Dreaming.In.Reality

Greetings friends and family!

Some of you I have kept up to date with, some of you not so much.. but most of you know that for the past three years I have been living in Ontario, Canada. Over the past 10 months, I had been waiting in the processing queue for Inland spousal applications. Through many months of frustration, tears, anger and lack of patience, I’m happy to say that on May 14th,2004, at approximately 12:20pm; I received my finalization of my permanent resident status.

The day did not go without a hitch. Matter of fact, it well within the normal occurances of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. What does that mean? It went absolutely horrible*L*

Kevin and I woke up nice and early to have a bit of breakfast and coffee to start our day. We arrived at the CIC Ottawa office, with plenty of time before my 10am “interview”. 10am, came and went, around 1045am, my name was called. Where was my interview going to be held? Right there at the service counter.. I may have been standing at the bank teller for all the looks of it. The CIC officer reminded us that we had not paid our Right of Residence Fee yet and we confirmed and asked for the cashier so we could take care of that. Of course she was off somewhere in the bowels of the inner office, doing whatever cashiers do when they’re not sitting at their desk in the front area.

Ten minutes later, she shows up to inform us, that we can only pay by certified check or certified money order. Their credit card/Interac(debit) system is down. When we tell them that we cannot pay that way, we are told that well.. we could just pop across to the credit union to the ATM and remove the grand worth of dollars we need to pay. If I remember correctly Kevin laughed at her. They said, “we can reschedule you for next week”. I told them “I’ve waited 10 months for you to figure this out, I don’t think so”.. We asked “when did you know the machine was down? Oh when we opened”.. well THANKS for the notice eh? We asked “When do we have to get the money to you today by. They say 1pm they close”. It’s now just about 11am, our bank is back near our building 25 minutes away.

We told them we’d be back ASAP, hopped in the car, wasting the $8 for parking, and drove like bats out of hell back to the south end of the city. At the bank, we waited 5 minutes before being served, got the money order, and then headed back downtown. Kev dropped me off at the door with bus fare because we didn’t have cash on us for another wasted half hour in the parking lot. I went in, gave the cashier the money order, and she disappeared for 10 minutes. She came back asking me if this was my money order, I felt like choking her. She credited it to my account, and I informed her I was not waiting in line. When I originally arrived.. my “take a number” was #62. In the 2 hours they were only serving #74, my new number was #95. She promptly gave my CIC officer my file again and I was helped right away.

I was asked just a few simple questions..Nothing too stressful.
1. Have you ever been convicted of a major crime in Canada
2. Have you ever been in Canada illegally
3. Have you ever been deported or forced to leave Canada4
4. Your marital status is this?/You still are married?/you still live here?

I gave him my passport and initialed where he indicated. He checked my ID, handed it back to me.. and started to sign his name on the line. As he was signing, he mentions to me, very nonchalantly, “When I am done signing my name here…(signing name).. Welcome to Canada”. I actually blurted out “That’s It?” He never asked to see my marriage certificate, he never asked to see any of my letters from CIC or my visitor’s visa. I never broke out any ID other than my passport. I will admit it was VERY anticlimactic.. and now reading other fellow immigrants stories.. mine.. just really does not seem that bad. Many are being ripped off on their health exams, their lawyer fees..

SO! All that is left, is to receive my Permanent Residence card. It should be here sometime in the next 4-5 weeks, hopefully on the sooner side. After that, the next step is Citizenship, where I will at the end of that carry dual between Canada and the US.. is 950.5 days away. So long, but with the way time seems to fly these days.. it will be here before I know it.

On that note..I bid you goodnight.. I shall see most of you in a month and a bit.. to celebrate this occasion, a few babies being born, a few weddings.. and most of all .. just to see my family and friends. I have missed you all.

With much love,

Xoxoxoxoxoxo
Rebekah