to pick up as we listened to the positivity and enthusiasm expressed by Louise as she looked at the images on the website, we started to allow ourselves to hope.

Louise seemed optimistic that there was a possibility we could get into Canada based on the business alone and this is where she introduced us to the self-employed visa. To be eligible for this visa you must have relevant experience in cultural activities or athletics and be willing and able to make a significant contribution to the cultural or athletic life of Canada. Louise seemed to think this would be a far more suitable visa and offer us the best chance of success.

Hope is the dream of a soul awake.

Hearing Louise be as excited as we were about the business and its potential success in Canada cemented in our minds that if we were going to trust anyone to help us navigate our way through the visa application minefield it was going to be Louise and the Visa Specialist team. So, we engaged their services and officially started our Canadian visa application, Louise and the team did not disappoint, engaging their services was one of the best decisions we have made throughout a journey that has traversed years and they have been with us every step of the way.

Despite what appeared to be a random and disorganised approach to starting our Canadian dream the doors of opportunity were opening, the universe was giving us a sign that we were on the right path, but this is where the slapdash approach had to end, and the real work begin.

Time to change from Policing!

To Silversmithing!