The Ungrateful Immigrant

You can't go home again

2010-07-15T14:37:00.002-04:00

Oh, my darling Toronto, I've been gone not six weeks and what has become of you? I returned last Thursday for a week to find my favourite bookstore gone, one of my most frequented restaurants trashed and burned, my former employer 1.5 publications and 20 people thinner, and my friends jumping at any sight of an unmarked van. Oh yeah, and then there was that earthquake...

That some of this was no surprise made the other bad news harder to bear. I found myself a tourist in my old town, naked without the bill-paying and other demands on my time that stymied me while a resident (still easier than wandering rootless in New York, where I am just a tourist with a local phone number). I would have felt better if I could have dropped in on Pivot for (not that) old times' sake, but they're off for the month. At least the Scream Literary Festival went off without a hitch, and that people are still drinking and fighting as ever. Next year I shall attend as a member of the paying public, and my liver will thank me.

The fundamental point here is that I loathe change, when I am not its agent. That cities are alive is what I love about them, and a bit of death and decay only makes room for new growth (if only the new wasn't so often in the form of branded collaborations and pre-fabricated real estate), and none of this would have been any easier to take had I been around to witness it firsthand. So maybe it's not the change, but the insult to my ego that my old room won't be preserved just as it was when I left it. Sniff.

Thanks to Jenny, Aaron, Elisabeth, Luke, Lindsay, Allison, Em et al for couches, hugs, frisbees, one-speeds, slow dances -- all salves to the scabby little wounds on my heart.

New Yorkers pay more tax than Swedes

2010-07-01T18:52:00.001-04:00

So Mr. O got his very first paycheque today. Considering we've been here for a month now, we were pretty excited about it. Let's just say that Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket wasn't all we'd hoped it would be.

New Yorkers pay 45% of their income in federal, state and municipal tax. That'd be okay if, say, in return people here received universal health care, or day care, or subsidized post-secondary education. Okay, to be fair, a monthly pass on the MTA is only $85, compared to $121 for a TTC metropass. And sure, there's a lot of grass to be mowed in Central Park, and all those bike lanes to be installed and then sandblasted off again in Williamsburg, and oh yeah, a few good wars to pay for. I am all for paying teachers and sanitation workers and judges and engineers, they do good and important things. But Iraq? Ugh, I feel so dirty.

But 45%?! Seriously? I thought this was the land of the cash grab, of laissez-faire and free markets? You know, pay less in tax and give that money right to the grubbing insurance companies -- I mean, private sector. Really, we made more on less in Canada. And the Medicare and Social Security contributions are money that, as non-resident aliens, I am quite certain we shall never see again, even if we require health care or social benefits. The next time somebody refers to Finland as a socialist state I'm going to shove a W-4 up his or her nose.

I feel a Michael Moore moment coming on, maybe I'll put on a fat-suit and go stand at the border with a bullhorn, shouting "It's all a marketing scam, you've been tricked!" But that's probably because I'm the immigrant who's been tricked; this is probably something all of you knew, saw it in a Michael Moore movie or something.

P.s. I am really not in a Canada Day mood this year, but I am making a maple syrup glaze for the fish tonight. That'll have to suffice.

Reading Brooklyn

2010-06-28T17:19:00.001-04:00

Brooklyn is famous for its writers, and my 'hood is no exception. Marianne Moore lived around the corner from me on Cumberland, and Richard Wright lived on Carlton (echoes of Toronto in the street names). Even the old beard himself, Walt Whitman, helped establish Fort Greene Park, where just this morning I was sweating in the hellish humidity. From that vantage point, Wally could see the Manhattan skyline, and no doubt the passenger ferries that scuttled back and forth from there to the rump of Long Island, immortalized in his Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.

Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, how curious
          you are to me!
On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning
          home, are more curious to me than you suppose,
And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more to
          me, and more in my mediations, than you might
          suppose.*

Oh, Walt, you clever dog. Nothing extends the shelflife of a poem like a shout-out to your future readers. Your poem has outlived the ferry itself, replaced by the bridge of Moore's lesser-known poem "Granite and Steel," which now has a fancy bike lane and a new pedestrian park, in the construction of which no workers gave their lives -- a fact that doesn't detract from the appeal of the thing one bit, its equal parts rationality and romance intact:

Untried expedient, untried; then tried;
way out; way in; romantic passageway
first seen by the eye of the mind,
then by the eye. O steel! O stone!

More recently, my little corner of the borough has housed and homed the likes of Colson Whitehead, Jhumpa Lahiri, Jennifer Egan, Nelson George and Amitav Ghosh. While I can't say I've met these people personally, I probably wouldn't recognize them if I had, and besides, I prefer to read writers' work than see their faces. (For those who prefer the latter, there are some stalkerish Google maps that pinpoint the addresses of Brooklyn literati like the Foers, Lethems, Krausses et al, but you won't find a link to it here.)

To that end, I have been frequenting my local indie bookstore, Greenlight, and have left with goodies made in Fort Greene like Whitehead's The Colossus of New York (which, to those sensitive to cadence, is alternately waves and elephants crashing on the beach) and Sag Harbor, Egan's Look at Me, poet Laureate Tina Chang's Half-Lit Houses, Lorrie Moore's Birds of America and Anagrams (I know, I'm slow) as well as some other thematic curiosities like Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of the Mind.

Pop quid pro quo: Who are your favourite Brooklyn writers, or favourite novels/poems/stories of New York? I really have nothing better to do than to read them.

*My pretty 1960 paperback Rinehart & Co. edition of Leaves of Grass is marked New York - Toronto, further proof of Whitman's foresight.

Degrees of separation

2010-06-24T11:59:00.006-04:00

Repeated immigration is an effective way to mark the passage of time. I know exactly where I was and what I was doing in November, 2001, September, 2003, August, 2007, and so on, and gauge everything else by those markers -- including how long it's been since I, say, watched a Eurovision Song Contest live on television. Caught up like the rest of Finland in the worldwide phenomenon that was Lordi, I had even gone so far as to break my moratorium on freelancing (copywriting is overpaid and makes you lazy) and pitch the continental explosion of unabashed nationalistic fervour and bad taste to a magazine back home (they didn't bite).

So I'm ashamed to say that what with all the recent excitement, I entirely forgot about Euroviisut (as the Finns say) until I cracked open my copy of the New Yorker (shut up) this morning to find a fucking hilarious article on this year's contest by Anthony Lane. A taste:

"A deranged Estonian pianist smacked his keyboard with one raised fist, like a butcher flattening an escalope of veal. A pair of ice-white blondes, one with a squeezebox, decided to revive the moribund tradition of oompah-pah--or presumably, because they were Finnish, oom-päa-päa [sic]. A Belgian boy came on to croon 'Me and My Guitar,' otherwise known as 'Him and His Crippling Delusion....A smirking Serb of indeterminate gender, wearing a tailcoat, sang flat, hiccupping now and then for dramatic effect. Order was at first restored by Marcin Mrozinski, from Poland, who was backed by five demure women in national dress, and then destroyed as two of the women tore the white blouse off the third, to reveal a sort of peasant boob tube. An old Eurovision trick, this: the mid-song strip, timed to coincide with musical fatigue."

I could go on. Of course, Lane is British, and states this from the outset, because while people there feel about it much like I imagine Americans feel about, say, White Castle, a disgusting yet irresistible part of their national landscape, it is absolutely verboten for anybody outside the EU to diss Eurovision. All the same, the Brits are EV snobs, and, oh, never mind. The whole point of this (just typed "pint") is to say that I'm realizing how this move to the U.S. feels like I'm one step farther away from Finland, where, by the time I left, I'd spent as much time as in my precious Toronto. Adding to the uncanny effect is the media buyout of this (June 28) issue of the New Yorker by Canadian advertisers, to draw attention north to the G8, an event that is, IMHO, even more ridiculous than Eurovision.

One of the things people ask when they learn I lived in a foreign-speaking country for that long is, How is your Finnish these days? While based in sheer interest (or politesse), surely, for me it's a humiliating question: given that I have occasion to use Finnish outside Finland approximately once a year, when addressing Christmas cards to family there, "my Finnish" is suffering. I've resorted to carrying around my Finnish-English dictionaries, each of which weighs approximately as much as a two-year-old human child, from apartment to apartment as penance, in hopes of maybe coming across a word that needs translating.

Even Mr. O is losing the Finnish fever that attacked him so near-fatally in our first years in Toronto (to be fair, he did admit he would rather have made such a move as a younger man, before he was so set in his ways). Over the last few months, with New York on the horizon, he made overtures to our future return to Toronto, or Canada in general, a permanent settlement which he once in an argument accused me of holding behind my back like a secret plot or an ace of spades. I offered to put it in writing that such plot did not exist, and that Finland was certainly a first choice should we ever have kids that needed to be educated, for instance. I mean, who could deny a child such a cultural cornucopia as the lyrics to Latvia's 2010 entry "What For?":

I've asked my Uncle Joe
But he can't speak
Why does the wind still blow?
And blood still leaks?
So many questions now
With no reply
What for do people live until they die?
...
Only Mr. God knows why
(But) His phone today is out of range.

In closing I'd like to announce that Mr. O got his SSN card yesterday, which brings with it many happy things including a paycheck and a large dose of relief that somehow motivated me to start up this blog again after thinking about it for weeks. We're going to celebrate by getting blasted on vodka and eating meatballs and herring with a good Finnish friend at a Nordic restaurant tomorrow night, in honour of Juhannus or midsummer, an unforgettable Finnish holiday. Kippis.

After all that, aliens

2010-06-23T17:12:00.004-04:00

As may be evidenced by my six-month absence from this blog, I've never been one to sit still. So after almost three years in Canada, we have up and moved to the one place I never thought I'd live.

It was a hard decision, really. We were getting pretty comfy in Toronto, moved into a three-bedroom place in the west end, had a few excellent projects underway, when Mr. O gets a call -- or tweet, as is the fashion these days -- from an agency in New York City. It was a great opportunity for him, a shop with a spotless reputation and a position that he'd been looking for all over TO and never managed to find. It also meant I could quit my admittedly solid, even promising but not perfect, full-time job and step off into the unknown, a prospect which, since I'd turned 30, had been lingering in the back of my mind but that I'd never have the guts to do without a good hard kick in the ass.

On the other hand, we were -- and are -- highly suspicious of the piss-poor health care system, unregulated work hours, and all the uprooting and postponing of our regularly scheduled lives that such a move would entail. I've been to New York often enough to see through the glamorous black patent sheen to the rats and poverty beneath. I am too old for clubs and too poor for fashion. And I had worked to build wonderful, amazing, inspiring friendships and a future in Toronto that make up for any non-Big-Apple-ness of that city.

I was and am incredibly proud of Mr. O for being recruited, and from the outset promised to support him if he decided he wanted to follow the dream job. Even if we didn't stay, it is the kind of thing that pimps a CV forever. Even my mom didn't say "Don't go." So after months of late-night debating, lurking on Craigslist, swearing at lawyers (behind their backs, natch), Skype courting, an intense day of in-person interviews, a botched counter-offer from a Toronto firm which shall remain nameless, a few surprise coups, one brief crying bout, two resignations, two permits and a tequila-soaked layer cake of farewell parties, we put our furniture in storage, packed up a U-haul, force-fed the cats some Baby Gravol and hit the road. In a torrential downpour. At 1 a.m.

The border was a breeze, deserted and creepy at 3 a.m. We had an inventory of goods, health certificates for the cats, a questionable liquor limit, but the staff were more concerned with staying dry to worry about scrubbed yessir kids like us. Thankfully too, because our ragamuffin cat Layla started puking in her carrier before we left Toronto city limits, and by the time we got to the New York border was drooling and moaning and foaming at the mouth like Cujo. (Nota bene: when the vet says test out the Gravol beforehand, test it out.) We eventually threw a jacket over the two of them -- Moyo was relatively unbothered by the whole thing! -- which seemed to help.

On the New York side, the frequency of Tim Hortons franchises made us wonder if we'd really left Canada. Weak and sentimental, I ordered one last small double-double in a sad, shuttered, pothole-riddled and totally soaked roadside attraction manned by a lobotomized teenage blonde. The magical disembodied GPS man carried us pretty much the whole way, despite a minor cock-up that took us on and off the toll-road a few times and right through the centre of Syracuse during morning rush hour.

The drive south from Syracuse was surprisingly scenic, winding through a valley where the Susquehanna river meets the Chenango. South of Binghampton the view was marred by the incredible amount of roadkill; I think I counted 15 dead deer from there through Pennsylvania. We waved hello to Dunder Mifflin and veered east again, blasting the radio and the AC to keep ourselves awake as the traffic got thicker and faster. We survived Jersey, made it through the Holland Tunnel, along Canal and across the Manhattan bridge to Brooklyn. Home. For now.

Canada, manly monarchist country?

2009-11-13T10:55:00.003-05:00

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.

No pay no way

2009-11-12T16:12:00.002-05:00

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'.

Cold hard card

2009-08-18T21:04:00.002-04:00

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:

Following a several year evaluation, the LaserCard® Optical Memory Card was selected for this ID card application, based primarily on the following advantages:
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.

Phew. Wasn't that impressive? And for the icing, some Facts at a Glance:

• Implemented in June 2002, and by October 2008, more than 2.5 million cards issued
• 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

There. Mr. O now has a Ferrari in his wallet. Looking at it from that point of view, it was a bargain.

Landed

2009-07-21T22:49:00.005-04:00

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.

Final stretch

2009-05-13T10:54:00.003-04:00

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.

Halfway home

2009-05-05T21:29:00.003-04:00

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.

Strange love

2009-04-30T10:11:00.002-04:00

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!

Tax this immigrant

2009-04-08T11:01:00.002-04:00

Mr. O and I did our taxes this week and were feeling pretty smart about it, thanks very much. But we paused when we realized that Mr. O pays CPP and EI fees - to the max, in fact - that he is himself ineligible to receive.

Hmm, maybe immigrants aren't such a drain on our precious system after all...ahem.

Success, with a twist

2009-04-06T10:18:00.002-04:00

An update from our woman in UAE:

"Just letting you know that I went to the Ministry of Interior today (apparently they changed which department handles these forms), and submitted them. I have the mobile number of the agent, and he said I can come pick it up when it is ready. Will let you know when I pick it up...so far so good!"

This woman managed to do in 3 days what a professional, multinational courier service failed to do in 3 months. Am seeking out online flower and gift basket delivery as we speak...

Happy to be here

2009-04-05T20:13:00.002-04:00

The travel bug that had me going for nearly a decade seems to have entered some kind of cocooning phase, because I have absolutely no desire for transatlantic travel these days. Call me crazy, but my top five world destinations at the mo are the T&T Supermarket on Cherry Street, the Toronto Zoo, Prince Edward County, Quebec City and That Place in New Brunswick with the Giant Plaster of Paris Lobster (there's at least one).

The farthest I can imagine flying - and really I could skip flying altogether as I crave a stick shift and four wheels at the moment like a pregnant woman craves pickles - is Cuba, and somebody else would probably have to pay my ticket to drag me that far. Don't believe me? I have to go to France for work this summer and right now I'd rather stay home and watch Law and Order...I don't know what's come over me. Or how about this: Mr. O is going back to Finland for a family party in May - by himself. I'm tempted to claim some great blast of eco-consciousness or blame it on the recession but in all honesty I am far more interested in travelling in Canada right now than anywhere else. I'm excited about roadside fruit stands, campsites with historical plaques, and motels with carpet on the walls.

Perhaps I'm reverting to my North American landlocked ways. And, since it may very well be temporary, I'm enjoying it. Now where is that road atlas...

So far, so good...

2009-04-05T20:07:00.002-04:00

Laura emailed on Friday to say she'd received the package and will take care of it early next week (which there means Sat - Thurs). I am very eager to find out if this DIY tactic works...and how long it takes after she delivers it (fingers crossed) for them to get the certificate back to us. Mr. O's work permit expires in June, which means we'll have to get the certificate to the CIC well before then.

It's who you know

2009-03-28T12:02:00.003-04:00

We spent two months wondering what would come of our begging letter to CIC to waive the requirement for the Emirati police certificate. It wasn't so unreasonable: Mr. O had lived in the country for exactly one month longer than the six-month exemption, and had a total of two speeding tickets (goes with the territory over there, mom) on his record. We had tried to deliver it according to the instructions provided, and failed. It was worth a try.

Of course, they didn't go for it. I wasn't surprised by that. What surprised me was the near-illiteracy of the response we received. First, the letter was a cut and paste from the CIC site, and the crucial sentence, the sentence that informed us that our request was denied, was actually missing the word "denied." Lucky we both have good grasp of English (something so easily taken for granted, but that should never be when dealing with immigrants), we managed to intuit that much.

What made me really angry though was that the author of the letter (identified only by a code number) didn't seem to have a great grasp of English him- or herself. In "clarifying" the instructions for us once more, they had attached a print out of a page from the CIC site, which instructs the applicant to get the fingerprints, etc. legalized at the Emirati embassy in Ottawa - highlighting this part and actually telling us to send the application package there instead. This is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Anyone who had any comprehension of subordinate clauses (and working for the government you'd think that would be prerequisite number 3 or 4 at least) would see that the documents which were notarized by the Embassy were then to be shipped off to the UAE. Either out of sloppiness or sheer illiteracy, our "helpful" CIC fuckwit was sending us down a path to ruin, or at least to failure to get the documents in before Mr. O has to apply for another open work permit in June.

I wasn't having it. It was obvious that we weren't going to be successful by Canadian methods - it was going to require some special effort. The UAE site had a suggestion: to find a "friend" who lived there who could deliver the papers for us. "Friend" means a) male b) Arabic-speaking and c) possessed of half a brain and a little resilience. Unfortunately, Mr. O's former employer no longer had an office down there, and we had no way of reaching their former fixer. I started looking online for a lawyer in the UAE who could act on our behalf, or at least recommend someone who could, but Mr. O balked at the potential fees (he is, at this point, entirely fed up with the cost of this whole endeavour), and the need for early morning phone calls was too much for us.

I sent out messages to the two or three people I knew with connections there, and put out an APB on Facebook. Within a week I had heard back from a Finnish couple who also worked for the same company, a Danish friend of mine now living back in Copenhagen, and a friend of a friend who was working down there at the time. This last one, we'll call her Laura, has a few friends who might fit the bill, so we wrote her up a big letter last weekend and sent everything down there to her on Monday. If that doesn't work out we'll try the alternatives, because we have options now. After feeling a bit amputated it's very good to have friends come to your aid. We knew from the very start that this part wasn't going to be easy.

We also heard from a few unexpected sources, like a friend we've only known here, who, it turns out, lived in the UAE as a child, and still has family in the country. Even after a year and a half of Finns coming out of the woodwork, it still surprises me when I make connections to these tiny places. A constant reminder that we are not on our own.

Our man in academe

2009-01-22T22:39:00.002-05:00

A friend put me on to Jeffrey Reitz today, who's a prof in ethnic, immigration and pluralism studies at the University of Toronto. The rumour is he conducted a study into the CIC processing centre in Vegreville, AB, and found rampant racial discrimination and probably the bones of small animals and god knows what else. I am hunting for it and shall post it here when found.

Touchdown

2009-01-22T22:28:00.003-05:00

So they tried to deliver the effing package one more time, and one more time it was rejected, apparently by security guards who rejected the package on the grounds that it had to be addressed to a particular person, who shall remain a mystery, at least for the time being. I'm thinking back to Karri's phone call with someone at the Abu Dhabi police station there, who couldn't give us a name "because there were several people" it could go to and am wondering if we were lax in our investigations or if there really is some kind of broken link somewhere. I'm assuming that other people have successfully gotten their documentation through, and then back, so probably a bit of both.

At any rate, the FedEx tracking status sprung back into motion and we could follow the stupid thing across Sharjah and so on right up to our door today, and it's waiting for us at the FedEx depot, hopefully with some flowers and a big I'm sorry.

So Mr. O is now writing a letter to the CIC explaining the entire debacle and including photocopies of the documents, and hoping they can come to some kind of solution, on a case by case basis, as they say. My fear is that this is going to set back the entire process even more than it has been already, and June isn't really that far away, in immigration years (kind of like cat years, or is it dog years?). At this point the whole thing has become a kind of irritation in what is otherwise a very normal life, so in a way I feel cheated, as if we've kept our end of the bargain by being good consumer citizens and getting jobs and paying taxes and doing all of that shit, and these formalities are just here to make us older before our time.

And the same goes on the CIC's end: with all the issues of immigrant integration and wasted skills and poverty and systemic racism within the system (more on that later), I'm highly doubtful that they are going to do more but ask that we send it all again, and we'll be stuck in the kind of feedback loop that I have to assume accounts for all the 46-month long unresolved cases on Trackitt. Freaky.

Breaking point

2009-01-14T19:32:00.002-05:00

Today we woke up on a mission. I called FedEx and had a heart-to-heart with the random call centre guy, who gave us the same "update" from Dec 14, and promised to have somebody call us back about it asap. I told him if somebody actually called me back, I would fall off my chair. Then when I got to work I wrote a strongly worded letter and faxed it to FedEx HQ in Mississauga. Mr. O, meanwhile, was on the phone with the CIC, trying to ascertain just how we would go about completing his immigration process sans Emirati Certificate of Good Conduct.

Lo and behold, somebody from FedEx called him back this afternoon, somebody with a name AND a private extension. They told him they would call Abu Dhabi to establish the whereabouts of the package (which Mr. O has all but accepted as lost by this point) and either attempt to redeliver it or send it back to us. Mr. O also asked for a letter explaining the reasons it couldn't be delivered, if that turned out to be the case, and/or the reasons for its disappearance, for the sake of a consolation prize for the CIC.

This miniature shitstorm, after months of laissez-faire neglect of my blog and our little experiment, has started me thinking about breaking points. We are all trained to have faith in these little institutions (like mail) and when they break down, I for one am incredulous, until it becomes clear that if I don't do something about it, nobody will. This no doubt makes me spoiled, as spoiled as anybody used to paying money to have things done for me by others. It's a shock when this doesn't happen, or when the system breaks down. And yet, when it does, really there's nothing in place here to help us out. No consumer advocate, no 6 'o clock ass-kicking camera-toting watchdog. Nobody really gives a damn.

FedEx nightmare

2009-01-14T00:07:00.003-05:00

We are caught in a FedEx purgatory: the documents haven't been delivered, and yet they haven't been returned. The minimum-wage morons at the FedEx 1-800 number (oh yes, morons is kind) are alternately outrageously unhelpful and outright rude and defensive. It's been over a month now, and we've gotten exactly zero answers for our trouble. I am ready to kick some serious courier ass.

Of course, if they're lost, there's nothing we can do. It would be a huge relief at this point just to get them back. And considering the $150 we paid for the delivery, we've got jack squat from the courier company. (One relatively nice but equally useless moron told us the package was sitting at the AD end, waiting for an account number to be charged to ship them back. Um, another $150? I smell a scam.) Problem is, according to the CIC website, the papers must be delivered by courier, and nobody else is returning our phone calls. Welcome to the black hole. Knowing Abu Dhabi bureaucracy, I doubt that anybody knows what the hell is going on.

Which is fine, sure, I have no use for those documents anyway. It's not like we forked over a couple hundred bucks and spent several months collecting them. It's not like they're crucial to Mr. O's immigration or anything. We'll just call up the CIC and explain, and they'll just waive the whole police thing (really it was just a test of our commitment, to show we really care).

Express my ass

2008-12-01T08:33:00.002-05:00

Mr. O is having great fun trying to obtain his certificate of good conduct from the U.A.E. police. Here's a taste: The only system of addresses in Abu Dhabi for mail is a P.O. box system. When you live there you get in a taxi and say "Hyundai Showroom," not "123 Main Street." Street addresses are a relative science, and that's just the way it is. Hence the P.O boxes.

However, FedEx express courier ($150 worth, neveryoumind) requires a signature to deliver a package, so dropping it in the P.O. Box isn't apparently an option. They called Mr. O on Saturday after trying to deliver it three times (Thursday, Friday, Saturday), asking if there was any other number they could try. Of course, Thursday afternoon and Friday are known as The Weekend in that part of the world, and it would appear that there's some kind of larger holiday going on, which would explain the inability to get through. Why they don't just get the janitor to sign it and drop it in the PO box is beyond me.

The bitch of it is, this is the last piece we need for his PR application to be complete, and it's already taken six months, including our own procrastination. Once we got the OWP we were, as far as daily life goes, home free, but now I'd really just like to get the damn thing over with and get on with my life. We have no idea how long the processing will take on their end, but if delivery itself is this complicated...well, inshallah the rest of it is less of a gong show.

Dog days

2008-08-15T10:50:00.003-04:00

We've gotten pretty complacent these last few months, since Mr. O's open work permit came in. It is summer after all, and at this point any official accreditation he gets feels like just more paperwork and rubber stamping - our quality of life won't change much from here to there - which only serves to underline my basic argument that spouses of citizens should be granted open work permits from the outset, and the system would run a lot smoother for everyone. This blog probably wouldn't exist.

So in true summer fashion I'm not only lazy with posting but also with following what's been going on in the latest round in our little immigration game: Mr. O got his legalized fingerprint form back from the U.A.E. embassy in Ottawa last week, and so he'll now have to send that and a copy of his old residence permit and passport to the Ministry of Interior in Dubai. There are also some fees which he needs to "contact them" about - and the site is also a bit vague on the timelines, as they recommend getting "a friend" in Dubai to help you out with the forms to speed up the process. When we lived there Mr. O's Finnish employer had a local Arabic-speaking fixer to take care of such things, but we have no such connection now.

Of course, with all our easy summer dawdling, the permanent residency process is delayed even further - nothing will move until he gets his certificate of good conduct back from the Emirati government and into the hands of the CIC.

He also has to renew his OHIP card, which he tried to do the other day but there must have been some kind of big deadline because the line at Service Canada was out the door, so he'll have to go back. Wouldn't it be nice if the government's many heads could talk to each other, and they could confirm that his permit had been extended (say, in a database somewhere) and just mail him a new card? Because lines suck, especially in August.

Tra la la la, off to the cottage...

I heart Heather Mallick

2008-07-21T12:35:00.004-04:00

CBC columnista extraordinaire Heather Mallick pulls a strip off the hairy back of Canadian propaganda aimed at new and prospective immigrants by equating this booklet with a national personals ad. God dammit woman, could you be more brilliant?

Case in point:

I rather adore Canada, and at times when I am at Wickaninnish in British Columbia or skiing at Lake Louise, Alta., or eating Nova Scotia oysters or drinking a Bloody Caesar (Canadian invention), I am actively in love with it. But at no time do I think we are God's gift to humanity. What arse would say it, or worse, believe it?

And again:

The booklet says Canadian values include equality (ask Muslim-Canadians now regularly referred to in newspapers as "brown-skinned"), freedom (ask a pregnant woman running the Christian-right gauntlet at a Fredericton abortion clinic), peacekeeping (ask a soldier fighting a pointless war in Afghanistan), and law and order (ask those Muslim-Canadian teenagers on trial for terrorism instead of adolescence).

And again:

For the sky is always blue as a jay in this land of moral and personable people devoted to their "parliamentary democracy," unstinting in their "environmentally sound" stewardship of the "clean and prosperous" country that their children will live in, speaking as one in their respect for "cultural differences" and their faith in "international peacekeeping."

No, seriously.

I'm not mocking the federal government's rendition of national perfection for the vulnerable immigrants most likely to fall for it. I understand the impulse. Canada needs skilled immigrants. It's the economic version of dating angst like, "Gosh, if we could just hook up with an emerging tech nation who has relatives who do plumbing on the side."

Bring on the open work

2008-07-08T20:34:00.003-04:00

Between six and seven weeks later, Mr. O's open work permit arrived today. This means he can quit his job and/or take another one without having to reapply. It's good for one year. Yeah! (He had a bit of a scare, actually, in that he almost let his residence permit expire before getting his OWP application in. Tip: always have one ball in play.)

In other permit news, his application to get a police report from the U.A.E. is moving more slowly. Actually it hasn't moved anywhere since the fingerprints; it's sitting on our kitchen table. But what the hell, it's summer. Anyone with half a soul can't do paperwork in the summertime. Ciao.

$5.25 a finger

2008-06-17T12:51:00.003-04:00

Mr. O is going to get his fingerprints, um, taken (?) at the Toronto Police Service today. He called and they told him "they've given these services to private companies" in the past. He needs two pieces of ID and $52.50. Then he can ship these off to Abu Dhabi where they can compare them with the prints they took when he got his work permit there. (It could be worse, I suppose: the Emirati government took an iris scan, too.)

Time off for good conduct

2008-06-16T14:15:00.004-04:00

Mr. O sent in his application for an open work permit before we left for holidays at the end of May. Current processing time is 40 days, so we're not expecting to hear anything before July. It's unclear if we need to reapply for a temporary residence permit despite the AIP, so we'll have to call CIC to check on that. It's just that it's summer and so easy to get lazy...

To proceed with the actual permanent residence card, Mr. O needs to get a Certificate of Good Conduct and police check from the Abu Dhabi government, as he lived there for more than six months in the past 10 years. As part of the process, he has to be fingerprinted by the police here, which is, as he says, "kinda creepy."

That's nothing compared to the Brazil-esque (again, the movie, not the country) process of obtaining forms in Abu Dhabi. I remember when Mr. O went in to get his UAE driver's licence; we had our own personal Arabic-speaking fix-it guy and it still took us several trips. From the above link:

We suggest that you send the documents to a friend and your friend can obtain the certificate from the Police Department on your behalf so the processing time will be faster than sending it directly by courier to the Police Department.

Since we have few "friends" left down there (the Finnish satellite office Mr. O worked at is now closed), we aren't sure how long this will take.

P.s. The trip over the border and back again was uneventful. We got lucky with our officers, I guess, as they were all very friendly while others had more of a time of it. Hooray for being white.

Down with the OWP

2008-05-23T11:42:00.002-04:00

So after waiting patiently for me to renew my passport (my previous one, barely used, was not machine-readable, for some reason unexplained by the Canadian consulate in Helsinki, and so no good for visiting the U.S.), Mr. O shipped off his app for his open work permit this week. He's not feeling good about crossing the border, but we've been assured that his passport and work permit together are sufficient. I've stowed away the numbers of two different immigration lawyers, just in case. You never know.

I have no idea how long it will take to get the OWP back, and don't really care. It's summer, after all, and Mr. O's current papers give him residence rights till August. Without tempting the bureaucracy gods, we should be okay.

Other than that, there hasn't been a lot going on on the ungrateful immigrant front, hence the lack of posts. Although, I happened to meet a civil servant from the CIC at a bar a few weeks back, which was inneresting...I asked him about immigration officers' educational requirements and he said that they can range from your basic GED all the way up to a degree in immigration law. We also agreed that the officers at the border are scarily young. AND **he offered me a tour of a CIC office** which, seeing as I have no contact info for him, was likely just a gesture of friendliness, but hey, if you're reading this...callllll meeee! I will leak your info anytime! Quid pro quo, baby.

Good news via snail mail

2008-05-01T23:16:00.003-04:00

On vapunaatto both Mr. O and I got letters from the CIC. Mine congratulated me on being accepted as a sponsor, while his informed him he was now able to apply for an open work permit, and requested a police report from the UAE (where we spent seven months a few years ago), which can be obtained through that country's embassy in Ottawa.

This comes just in time, as we were starting to think Mr. O was going to have to push his employer to renew his temporary work visa before he could even apply for the OWP. Of course, we're feeling a bit lazy and haven't actually filled in the forms yet. But it's nice to know we can.

Only one small gripe: the letter was dated March 31. How it took a month to get from Ottawa to Toronto, we'll never know.

Hardly news

2008-04-17T09:30:00.002-04:00

Canadians are a racist lot, confirmed once again by a poll reported in the Globe and Mail today. According to the article, over 60% of people here (of undefined ethnic origin) feel that Canada makes too many "accommodations" for minorities. (Cuz you know, after they roll out the red carpet at CIC, there are headhunters and real estate agents throwing jobs and homes at everybody.)

The reasoning behind this is revealed in the answers to further questions, such as the 45% of people who feel immigrants "hold onto their own customs for too long." While 65% of people who live in Canadian cities feel that diversity enriches society, this is also an essentially selfish view, as if the only purpose for the presence of minorities is to make the lives of "real" Canadians better. This is so depressing, I don't even think I can rant about it.

Do you feel lucky?

2008-04-10T13:18:00.002-04:00

Those of you who participated in the papers pool are now drooling with anticipation, I know. I should make a correction, though, because when I set the estimate at around 6 to 7 months, I was actually referring to the time to the AIP rather than the actual landing date, which we now know will come much later. Mr. O noticed this right away and changed his bet, but since we are not immigration lawyers and can't be expected to understand all this double speak, rather than postponing the pool or making you all bet again, I thought I'd just reword it to the above. So the same dates still stand for the AIP letter, and for those who haven't bet, there's still time!

Pick me!

2008-04-10T12:47:00.002-04:00

It seems as if the government is moving closer to passing Bill C-31, the amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act it proposed last month. The system aims to decrease backlog (though it only applies to applications received after Feb 2008) and fast-track those applicants who have the skills most needed in the Canadian labour market.

Speaking of backlog, in the CIC FAQ on the topic I found this interesting tidbit, answering a nagging question:

...just before the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was implemented in 2002, there was a flood of applications from people who wanted to get their applications in before the new rules took effect.

It seems that this applies to the skilled worker class only, in which it can currently take up to, wait for it, 68 months. In theory, anything to reduce this wait will be a good thing, and setting annual limits would help stop the strain on resources (because as nice as it is to let everybody in, what's the point if we're not going to back it up with money?) but I'm suspicious of the Conservatives and how they might play this (a stripper ban?). Critics say that this will block people who are coming to be reunited with their families, and it remains to be seen if resources from family class will be diverted or if the money promised to immigration will cover new resources. It's also unclear how those doctors and other badly needed professionals will be integrated once they arrive...how's about a bill on that, boys?

Just when you've given up hope entirely...

2008-04-03T21:13:00.002-04:00

You get this in your mailbox, a month ahead of schedule:

We received your application for permanent residence on October 29, 2007.

We started processing your application on November 26, 2007.

Medical results have been received.

A decision has been made and you will be contacted.

How cryptic and tantalizing is that?! Is it possible that after all this lateness they might be fucking early?! I hardly dare to consider...

It has been that kind of day. Mr. O's boss called him in today to negotiate his permanent contract, and gave him all kinds of compliments and even a bit of space to vent. Bottom line: he's got a good offer coming. So IF the above is in fact the impending AIP and not a swift kick out the door, that would save us yet another round of temporary visa paperwork. Which is a good thing.

When a reply isn't a reply at all

2008-03-25T10:17:00.002-04:00

Dear Carey Toane,

I am replying to your e-mail of February 23, 2008, addressed to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, concerning open work permits for spouses of Canadian Citizens.

As you know, an applicant in the Spouse or Common-law Partner in Canada Class is not eligible to apply for a work permit until he or she has received notification that his or her application has been approved in principle. This restriction is supported by the Immigration and Refugee
Protection Act and Regulations (IRPA).

Pursuant to sub-section 207 of IRPA, a work permit may be issued to a foreign national in Canada who is a member of the Spouse or Common-law Partner in-Canada Class. Given that it is permissible to issue a work permit only to a member of this class, Section 124 of the Regulations state which foreign nationals may be considered to be a member of this
class. This regulation states that a member: must be a spouse or common-law partner of a sponsor and cohabit will that sponsor in Canada, must have temporary resident status in Canada and, must be the subject of a sponsorship application.

In order to determine whether or not an applicant is a member of the Spouse or Common-law Partner in-Canada Class, officials at the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville, Alberta must examine those three elements. The mere fact of making an application in this class does not
make someone a member of the class. This determination can only be made by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) after officials have verified the status of the applicant, including verification of his or her marital status and the bona fides of the relationship.

This requirement is in place in order to protect the integrity of both the Spouse or Common-law Partner Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. If the mere fact that an application had been made in Canada could entitle a person to a work permit, this might lead to abuse of the system. It would allow applicants to "self-select" as temporary
workers simply by filing an application as a sponsored spouse or partner.

Canada permits the recruitment of foreign workers with skills that are in short supply in Canada only when such employment will not adversely affect the employment or career opportunities of Canadian citizens and permanent residents. This policy also recognizes that the admission of such workers to Canada helps create or maintain employment for Canadian
citizens and permanent residents, provides training or the transfer of specialized knowledge to the domestic work force, and helps strengthen a company's competitive position in the international marketplace.

In most cases, foreign nationals wishing to work in Canada must have confirmation of the job offer (positive labour market opinion) from Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC). HRSDC plays an important role in evaluating the need for foreign workers by assisting employers in their human resources planning, including determining if and when foreign workers are required. HRSDC assesses the employer's efforts to consider Canadian workers and the adequacy of compensation offered. It considers the adverse labour market effects of hiring a foreign worker. Employers applying for confirmations of job offers are
also encouraged to adopt strategies for training and hiring Canadian workers.

It takes time to process immigration applications. Priority is given to spouses, common-law or conjugal partners, and dependent children, together with Convention refugees seeking resettlement in Canada. Family class applications constitute the majority of immigrant
applications in many of our visa offices. This, coupled with the fact that visa officers continue to receive a high volume of applications in other categories, may result in temporary backlogs in some categories.

The Department is actively pursuing both administrative and potential legislative and regulatory tools to improve inventory management.

It is always in the client's best interests to apply abroad in the prescribed manner, if possible. There are distinct disadvantages to applying from within Canada, including noticeably longer processing times, lack of status, inability to work and ineligibility for provincial health insurance coverage. The immigration offices in Canada were originally created to deal with genuine visitors and persons in the enforcement stream; visa offices are responsible for selecting immigrants and issuing temporary resident visas.

When your husband's application for permanent residence is assessed and receives approval in principle, he can apply from within Canada for an open work permit. Until that time, if he wishes to work in Canada, he is required to follow the normal process: obtain a job offer
confirmation by Human Resources and Social Development Canada and apply for a work permit at a visa office. For more details on the work permit process, please visit our Web site at www.cic.gc.ca, or contact our Call Centre at 1-888-242-2100.

Thank you for taking to write. I trust that you will find this information of assistance.

This electronic address is not available for reply.

It's all about the paper

2008-03-20T11:04:00.002-04:00

Mr. O's permit, dated March 13, arrived yesterday in the mail. It's good for three months, i.e. till June 13, which means we won't have any trouble coming back from our holiday in the States at the beginning of June. (Hey, it's always nice when your country of residence lets you back in.) Now we can direct our energies to the same things you nice people do, like uneducated clients and moody coworkers and TTC troubles. Hooray! Approaching normal!

I have had a hard time keeping my cool over the last little while as all of this has gone on. On one hand I'm as anxious/pissed/frustrated/worried/fed up as Mr. O (we do live together and love each other, after all) and on the other hand, I haven't had the same trouble he's had with things like getting a decent paycheque, getting around the city, etc. etc., and so sometimes I feel like he's exaggerating the problem or focusing only on the negative or simply justifying his desire to go home. I've totally blown it on at least one occasion, and I know overall I could have been more sympathetic. I guess this is a learning process for both of us...

I think I'm giving up my old ideas on why people move here in the first place. It's NOT because they get or think they'll get a better deal than they get at home. That's simply not true. There are a thousand different reasons why people might move here, and one of the biggest ones can be summarized as "other people," be them family or community or what-have-you. In other words, people come here because other people have come here before them.

Interestingly, Mr. O's new permit specifies that he has to leave the country by August, which is based on his original one-year permit. It will be interesting to see what our one-year reassessment will bring. Will we stay? In the meantime, we still have the actual residence permit to deal with. Hopefully it comes and he can apply for his open permit before his current temp permit expires, which would save us another round of papers with his employer (I know, the last one was just so much fun). But I'm not holding my breath.

Oh - another fun thing about moving: taxes! We get to do two sets for 2007 - Canadian and Finnish. I sent in our Cdn returns today after just one phone call to the international tax office, and it seems I will be getting some money back, which will go some way to replenish our "immigration debt" which is primarily owed to ourselves. A weekend trip, maybe? We shall see. The tax forms and process with the big fat guide, etc. made me all nostalgic for our PR application. Canadian bureaucratic jargon is such a rich, multifarious register. So many possibilities, so many interpretations. Sigh.

Cross finish line, exhausted

2008-03-14T14:25:00.002-04:00

According to an agent at the CIC call centre, Mr. O's permit was mailed out yesterday and will arrive early next week. He doesn't have to have it stapled into his passport, like the immigration officer did with his first one when we entered the country; carrying it with him when travelling is enough.

When all's said and done, so-called concurrent processing means sweet diddly squat in terms of saving time, at least from inside Canada. My guess is that more time is spent on the LMO portion of these applications, to assess whether or not the applicant's job does in fact qualify, and whether or not the potential employer has in fact spent the due time searching for a qualified individual.

Either way, I'm just so relieved that it's over with. Neither of us got much sleep last night. Of course, in their wisdom his employer chose to make it only a three-month contract, so this isn't the last race we'll run...

National Post takes a slash at immigrants

2008-03-13T09:43:00.003-04:00

Okay, not exactly accurate. This story by John Ivison actually gives an interesting account of how our little immigrant backlog got so out of control.

My favourite part:

"It is not fair for prospective immigrants to wait for years before being considered, and it is not desirable to wait that long for the immigrants the country needs"

Diane actually lifted that from this blog, I think :)

Jokes aside, the article is however somewhat vague about the type of applications referred to (it doesn't take four years for every application, so I have to assume they're referring to skilled worker class?), and it seems to simplify the motives of those people immigrating, as if family class applicants aren't as interested as every other class in finding jobs once they come here. It seems to me that family ties are beyond a doubt the greatest motivation for choosing Canada above any other random receiving country - a skilled worker might come here to be with his family despite the fact that he or she might otherwise get a better deal elsewhere.

The article also doesn't explain how the existing backlog will be reduced, but only how the government hopes to keep it from growing any further. From what I can tell the money promised will go to future applications, while the 900,000 poor suckers already backed up will still have to be slogged through.

It would also be worthwhile explaining exactly how immigrants put such a drain on the system as the Fraser Institute would have us believe. Oh wait, maybe they're referring to the brick wall most immigrants hit when, after arriving, they try to find a job. Riiiight.

Anyway, here's the article:

Ottawa moves to slash immigrant backlog
Amendment would reduce number of new applications accepted
John Ivison, National Post Published: Thursday, March 13, 2008
OTTAWA -- The federal government is set to reduce the number of new immigration applications it accepts in a dramatic change of policy aimed at cutting the backlog of nearly 900,000 people who have already applied to enter Canada.
Sources say Immigration Minister Diane Finley will table an amendment to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act as early as Thursday. The new legislation will limit the number of new applications accepted and processed annually.
The act currently requires the government to process every application that enters the system -- a provision that has led to the huge backlog and a wait-time of around four years for an application to be processed.
"It isn't sustainable," said one source, who added that the overall number of immigrants admitted to Canada is more likely to increase than fall in the coming years, even if the number of new applications accepted drops dramatically.
It is believed the amendment will be included as part of the legislation to implement the federal budget, making it a confidence matter.
Maurizio Bevilacqua, the Liberal immigration critic, said the Conservatives don't understand the role immigration plays in Canada's history. "The Conservatives are shutting the door on immigration because they fail to understand its importance to our labour markets and our nation-building. The lack of resources devoted to this issue shows they are not serious about immigration," he said Wednesday.
In this year's budget, the government allocated $22-million to modernizing the immigration system. "It is not fair for prospective immigrants to wait for years before being considered, and it is not desirable to wait that long for the immigrants the country needs," the budget said, adding that the proposed changes will "more effectively manage the future growth in the inventory, such as addressing the number of applications accepted and processed in a year." The changes are designed to establish a "just-in-time" immigration system, where the wait time is reduced to an average of a year.
Ms. Finley has emphasized that the government is seeking to bring the "best and the brightest" to Canada.
"Immigration will play an increasingly important role in our long-term growth and prosperity, and we will continue to look for innovative ways to bring in talent from around the world," Ms. Finley told an audience in Mumbai, India, last November.
But critics contend that the new policy will target "economic class" migrants coming to Canada for work, rather than "family class" immigrants being re-united with Canadian family members, or cases where immigrants are admitted on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
"The Conservatives are attacking family re-unification but it attracts many skilled workers to come here," Mr. Bevilacqua said.
The government has made no secret of the fact it sees itself in competition with countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom for the most qualified immigrants. This is likely to mean the vast majority of applications accepted in future are from the "economic class" of migrants that currently make up around 60% of newcomers.
Canada accepts about 250,000 immigrants a year, a figure that has increased since the Conservatives took office. The backlog of applications grew from 50,000 when the Liberal party took office in 1993 to around 500,000 in 2000. By the time the Conservatives came to power in early 2006, it was around 800,000 and in the past two years that number has grown to around 875,000.
Some estimates suggest that as many as one-quarter of current applications are more than six years old.
The Liberals made a number of attempts to eat into the backlog. For example, when Liberal MP Dennis Coderre was immigration minister in 2002, he raised the total number of points required for admission to 75 from 70 (points are allocated on the basis of language skills, education and job offers).
However, under pressure from the Liberals' ethnic voting base, the party backed down and reduced the number of points required to 67.
In 2005, with an election pending, then Liberal immigration minister Joe Volpe announced he would increase the number of immigrants by 100,000 a year -- a rise of 40% from existing levels at that time.
The Conservatives have long argued the Liberals allowed political, rather than economic, factors to dominate their immigration and refugee policy.
A report by the Fraser Institute in 2005 suggested that only 23% of immigrants are net fiscal contributors to Canada at a cost to the taxpayer every year of more than $18-billion (although 60% of immigrants are from the "economic class," fewer than half that number pass the points test -- the remainder are spouses and children).
The government says it has already taken a number of measures to make the system more flexible and efficient, including the establishment of Foreign Credentials Referral offices in China and India and moves to make it easier for foreign students and temporary workers to obtain visas.
National Post

LEGIT

2008-03-06T10:45:00.001-05:00

Guess who's LMO came today?

More education, less opportunity

2008-03-05T22:56:00.005-05:00

Another story in the Globe today about the education level of immigrants to Canada, after StatsCan released 2006 census figures on post-secondary in general. Turns out those foreigners can read and write some:

Close to one-third of immigrants are university graduates, compared with 23 per cent of the general working-age population, according to numbers from the 2006 census released yesterday. Those numbers also show a huge jump in qualifications of the newest arrivals, with more than half of those who came to Canada between 2001 and 2006 holding a university degree.

That's not surprising, considering the amount of investment and savings required to move here in the first place. Think about how much it costs to take a vacation, and then extend that vacation by about six months, supplemented by the occasional, say, babysitting or waitressing gig:

"It is tough, but that is part of the fun," said Mr. Fonseca, 30 [snip] his wife will likely take a job as a babysitter or in a restaurant at first, but hopes to eventually work in her field. "All of a sudden you come here and you are considered a nobody," he said.

I love how the Globe manages to find these plucky pioneering people, though. This guy has a great education, but he's beyond optimistic; he's borderline delusional in his attitude. We all are...

BUT WAIT! Maybe, as the spouse of a foreign student, this woman actually has an open work permit!? Where can we get one of those?

Faster, pussycat

2008-02-28T11:44:00.004-05:00

Faster is, by nature, a relative term. We thought that this concurrent processing of Mr. O's new temporary work permit would be "faster" than his first one: he sent in his permit application the same day that his new potential employer sent in the LMO application. According to the agent at the CIC call centre, once the employer gets the LMO confirmation, all Mr. O has to do is call the call centre and they'll inform Vegreville, and the permit will be issued.

Catch being, we're still waiting for the LMO. Last time it took about 2 weeks, and this time it's already been a month. Last time it was the permit that took its sweet time, and this time it could potentially be very fast. Moral of the story: there is no shortcut.

Pieni maailma

2008-02-28T09:27:00.003-05:00

For those of you who don't speak the world's tiniest language, that's "small world." Although, maybe you should start learning. The number of Finns or people with Finnish connections that I've come across in Toronto has been astounding. A short list:

-My dear friend C, who has Finnish heritage, and whose grandfather is in the process of getting his Finnish citizenship
-A colleague at work, who comes from Thunder Bay, aka Finnish-Canadian central, and has a funny story about how she pronounces her last name
-A lady at the bank, who actually lived in Sweden, but who can still count to five in Finnish
-Our friend T, who isn't Finnish at all but has been there - that's where we met him - and calls himself a Suomi fan
-My GP, who is Romanian but spent two years in Tampere, where Mr. O grew up, and can bust off a little suomea
-A girl in my yoga class who has a Finnish-Canadian husband who doesn't speak at all but who just got his EU passport
-A couple at the Art Bar who I pegged as Finns immediately
-Countless faceless but instantly recognizable names on hockey jerseys, TV show credits, message boards

I'm forgetting some, but these are the main ones. I think that's one of the great things about Toronto, you're always among people you know.

Even the CBC is getting in on the act with Finnish lessons. So now you have no excuse.

Get an education, eh

2008-02-26T12:55:00.006-05:00

This op-ed in today's Globe is overall a well-meaning gesture, but why, oh why, do Canadians always compare themselves to the U.S. instead of to farther afield? Americans aren't exactly the pinnacle of innovation and academe, y'know? I'm beginning to suspect that the real "barriers" are the ideological walls built around North America...what a short-sighted waste.

Canada's relative under-production of graduate degrees, especially compared to the United States, is widely identified as a barrier to increasing our country's international competitiveness and productivity. For example, in 2004, American universities awarded twice as many master's degrees per capita as Canadian universities and about 35 per cent more doctoral degrees per capita than their Canadian counterparts. The OECD reports that Canada trails far behind the leading nations in terms of doctoral graduates.

This might have something to do with the cost of education in this country more than doubling in the time it takes the average grad student to put in six years plus a thesis...just a guess...did I mention I got my master's FOR FREE in Scandinavia?

And of course there is the obligatory nod to immigrants, particularly those elusive, highly educated ones:

Immigration will also play a critical role. Streamlining our immigration process to make Canada a more attractive option for skilled immigrants will be important. However, Canada cannot count on maintaining current levels of immigration of advanced degree-holders to meet future labour market needs. In an increasingly knowledge-based world, competition for highly-educated immigrants is growing in developed nations and emerging economies alike.

Consequently, more needs to be done to attract the best and the brightest international graduate students who remain critical to fuelling the country's pipeline of highly qualified personnel.

I agree wholeheartedly that the immigration process has to be streamlined. But then what? We've got a critical shortage of family doctors in this country while meanwhile there are surgeons driving taxis, not to mention, ahem, web marketing designers stuck in demeaning ghettoized translation jobs. I'm sure they're all writing home about how great Canada is. Why bother attracting more when we aren't making the most of the people we have here, enabling them to do what they came here to do? I'll say it again: what a waste.

Auto-reply

2008-02-24T15:27:00.002-05:00

This is interesting mainly for the list of topics to which the minister will not respond:

This will acknowledge receipt of your e-mail to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

If this is a request for case information, the responsibility placed on us by the Privacy Act to protect all personal information precludes us from responding using e-mail unless we are able to verify that you are entitled/authorized to receive the case specific information. In this respect, if you are the applicant or a dependant listed on the application and you provide us with your full name, date of birth, and a file number or Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) client ID, or you are a person to whom we are authorized to release information (written consent on the citizenship or immigration file) and are able to provide the applicant's full name, DOB and the file number or CIC client ID, you will receive a reply by e-mail within 10 - 30 working days. If you are not the applicant or listed dependant or you are not authorized to receive the information, you will not receive a further reply to your e-mail.

*Please note that we will not respond to e-mails concerning the following:

· Assessment of points/qualifications.
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If you are a Parliamentarian (Member of Parliament or Senator) seeking to assist the applicant, we will reply to you by telephone or letter.

Please note that e-mail is not a secure channel of communication. CIC is not liable for the unauthorized disclosure of personal information to or the misuse of that information by a third party where we took reasonable means to verify the identity of the party.

For more information about CIC, please visit one of the following sites.

General information - visit www.cic.gc.ca

For the Call Centre, please visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/contacts/call. asp.

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Application forms - visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/index.asp.

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Sponsor your family - visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/index.asp.

Immigrating to Canada - visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp.

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Citizenship - visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/index.asp.

Announcements/News Releases - visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/index.asp.

For on-line services provided by CIC such as a change of address or to check your application status, visit http://services3.cic.gc.ca/ols/ols.do?lang=en.

Letter to Diane

2008-02-23T11:50:00.001-05:00

Dear Ms. Finley,

I am a Canadian citizen, a journalist and editor, who has returned to Canada after almost 6 years abroad in Finland. While I was there I married a Finnish man and last August we moved back to Canada. He came on a temporary work permit (doing translation work for a local agency) and I am employed as an editor at a magazine. We sent in our application for permanent residency under the family class in October, and we hope to have the AIP in May. We are a talented, educated couple who hope to start a family soon.

In the meantime my husband, who is an Internet marketing designer who made $70,000/year in Finland, has been living off a $1,500/month salary and our savings, waiting for his AIP. I am supporting him in every way I can, but the bottom line is he feels frustrated and humiliated everyday, being forced to accept this drop in his quality of life that moving back to my country has entailed. He was denied a drivers' licence in Ontario even though Canada and Finland have a reciprocal agreement on this documentation that Canadian provinces have never honoured. He cannot see where all this investment is taking him, except back to where he was before he left Finland.

He has also been applying for jobs in his field, and last November he was offered a job at an advertising agency, for only slightly less than he was making in Finland. The need to reapply for a temporary work permit has caused a delay of three months (first in the delay of the agency in applying for the LMO, a process they don't seem to be familiar with, and now in the actual application process).

If, as the legitimate spouse of a Canadian citizen, he was granted an open work permit upon arrival in Canada (something he could potentially apply for before entering), then he would be free to make his own way here and his entry into society as a productive member would be expedited. As it stands, being denied this freedom is tantamount to a message from the Canadian government that he is not welcome here, and he would be better off back in Finland, where I am granted work and residence permits, licenses, and other basic rights simply by virtue of being married to a citizen.

He feels that, should his new temporary work permit be denied, he will have little choice but to return to Finland. This puts me in the horrible position of choosing between my marriage and my family and career here in Canada. I never thought that moving to Canada would have the potential to pull my world apart. This is not the way it should be.

Now, I know that Canada is in need of young people exactly like my husband: educated, hard-working, honest. His job description is on the National Occupations List and the list for Ontario, so he is not taking jobs from those who came here before him, but filling a need. I also know that the spouses of temporary workers in Canada are granted an open work permit for the time that they spend here. Why are Canadians' spouses denied the same ability to make their own way?

This simple change would increase the quality of life considerably for new immigrants, and increase Canada's appeal for immigrants who have professional careers already begun elsewhere. It would also work to stop the senseless punishment that most first-generation immigrants suffer here in Canada, for little or no real reward. They put in far, far more than they receive back from this place. Having lived in Scandinavia I can assure you that they would get better deals elsewhere. Canada needs to step up and show these people that they are a valuable part of society, and that begins with the immigration process.

We cannot even consider purchasing a home or starting a family until we have a more stable foundation here. All we ask is to be able to take the jobs we find, work, and live like everyone else. When that is denied to us, the appeal of abandoning this place and going elsewhere becomes stronger and stronger the longer we wait.

Please explain why Canadians' spouses are not granted and cannot be granted open work permits while waiting for permanent residency, and what you are doing to speed the PR application process.

Sincerely,

Fellow ingrate!

2008-02-15T11:46:00.003-05:00

Chinese-Australian poet Ouyang Yu has a poem called The Ungrateful Immigrant. Not only do we both have excellent titular taste, but we both like to use the word "fucking" as an adjective in poems. w00t!

Boxing week special: five days off!!

2008-02-13T09:32:00.004-05:00

It's been 2 weeks since Mr O.'s temporary work visa app landed in Vegreville - and two weeks since my last post. No real news to report, obviously, but I did notice that the processing time for tempies (one of the benefits of spending so much time with a vocabulary is that you get to give everything cute little names) has been reduced by five days for those who got them in by Dec 30. Again, not relevant to us, exactly, but a step in the right direction all the same.

Keeping tabs

2008-02-01T10:34:00.001-05:00

Mr. O's temporary work app arrived in Vegreville, AB - home of the world's largest Ukrainian Easter Egg - yesterday. The current estimated wait time on the CIC site for apps received on or before Dec 11 is 44 days, so really that means we don't know how long ours might take. (If you're in a betting mood, leave a comment.)

Speaking of wait times, I talked to a CIC agent this morning about the wait times on the PR application. Mr. O had emailed me earlier, mildly freaking about the prospect of having to wait another 12 months for his visa - thanks to a note we'd failed to, er, notice on the processing times page, which reads:

There is a two-step process involved in family class applications: the assessment of the sponsorship application in Canada and the assessment of the permanent residence application outside Canada by the visa office. There are separate processing times for each of these two steps.

Processing an out-of-country sponsorship application (i.e. the first step) takes 37 days at CPC Mississauga. In-country, the same app takes five to six months. When that application goes through, Mr. O will get a letter stating his AIP, which means he can apply for an open work permit. But then step 2 begins, and the current wait times on that are anywhere from three to nine months. "I like to tell people 18 months start to finish," says the nice CIC guy.

When I asked him why it took so much longer to process a sponsorship app in Canada than from outside, he told me that the RCMP and CSIS checks (two of the three checks done on each file, Immigration being the third) are both backlogged at the moment because Canadian employers have also started conducting private checks through the RCMP. He also said that the medical is entered into the system about three months after it's done, and that this time of year is also the peak period for applications, all of which create delays.

It makes me think it would be so much easier if CIC agents could do their own checks, rather than relying on the RCMP (in which, sorry, I have little confidence in general) and CSIS. Then again, this could all be part of a big political passing of the buck. We really have no way of knowing.

The good news is that this doesn't change our situation in any practical way. Once he has the AIP he can work (or not work) as he likes, and that date hasn't moved any. The rest of it is, at this point, too far into the future to be worth worrying about at this point.

Countdowns within countdowns

2008-01-29T15:35:00.001-05:00

Mr. O mailed his application for a new temporary work visa to Vegreville today, with the understanding that his employer has also sent their app for his LMO to HRSDC. Here's the official link to how this all works. If you clicked that link you'll notice that Mr. O isn't exactly following the rules, but rather taking the advice of a CIC agent. (In stark contrast to the CIC site, the phone reps are wonderfully human - helpful and practical.)

Depending on whether or not he'll have to wait for the LMO (which comes to the employer and then he has to send it to CIC himself) to start processing, it could take from three to six weeks.

Also of note: our PR application was submitted exactly three months ago today. Wheee!

Go ahead, trust your boss

2008-01-22T11:37:00.000-05:00

Mr. O and I went out to celebrate, oh, it must have been the Friday before last. The occasion: holding his new contract in his hot little hand. Note, I didn't say "signed" his contract, and I should also mention he had put out an ultimatum to his "agent" a few days previous, that if, after over a month of waiting, he didn't have a contract by the end of the week he wanted to move on to other options. (Stockholm still haunts him, too.)

So he got his contract, and we had our dinner, and little has happened since. Last week the HR contact sent him some half-filled forms (which, he pointed out, had a few too many spelling mistakes, kinda like his driver's license, but I digress). He sent them back completed, with a request to have the HR contact call him so they could speak directly. The person was supposed to be at the original contract meeting, but couldn't make it, so they have never actually met.

According to the forms, the company has at least one other person employed under a foreign work visa, so this process should be at least somewhat familiar to the person in charge. It doesn't seem that way, though. Aside from the painfully slow pace (if they had filed the forms when they offered him the position at the end of November, he would be working there now), Mr. O is starting to get a bit anxious as to whether he can trust the employer to fill out the forms correctly, that is, in such a way that the government will in fact approve the application, which is still not a given.

Before he went in to get his contract, Mr. O called a CIC agent who advised him to send the papers to Vegreville for in-country processing, despite the fact that, as his job is on the National Occupation List, he is eligible for concurrent processing - which is only available via foreign offices, i.e. CHC in London. The woman asked him to append a letter explaining this to his application, info he passed on to the new employer, but which hasn't been done.

All of this - plus the prospect of being left without a job should the app not go through - has Mr. O in a bit of a panic, and rightly so: How do you trust an inexperienced/overworked person you've never met with your future?

5.9 mil and counting

2008-01-07T13:08:00.001-05:00

The chart above is from the Economist's special report on immigration. Canada ranks third in both percentage of immigrants and total number in millions, just beating out Britain by 100,000 people. Incidentally, 5.9 million is more than the entire population of Finland.

The CIC also anticipates admitting an average 250,000 new immigrants a year over the next few years, which might drive Canada up in the ratings.

Class action

2008-01-07T12:33:00.000-05:00

While Mr. O and I were touring our nation's capital on Saturday, the Globe and Mail was reporting on a class action suit filed by a B.C. man against the Immigration Department, which accuses the government of overcharging on immigration sponsorship fees by 50% (thanks to C&C for the tip!).

Alan Hinton and his lawyer Richard Kurland spent 13 years trying to access information that proved the cost of processing a $75 spousal sponsorship application was in fact only $36.69. So far the suit only covers cases filed between 1994 and 2004, but Kurland has asked for an extension to include all cases up to the end of 2007, which would mean us.

This is my favourite part of the article by far:

"...the Immigration Department, he said, could never ask for such an exemption "because politically it is suicide to tell immigrants that the government is profiting on their visas at a time that they are claiming that processing times are too long because they don't have resources for more visa offices."

Tee-hee.

Starting new

2008-01-03T15:21:00.000-05:00

By the end of 2007 I was pretty eager for it to be over. I had this romantic idea in my head of the New Year, in which we would already have a place to live, jobs of some reasonably profitable sort and papers in progress. In other words we would wake up and be ahead of the game. This was only reinforced by one of those "If you have a place to sleep and some money in the bank and can read you are better off than 99% of the world's population" cheery type holiday Powerpoint card thingys, which proved once and for all that all my whining is that of a rich, impatient white girl peeking through toilet-paper rolls for perspective. And the fact remains that we ARE doing absolutely fine, and will be doing even better if Mr. O's mythical job offer ever comes through, and if we find a flat that doesn't leak heat all day and suffocate us all night.

Mr. O's argument is simple: we're not going to be within driving distance of my family whether we're in Toronto or Helsinki, so we might as well go where there's universal daycare and six-weeks' vacation. And he's right. Six months late in getting that message through to me, but right all the same. The frustration and fear that this move was a bad one, a mistake, and an expensive one at that, is still lingering under the surface of everything.

And yet, despite all the practical reasons why we should have stayed in Finland, being home with my family over the holidays, getting to know my five-year-old-when-I-left-16-year-old-now brother, thinking of my sister having kids, and my parents getting older, gets me in a root-laying-down mood. Canada's not so bad, eh? People manage to raise kids here just fine. I can fly home to see the fam for the weekend if I need to. I've got 10 times the job options here, plus writing courses, yoga classes, hairdressers, and doctors, all in English (Woo-hoo!). Toronto is a hard place to love, but once you get it - kinda like learning Finnish, hmm - it's intensely satisfying.

And so while nothing in our situation has actually changed since my last post, the change of the year has cleared away all the logistics and To-Do lists and left me with the bare cold shock (and yes, embarrassing as it may be, it is a shock) of the suddenly permanent distances in my life. The start of 2008 has put me in a state of cold shock that This Is How My Life Is Going To Be from now on. Because when it comes right down to it, Mr. O isn't staying here. Not forever. No way. And if I go, there are many things I will lose. Not to understate the things he will lose by staying here, but this is my blog and I'm being selfish so today it's all about me.

So I have a choice to make which is so much bigger than which neighbourhood to live in, whether I want to stay in journalism or not, whether we should rent or buy. I have to pick a continent, and a lifestyle. Fuck fuck fuck.

Counting Canadians abroad

2007-12-19T12:27:00.000-05:00

From an article in today's Globe and Mail:

Research by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada suggests there are perhaps nearly three million Canadians abroad. As a share of the population, Canada's "diaspora" is larger than the overseas communities of the United States, Australia, China or India.

...

Sixty-four per cent of Canadians abroad consider Canada "home." Interestingly, naturalized Canadians living abroad are more likely to call Canada home than native-born Canadians — a finding that challenges the view that return migrants are somehow less Canadian because they have chosen not to live in Canada.

...

Nearly 70 per cent intend to return to Canada to establish their principal residence. Overseas Canadians originally from British Columbia are most likely to return to establish their principal residence, followed by Canadians originally from Ontario. The two most important reasons for returning to Canada are family and quality of life. Fewer than one in five respondents identified Canada's health care or social services as a reason for returning.

...

The emergence of a Canadian diaspora is not a transient phenomenon. It is the flip side of large immigration inflows over the past two decades, and a function of global competition for skilled workers. To some extent, outmigration is a response to the difficulty that many new immigrants face in finding suitable work in Canada. But a far more important reason for the rise in Canadians overseas is the burgeoning economic opportunities in immigrant source countries such as India and China.

Beaten to a pulp

2007-12-14T14:52:00.000-05:00

Canadian forestry industry realizes it's getting its ass kicked by Finnish forestry industry. Details on this and other interesting non-World Cup hockey related Canada vs. Finland facts laid out by the excellent Konrad Yakabuski in ROB online.

Approaching normal

2007-12-13T15:24:00.001-05:00

As moving madness blurs into holiday madness, I can feel a shift to a new stage in our little immi experiment. We're mastering the morning rush, we know which shops have which stuff (we even made rye bread and squeaky cheese), we have our brunch place and a few well-kept secrets, our friends are used to our being in the same area code. I've even been back to Edmonton twice already, with another trip coming soon. And if Mr. O gets this job, which is (dare I say) likely, then things will be different/improving/almost normal.
Okay, so Mr. O is still judging Finland vs. Canada matches in his head on a daily basis, but he's also starting to see that both places have both advantages and disadvantages. A woman I know who moved here from Denmark more than 40 years ago told me the other day that the thing that appealed to her about this place was that nobody was going to carry you through, you really had to make your own way. And it's true. While I'll never stop believing in the basic social net that the Nordic countries have so perfected, and you'll never convince me that free universal daycare and post-secondary education are anything but pretty damn sweet, I can see a point there. Living in Finland, you start to expect that the government will clean up every mess - the rampant alcoholism that spread its ugly all over our old neighbourhood comes to mind - and so the individual need not ever stick his neck out. Canadians, with their head-up-ass time-waste of a government, suffer from no such illusions. Even in Toronto, which is the quintessential every-man-for-himself city, people still help each other out. It's a ultra-thin lining, but there it is all the same.
A week ago, we were seriously talking about picking up and heading back to Stockholm, where Mr. O would have a sweet job and I'd take a Swedish course, make meatballs. In a way, it feels like the easy option. On the other hand, the thought of packing alone gives me vertigo. And Mr. O, fed up as he was, couldn't give up on the few plans we've already made on this continent next summer: a trip down south for a family wedding, a weekend at the Folk Fest with my sibs. There are still things we need to do here, and so Stockholm will have to wait. So will Berlin, and Helsinki, and all the other places we still want to go. Now that things have calmed down a bit move-wise, we can take a bit of time to have a good time, or just do nothing at all.

National occupation

2007-12-05T09:37:00.000-05:00

So Mr O. is, for the second time in a month, *this* close to scoring a real job. In fact, they'd like him to start next week. Trouble is, you know what the trouble is: six weeks' wait and a long detour to the CHC in London. Whether or not he could apply through a domestic office because he is already in Canada on a temporary permit is unclear.

With a bit of digging, however, it seems that there is a potential short cut: jobs listed on the "National Occupational List" are eligible for concurrent processing, which means that we can send in the visa application before receiving an LMO - which means saving around two weeks.

BUT - and there is always a but - the catch is that, in order to qualify, the application has to go through a foreign office, i.e. CHC. Which would suggest that otherwise he could go through a domestic office, or that as a temporary resident he's not eligible at all. We shall see.

On the clock

2007-12-03T10:40:00.000-05:00

E-cas update: Mr. O's file is officially "in process" as of last Monday (although the updates don't appear till Tuesday, we discovered) - exactly 29 days later. Total count to date: 33 days and counting.

Thus spake the mighty e-cas:

"We received your application for permanent residence on October 29, 2007.

We started processing your application on November 26, 2007."

So longer than most of my peeps on immigration.ca, but still in under a month. I bite my tongue.

Fall down, get up, fall down...

2007-11-26T13:47:00.000-05:00

Alas, Mr. O didn't get the great job after all. It came down to him and one other candidate, and the other guy got it. Although this sucks for multiple reasons, I am somehow grateful that he didn't get it because he wasn't the right guy, rather than because of the visa BS involved. However, the woman who interviewed him was apparently very impressed, and has passed his name on to several other potential employers. He already has another second interview this week.

To make matters worse, Mr. O saw an email from his current employer not intended for his eyes, which sorta kinda said that staff in other locations doing the same job were being paid $6 more an hour. Since his probation had just ended, he talked to his superior about a potential raise, and got a lame answer about it "not being in the business plan." All of which makes it that much harder to stay and work when he could be doing something more interesting for more money elsewhere.

And of course, this is where it really gets complicated: he gets a call from a woman in Stockholm looking for talent to staff a new company, and is he coming to Europe any time soon and would he like an interview? And does he have a family, because they would pay to relocate? Etc. etc. Maybe it's just the winter blahs, but Stockholm sounds pretty fun right now. We could quit a few months early, do a cross-Canada tour for two months, and then head on home on someone else's tab. Mr. O says This is more like it.

So that's the current fantasy. As a consolation prize, his employer has agreed to let Mr. O work from home, so he'll have more time for other things, maybe a pro bono project to keep his portfolio fresh, some music stuff, playing with the cat, whatever. I'm hoping that this, coupled with a steady-enough stream of interviews and other interest from local agencies, will carry us through to the new year career-wise.

To be fair, he's feeling much more pragmatic about the whole thing lately. There was a little bit of doom and gloom last week, and I have to agree that it would have been much easier to do this kind of thing at 25, like I did, than at 30, like he is. But to take off for Scandinavia after all of four months would be like cheating, worse, it would be a pathetic defeat. And so we take small victories and go from there.

CIC annual report

2007-11-21T13:47:00.000-05:00

The 2007 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration was presented on Oct 31. My favorite highlight:

The 2008 levels plan upholds Canada’s support for family reunification by planning for between 68,000 and 71,000 admissions of spouses, partners, dependants, parents and grandparents in 2008.

Track it

2007-11-20T19:52:00.000-05:00

Matthew Carroll (Carroll.org.uk) tracks the CIC's historical performance according to the fluctuating estimates and averages provided by the CIC itself. I note with a sneer that times for "Sponsor - spouse" are up slightly, but the fact that 'PR - spouse' has decreased by a good four months since we talked to that nice immigration lawyer in January.

Trakitt.com takes a spreadsheet approach, with pages for immi to Canada, the US, UK, and India, divided by application class. The family class page for a country lists all cases according to date and shows the office and all the major milestone dates from application to approval, which makes it easy to compare your case with others from the same office, and count on your fingers and toes how long it took them to get through. It also gives examples of standard documents such as the AOR letter, which the friendly CIC woman told me that we wouldn't be receiving on an inland. Note there is not a single member of Finnish nationality listed on the page.

Based on trakkit, estimated times on the CIC site seem to be relatively accurate, though not astounding by any stretch. A sample case of an American applying through Vegreville April 26 had his/her sponsorship approved Nov 7, with the landing interview scheduled for Nov 27. That's seven months on the nose, door to door. At the time the sponsor was approved, the AIP would also have come, and so at that time the open work permit could be granted (apparently you can also send the OWP application in ahead of time, so it can - theoretically - be processed at the same time. Otherwise it can also take a while.). So while times from app to sponsorship approval are much faster say, through the Buffalo office (which, along with Vegreville, seems to take a larger share of applications), those people have to wait another five to six months afterward, so it all works out about the same in the end.

3 weeks and counting

2007-11-20T19:38:00.001-05:00

Unless we've somehow got the number wrong, it's been three weeks, which is about the average time (according to my highly unscientific research trawling the immigration.ca forums) it takes for an app to go from 'received' to 'in process'. They usually update e-cas on Mondays, so whether we got in just under the line or it's fallen behind a desk somewhere, we won't know till for at least another week.

My curiosity about the immigration officers, their training and systems is growing by the day. I am dying to know what their offices look like, for instance, and what kind of set-up they have. Do they do the background checks themselves, or through consulates, or police? It seems like an interesting job, though I've never met anyone who does it. Have you?

According to Wikipedia, some basic trivia:

The Citizenship and Immigration Canada department employs 5,000 staff, which on a per-capita basis is three times as many as the 15,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees, but recoups some of its department costs through landing fees. In 2006 the Canadian government reduced the landing fee per immigrant by 50%.

While the getting's good

2007-11-18T20:12:00.000-05:00

If I could change one thing about our little immigration process, it would be to change the law to allow spouses of Canadian citizens temporary open work permits while their applications are in process (Interestingly, this option is open to spouses of temporary workers).

The motivation for this particular whinge is simple and timely: Mr. O is *this* close to a job offer in his field, but if and when he gets it, he'll have the unenviable task of informing his new would-be employer that they need to okay it with the federal government first. And in his case, through the Canadian High Commission in London. Last time it took seven weeks, and right now the average processing times are longer than they were last time around. In such a competitive industry, there is a real chance that they won't be willing to wait that long, especially when Human Resources and Social Development Canada has veto rights.

Lucky for us, Mr. O fits into the title of "Interactive Media Developer," dont'chaknow, which seems to be a sought-after category, a.k.a. a "good" job. The Ontario Immigration portal lists these by municipal region. (Go ahead, look yourself up. I know you're curious.)

Smarter than your average Canadian

2007-11-15T16:15:00.001-05:00

And yet more likely to be unemployed. Authors of an Institute for Research on Public Policy study contributed a column to today's Globe and Mail:

"Immigration and integration - More must be done to improve the economic prospects of highly educated immigrants"

"Much of the rhetoric in today's debate on reasonable accommodation of minorities misses a critical and obvious point: that integration into a new society begins with a job. Work is a source of both cultural socialization and acclimation.

For this reason, a recently released Statistics Canada report on immigrant labour-market integration is troubling. It revealed, among other things, that unemployment among newcomers is double the Canadian average.

While the fact that recent arrivals make less money and experience higher unemployment is hardly news, the profile of the current cohort of immigrants makes this very troubling. Since the 1990s, Ottawa and Quebec (which establishes its own selection requirements) have emphasized education and experience as criteria for immigrants. As a result, recent groups of newcomers are better educated and more skilled than previous generations. Their educational credentials now surpass those of the average Canadian-born citizen..."

Brahim Boudarbat and Maude Boulet are, respectively, a professor and a PhD student at Université de Montréal. Their study, "Détérioration des salaires des nouveaux immigrants au Québec par rapport à l'Ontario et à la Colombie-Britannique," published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, is available at www.irpp.org.

Facing e-casing

2007-11-13T13:01:00.001-05:00

Today I had my first conversation with a real live CIC rep on the phone, in an attempt to get our client number to track our e-cas status online. It turns out that this number is the same that is on Mr. O's temporary work permit (it was a blank on the fees receipt that we didn't fill, although apparently this doesn't matter). If I had dealt with CIC in the past, I would also be able to use the number issued then to track this sponsorship. One number per person? That's almost Finnish in its organization and coordination! Who knew the Canadians were so coordinated and organized? And why didn't we find this little detail on the site anywhere? Reputations are at stake!

Interesting also that she couldn't release the number to me, even though I'm his sponsor - apparently we'd have to send in a release of information or use of a representative form in order to grant me access. Of course, Mr. O could call in and request the information himself, since it's his file. She also said that even with the number it was unlikely that we'd see anything on the file at this early date. Don't think that's going to stop me from punching it in as soon as I get home tonight.

She also said that in-Canada sponsorships work a bit differently, and that, unless they have to contact us to request clarification or missing information on the app, we shouldn't expect to hear from the CIC for about six months after the date of receipt, at which point Mr. O will get his first stage approval and can apply for an open work permit. It's apparently at that stage that I would receive my very own client ID number for e-cas, although what this would show me about Mr. O's status is unclear. While it's nice that it's all bundled into one step, it's a bit strange that they don't send any confirmation of receipt.

Finland in TO

2007-11-08T19:59:00.000-05:00

Ah, the expat social calendar is filling up. What's on the agenda? Drooling drunken kossu-fueled pikkujoulut? Nah. Pity.

Saturday Nov 24, Toronto Finnish Theatre Co (sorta like the Finn Brit Players but in reverse, shudder) presents a comedy in Finnish: Suur-Jussilan isännän kompleksi. Don't tell me: a post-modern Seven brothers?

Tuesday Nov 27, Suomi-Koti Outreach Program presents a cheery speaker, Tohtori Veli Ylänkö, speaking on "Preparing for death". Musical guests for the evening are Mikko ja Kari, otherwise known as Kaksi miestä ja kitara.

Friday Nov 30, Finland's' 90th independence day gala, at the Granite Club, featuring keynote speaker Ossi Kervinen, Director of Public Relations, Defense Command Finland. Tickets a steal at $100 a pop, but warning, first come first served.

I couldn't make this stuff up.

From sOHIP to nOHIP - cont.

2007-11-07T23:10:00.001-05:00

So Mr. O got his OHIP card in the mail today and I didn't get mine! No fair! On the other hand, lucky I shelled out for private health insurance, in case they've actually lost it or something...I wonder how I might go about checking on that, considering I have no receipt or reference number?

E-cas

2007-11-07T09:43:00.000-05:00

Browsing the immigration.ca forums I found a thread started by my people - others who have started the application process in October 07. This three-legged race seems to be measured by electronic client application status or e-cas statements, which are valuable yet painfully incomplete little crumbs and fragments of information provided on your file. To access your e-cas you need a client ID number, which I don't have, but that I can apparently get by calling CIC. I'm also expecting a letter of some kind confirming the receipt of my application, that should also state our case number, but who knows how long that might take to arrive.
Now is when I get paranoid about not having my tax forms from Canada, and being rejected as a sponsor on that basis despite my polite letter and Finnish substitution. At least the forum peeps are relatively optimistic about the whole thing, and it will be interesting to see how we all fare in the coming months. Most of them had an update from "received" to "in process" within a few weeks. Let's get this Mr. O show on the road, hmm?

And now the fun part

2007-10-31T10:23:00.000-04:00

According to Canada Post our application arrived in Vegreville on Monday. So now we wait. Current processing time: 2 days. According to the latest estimates on the CIC site, in-Canada permanent residence applications are currently processed in 6 - 7 months, which means April/May 2008, which means we have only 182 - 213 days to go! Shall we open a pool? How many jellybeans in this jar? Pick a date and win!

That's that, mattress man

2007-10-25T23:07:00.001-04:00

Okay, we're done, it's all in an envelope, ready to go tomorrow morning. Tonight was supposed to be quick and easy, just attach the photos and we're done, but it was actually very stressful, like applying to the college of your dreams, intensified 1,000 times. All of the moving and everything we've done up to now is basically dependent on the safe arrival and acceptance of this envelope. If for some reason I'm rejected as a sponsor or our application is otherwise deemed unworthy, we're basically moving back to Finland.
And so it was strange that, amidst all my hyper-organized control-freaking tonight, I found myself suddenly longing to be back there. It was a totally inappropriate moment for an attack of homesickness, if there ever was one. I think I miss the ease of it, the security of the happy impermanence that was life there. I wonder if I should have listened to the part of me that, when we were really actually uprooting and moving, was telling me to stay. I can think of as many neighborhoods there as here that I would love to live in, and I don't need anyone's permission to do so.
I know all of this is knee-jerk against the insecurity of our position here. I have specific goals, dreams, fears for our future, and I don't want to be told that they can't happen based on someone else's idea of of who can live here and who can't. I want a house and a family, and a good job for my man – so we can both have fulfilling careers rather than just one of us. I want a holiday so we can visit his folks or get sun. That's pretty much it. And that's all in this large yet surprisingly skinny envelope. So now I have to mail it and just wait. Ten months or so and then life can begin again. Mail it and figure out what to do in the meantime.

THE CHECKLIST - REVISED

2007-10-22T23:13:00.000-04:00

FORMS (which are all online here)

For me:
-Application to Sponsor and Undertaking CHECK
-Sponsorship agreement CHECK
-Sponsorship evaluation CHECK

For him:
-In-Canada Application for Permanent Residence and Schedule 1 CHECK despite Mr. O's swearing at trying to fit all kinds of educational information into tiny little fields (solution: attach an extra sheet) and trying to remember every address he's lived at over the past 10 years – about 10 in 3 or 4 different cities. I can't even remember the address of the last place we lived in
-Spouse/common-law partner questionnaire TK - this one is tricksy, with all kinds of hidden documents required, such as proof of relationship, common residence, etc., so it is really 7 or 8 docs in one.

For both of us:
-Document checklist CHECK (how meta)

PHOTOCOPIES (not certified)

For me:
-proof of Canadian citizenship, i.e. passport or birth certificate CHECK

For him:
-passport (photo page and page with stamp of most recent entry to Canada) CHECK
-indication of status in Canada (i.e. work visa) CHECK
-birth certificate, er, population record CHECK
-original police certificates (i.e. not photocopies) CHECK
-proof of medical examination (copy of receipt) CHECK

For both:
-photocopy of marriage certificate CHECK
-photographs of the marriage, if applicable (huh?)

PHOTOS
-2 of him

PROOF OF INCOME
-a letter from my employer CHECK (delay: 1 week)
-an original Option C printout of my last notice of Assessment for the most recent taxation year along with printouts of all income slips (T4, etc.) CHECK - sort of. Fun with taxes! The nice CRA woman sent me the empty printout of my Canadian record, which unfortunately but understandably still listed me as single. To this I attached a copy of my Finnish tax statement, a translation of that (thanks Kristian!) and a letter explaining it all. (delay: 1 week)

FEES
-receipt from online payment - Following the advice in the guide, this is the last thing we'll do

At least we're getting closer. Each time I sit down I think we'll finish before I get up, but so far it hasn't happened. My docs held us up two weeks, and we still haven't filled in the last few forms.

Masters of Immigration

2007-10-18T10:08:00.001-04:00

Now you can be one too, according to an article on website The Canadian Immigrant. Think they hand out honorary degrees?

Immigrants helping immigrants

2007-10-16T20:38:00.000-04:00

Thanks for your email Carey,

There are several organizations in Toronto that you could contact about volunteer opportunities. You can find their contact details through their websites. These are listed on the CCRMs website at: http://www.ccrweb.ca/eng/links/links.htm#ON

I would suggest contacting:
- COSTI Immigrant Services
- FCJ Refugee Centre
- Catholic Cross Cultural Services
- Matthew House
- Romero House
...among others

I hope that this gives you a good starting point!

Kind regards,
Colleen

At 10:14 AM 21/09/2007, you wrote:
>Hi Colleen,
>
>My husband and I recently moved (back) to Canada; I'm Canadian and he's Finnish. He >volunteered at a refugee centre in Finland in his teens and it changed his life. Now that we've >immigrated ourselves, we're looking for a way to give back. Is there a centre in Toronto
>that could use our help? We speak a few languages and I have my ESL teaching certificate, my >husband has computer skills. But we could just help out around the place, talk with people, >whatever. Please share any contacts you might have. Thanks!
>
>Warm regards,
>Carey
>
>
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database:
>269.13.27/1020 - Release Date: 20/09/2007 12:07 PM

"FAMILY SEPARATION: Who Pays the Cost?"
Participate in our Family Reunification campaign at www.reunification.ca

"LA SÉPARATION DES FAMILLES : qui en paie le coût?"
Participez à notre campagne pour la réunification des familles à
www.reunification.ca
_______________
Colleen French
Communications and Networking Coordinator/
Coordinatrice de la communication et du réseautage
Canadian Council for Refugees/
Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés
6839 Drolet #302
Montréal, QC, H2S 2T1
Tel:514-277-7223 extension/poste 1
Fax: 514-277-1447
email: ccr4@web.ca
website: http://www.web.ca/ccr

Fun with taxes

2007-10-11T08:14:00.000-04:00

So here's a reversal that reminds me of my first days in Finland: Nice Canadian tax lady bends the rules, grouchy Finnish tax lady toes the line.
I hesitatingly called the CRA last week to ask about the infamous Option C printout and the person on the end of the line was very helpful. Before she could even try to take a printout, which she assumed would be blank but I thought might be useful anyway, she had to update my address, which was a serious task. Akin to changing your PIN number at the bank, changing your address at the Canadian Revenue Agency is a many-stepped process, which involves answering questions about your tax history and other info that, if it is all five-plus years old, is actually very tricky. Because I had no tax history (at least, for the last while) she had to come up with other, security-type questions that only I could answer, in order for the system to let her in to change it. What was my first address in Finland (I could remember the street but not the number)? Where did I live in Toronto before I moved (as in, all three addresses since I started working)? I was feeling a bit embarrassed until she said she was surprised I could remember that much, considering the fragmented state of my file (okay, so she didn't use the word fragmented, exactly). Then I felt better, and she updated my address and sent me the blank form, strongly suggesting I call Finland and get a statement from them. Thanks!
Then I tracked down the international number for the Finnish verotoimisto, and got up bright and early Tuesday morning to call them inside office hours. I had this idea that they would be flexible and accommodating, kind of like your mom, or the owner of a small business. The woman answered in English, but she really didn't seem happy about it. I wasn't so happy to be up at that time either, but we choked our way through a short convo, the gist of which was that a) a statement of my 2006 income was already in the mail, as per their usual schedule, to my Toronto address, and b) no, it wasn't in English, nor could they send me an English version. And that was that, no negotiation. Kiitos, hei hei.
So the thing arrived yesterday, and now the next delay will be to get it translated. I can either scan it and send it to my dear friend in Finland, or figger out a place to get it done here. Either way, it'll be another week before we can send Mr. O's application.

THE CHECKLIST

2007-09-27T21:40:00.000-04:00

FORMS (which are all online here)

For me:
-Application to Sponsor and Undertaking CHECK
-Sponsorship agreement CHECK
-Sponsorship evaluation CHECK

For him:
-In-Canada Application for Permanent Residence and Schedule 1
-Spouse/common-law partner questionnaire

For both of us:
-Document checklist

PHOTOCOPIES (not certified)

For me:
-proof of Canadian citizenship, i.e. passport or birth certificate

For him:
-passport (photo page and page with stamp of most recent entry to Canada)
-indication of status in Canada (i.e. work visa)
-birth certificate
-original police certificates (i.e. not photocopies) CHECK
-proof of medical examination (copy of receipt) CHECK

For both:
-photocopy of marriage certificate
-photographs of the marriage, if applicable (huh?)

PHOTOS
-2 of him

PROOF OF INCOME
-a letter from my employer
-an original Option C printout of my last notice of Assessment for the most recent taxation year along with printouts of all income slips (T4, etc.) *this one will be tricky as I haven't been living in Canada, will call the Canada Revenue Agency and get back to you...

Okay, so we're not actually almost ready to go. Good thing I checked the checklist...

Doctor doctor

2007-09-27T21:16:00.000-04:00

Mr. O went for his official government medical examination yesterday, as required by the CIC. When he booked the appointment, the clerk asked him to be sure to bring the right form (which, though it's labelled correctly, somehow doesn't seem to be the right form, but anyway), as well as ID (which nowadays means passport plus one of several official pieces of paper with address, just in case), his work visa, his glasses and/or contact lenses, and three passport photos (the CIC site says four, the clerk says three, you decide). Oh yeah, and 150 bucks.

The place was one of a list of sanctioned offices here in TO, but that didn't mean it wasn't a bit sketchy. First of all, and this is a minor thing, but speaks to the level of infrastructure in general, the place only accepts cash – no credit or debt card reader in sight. In general the overhead was a bit low, especially the X-ray lab, where he wasn't given a protective vest and the machine looked about 30 years out of date. The worst bit, though, was the lab tech who kinda missed his vein, causing his arm to swell up somewhat ominously – albeit temporarily – on the way out.

The doc keeps the form and mails it to the CIC office in Vegreville, AB, where all in-Canada spousal apps are sent. Mr. O was given a receipt, which, as we understand it, will be enough proof to include with our application, which is otherwise pretty much ready to go, except for the fees, which we'll pay just before we send it (you never know). Otherwise, we would have to wait at least three weeks, which is the time it takes for the medical exam to be processed - this from the doctor, who asked my O to call back after that period of time to get his very own case file number to confirm that the medical information had been successfully processed. Why this goes through the doctors offices, instead of directly from the CIC to the applicant, is unclear.

Moyo and the cucumber (OT)

2007-09-24T22:37:00.000-04:00

Moyo is our cat. The first night she arrived she caught a tiny little mouse, scaring away the rest of the mice forever. Since then she has been forced to hunt other, more easily available prey, such as cucumbers.

From sOHIP to nOHIP

2007-09-24T22:14:00.001-04:00

I haven't posted in ages, but not for lack of things to be ungrateful about. Just as Mr. O was scheming ways to make the most of his time "off" and endear himself to the local industry (take on graphic and web design projects for free and hence legally without a permit, take a professional development course to get something local on his CV), the one-month culture shock kicked in – big time. Two weeks ago on our way to work Mr. O crashed his bike, doing a somersault over the handlebars and landing on his arm and head (with helmet, luckily). Acting on impulse (and knowledge of head injuries) I hauled him bleeding and dizzy into a cab to the emergency at the nearest hospital. We arrived to an empty waiting room, and a nurse who took his credit card information and had him sign forms before receiving any medical attention. Of course, our nOHIP doesn't kick in for three months from the time of application, which means some time at the end of November. In the meantime, we had assumed that our respective work insurance policies would cover any emergencies; nope, they also carry a three-month probationary clause. So Mr. O forked over 430$ for a three-and-a-half hour wait, a blood-pressure check, and a bandaid and headrub from a medical student. By the time I tracked him down on the phone he was ready to leave, not only from the pain (he had been given no painkiller and had seen no doctor), but also because the people who were already waiting before him had also not been treated, including one woman who started to cry, and because he hadn't had any food or water since arriving at the hospital.
I remember feeling rather haughty watching Morgan Spurlock trying to get basic medical treatment in the US (after all, Mr. O's injuries were non-life threatening) but I can do so no longer. The Canadian "social welfare" system is all but non-existent for new Canadians. For those of you who raise their eyebrows at my claims, try to imagine moving to a country with no police force. That's how it strikes someone coming from a functional social welfare system into Canada.
To be fair, we were warned to buy health insurance before coming to Canada. The main reason we didn't was because we thought our work insurance would cover us. At that point Mr. O already had the job, although had not yet laid eyes on his contract nor on his insurance policy – but he did know that there was one. It's surprising to me that a company that brings in foreign workers doesn't provide for their welfare once they arrive. It is also of note that we are paying taxes during this period, though for what, I've yet to see with my own eyes.
So this was Mr. O's entree into "culture shock." I talked to a fellow importer of foreign men (read: man) and she said her import was experiencing a similar tendency to hide away and just flat out hate this new place for a little while. As for me, I am only slightly better off, having shelled out another 450$, this time to Manulife, for "Visitors to Canada insurance" a variation on travel insurance designed for liminal folks like us. Word to the wise: get it before it gets you. This, and a verbal agreement with Mr. O that we are not committed to staying here for any length of time, is the compromise we've arrived at. The idea that we had made a mistake coming here at all crossed my mind for the first time.
After disappearing into our little house of a hole for a week or so (coming out for work and food only) we were feeling better. Mr. O has a scar in the shape of a guy driving a tractor on his left elbow, and a bruise the size of a field underneath. But he has also completed a rite of passage: he has tasted the wrath of Toronto's viciously slippery and cruel streetcar tracks, which means he is officially a Local Cyclist.

Service Ontario rules

2007-08-28T10:58:00.000-04:00

No, that's not a typo, nor a sarcastic headline. I have nothing to complain about today. Yesterday we went to College Park to apply for sOHIP and it was fast and easy.
Okay, I might complain that it was my second trip there, after an aborted attempt on Friday afternoon before which I failed to RTFM and double check the required docs, so came with a VISA statement from the bank instead of a chequing or savings account statement, lease, or other proof of address (arbitrary, yes; negotiable, no) and was sent packing – but for that I have nobody to blame but myself. To add insult to my personal injury (surely it was personal) I witnessed a gentleman urinating into the recycling bin on our way out. Oh shit, I thought, the wait times must be brutal. Poor guy's been here for hours and is so terrified of missing his turn that he just pissed in the garbage can.
So I came back yesterday with low expectations. But the system works quite well, if you speak English, at least. They have hired some interns to stand at the door and direct people to various reception desks, at which they do a preliminary check of your documents (at which point I was rejected last Friday) and give you a number. According to the sOHIP site: "Your eligibility for Ontario health coverage is not determined by whether you have a job or are unemployed, or where you pay your income tax. It is based solely on your meeting one of the above citizenship or immigration categories and on you making your permanent and principal home in Ontario." Then you go sit in a big room of chairs and wait. The place is clean, cooled, and relatively quiet, compared at least to the zoo up the street at 900 Bay where we spent three sweltering days before and after our wedding to get a fast-track marriage certificate back in the day (full disclosure: without checking the address I went there first on Friday, only to find they had moved). This room is much bigger, and you don't have to line up in the hallway (bonus!). We waited for about 30 minutes on a Monday afternoon. The clerk was friendly and jokey and they seem to have a good working system for taking your photo, etc. It was all over before we knew it.
Now, the real wait is for three months before the sOHIP kicks in. I can't figure out why they impose this little quarantine period (the site doesn't elaborate), but it requires you to either buy private insurance or keep your fingers crossed. We both have medical coverage from our employers, so we're okay, but I'm sure plenty of other people are left without anything but luck for the first 90 days. Which sucks. There, something to complain about, finally.

Mistake?

2007-08-23T12:33:00.001-04:00

So after a little run-in with our new Canadian bank last night (nota bene: don't online/telephone bank when tired and a wee bit drunk) I think we had our first moment of Movers Regret. Actually it started earlier in the day, as Mr. O read through his contract and came to the conclusion that labour law in Canada favours businesses over workers, a depressing thought when your presence in the country is largely dependent on your employer.
Then we had a bit of a scrap over nothing as we walked all the way up my new favourite street, carrying a bedside table, over just how much Mr. O can vent about his new homeland and just how much I can take before I have to take the defensive on its behalf. Actually, it might sound like I'm defending my country (such a tough phrase) but really I'm defending our decision to move here, which, really, given the late night attack of MR I'm obviously still not 100 percent in favour of. Which, if I run with it, makes me wonder what the hell we're doing amassing furniture and adopting cats (who insist on kicking their litter boxes all over the floor, but that's veering off topic a bit).
I'm willing to chalk at least half of this rotten moody mood to the fact that it's gray and about 99 percent humidity today. My shirt was soaked just walking to the (closed till 2 pm) movie store. But I am obliged to mention that said movie store is quite possibly the most fantastic movie store next to which I've ever had the privilege of living, and without a doubt beats the hell out of any Makuuni. I love that everything in my new hood is open on Sunday and closed on Monday (who doesn't feel that way?) and that I can get organic Bronto Burgers and fresh raisin bread from the bakery and the lady at the Polish butcher with the broken Interac machine just offered to let me pay her next time. I love the 125 year old houses and jaywalking and how everybody is from some place else. I remember why Finland felt so barren when I first arrived there. And everybody knows the Big 5 banks suck anyway, so fuck it, we're going to the Finnish Credit Union.

New view

2007-08-23T00:18:00.000-04:00

The view from Church and Wellesley (19th floor) tonight. Note that most of the traditional skyline (CN Tower, etc) is totally obscured by clouds.

Fully furnished

2007-08-22T18:01:00.000-04:00

At last, things are slowing down a bit. It took a full week to finish painting the bedroom, living room and kitchen after we moved in last Wednesday, which meant yesterday we could start unpacking boxes. No really, the previous tenants put a lot of time and effort into painting the place three or four shades of brown. The bedroom was sponged and spackled to resemble a Du Maurier cigarette, which took three coats of tooth-bleach white to cover. When we weren't painting we were driving around the city – make that province – collecting various pieces of furniture. First was the bed, which involved a long trek up Bathurst all the way from Queens Quay to Sheppard (which is parallel to Pearson airport, for those like me who forget how huge this city is) and then all the way back down Yonge (after scoring a parking ticket in North York, one more reason never to go back there) the literal turning point being Mel Lastman Square, which I had always heard of but never seen. It was actually an interesting little tour, in our very rattly U-haul van, on some of the patchiest roads I've seen in Canada, through some phenomenal neighbourhoods. At the same time, Toronto feels more manageable now than it did when I lived here in the nineties. We've both changed.
We also made some new friends collecting kitchen stuff from a couple who are moving to South Africa – more on that below. Then on Saturday we took an east-west tour up along the lake to Kingston to collect a Danish teak dining room set from the grandparents of one of my closest friends. It's a nice drive considering it's on such a nasty freeway, and every now and then Lake Ontario peeks out from between maple covered hills, reminding you of the rest of the world outside the Big Smoke. The table is the only thing we've acquired so far in our little recycling project which has a real story attached to it that I'm aware of, and it's nice to keep things like that more or less in the family. And it's beautiful, in perfect condition. I've never had a real piece of furniture before...
Since then we've also had a chance to check out the strip of Dundas west of our place. It has the feel of the main street in a small town, with a handful of random corner markets, a mechanic, a spectacular organic vegetarian cafe, a coffee shop and a bank. It also has its fair share of junk shops and a few great furniture places, many of which rescue and refurbish old stuff. In general I think we've landed in the right place. We found a perfectly good espresso maker at a junk store, and a vacuum at a cheap electronics place, plus a large stripped and unfinished dresser from an ornery old dude called Ray, who lent us his dolly to wheel it home.
So the place is a little less hollow than it was last week. The finishing touch is Moyo, a tiny black cat we adopted from the couple moving to S. Africa. We brought her home last night and within three hours she'd caught a mouse – the primary reason we'd considered getting a cat, given our proximity to the train yards. She thought she'd found the ultimate plaything and batted it around until we took it outside (where it was immediately claimed by a bird who was less playful, I think). Since then she's been looking for it frantically, and woke us up several times last night to ask if we'd seen it. But when I came home this afternoon to find her crashed out on the bed, it really started to feel like home.

Landing

2007-08-13T07:11:00.000-04:00

We left Helsinki yesterday at about 4 pm, holding our breath as we loaded our overweight luggage (read: bursting at the seams) and two bicycles onto the rack. The nice Finnair guy was the first in a series of helpful people that made everything go as smoothly as possible, averting his eyes from the weight meter and sending it all through without extra charges.
The flight itself was like a holiday; after three weeks of chaos there was nothing to do but sit still, read, sleep. We arrived and the border guard sent us into immigration, where we were led into a drab cubicle by a young blonde officer who was likely younger than either of us. She asked Mr. O a few questions, entered his employment info and address into her computer, and stapled his permit into his passport. The whole thing was over in 10 minutes. On the way out a woman at a welcome desk gave us an application for OHIP and a social insurance number.
What took us longer than anything was getting our luggage. Even after our interview the ramp hadn't moved an inch (okay, I'm already speaking imperial again) and after we collected our bags our bikes were still nowhere to be found. Another nice Finnair guy took down our info and sent us through to secondary customs, where I presented my list of goods to follow, mandatory for all returning residents. While we were adding up my grand total the same Finnair guy came running through to announce that our bikes had arrived, and Mr. O followed him back to the luggage area to bring them in with a porter. By the time they reappeared I had finished with the customs officer and was waiting with our two-cart caravan by the door. At this point, just metres from the exit, I started to feel excited for the first time all day. We had made it.
In general the process was smooth and easy for us. I noticed thought that others weren't always having such an easy time of it, as officers asked questions that people couldn't answer, most often in languages they barely understood. Our friends waiting on the other side asked an immigration rep how long it would take for us to make it through the whole process, to which the optimistic reply was, "Oh, three hours, easy." It did take us about three hours from landing to leave the parkade, but that was more due to the brilliant organization of the GTAA than to any immigration hold-up.

Listless

2007-08-10T16:12:00.000-04:00

The Canadian Border Services Agency have a page of info dedicated to lucky souls moving back to Canada. This page describes in reasonable detail how to properly declare all the foreign spoils you're bringing back into the country with you. Lucky for us, everything we have to import (including our now-infamous 18 boxes, which arrived six days ahead of schedule) falls under personal effects, on which we aren't required to pay any tax. At the bottom of this page is a reference – not a link (?) – to a document lovingly named B4. B4 is a Personal Effects Accounting Document which all returning residents need to complete and present to the border guard when returning to Canada. Goods sent ahead or afterward need to be listed separately from those which you bring with you when you come, and everything needs a description, value, and even serial number (if applicable). Since I know you're all curious folk, here's my list:

PROPERTY LIST

SENT IN ADVANCE
-175 used books (value 600 CAD)
-binders, papers, instructional materials (value 0)
-2 blankets (value 100 CAD)
-2 board games (value 20 CAD)
-2 photo albums (value 0)
-6 picture frames (value 10 CAD)
-5 magazines (value 0)
-3 notebooks (value 10 CAD)
-personal office supplies (value 10 CAD)
-1 toy camera (value 25 CAD – purchased in Canada 2001)
-1 optical mouse (value 20 CAD)
-1 set watercolour paints (value 0)
-4 glass candleholders (value 20 CAD)
-2 small boxes of souvenirs (value 0)
-1 costume wig (value 10 CAD)
-120 audio CDs (value 200 CAD)
-14 DVDs (value 200 CAD)
-1 pr headphones (value 50 CAD)
-1 KORG EA-1 synthesizer (value X CAD)
-1 KORG ER-1 synthesizer (value X CAD)
-1 KORG synthesizer keyboard
-1 pr M-Audio monitor speakers
-1 x-Session DJ controller
-1 Hercules DJ controller
-1 Ableton Live computer software
-1 M-Audio Midisport interface
-20 audio/video cables
-1 Archos MP3 records
-1 Sanyo digital voice recorder
-1 Kodak Super8 film splicer
-25 reels Super8 home films
-1 Canon 514XL-S Canosound Super8 film camera
-72 vinyl records
-1 2-person MEC tent
-2 sleeping bags
-1 wool poncho
-12 wine glasses
-8 ceramic dishes
-2 large Iittala glass vases
-1 small Iittala glass dish
-1 small glass teapot
-2 glass mugs
-7 painted glass cups
-3 metal tins
-2 Iittala glass goblets
-1 large metal Iittala dish
-2 Japanese sushi knives
-15 ceramic mugs and cups (Arabia Finland)
-1 stainless steel salt and pepper
-1 stainless steel cream and sugar
-40 pc. stainless steel silverware
-1 knife sharpener
-6 small plates
-6 dinner plates
-12 ceramic bowls
-1 stainless steel shot glass
-1 wooden box
-3 ceramic plant feeders
-2 small glasses
-1 glass bottle
-1 small felt mat
-1 small wooden tray
-1 metal paperweight
-1 egg timer
-1 ceramic soap dish
-1 small box sewing notions (scissors, pins, thread, etc.)
-4 video games
-personal photographs, letters
-6 pairs gloves
-2 scarves
-4 hats
-2 dresses
-1 ski suit
-1 winter jacket
-9 women’s handbags
-4 men’s ties
-2 men’s suits
-4 towels
-3 jackets
-3 shawls
-2 housecoats
-1 men’s pajamas
-19 plastic clothes hangers
-6 pairs women’s shoes
-3 pairs boots
-2 pairs hiking boots
-4 women’s sweaters
-1 pair ski pants
-2 sets long underwear
-25 Xmas ornaments
-4 Xmas stockings
-2 men’s winter jackets
-10 fridge magnets
-1 laptop bag
-1 screwdriver set
-1 feather boa
-candy
-2 sets curtains

IMPORTED WITH ME:
-1 Apple Powerbook G4 laptop computer (2000CAD)
-1 4GB iPod mini (200 CAD)
-1 Samsung SGH-D900 mobile phone (400 CAD)
-1 Panasonic LUMIX DMC LX-2 digital camera (600 CAD)
-1 Nikon F-55 film camera (300 CAD)
-2 diamond wedding rings (1000 CAD)
-1 CROSS black metal fountain pen (100 CAD)
-1 PEUGEOT women’s 21-speed bicycle (400 CAD- purchased in Canada 2000)
-12 pairs women’s pants
-2 umbrellas
-1 large crocheted blanket
-11 skirts
-25 t-shirts
-6 blouses
-3 bikinis
-50 undergarments
-1 pr slippers
-15 women’s sweaters
-5 handbags
-3 pr sunglasses
-7 pairs women’s shoes
-3 hats
-6 dresses
-22 data CDs
-personal documents, keepsakes, costume jewelry
-toiletries, makeup
-prescription medicines (birth control pills, minor infections)
-6 pr contact lenses

The funny thing (aside from the whole stupidly long and embarrassing list of stuff I just listed for the world to see, that is) as those of you who couldn't resist downloading it from the link provided above will notice, is that B4 provides exactly 6 lines in which to list this information. Since the page clearly states that "Goods that arrive later will qualify for free importation under your entitlement as a former resident only if they are on your list," I have to assume they don't want me to summarize. At first I planned on simply tagging a full list onto the form, but then I found B4's longer, lankier brother, B4A. B4A is exactly what I was looking for, a nice long page of empty fields where I can list my egg timers (you know that one was just for fun, a la Cpn Hook) and costume accessories in roomy comfort – note that page [blank] of [blank] at the top right! In fact I'm a bit hurt that the CBSA tried to hide him from me under the guise of a related yet separate yet equally obscure file name. So I mention him here to save you the trouble, should you ever suffer from overly long lists someday. Ta.

Preloading (warning OT)

2007-08-10T15:39:00.000-04:00

There's this theory that you can beat jetlag by simply readjusting your daily routine to match that of your destination. We are putting this to the test this week, in the interests of science, of course, as well as the interests of stamina, as, well, if we thought this week was hard...basically our whole move up to this point has been focused on the goal of this Sunday, when we get on the plane and arrive in TO on the other end. What we're now realizing is that this purported goal was really more like a halfway point between two states of inertia known as Normal Life.
You know, moving sucks, but really at the moment it's the social life that's killing me. Since my last post I have met with, eaten/drank/drank more with, and bid farewell to approximately 77 people, and while each individual meeting has been very important and meaningful, as a mass the process has been emotionally and physically exhausting. A girl can only withstand so many lunch/patio/dinner/midnight swimming dates in a single day...and yes, I do take full responsibility for each and every one.
Our official going-away party was last weekend, and involved forty-odd happy, beautiful people, a rooftop patio with sauna and grill, and a whole lot of sunshine. I am personally proud of my new cava-marathon record, a whopping seven hours of steady, measured consumption! It was, if I do say so myself, a total blowup, and everyone had too much fun. I had a chance to stuff my friends full of food and drink and kind words and get plenty of same in return. This part of leaving is like a drug, it feels wonderful at the time but ultimately leaves you a bit low.
The last two days have been mad with running around, completing a billion tiny tasks one at a time, like returning library books, returning emails, taking old clothes to the donation box, mailing last-minute boxes (BTW our July 31 boxes arrived in TO Aug 9, a full six days ahead of schedule!), dropping off borrowed dishes, etc, etc, etc. I have mastered the art of round trips, heading out the door with as much as I can carry and hitting two or three spots in one go. Between each round is a coffee/beer/glass of wine with someone I won't be seeing for an indefinite period of time. It is wonderful and terrible and completely exhausting.
What is really causing my vertigo though is the realisation that on the opposite side of this perpetual downhill ride a whole other set of parties, hellos, family, jobs, apartments, furniture, and general mayhem awaits. Both of my parents called me today, reminding me of the world that exists beyond the gate at the airport. I have been so busy here that I completely forgot to inform either of them of our schedule, address in TO, etc.
I would recommend at least a month off on either side of flight day for anyone attempting this kind of transatlantic migration; I finished work last Friday, Aug 3 – ahem – which would make this week the first of my holiday/unemployment. I ate lunch at 4.30 today, and had crackers for dinner. I am too busy to put on sunscreen (and Helsinki is HOT). But despite the exhaustion and melancholy I am deliriously happy.

Friday

2007-08-01T13:55:00.001-04:00

I had a grand plan of documenting the fantastic growing pile of boxes through photos but at some point after Friday (which was, I am well aware, five whole days ago now) I cleverly packed away my camera so this is all you get. Try to visualize, though, if you will, a total of seven of those little plastic blue ones plus six of those smaller brown cardboard ones, plus that one enormous cardboard meanie, plus a couple oddly shaped extras, and you'll have an idea of what we took to Posti yesterday. I also wish I had a photo of the expression on the guy at the counter's face as he added it all up. Those of you who wish to guess at the final cost (the actual retail price without going over) are welcome to do so, but I'll give you a hint: it was about one-fifth the worth of the actual goods inside. Which is actually a good argument for shipping (i.e. burning oil) rather than replacing (i.e. filling landfill).
Between then and now we had a two-day long marathon of a garage sale at our house, through which we availed ourselves of the great majority of our worldly possessions (read: Mr. O's bachelor furniture, my espresso machine, one nice lamp and a pile of junk), avoiding both the aforementioned environmental crimes and providing us with fuzzy feelings all over to think of our old things in happy new homes. Luckily we supplemented our bargain-basementing with a heavy dose of nightlife, which meant that by the time Monday rolled around I was right shattered and ready for a nice relaxing day off. And so I started packing the rest of our stuff to move out Tuesday.
Tuesday was the really busy day, starting at 10 with a trip to the cafe for a latte (no espresso machine!) in the pouring rain. Mr. O went to get the truck and we loaded up the dregs of our sale to take to the recycling centre, which also takes broken appliances, etc. If I wasn't moving away, I would have spent some serious time rummaging around in there, but as it was I had to live vicariously through the guys who snatched up Mr. O's abandoned crates of records (I know) like sea gulls on an ice cream cone. Then we came back for the load bound for Canada and spent two hours at Posti filling in customs forms and watching the staff throw our boxes around (did I mention that I ROCK at packing?). Then it was back for the rest of the furniture, some of which went to a friend and some came to stay at the place we're living now – so we have another two weeks with our own bed, washing machine, and coffee table. Uncanny, really.

I can't remember the last time I was this tired. But we arrived at our temporary home safe and sound last night, nestled between the cheap&good Italian place and the bowling alley. Phew.

It's only been 46 years...

2007-07-24T16:14:00.000-04:00

As I work my two beloved jobs right through the summer (no posh Finnish six-week vacation for this freelancer with no job waiting in TO), Mr. O has been crossing things off a long list. One of these has been The Documents, which first had to be translated (traded a friend's services for our big off-white shag wool rug), and then notarized, legalized, etc. at three or four different offices, which is not only a big pain in the ass, but also expensive. According to Mr. O, the Notary Public in Finland charges €6 per document, then the Foreign Ministry of Finland charges €20 per document, and then the Canadian Embassy (God bless 'em) charges $50, which is about €35 per document. For five documents (the bare minimum) the grand total is 305 euros, or 436.67 CAD. This turned out to be the reason behind the recent muttering and one ranting email...and I had to admit it seemed a bit exorbitant.

Most countries avoid this kind of extortionist Brazilian bureaucracy (the film, not the country) with a fancy little thing called the Hague Convention of 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. (If that kind of thing makes you hot you can read the full text.) Pretty much everybody and their mother, certainly the rest of the formerly-known-as-the Commonwealth, has signed this puppy, like, before I was born. But not my motherland. Nope, apparently the provinces have their own special ways of notarizing things (everybody gets their own stamp) and the federal government body known as DFAIT has been slaving tirelessly for the past 46 years to push it through on the federal level. If that's the kind of thing that gets you hot, you can read the weird PDF.

So let's recap:

2 certificates for getting an Ontario driver's licence
+1 spotless criminal record
+2 population data records
________________________
Nearly the same price as our second-hand, mint condition, queen-sized Sealy Posturepedic Sweet Escape Eurotop (Health Plus) mattress, giftwrapped in an allergen/spill protection cover and purchased in advance today from a nice girl on Craigslist. And I'll have that mattress for at least 46 years.

Keepin it in the family

2007-07-15T05:30:00.000-04:00

So a few months back, as I told her about our plans to furnish our new place completely in recycled and vintage furniture, appliances, etc., my GTA born-and-bred girl Alli mentioned that her grandparents were moving out of their place, and might have a big old table for us. With grandparents it can go either way, but Alli doesn't seem the type to have shelves of china dogs in her family so I asked her to send photos. The attached is a bit blurry, but just look at the line on that leg. 25+ years old, solid Danish teak. Closed, the whole thing is as long as I am, while opened it could fit all eight of my brothers and sisters plus Mr. O and myself comfortably. You'll also notice a matching sideboard – how I love it when things come with matching sideboards! Needless to say Alli is happy to keep it in the family, and we are proud to have our very first piece of grownup furniture, complete with history, no assembly required. Anybody willing and able to lend a hand to drag the beast home from Kingston will earn him- or herself a place around it, fo sho.

Packing day

2007-07-14T11:19:00.000-04:00

As of today our apartment (all whopping 60m2 of it) has been divided into two camps: keeping and leaving. The keeping camp is, theoretically at least, smaller and more precious than the leaving side, which is a side only metaphorically, as it includes all of our furniture, which will remain evenly dispersed across the aforementioned tiny territory that is our home for another 17 days.

In fact the whole thing is barely a metaphor at the moment, but hopefully as the week progresses a clearer picture will emerge...ordering boxes on Monday and somehow doubting that the original 10 will be enough. We have, to be blunt, a whole lot of crap. I am, right now, publicly declaring that I shall not be purchasing another item of clothing or footwear before I leave. Nor books. Not a one. So there. But I'm not at the sacrifice-making point yet. We're going to Pori Jazz next weekend, after which the real line will be drawn. In fact, my whole schema for life is now divided into Things I Need to Do Before PJ and Things That Can Be Done Afterward. It's been working quite well, thus far, as anybody who knows me knows how much I loathe moving. Ironic, masochistic even, but true.

At least that nagging feeling that this is all a huge, horrible mistake has disappeared. Helsinki has been beautiful this summer and I've been, ahem, drinking it all in, taking midnight bike rides, seeing beautiful friends, etc., so I think that that's made it easier, actually. We just spent a week in the archipelago which has also left me very appreciative and zen. I'm still sorry to leave, of course, but I'm also getting very excited to arrive...

One month and counting

2007-07-13T07:58:00.000-04:00

I have been a bad immigrant, out bike riding instead of in blogging. Time has been moving fast, and yesterday we passed the one-month-left mark while wrapping up a week at a tiny sauna cabin on the Finnish archipelago.
No rest for the wicked, however, and things have been moving along; we have an apartment, apparently, although the landlord hasn't mailed us the lease or cashed our deposit cheque yet, so hopefully it will still be there when we land. We've also sold almost all of our furniture, and expect more to go at our sale. We gave up our lease on our flat here in Helsinki and will move into a friend's place around the corner on August 1. I think I'm going to keep my phone number till August 15th or so. What am I forgetting?

Trust me

2007-06-25T03:19:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-13T07:01:00.001-04:00

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

2007-06-07T02:20:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-01T07:40:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-01T04:10:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-01T03:56:00.000-04:00

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...

Still waiting

2007-05-20T07:50:00.000-04:00

The Immigration section of the CHC London website has been given a wee makeover, and the processing times have been extended in the process...This may very well explain why Mr. O has yet to hear anything back on his temporary work permit application, which he sent in the middle of April. At that time the average wait time was 28 days, so he would be hearing back right about now. Whether he got in before or after the bell we can only wait to find out. An email request for a status update hasn't even received a so-called "automatic" reply, so barring any typos on our side, not very encouraging.

That said, today is Sunday, and, just as the bus always comes when you light a cigarette and the phone always rings when you're on the toilet, I hope that by posting this today I'll naturally be proven wrong in tomorrow's mail.

Something to look forward to

2007-05-11T06:57:00.000-04:00

A few weeks old but timeless, really. Thanks, R.M. Vaughan.

"...all the bad things the rest of the country says about Toronto are so wonderfully, refreshingly true: It's trashy, dirty, dangerous, rude and full of itself."

Read the whole article

Shedding extra tonnes

2007-05-11T06:21:00.000-04:00

Funny the things that get you. Mr. O sold our car last night, our cute little fuel-efficient black Renault Clio, and even though we had it for only a year and it was by no means one of my most cherished possessions, and even though nobody was born or died in there, and really cars are sort of the devil anyway, I still felt that naked, floating sensation of loss, like I had instantly shed a few pounds. [Sell that car and ride your bike instead and you will lose a few pounds - Ed.] I know this is just the beginning of the process, but the point is that it has begun. With a car.

I hate driving in strange cities where I don't know where I'm going. I will never drive in Calgary again, for instance. So driving in Helsinki was a bit of a trip for me; I was 'from' here and I knew where I was going and even got myself unlost once or twice. I was driving home from the airport the other day listening to Bassoradio and between cheap, derivative West Coast rap songs I realized that I could understand everything the mic-abusing DJs were saying. At the same time I have to admit that this connection between driving and belonging most definitely marks me as a Ca-merican rather than a Finn-opean.

While on driving, I have to take this opportunity to vent about the Gilliamesque system of licence renewal in Ontario. I had a brush with this monster before leaving, when my bag was snatched at Industry (this was a long, long time ago) and I had to replace my Alberta DL with an Ontario one. Now that has expired, and despite the fact that we will be sans auto for the foreseeable future, we will both have to take driver's tests in order to get cards. This comes as a surprise considering that Canada and Finland are both part of the same international agreement by which one country's licence can be exchanged for the other; at least that's how it worked when I moved here, no test, no nothing. I'd almost be better off keeping my Finnish licence (to get my Canadian card back I'll have to exchange it at the police station here) or getting an international licence.

Don't call us, we'll call you

2007-05-09T03:17:00.000-04:00

Found item: Canadian High Commission London website:

"NOTE: We will NOT respond to case status enquiries unless the following period of time has elapsed from the date we receive an application: Skilled Worker, Entrepreneur, Investor, Self-employed: 45 months"

...45 months???

Mr. O adds: "There's another note on the website asking people who have applied ages ago to update their application now, because they've made changes to the laws meanwhile, even though they haven't been able to process the applications yet."

That is some serious backlog...

The good news, part 2

2007-05-07T03:03:00.000-04:00

Sometimes the best way to get things done is not to try -- to say to hell with it and throw a dinner party instead. The girls came over on Friday and in between drinks and dinner they'd called dibs on our bed, our table, and our espresso machine, all of which will be going up for sale with the rest of Mr. O's old bachelor furniture when we move out of this place come end of July.

Did somebody say end of July? Yep, we don't have to pay August rent on this place (which, as of last night, I sort of hate, as they REFUSE to turn the heat off in the building and we have no thermostat) because my lovely, talented friend Minna the video artist is living in residence on Suomenlinna this summer and needs someone to take her place for two weeks at the start of August, which is pretty much freaking perfect timing. Minna is also buying our coffee table.

So yeah, aside from the 12-hour hangover on Saturday, a very productive weekend. Anybody need a couch?