October 30, 2006

Complete

So, guess what arrived in the mail today. Our Permanent Resident Cards! We are officially in and done with the entire immigration process! Our cards expire 23-10-2011 (five years) at which point we can renew, or if things go well we will be Canadian Citizens in 2009 and won't have to worry about it.

So the final timeline:

Process Started: 11-04-2004
Application Submitted: 02-14-2005
Application placed in queue: 03-21-2005
Transferred to Seattle Consulate: 02-09-2006
Initial Assessment Complete/Request for Additional Info: 03-07-2006
Medical Examinations: 03-13-2006
FBI Clearances Received: 04-07-2006/04-20-2006
Second Round of Documents to CIC-Seattle: 04-20-2006
Request from CIC-MSB in Ottawa for further medical: 05-12-2006
Application approved (WE'RE IN!), Requests for passports: 08-07-2006
Passports returned with visas; we now have permanent resident status: 08-13-2006
Landing Date: 09-28-2006
Arrival of Permanent Residence Cards: 30-10-2006

In other news, I got a very nice phone call from Operation Springboard telling me that I didn't get the job, but they hoped I would apply for any future positions. One down, one to go ;-)

Posted by Nikolas at 03:46 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

August 13, 2006

Approval...in so many ways.

I'm a bit in shock right now because the doorbell just rang (at 8:15am on a Sunday) and I groggily made my way out of bed, fully expecting to be accosted by Jehovah Witnesses or a vacuum salesman. Instead, I opened the door to see a bright and chipper postman with an overnight package in his hand...the self-addressed stamped one I had included in my paperwork with the passports.

I hastily signed the form, thanked him and was immediately awake. Opening the package...out spilled our passports with Canadian Visas firmly attached in them, along with our landing documents, fingerprints and some of the school transcripts I had sent. Also, a letter...a glorious letter saying:

We are pleased to inform you that your application for permanent residence in Canada has been approved...we wish you every success in your new life in Canada.

I sit here dumbfounded. It's all over. 18 months of waiting is over. The entire process is over. The only thing left is to land. Wow.

So here is the completed timeline:

Application Submitted: 02-14-2005
Application placed in queue: 03-21-2005
Transferred to Seattle Consulate: 02-09-2006
Initial Assessment Complete/Request for Additional Info: 03-07-2006
Medical Examinations: 03-13-2006
FBI Clearances Received: 04-07-2006/04-20-2006
Second Round of Documents to CIC-Seattle: 04-20-2006
Request from CIC-MSB in Ottawa for further medical: 05-12-2006
Application approved (WE'RE IN!), Requests for passports: 08-07-2006
Passports returned with visas; we now have permanent resident status: 08-13-2006
We move to Canada (to borrow a phrase L-Girl): 09-28-2006

Holy Shit this is happening!

Posted by Nikolas at 08:25 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

August 07, 2006

A Chance to Breathe

Mason and I had a chance to go out and decompress over this whole situation.  We decided to go have a nice dinner at The Keg (which incidentally is a Canadian franchise) and talk about some of the stuff running through our heads.  It amazed me the tremendous amount of feelings I had flood my brain at once when I got home - elation, sadness, guilt, excitement, happiness, worry, fear, anticipation, anxiety and many, many more.  I didn't even know it was possible to feel all of these emotions at the same time.  I went from reading the letter over, and over again, to crying to bouncing off the walls.  The reality of the situation is starting to sink in.  The big question is what's next...

First off, I mail the passports off to the Consulate in Seattle tomorrow morning - they state they will have them back to us in 15 business days.

Then tomorrow I give my boss my 30-day notice (literally), since I was hoping for September 8th to be my last day of work.

I've just booked a flight to Toronto using Mason's United Miles for August 18th through the 25th - giving me a week to try and find a place to live for both of the dogs and us.  This is going to be the most stressful part I think, and the part I am most worried about. (A Cancer needs his shell, er...I mean home.)

The plan for right now is to leave the State and begin the move to Canada on September 26th or 27th for a three-day drive ending us up in Toronto by October 1st.

Ugh, my stomach is killing me know.

For those of you keeping track at home, here is the timeline so far:

Application Submitted: 02-14-2005
Application placed in queue: 03-21-2005
Transferred to Seattle Consulate: 02-09-2006
Initial Assessment Complete/Request for Additional Info: 03-07-2006
Medical Examinations: 03-13-2006
FBI Clearances Received: 04-07-2006/04-20-2006
Second Round of Documents to CIC-Seattle: 04-20-2006
Request from CIC-MSB in Ottawa for further medical: 05-12-2006
Application approved (WE'RE IN!), Requests for passports: 08-07-2006

Posted by Nikolas at 09:15 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

April 20, 2006

Priceless

Immigration Photographs for various reasons:$60.24
Medical Exams for two: $840.00
Canadian Immigration Fees (Total): $2740.00
Realizing that your dream will come true in less then six months: Priceless

Mason's fingerprints came in today and as soon as I made a copy of them I rushed down to the Post Office with our little packet and overnighted the whole thing to Seattle. They should get it tomorrow...now we wait again.

Timeline so far:

Application Submitted: 02-14-2005
Application placed in queue: 03-21-2005
Transferred to Seattle Consulate: 02-09-2006
Initial Assessment Complete/Request for Additional Info: 03-07-2006
Medical Examinations: 03-13-2006
FBI Clearances Received: 04-07-2006/04-20-2006
Second Round of Documents to CIC-Seattle: 04-20-2006

Now we do the Dance of Joy!

Posted by Nikolas at 05:06 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack