Well, it seems that the most interesting thing that I have done all year happened last week, and I didn’t blog about it. If you don’t blog about it, then what’s the point in doing anything

I thought I would lay out the whole residency thing, just so people know what a complete pain it all was:

So, as some of you may know, I am a British Citizen, but I moved to Canada nearly four years ago. I came out here because my girlfriend of six years had previously emigrated here on a family Residency application. Been a love-struck 25 year old, I couldn’t stand staying in the UK without her. So, I went about planning a way to get to Canada myself. I figured out that it was nigh on impossible to get in on the skilled worker class, because it is so expensive, and you have to accumulate all these points etc. Though, I figured out that I could come over as a student. I already had a Biology Degree, so I enrolled on a two-year course in Applied Chemistry and Microbiology. I then went about selling all my stuff to pay for the flight and the extortionate international student fees. I even did the unthinkable and sold 2 of my guitars, my massive Marshall amp, and all my effects rig. Clearly I was very in love

The course went rather well. In fact, I managed to cut my tuition fees by asking them to wave the pre-requisite requirements, and I did both the first and second years of the course at once. Now, this would drive many people insane, as I was doing over 30 hours or classes and Labs every week, with another 30 hours plus of homework assignment. It turned out well for me though, as I graduated with an A+, and even received an Award for Excellency. I’m a smug git, I know!

Upon graduation, the government told me that if I could find a job within 3 months, I could have a two-year permit. I quickly managed to secure a position at Axys Anaytical Services as a GC/MS Chemist, and got sent the work permit. It was all going swimmingly. Three months later my girlfriend and I moved out of her parent’s house and started renting our own place, then………… my company fell on hard times, and I was laid off, along with 30 other people. Now, this wouldn’t normally be a problem, as I am pretty well educated, and have good work experience. I had several good interviews and was offered a couple of new positions. I talked to the government about my work permit, and they told me that once I had successfully obtained a position it would take 3 months to change the company on my work permit, until that point I couldn’t actually start working. Obviously no companies would go for this, so I was doomed to perpetual unemployment. We were living on just my wife’s wages, and our dwindling savings for seven months, then at Christmas I got a call out of the blue from my old boss asking if I wanted to come back to work. This was pretty lucky, as we were becoming rather desperate.

So, I started working again, and a couple of months later Chrissy and I got married, on an icy cold February 3rd in 2007. A couple of weeks later my wife and I started to fill out the forms so that she could sponsor me to become a resident of Canada. It took a while to fill out the paper work, and they wanted a huge amount of proof, such as the guest list to our wedding, photos of us together when we were dating etc. etc. and of course lots of money J Finally though we got it sent of to Citizenship and Immigration. Then we began the waiting game. After 3 months I received a letter to tell me that the government had received my application, but that it had not yet been opened, argh! About another 6 months later I was told that I had passed the initial requirements for residency, and that I now had to get a security check done with the UK government. The annoying thing was that they told me I wouldn’t need one previously. Getting the paperwork from the Hampshire Police took a few months (unsurprisingly), but we finally got it together and sent it off. Again we waited. After a few months I noticed that my status on the immigration website said “Decision made”, ominous eh? I called them up, but they wouldn’t tell me what that meant! A few months later they sent me a letter, which told me to expect to get a letter, which would tell me to come to an interview. Seriously! So, a few weeks later, said letter came, and we went to the interview. The interview was very simple, they just wanted to confirm the details on our application, and of course to ask for another $500 to print my card.

So, end of story, I can now live here, and I once my card arrives I can leave the country. Our first trip will probably be to the UK to see friends and family at Christmas. How exotic!

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