So, as of this morning, David's flight is booked. We've been over the airport maps together (fortunately, I'm familiar with all the airports he's going through - which is only four, not eight like last summer when I went, thank goodness), I've scheduled time off for the first week he's here, we've gotten forms for medical coverage that can be sent off as soon as he's here and signs them... I'm not sure what else needs to be done! As an obsessive clean-freak, I guess that gives me not-quite three weeks to worry about whether my house is clean enough and yell at the dog every time he leaves dog food crumbs on the carpet.
I'll have to ponder what direction this blog will take now that we no longer have Immigration Canada to contend with...
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Monday, 1 February 2010
Almost done!
Thursday, January 28, after 22 months apart and 17 1/2 months in process, David got an email saying that his visa was ready to be issued. The visa office in Accra only issues visas on Monday, so we had to wait four days to finish this thing off. Today, he left the Canadian High Commission with his entry visa in his passport, and his Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR). He is now legally allowed into Canada!
It seems a little anticlimatic to have it end this way; after everything we had to put into this process, David simply submitted his passport, waited for a few hours, and then got what he needed. You would think that after all the difficulty and hoops we had to jump through, Immigration Canada could at least throw a bit of a party or print their visa on gold foil or something. Never-the-less, we are not going to complain. David finally has what he needs to join me in Canada, and this whole nightmare will be able to begin to fade into the past.
After shopping around for airfares, we think we've found the best one and are just waiting to confirm with the travel agent and pay for it. I found some crazy routes and prices (last night, I found a round trip for $8500, if you're looking to spend that much on a flight), but we're going to go with the travel agent who's always managed to get me out of travel troubles in the past (putting in another plug for Golden Rule Travel here - awesome agents to work with and they always get me a cheaper flight and better route than anything I can find online). David will have an ideal route, and it should be as comfortable and easy for him as a trip of that length can be. Unless something comes up with that airfare, he will be arriving in Canada (Calgary, AB) in the late morning of February 22 to officially "land," before a short flight further north to where we'll pick him up.
The only thing left in this process is for him to go through the landing interview. When I flew through Calgary in August, I had time to go to the Immigration section in the airport there and talk with an official. They'll be asking David a few questions to confirm the information in his file, have him sign the COPR in their presence, then get his address in order to issue his Permanent Residence Card. The official I talked to said it should take ten or fifteen minutes and then David will be good to go!
I know we won't be at the end of the paperwork (SIN, medical, resumes, applications, bank account, driver's license, etc, etc), but we won't have any more paperwork for Immigration Canada... until we start in on the citizenship process. :D
I'll post updates on his airfare, traveling, and landing as they happen! Thank you so much for everyone who has prayed for and helped us (emotionally and physically) in the last almost two years. A huge thanks to Al Payne at Sukh Dhaliwal's office in Surrey - I honestly think his inquiries had something to do with our application moving along the last several months, plus just having access to information on our file was so wonderful. Having the support of family, friends, and friends of friends that we sometimes didn't even know, has really been what's gotten us through the rough and lonely times. We're looking forward to having a couple months to reforge our bond and refigure out how a marriage where we actually live together works before Baby comes and our world explodes. And I say that with completely joyful expectation.
It seems a little anticlimatic to have it end this way; after everything we had to put into this process, David simply submitted his passport, waited for a few hours, and then got what he needed. You would think that after all the difficulty and hoops we had to jump through, Immigration Canada could at least throw a bit of a party or print their visa on gold foil or something. Never-the-less, we are not going to complain. David finally has what he needs to join me in Canada, and this whole nightmare will be able to begin to fade into the past.
After shopping around for airfares, we think we've found the best one and are just waiting to confirm with the travel agent and pay for it. I found some crazy routes and prices (last night, I found a round trip for $8500, if you're looking to spend that much on a flight), but we're going to go with the travel agent who's always managed to get me out of travel troubles in the past (putting in another plug for Golden Rule Travel here - awesome agents to work with and they always get me a cheaper flight and better route than anything I can find online). David will have an ideal route, and it should be as comfortable and easy for him as a trip of that length can be. Unless something comes up with that airfare, he will be arriving in Canada (Calgary, AB) in the late morning of February 22 to officially "land," before a short flight further north to where we'll pick him up.
The only thing left in this process is for him to go through the landing interview. When I flew through Calgary in August, I had time to go to the Immigration section in the airport there and talk with an official. They'll be asking David a few questions to confirm the information in his file, have him sign the COPR in their presence, then get his address in order to issue his Permanent Residence Card. The official I talked to said it should take ten or fifteen minutes and then David will be good to go!
I know we won't be at the end of the paperwork (SIN, medical, resumes, applications, bank account, driver's license, etc, etc), but we won't have any more paperwork for Immigration Canada... until we start in on the citizenship process. :D
I'll post updates on his airfare, traveling, and landing as they happen! Thank you so much for everyone who has prayed for and helped us (emotionally and physically) in the last almost two years. A huge thanks to Al Payne at Sukh Dhaliwal's office in Surrey - I honestly think his inquiries had something to do with our application moving along the last several months, plus just having access to information on our file was so wonderful. Having the support of family, friends, and friends of friends that we sometimes didn't even know, has really been what's gotten us through the rough and lonely times. We're looking forward to having a couple months to reforge our bond and refigure out how a marriage where we actually live together works before Baby comes and our world explodes. And I say that with completely joyful expectation.
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