How to move to Canada: our story – part 7
60 days to the finish line. That’s how long you have to gather your documents after receiving an invitation from Canada. The beginning of our story here
I had to paint a picture of my life over the past 10 years:
✔️where I worked
✔️what addresses did you live at?
✔️with whom I am related and with whom I was... hmm... close.
And also provide:
✔️bank accounts
✔️certificate of no criminal record
✔️diploma
✔️exam certificates
✔️full medical examination and my favorite
✔️indicate which countries you flew to. In 10 years.
Not easy for a flight attendant who has spent more than 3,000 hours in the sky.
And compile the same dossier for your husband and two children. And then translate it into English or French.
Two months at first seemed like a train of time... But in the end, for all 60 days I was constantly calling somewhere, traveling, shaking someone. And I was wildly worried that there wouldn’t be enough time.
Everything in our bureaucracy is unpredictable. For example, Canada requires a certain format for a certificate, but here we have three departments, each in its own “genre”. Lottery!
Only thanks to communication in the immigrant “get-together” was it possible to avoid unnecessary hassle.
On December 24, I finally exhaled and pressed the “Send” button. In the New Year - without “tails”, hurray!
However, I checked the system every day to see if there was any news. Many are rejected in the first month precisely because of errors in the documents. And this is often the fault of translation agencies, who waste money and make typos in names, numbers, and addresses.
I know of a case where a translator indicated the wrong date on a certificate of no criminal record - and it turned out to be “stale”. The officer didn’t even look at the original, which was in order, and immediately unfolded it.
In mid-January we received a request for biometrics - we passed the first stage.
In early March, I called Canada myself and was told that my documents were being processed. And then — you know what happened. We went into lockdown, and Canadian officers were probably not rushing back to work either…
But if before the topic of moving occupied all my thoughts, now I’ve somehow relaxed and at least try to enjoy today.
For some reason all this is needed. What is ours will not leave us, and what has gone was not ours. To be continued...