Trust me

I took a week off from being ungrateful to celebrate Mr. O's work visa and the Midsummer holiday here in Finland. But the fact remains that, with less than seven weeks to go till landing, I am still apartmentless and jobless.

The apartment hunt has been consuming more of my energy these days. So I'm checking viewit.ca, craigslist, and myriad other sites of various reach and quality twice a day, every day, for the past 10 days or so. Originally we had thought of getting a furnished temp place for the first two weeks while Mr. O starts work and I shop for jobs and furniture, etc. Something private with a wireless net connection starts at around 500 CAD/week, while at the other end of the spectrum you have places targeted directly at immigrants, which are typically out in the middle of nowhere and priced accordingly.

So we decided to do neither and find a permanent lease starting August 1 instead. The extra advantage to this is that we'd have an address before we left to give to CIC and Posti, while the downside is that we won't have any furniture so we'll be camping out in our sleeping bags [better than a tent - Ed.] – if we can find a place, that is. Our budget is a bit tight for a two-bedroom place, and while I lived in numerous super-sketchy Toronto neighbourhoods in the nineties, I think I've been spoiled by low Finnish crime rates since then.

So pickings are slim to start, and as if that weren't enough, we have discovered that we are not, be still my beating ego, the most ideal tenants. Landlords typically want to look potentials in the eyes before agreeing to anything, which is understandable but no less frustrating when you're trying to set something up remotely. We've been roping various friends into going to flats to scout for us ("Test the water pressure!") but so far haven't even gotten that far, as places are whisked out from under our noses. Our strategy was to offer a few months' extra cash upfront, to compensate for the lack of local credit/references/bank info, but we haven't found that to work yet either. I can almost hear their eyes glazing over when I mention Finland -- if I were in their shoes I might rather avoid the extra hassle of foreignness too. Little do they know that under our foreign skins we are budding bourgeoisie with considerable savings and dreams of worm composting, maybe the odd patio party. Sigh.

But all is not lost. Last night we found a possibility in the Junction, which is apparently a trendy area despite the fact that you have to take a bus to the centre, managed by the world's most laid-back landlord ever. So if our local representatives find it acceptable, all of this might be moot by the time you read it. I'll keep you posted.

In business

Subject: RE: Case Specific Enquiry

Dear Ms. Ojanen,

Thank you for your e-mail.

Please note that your Work Permit has been issued and was mailed to you on 08 June 2007. This document should be received by you shortly.

Sincerely,

Client Services
Immigration Division, LDN

###

Okay, I am so willing to overlook the fact that they mistook Mr. O for a girl. A small price to pay, really. Just gimme the paper, yo!

Extra points for bringing me brownies

MoJo tells of the American shift to a Canada-style point system. The strange choice they've made in the bill, however, is to replace the broader family class system (kids and spouses can still get in) with a worker class system. Why not have both?

Anywhere but

I know that Canada's international reputation is on the wane, thanks to our pathetic record on the environment and some rather high-profile deportation cock-ups, but this site is right up my ungrateful alley: a full-on hate-on for immigration to Canada in general.

Yes, the site is extreme [borderline crazy talk - Ed.], calling Canada an apartheid state, and it takes about three minutes to become repulsed by the ranting and move on. But it's also obvious that the people who have created it are very angry, and there are some good reasons for that, as well. Why are there so many doctors working as cab drivers in TO? Mr. O's theory is that the point system raises the expectations of those who score well and then assume they'll find work based on the fact that they're in the "urgently needed" category, only to arrive and discover they need further training to get licensed, which they can't afford. Part of this is the fault of the applicant, of course, for not researching the licensing requirements before coming, but part of the fault could also be seen as the "false promise" of the point system. A bit of research on both sides might be worthwhile, considering the time and expense of immigrating in the first place.

To CAIPS or not to CAIPS

From CAIPS FileCheck:

"What is CAIPS?

CAIPS is short for 'Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System'. It is the computer system used by Citizenship & Immigration Canada to process visa applications, and holds all the information on the current status of every immigration application being processed by overseas offices (i.e. those outside of Canada).

Why is this interesting?

If you are not applying for a Canadian visa, then caips notes are of no interest to you! If you have applied to emigrate to Canada with a PR visa - as a skilled worker, business applicant/investor or as a spouse or other family member of someone already in Canada - then, with our help, you can obtain a copy of your CAIPS report and find out what has happened to your application so far, and get an indication of what will happen next with your file, and when. For more detailed information on what is in CAIPSnotes, see our sample CAIPSfiles. The system also holds information on work permits, study permits and visitor visas, and we can also apply for these reports on your behalf

Should I get my file?

There are many situations where you may want to get your CAIPS file. If you have been asked to attend an interview, then you should definitely get your notes to find out why the interview was requested, so that you can be well prepared for the interview. Any reputable immigration consultant would request the client's notes in this circumstance.

Also, if you feel that your application is taking longer than usual, or you have not heard anything from the visa office for a surprisingly long time, then you should consider getting your CAIPS notes to check that your application is on track. We have often tracked unexplained delays down to missing letters or documents which have been highlighted as soon as the file is obtained. For example, CIC may have written to an applicant requesting additional references, educational transcripts or language tests.

Finally if you have any other worry about your application status or progress, or are just generally curious as to what has happened so far, then you can get your CAIPSnotes to put your mind at rest."

Very tempting...prices are tiered according to level of desperation and correlated to ability to decipher a print-out from an "old fashioned terminal based program...not designed for reading on paper."

LOL

Canada to speed up work permits

22 March 2007

The Canadian government has recently announced some more changes to its Temporary Foreign Worker Programme (TFWP)

These changes could further speed up processing times for work permit applications.

Following on from the introduction of Regional Occupations Under Pressure lists for Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia earlier this year - designed to speed up applications for work permits for positions included on these lists - the Canadian government has now said that from the beginning of April employers will be able to submit applications for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) online. A positive LMO is needed from Service Canada before Citizenship and Immigration Canada will approve a work permit application.

It is hoped that by granting employers more power to get the work permit application in motion sooner, processing times could be expedited by around three weeks.

Another key change made to the TFWP is the government's decision to extend the length of time a work permit holder may stay employed in Canada. Previously, temporary foreign workers would have had to leave Canada after 12 months for four months, and then re-apply to go back and work in the country. It will now be possible for a work permit holder to stay for up to 24 months without the need to request an extension.

"Employers who have exhausted their search for Canadian workers often need to hire temporary workers to work for a period longer than a year," explained immigration minister Monty Solberg upon announcing the changes. "Today's announcement will allow this to happen," he added.

It seems, then, that as far as work permits are concerned the Canadian government is doing its utmost to avoid the kind of backlogs that can currently be witnessed through the Skilled Worker category.

(From emigrate2.co.uk)

Full disclosure: Mr. O's translation job isn't on the list - but his LMO slid right on through. The bottleneck is at the CIC, where four weeks becomes six weeks becomes...any minute now...