PR as an Early Childhood Educator with Full Support

The first reason I aimed for permanent residence was this: originally I planned to study abroad for one year and become an English teacher after returning to Japan, but I started thinking it would be nice to stay in Vancouver a little longer. At the time I was volunteering at a kindergarten and became interested in working as an early childhood educator in Canada. When I told my JP counselor about it, they said, “If you go to a school that qualifies you for a Post-Graduation Work Permit and work full time for a year, you can apply for immigration! There’s a way to stay in Canada!” That was what first got me thinking about immigrating.

I had originally been using JP Canada Study Abroad Center (JPカナダ留学センター), and when I was applying for my Post-Graduation Work Permit, my counselor at the time introduced me to Visa JP Canada. I had heard that you could apply for a PGWP on your own, but I wanted to be careful with anything visa-related, so I asked Visa JP Canada to handle it.

First, I needed to work for a year after getting my qualification, so I looked for a job. I got my PGWP in April and found a full-time job starting in July. Because there was a three-month gap, I applied for a working holiday after the PGWP. (I asked Visa JP Canada to handle the working holiday too.) After I had successfully worked for a year, I consulted Ms. Yamashita. She said I needed IELTS first, so I started studying for IELTS, took the test, and successfully reached the required score. She had already gathered all the other application documents, so as soon as I cleared IELTS she sent in my application.

In my case, I kept my status going by applying for student → PGWP → working holiday → Bridging Open Work Permit ×2. I got my PR right after applying for my second Bridging Open Work Permit, lol. I asked Ms. Yamashita to handle everything, and I successfully got every visa.

What I remember most is when my CEC application passed the initial review and Ms. Yamashita told me, “The applications of people who submitted right after you were returned because the cap of 8,000 was reached. Ms. M, your luck is truly amazing!” It was really down to the wire, and my immigration application made it in just before the application method changed. As for difficulties, the application method changed right after I applied, and because of that it took almost 2 years to get my PR. So I got a little worried, wondering if they had forgotten about my documents.

Ms. Yamashita handled my case, and her work was incredibly fast. She submitted applications quickly and replied to emails right away, which was very reassuring. When I brought in my IELTS results or my medical exam receipt, she took care of it that same day, and I relied on her completely. I could trust her and ask her to handle my immigration application with total peace of mind. Thank you so much for looking after me for such a long time since 2013. Thank you, really, truly. I can’t thank you enough.

I first came to Vancouver in the summer of 2008. I stayed for a month and thought, “Someday I want to study abroad here long term!” Then in 2011 I made it back. Five years passed after that, and in the sixth year I finally got my immigration. It was a long time, but with the support and help of many people I kept going without giving up, so I really felt that if you keep believing and working hard without giving up, your dream will come true! So I really hope you’ll keep going with your immigration application without giving up.
My goal in Canada from now on is to keep working in jobs where I can be involved with children, so once things settle down, I’d like to go back to school to take the next step.

Besides getting permanent residence, you have another celebration coming up, right?

I’m marrying my boyfriend at the end of the year! Lol