The current Canadian administration is obviously compensating for something. Its new guide for immigrants who wish to become citizens of our apparently overly femmy, tree-hugging land, Discover Canada, puts a heavy emphasis on characteristics most people had assumed had gone out with disposable dresses and EZ Bake ovens, stuff like The Queen and the (glory days of the) Canadian military. That oughta make them feel right at home.
I say we make our own guide, where the Queen lives at Church and Wellesley and the military is largely found recovering from PTSD in hospitals across the country, with substandard social and health benefits. Hey, if people are going to go through the trouble of moving here and getting a passport, the least we can do is be honest with them.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
No pay no way
The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that sponsors are not automatically responsible for debts incurred via their immigratory (?) sponsored relatives social support, the Globe and Mail reported today. Instead, sponsors should be given a moment to explain themselves, in the name of procedural fairness.
I'm all in favour of fairness, but it's not like sponsored aren't warned ahead of time. I was beaten over the head with reminders about the potential costs of sponsoring Mr. O.
A way to reduce this cost to the governments (the benefits of immigration notwithstanding) is to provide new immigrants with an open work permit, so they can, you know, get a job while waiting 24 months for their papers to come through. Just sayin'.
I'm all in favour of fairness, but it's not like sponsored aren't warned ahead of time. I was beaten over the head with reminders about the potential costs of sponsoring Mr. O.
A way to reduce this cost to the governments (the benefits of immigration notwithstanding) is to provide new immigrants with an open work permit, so they can, you know, get a job while waiting 24 months for their papers to come through. Just sayin'.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Cold hard card
Mr. O got a telltale envelope in the mail today: his PR card. Was it worth the wait? Well, I'm glad you asked. Here are some facts about the Canadian PR card, described by Captain David Myers of the Florida State Fraud ID Unit as "the most secure ID document in the world today" or as I like to call it, "the Ferrari of cards."
Justification for this claim, unashamedly pasted from a handy LaserCard two-pager:
Justification for this claim, unashamedly pasted from a handy LaserCard two-pager:
Following a several year evaluation, the LaserCard® Optical Memory Card was selected for this ID card application, based primarily on the following advantages:Phew. Wasn't that impressive? And for the icing, some Facts at a Glance:
1. High Data Capacity: The 1.1 megabyte optical stripe holds securely all required cardholder information, and can be updated as needed in the future.
2. Cost effectiveness: The LaserCard provides interoperability, future flexibility and growth, tamperproof data storage, durability, and long life.
3. High level of security: The PRC protects the privacy of the cardholder better than the previous IMM 1000 paper form it replaces. Secure information is stored digitally on the optical memory and cannot be erased or fraudulently altered. The optical stripe includes overt, covert and forensic security features and is irreversibly marked with the embedded hologram eye-visible likeness of the cardholder.
4. Durability: As part of the new Canadian PRC 5-year life-time requirement, the LaserCard® was tested and met all stringent durability standards tests as conducted by independent laboratory, Battelle Test Labs of Ohio. Success in the 10-year lifetime U.S. Green Card, and Border Crossing Card programs gave added assurance to the Canadian government.
5. Compatibility: The LaserCard complies with a full suite of inter national technology and application standards, including those defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The Canadian PRC was the first optical memory card to fully comply with ICAO standards for optical memory-based travel cards.
6. Interoperability: Sharing the same technology foundation as the U.S. Green Card and Border Crossing Card, the new Canadian PRC is compatible with U.S. inspection systems and vice versa as part of the U.S./Canada Smart Border Accord. Global interoperability is assured by courtesy of the Logical Data Structure Technical Report first published by ICAO and subsequently as
an information exchange standard by ISO.
7. Flexibility: Optical memory card meets the need for certain card authentication, positive ID, and a future growth path.
• Implemented in June 2002, and by October 2008, more than 2.5 million cards issuedThere. Mr. O now has a Ferrari in his wallet. Looking at it from that point of view, it was a bargain.
• Canadian PRC awarded prestigious International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) 2003 Élan Award for Technical Achievement
• Judged the most secure card in the world by independent forensic document specialist
• Interoperable with U.S. Green Card and Border Crossing Card
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Landed
This morning we drove to Etobicoke, where Mr. O became a permanent resident. They sent him a letter which said "Decision granted" as of June 29 - and I still love the cryptic-elliptic bureaucratic style of these little missives, which, however, I shan't miss.
But aren't you curious what the interview was like? Imagining Green Card with Gerard Depardieu and that woman from the L'Oreal commercials? Yeah, it was kind of like that, or at least it was in my head on the way there - I was inexplicably nervous about the whole thing and even suggested we practice the basic facts about our relationship. Alas, we got to the office right at 8 a.m., which was the time of our "appointment" according to the letter, at which point we realized of course there was no appointment, or rather that everybody had the same appointment, because we sat down in what turned out to be not enough chairs in a wide room with a very, very low ceiling and circa 1969 ceiling tiles.
The Venetian blinds whip up on cubby 3 and an invisible male voice starts calling out names. He's no pro and the mic keeps cutting out but eventually the first lucky PR catches on and goes up to the window. And, uh, proceeds to complete the whole interview over the mic. "Do you have any children outside Canada? Do you have any criminal record here? Have you ever been deported? Oh you have? How did you like that?" etc. Repeat about 12 times before Mr. O got his turn and heads up, by which point other cubby holes are flapping and people are crowding around the chairs...He waves me over and the invisible voice actually has a young friendly, maybe French Canadian face and he addresses me by name and reminds me of my three-year responsibility as sponsor. He asks the immi (I can still call him the immi, can't I?) the same questions in the same cracking mic voice and then has Mr. O check his vital info and sign inside the green box and he sticks the photo on and Congratulations! You are now a permanent resident of Canada. You can sponsor your family. Call OHIP and tell them your status has changed. He gave him a piece of paper he will need when he applies for Old Age Pension. I heard previous generations cackle like gobbledy ghosts in my ears at that one.
Sigh. He made it all sound so fancy. Then he says, "we're going to get you a new SIN number so go sit down and one of my colleagues will call you up in a few minutes." So we plop back down I beg off to go get my coffee from the car and come back to find a horrible child has taken my seat and Mr. O is still waiting...and finally he is beckoned to window 5 and she pronounces his name perfectly and all minor nitpicks and blemishes are overlooked because now he's a Canadian like the rest of us. Or will be in approximately four weeks when the card arrives; for now don't leave the country or there could be trouble. Phew.
And then he calls CIC to try and get his open work permit application - which he had to file in case the PR didn't come through in time - cancelled and they've changed the system to amke ti 35 times harder to get a real live person than it was before and he finally gets one and they put him on hold and then the line is disconnected. And all this before lunch.
Cheers to Mr. O for hanging in there, and specifically for not leaving me and hightailing it back to Finland, where you can always get a real person on the line, even the taxman. I love you.
But aren't you curious what the interview was like? Imagining Green Card with Gerard Depardieu and that woman from the L'Oreal commercials? Yeah, it was kind of like that, or at least it was in my head on the way there - I was inexplicably nervous about the whole thing and even suggested we practice the basic facts about our relationship. Alas, we got to the office right at 8 a.m., which was the time of our "appointment" according to the letter, at which point we realized of course there was no appointment, or rather that everybody had the same appointment, because we sat down in what turned out to be not enough chairs in a wide room with a very, very low ceiling and circa 1969 ceiling tiles.
The Venetian blinds whip up on cubby 3 and an invisible male voice starts calling out names. He's no pro and the mic keeps cutting out but eventually the first lucky PR catches on and goes up to the window. And, uh, proceeds to complete the whole interview over the mic. "Do you have any children outside Canada? Do you have any criminal record here? Have you ever been deported? Oh you have? How did you like that?" etc. Repeat about 12 times before Mr. O got his turn and heads up, by which point other cubby holes are flapping and people are crowding around the chairs...He waves me over and the invisible voice actually has a young friendly, maybe French Canadian face and he addresses me by name and reminds me of my three-year responsibility as sponsor. He asks the immi (I can still call him the immi, can't I?) the same questions in the same cracking mic voice and then has Mr. O check his vital info and sign inside the green box and he sticks the photo on and Congratulations! You are now a permanent resident of Canada. You can sponsor your family. Call OHIP and tell them your status has changed. He gave him a piece of paper he will need when he applies for Old Age Pension. I heard previous generations cackle like gobbledy ghosts in my ears at that one.
Sigh. He made it all sound so fancy. Then he says, "we're going to get you a new SIN number so go sit down and one of my colleagues will call you up in a few minutes." So we plop back down I beg off to go get my coffee from the car and come back to find a horrible child has taken my seat and Mr. O is still waiting...and finally he is beckoned to window 5 and she pronounces his name perfectly and all minor nitpicks and blemishes are overlooked because now he's a Canadian like the rest of us. Or will be in approximately four weeks when the card arrives; for now don't leave the country or there could be trouble. Phew.
And then he calls CIC to try and get his open work permit application - which he had to file in case the PR didn't come through in time - cancelled and they've changed the system to amke ti 35 times harder to get a real live person than it was before and he finally gets one and they put him on hold and then the line is disconnected. And all this before lunch.
Cheers to Mr. O for hanging in there, and specifically for not leaving me and hightailing it back to Finland, where you can always get a real person on the line, even the taxman. I love you.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Final stretch
The criminal check arrived safe and sound today (despite a mysterious and unwarranted name change from Mr. O to Mr. W ?!?), which means we have a month or so to get it under the nose of the right person at CIC, who will hopefully waive the need for a renewal of Mr. O's work permit before the permanent residency is official. So we can have some summer. 'N' stuff.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Halfway home
Our woman in Abu Dhabi sent the papers back by FedEx today, so Mr. O should have his certificate of good conduct in a week or so. It only took us six months to pull it all together. And while I'm not celebrating yet - I wouldn't trust FedEx with my compost - it feels good to be one step closer to ending this entire ordeal. The ungrateful immigrant is grateful today for friends, and friends of friends.
Now if we get those documents to CIC before his work permit expires in June, hopefully he won't have to apply for another one before he gets his permanent residency. Hard to believe it's taken us almost two years to get to this point (I remember being outraged at the thought of nine months), and during that time the process has alternated between albatross and minor annoyance. The joke is, we don't know where we'll end up. I was talking to a friend yesterday who is planning to move to the UK, about the hassles of immigration, and how you are heavier than you think - the modern life is full of baggage. Already in the time we've been here we have accumulated so much stuff, and it all weighs on you and makes it that much harder to just pick up again. It would be easy to stay, like sleeping in on a Monday morning.
But on more than one occasion, many courtesy of an immigration-inspired frustration, Mr. O has declared that he's not staying here permanently. So it's possible we're going through all of this for nothing. We're lucky, we have options.
Now if we get those documents to CIC before his work permit expires in June, hopefully he won't have to apply for another one before he gets his permanent residency. Hard to believe it's taken us almost two years to get to this point (I remember being outraged at the thought of nine months), and during that time the process has alternated between albatross and minor annoyance. The joke is, we don't know where we'll end up. I was talking to a friend yesterday who is planning to move to the UK, about the hassles of immigration, and how you are heavier than you think - the modern life is full of baggage. Already in the time we've been here we have accumulated so much stuff, and it all weighs on you and makes it that much harder to just pick up again. It would be easy to stay, like sleeping in on a Monday morning.
But on more than one occasion, many courtesy of an immigration-inspired frustration, Mr. O has declared that he's not staying here permanently. So it's possible we're going through all of this for nothing. We're lucky, we have options.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Strange love
Evil, predatory foreigners who marry Canadians for the holy grail of a residence visa seem to be the immigration fear du jour in the media these days...Not that I don't feel sympathy for these women, but it's not like they didn't know the risks when they signed up for sponsorship.
The larger problem seems to be the weird imbalance in the spousal sponsorship system, in which one spouse becomes financially responsible for the other's potential misfortune. Never mind the opportunities it creates for weasels and cheaters, who have all responsibility lifted off their shoulders by the government (score!). It puts a strange, archaic twist on even those genuine relationships - in which both partners have good intentions - and ultimately has to be supplemented with a private agreement between the partners that they'll work it out - and pay it off - together if things go south. Y'know, a marriage. For the CIC to try to play it otherwise is pretty much asking for trouble.
Even worse: the polygamists are coming! Ahhhhh!
The larger problem seems to be the weird imbalance in the spousal sponsorship system, in which one spouse becomes financially responsible for the other's potential misfortune. Never mind the opportunities it creates for weasels and cheaters, who have all responsibility lifted off their shoulders by the government (score!). It puts a strange, archaic twist on even those genuine relationships - in which both partners have good intentions - and ultimately has to be supplemented with a private agreement between the partners that they'll work it out - and pay it off - together if things go south. Y'know, a marriage. For the CIC to try to play it otherwise is pretty much asking for trouble.
Even worse: the polygamists are coming! Ahhhhh!
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