The Saga Of The Canadian Visa Part II

Previously, in Part I:
Mid-December: Applications open
Mid-January: First application submitted
February 8th: Confirmation of receipt
March 1st: Rejection
Early March: Second application submitted
March 23rd: Confirmation of receipt
April 23rd: Acceptance notification
April 24th: Payment made, confirmation of receipt received

And now, Part II:

During the first week of May Claire got the news that her application was complete and she should expect to hear from them in six to eight weeks, but for the first time in our application process, I got nothing. This didn't set off the alarm bells it probably should have, as I knew I had requested a full medical examination to allow me to work in childcare in Canada. I just assumed my form was being passed up the chain to the next level, and I would hear from them soon. After all, I hadn't gotten anything to tell me I hadn't been accepted either.

By May 14th I was getting worried. I emailed a few addresses I had and got automated responses. I continued to email the official contacts over the next two weeks, until, on May 24th, almost a full month after Claire had been accepted, I got a response informing me they had not received my payments.

This is why you keep all your paperwork on file, for dark days just like this. I scanned all our bank documents and emailed them on to the address provided, along with a copy of the confirmation of payment email I had received from them dated April 24th.

The next four days saw me hit my lowest moral level in memory. I could do nothing to cheer myself up, and Claire's efforts were equally doomed to failure. By the time I awoke on May 28th, the day I turned 32 years old, I just couldn't even bring myself to leave the house to celebrate my own birthday.

Which, as it turned out, was for the best.

Some time in the afternoon of May 28th I pulled my attention away from whatever was playing on the Xbox to check my emails, an action I was beginning to refine into a state of almost obsessive compulsiveness. The subject text "IEC Eligible, sent to CIC" turned out to be the best birthday gift I could ever get right then. As I discovered, I had received the standard confirmation letter that my payment had been received and my application would be processed. No apology, no explanation regarding misplacing my payments, just confirmation of acceptance. I didn't care. It was perfect.

It still took until June 15th for me to receive the information and forms for my medical in the mail. I made the booking immediately with an approved medical officer in Vancouver. The earliest I could get was the following Wednesday.

By an amazing coincidence of timing, the next morning, on June 16th, Claire got an email with her Letter of Introduction, the final document she needed to get her work permit.

But, as I should have learned by now, things still weren't to go smoothly for me.

To Be Continued in Part III