Immigration Story

S o I just want to ramble for a bit about this whole immigration process, how involved it's been, and how much it's been nothing like we (that is, my husband, Dave, and myself) thought it would be.

Before I begin let me explain something.  I'm from Michigan and my husband lives in Ontario, about a two hour drive from where I lived in Michigan.  So it wasn't a huge move, physically.  I grew up living in border cities; two of the cities had border crossings.  Crossing the border was common for me and I never thought of Canada as being a seperate country from the U.S. until it came time to do the immigration paperwork.

Okay, so first of all, immigrating to another country is made difficult for a reason. I'm not entirely sure what that reason is but I think said country's government wants you to prove you really want to be there. That being said, we had absolute no help at all from the Canadian government through this whole process. And that, of course, was to be expected. Every bit of information we acquired about anything was through many many hours of searching various websites online. We dug around and shared with each other every website we could find. We have friends that have immigrated but only to the states, not from. So the advice from them was helpful but not always relevant. The mysterious lack of straightforward information was frustrating, to say the least. But, again, to be entirely expected.

We spent tons of time preparing our application before actually submitting it. Last November I paid for and went through a required medical exam that included a physical, urine test, blood test, and chest x-rays. I paid to have myself fingerprinted at the local sheriff department. And then paid to have those fingerprints sent to the FBI for a required background check and police clearance. I gathered phone records, emails, literally 100+ photos, notes, everything that proved we were in a real relationship. Wrote for them about how we met, when he met my family and friends, who he met, how often we visited each other, what our wedding was like, etc. Went over all this information several times, writing a rough draft of my half of the entire application before recopying it. David had his own section of the application which was mostly about supporting me monetarily but also questions about when I met his family and so on. I paper clipped everything in sections and then labeled those sections. And then we sent all of this in (with of course around $1400) and prayed that we'd hear back soon. We understood from the websites that from this point it could take anywhere from 9 months to more than a year before I'd be approved.

We heard back in about a month that our application was sent to the Buffalo, NY, Canadian Consulate office. Expected time frame. Looked good. About a month and a half later they sent us another letter stating that our application was being sent to the Detroit Canadian Consulate office. Many friends and family were shocked at how long it was taking. We were shocked at how quickly it was moving along. Everything we'd read said it would take at least another month or two to get to this point. This was the first unexpected thing to happen.

About another month later I received another letter telling me to get a police clearance from the state of Michigan as well. So I sent in my extra copy of fingerprints and a check to the Michigan State Headquarters in Lansing. Got it back in about a week and sent it to the Consulate.

About two weeks went by when I received my letter approving my application and informing me that my Visa was ready for issuance. What?! My mother informed me of this on my cell phone after I had instructed her to please open the letter. I screamed and called Dave, Dave's family, and all of mine as well. We couldn't believe this. What we thought would take at least 4-5 months longer was done. This was the second unexpected thing to happen.

So Dave and I discussed when would be best for me to move. I waited a couple weeks before putting my two weeks into work and then started seriously packing. While packing I created lists of everything I was to bring with me. This list is required of any immigrant coming into Canada. And if you mess up this list, it can be bad news. So the night I planned to move I had most of the family helping me rewrite this looooong list of belongings. I had every box labeled with a different number that coincided with a page on the manifest. If the customs officers wanted to check any box, I'd be able to easily tell them what was in it. My family and I finally finished the list (nearly all of us with writer's cramp) about an hour or 2 after we had wanted to leave. This was around 1am Saturday morning, late at night to avoid bridge traffic. I couldn't believe I was finally ready to move to Canada. The caravan of family members helping move got ready to go. And we headed for the border.

The customs agent at the booth was weird but friendly. Sent us over to Customs, of course. We went into the office, me smiling and with my packet of paperwork in hand. The first customs agent was shocked at how well organized I was, with the numbered boxes system and all. He told me that he thought he was married to me and that his wife would have done the same thing. Then told me that he wished he had the energy to check my belongings. What!? We all just spent 2-3 hours writing the list and he wasn't even going to check it?! It made it all move faster but that sucked. Oh well. So this was the third very unexpected thing to happen.

The agent sent me over to the adjacent office area with the "Immigration" sign over it. The agent here was business-like for the most part, although friendly. Eventually David had to come in as well because I couldn't remember the home phone number. The agent asked how long the whole process had taken and we told him, "About 4 months," and he stared at us. He asked again in a different way and we told him that we'd begun the process back in October or so but hadn't sent it in until January. He couldn't believe it, had never heard of it moving so quickly for anyone. Told us that it usually takes 12-18 months on average. I was so excited! I felt like we had won something, haha. He told us that most people just go into his office right after getting married to apply for a visiter's visa and move right to Canada to live for 6 months to a year and then apply for their permanent residency. I told him that I knew you couldn't have a job during that period so that's why I chose to continue living in the states and paying my student loans. He seemed shocked/impressed and told me that that was a responsible thing to do. He welcomed me to Canada and sent me back to the other desk to have everything stamped.

So it seems that because I am anal responsible me, Canada loves me and wanted me living here right away. At least that's what I'm telling myself anyways. Yay for Canada!!

I definitely understand that this story is unique.  I wonder what stories other immigrants might have!