Well, it has been a little while. We've been busy not shovelling rain (as it has been surprisingly sunny the last few weeks in our particular bit of this little island). The last thing we reported was that Mr's application was 'in process'. We settled down for a long wait to hear about what would happen next but then...only 3 (that's right - 3!!!) weeks after they started processing the application, it was approved and they were asking for his passport!!!! To say we were excited to hear this news is a huge understatement!
We hastily booked time off work and headed down to the high commission in London last week to drop off his passport for 'visa issuance'. We go back next week to collect the shiny new visa! Hurrah!! Despite other reports on the internet, we found the queueing system quite good and everything seemed to go to plan (aside from my high levels of anxiety while picnicing in the square next to the building). They only allowed Mr inside the building, though so I have no idea what happens in there. They may have made him wrestle a bear or sing 'Oh Canada' backwards for all I know!
We can't wait to go back next week and then celebrate with a couple of drinks in the Canadian pub - more to follow soon!!!
Great news, eh?!
Thursday 25 March 2010
Monday 1 March 2010
Go Canada Go!
It's a shame that our application is already in progress, as I reckon if we could have submitted my pulse from yesterday's hockey as evidence the immigration guys would've just rubber-stamped the application there and then.Seriously, this was quite possibly the most exciting sporting event I've ever seen - only the F1 race in Brazil 2008 when Lewis Hamilton won the championship comes close. We were on the edge of our seats for the whole 3 and a bit periods, plus I managed to get to the shops for beer and Doritos in record time between 2nd and 3rd period. We may also have disturbed our upstairs neighbour with our yelling, cheering, commiserating and whoops of joy, all over three hours worth of a roller-coaster of emotion.
While we've watched a lot of hockey before, typically we've taped it and had to come back to it the next day given the time difference. I've seen only a handful of games live so to be able to watch this as it happened, in the evening (UK time - and not stupid o' clock) and to be able to experience what will truly be a classic game was quite special.
Only sad thing is that we're here in the UK and, while most people were aware of what was happening, there wasn't the level of interest. So we were both sad when the game had finished, the coverage had finished, and here we were. We called the folks in Canada who kindly put the phone to the telly so we could hear the medal ceremony. Mrs CSR was a bit sad and really missing home; hopefully not long now.
Oh yeah, and I had a dream the other night about "landing" as a permanent resident. I got through fine, stamped and allowed entry. And then I went on what can only be described as a disasterous all-night drinking session that made "The Hangover" look like a tea party. A night that ended with me waking up the following morning with a pain in my side. I look down to see bandages - turned out I'd had a huge maple leaf tattoo'd on my side! Hahahaha (I mean, I'm laughing on the outside but my mind is quietly fearing the fact that this could happen and is hoping Mrs CSR keeps a close eye on me when we land....)
No news on the application front beyond last week, but then no news is good news.
GO CANADA GO!
Mr CSR
Monday 22 February 2010
Exciting times!
Hello again,
Well, it's been an eventful couple of weeks. Last time we wrote we had just received our "decision made" letter from CIC. And a most welcome decision made too :-)
Since then, the Vancouver Winter Olympics have started and myself and Mrs Can't Shovel Rain have been making it our mission to watch every conceivable minute of coverage! It's been pretty cool for me, as I started to notice that I was rooting for the Canucks (I guess there wasn't too many Brits participating ahahaha!).
We've also been obsessively checking the CIC website to see if anything has changed. It's difficult to keep motivated on the now when we have this super exciting time in our lives to look forward to. So naturally, we're checking twenty times a day.
Well, today we couldn't check as the site was temporarily unavailable. But on the bus home from work, Mrs CSR called from home to say that London was progressing my part of the application!
It's all very exciting although it's a bit nerve-wracking to think that the rest of the application is all about me Basically, now the wife has had authorisation to sponsor me the next stage is to "check me out". It feels weird that we've provided evidence on our lives to someone else to make a decision that's going to change our futures. It's weird to see your life together in an envelope! I just hope we sent them enough; that said, short of having the Visa people move in with us to see that we are a proper married couple, I'm not sure what else we could do!
One day, I think we'll do a little retrospective on the application process, given this blog started after we submitted our paperwork. It was a fun process trying to work out what we needed to do, especialy as me and Mrs CSR are both so thorough we'd look for problems where there isn't any.
But for now, we'll continue to check the status with CIC with trademark obsession!
PS - go Canada! :-)
Well, it's been an eventful couple of weeks. Last time we wrote we had just received our "decision made" letter from CIC. And a most welcome decision made too :-)
Since then, the Vancouver Winter Olympics have started and myself and Mrs Can't Shovel Rain have been making it our mission to watch every conceivable minute of coverage! It's been pretty cool for me, as I started to notice that I was rooting for the Canucks (I guess there wasn't too many Brits participating ahahaha!).
We've also been obsessively checking the CIC website to see if anything has changed. It's difficult to keep motivated on the now when we have this super exciting time in our lives to look forward to. So naturally, we're checking twenty times a day.
Well, today we couldn't check as the site was temporarily unavailable. But on the bus home from work, Mrs CSR called from home to say that London was progressing my part of the application!
It's all very exciting although it's a bit nerve-wracking to think that the rest of the application is all about me Basically, now the wife has had authorisation to sponsor me the next stage is to "check me out". It feels weird that we've provided evidence on our lives to someone else to make a decision that's going to change our futures. It's weird to see your life together in an envelope! I just hope we sent them enough; that said, short of having the Visa people move in with us to see that we are a proper married couple, I'm not sure what else we could do!
One day, I think we'll do a little retrospective on the application process, given this blog started after we submitted our paperwork. It was a fun process trying to work out what we needed to do, especialy as me and Mrs CSR are both so thorough we'd look for problems where there isn't any.
But for now, we'll continue to check the status with CIC with trademark obsession!
PS - go Canada! :-)
Saturday 6 February 2010
Dear CIC Agent EC,
Many thanks for your recent letter (received 6th February 2010) indicating that Mrs Can't Shovel Rain is indeed eligible to sponsor Mr Can't Shovel Rain. We gratefully received your commendation for the processing of our application by the Visa office in London and look forward to hearing from your compatriots in the Big Smoke soon.
Love and Hugs,
Mr & Mrs Can't Shovel Rain
Many thanks for your recent letter (received 6th February 2010) indicating that Mrs Can't Shovel Rain is indeed eligible to sponsor Mr Can't Shovel Rain. We gratefully received your commendation for the processing of our application by the Visa office in London and look forward to hearing from your compatriots in the Big Smoke soon.
Love and Hugs,
Mr & Mrs Can't Shovel Rain
Tuesday 2 February 2010
How many times should you check the mailbox in one day?
28 January 2010: no record found...
29 January 2010: no record found...
30 January 2010: no record found...
31 January 2010: no record found...
1 February 2010, 3:00pm:
why check again...sigh...we're not going find anything...it's only 11 am in Mississauga, there won't be any updates...okay, okay, let's check one time and then wait till Wednesday (they "officially" update the web system on Tuesdays).
1 Februrary 2010, 3:02pm:
DECISION MADE!!!!!!
So all we officially know right now is a decision has been with regards to Mrs' eligibility to sponsor Mr to Canada and that they have mailed us a letter with more information. But progress is progress and we are excited! We are assuming it was a good decision and that our paperwork (just to recap: containing all our personal details in one convenient A4 sized envelope) is in transit to the Canadian High Commission in London.
Waiting in anticipation for our letter,
Mr & Mrs
29 January 2010: no record found...
30 January 2010: no record found...
31 January 2010: no record found...
1 February 2010, 3:00pm:
why check again...sigh...we're not going find anything...it's only 11 am in Mississauga, there won't be any updates...okay, okay, let's check one time and then wait till Wednesday (they "officially" update the web system on Tuesdays).
1 Februrary 2010, 3:02pm:
DECISION MADE!!!!!!
So all we officially know right now is a decision has been with regards to Mrs' eligibility to sponsor Mr to Canada and that they have mailed us a letter with more information. But progress is progress and we are excited! We are assuming it was a good decision and that our paperwork (just to recap: containing all our personal details in one convenient A4 sized envelope) is in transit to the Canadian High Commission in London.
Waiting in anticipation for our letter,
Mr & Mrs
Monday 25 January 2010
Satellite delay
Okay, okay, okay...
So we start this blog in September 09 to try to document our trials and tribulations while jumping through the hoops of emigrating (and returning) back to Canada that the government sets up for us...
As it turns out it took us four months to get our bums in gear and actually get all our paperwork sorted, stamped and posted.
The story so far:
Well, after deciding last summer (August 08...and am currently being corrected by 'mr' that it is now the summer before last...sigh...pedant...) to explore the options of me (mrs can't shovel rain) returning to Canada with my UK husband in tow (yes, that would be mr can't shovel rain), we immersed ourselves in the wacky and wonderful world of Canadian Customs and Immigration. After wading through the forms and buying a book to help us we decided to start prepping for our new life and aim to submit our immigration forms by the end of 2009.
Now, you would think that two fairly-not-unintelligent people such as ourselves would be reasonably confident with forms and such like but I think I speak for both of us when I say we were surprised at just how daunting a prospect it was. Having decided it was something we both wanted very badly, the terrifying fear of getting something wrong settled over our heads like the grey cloud that permanently hovers over the UK.
Despite this sense of uncertainty, we forged ahead, trying in vain to sort out things out in our flat and start selling off bits of our old life, like an antique china collection at a flea market. Roll on autumn 2009 when we finally start making some headway - we go to an emigration expo for some pointers and to meet some people who could ship our remaining old life items when the time comes. We were hoping to meet someone who could help with the one or two questions we had about the specifics of the forms but alas! this was not to be (well not quite anyway and without going into a huge rant about the ethics of immigration consultants...enough said).
So we spend the last few months of 2009 downloading forms, uploading photos, drinking coffee, printing forms, printing photos, drinking coffee, giving blood, finding spelling errors, reprinting forms, drinking gin, paperclipping, collating and stapling the last five years of our life into one, manageable A4 envelope to send off.
And the big question...did we make it before the end of 2009? Well...technically yes, we did have everything ready and packaged...but due to Christmas and the unprecedented snowfall in the UK this December (*suppressed laughter of the irony of SNOW in the UK delaying post to CANADA...*) we thought it would be best to post in the new year. It did all go early January 2010 and so begins our blog of immigration hi jinks and misadventure.
Apologies for the slight satellite delay...
Yours,
mrs
So we start this blog in September 09 to try to document our trials and tribulations while jumping through the hoops of emigrating (and returning) back to Canada that the government sets up for us...
As it turns out it took us four months to get our bums in gear and actually get all our paperwork sorted, stamped and posted.
The story so far:
Well, after deciding last summer (August 08...and am currently being corrected by 'mr' that it is now the summer before last...sigh...pedant...) to explore the options of me (mrs can't shovel rain) returning to Canada with my UK husband in tow (yes, that would be mr can't shovel rain), we immersed ourselves in the wacky and wonderful world of Canadian Customs and Immigration. After wading through the forms and buying a book to help us we decided to start prepping for our new life and aim to submit our immigration forms by the end of 2009.
Now, you would think that two fairly-not-unintelligent people such as ourselves would be reasonably confident with forms and such like but I think I speak for both of us when I say we were surprised at just how daunting a prospect it was. Having decided it was something we both wanted very badly, the terrifying fear of getting something wrong settled over our heads like the grey cloud that permanently hovers over the UK.
Despite this sense of uncertainty, we forged ahead, trying in vain to sort out things out in our flat and start selling off bits of our old life, like an antique china collection at a flea market. Roll on autumn 2009 when we finally start making some headway - we go to an emigration expo for some pointers and to meet some people who could ship our remaining old life items when the time comes. We were hoping to meet someone who could help with the one or two questions we had about the specifics of the forms but alas! this was not to be (well not quite anyway and without going into a huge rant about the ethics of immigration consultants...enough said).
So we spend the last few months of 2009 downloading forms, uploading photos, drinking coffee, printing forms, printing photos, drinking coffee, giving blood, finding spelling errors, reprinting forms, drinking gin, paperclipping, collating and stapling the last five years of our life into one, manageable A4 envelope to send off.
And the big question...did we make it before the end of 2009? Well...technically yes, we did have everything ready and packaged...but due to Christmas and the unprecedented snowfall in the UK this December (*suppressed laughter of the irony of SNOW in the UK delaying post to CANADA...*) we thought it would be best to post in the new year. It did all go early January 2010 and so begins our blog of immigration hi jinks and misadventure.
Apologies for the slight satellite delay...
Yours,
mrs
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