miserychick dot net

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Here’s the thing about a country that embraces immigration: they have their system down pat. My personal experience with Canada’s bureaucracy has been unbelievably smooth. The paperworks are straight forward (it took me a while to collect all of it, but that’s a different story), their website is informative and tells you exactly what you need to do (no lawyers needed), their call centre has long waiting time-just like any other-but the people answering the phone are the happiest bunch (seriously, and it’s not off-shore call centre either), and the people working behind the immigration counters are just amazingly nice. “So, Ann – ” the guy behind the counter looked up from the paperwork with a genuine smile and said “congratulations, you are now Canada’s permanent resident”. Then he proceeded to tell me what the details are and when I can apply for a citizenship. He was so smiley and so friendly, you couldn’t help but just be so damn happy about the whole thing. And we were. The ‘interview process’, as it were, took all of 35 minutes, with 3 different people. And about half of it was waiting for something to get printed or my name to be called. We had walked in with a folder full of original paperwork, documents and extra photos because the pink letter that had told me what to bring (basically: payment, passport, and photos) was suspiciously simple. All they needed, of course, was my payment ($490), my passport, and my photo. In the right order too. Only two questions were asked, one was “have you made the payment?” to which we said no and paid with a credit card; and question two, directed to Mark, was “are you employed?” to which he answered “I’m self-employed”. At this very moment I had a small ‘oh no, we’ll have to show our incorporation paper or something or other!’, but he just said, “ok, that’s great!” Great? Great! Really? That’s IT? AMAZING! I had compiled the paperwork and sent in my application last November. In April I was notified at the border, after a trip to Buffalo to buy the iPad, that my case is in process and I would be contacted some time in the future – they didn’t say when. Then in June a letter came in to say that my application has been accepted and please prepare the payment of $490 for your interview. The first interview date came in August and we realized that we couldn’t go because my sponsor (Mark) was going out of town. I sent a letter asking to move the interview date, and they sent me another date. And that was today. And that was that. Another permanent home. I thank my lucky stars.

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