The Saga Of The Canadian Visa Part IV

Part I: Mid-December - April 24th
Part II: Early May - June 16th
Previously, in Part III:
June 20th: Medical Examination taken
June 26th: Medical Examination sent to Ottawa
July 5th: Receipt of Letter of Introduction

And now, Part IV: 

Claire asked some of her friends if one of them would be willing to drive us across the US/Canadian boarder on Saturday, July 7th, in exchange for lunch and the pleasure of our company for a morning. The first one she asked was kind enough to agree and we met up in the morning before setting off on a road trip south on a glorious, blue sky summer day.

The US/Canadian boarder is only about 30 minutes south from where we live along the highway, but the queue to cross was enormous, and we spent at least that time again waiting to reach the crossing. Everyone hears horror stories of crossing into the US, but we've never had any issues, and on that day, once again, US boarder patrol proved themselves professional and courteous. We had to go into the offices so that Claire and I could fill out some forms, but everything was fast and friendly.

We headed across into Blaine, which turned out to be, literally, right on the boarder, no more than 60 seconds away from the boarder gates! We took a walk around the small town, enjoying the fantastic weather, before heading to a steakhouse for lunch. Then back in the car, and back across the boarder once again.

At the Canadian checkpoint we informed the officer that we needed to validate our work permits, and were sent to the offices on this side of the crossing. We entered the cool air-conditioned offices, got called up to the desk and explained our situation.

"Our computers are down."

Nothing is ever easy.

The officer asked us to take a seat for a while, before calling us back up, asking a few questions and then telling us that he could fill out the forms manually, but that he'd have to post out the full colour, holofoil stamped, official document during the week. Or we could come back Sunday or Monday, go through the whole process again and do it then. We chose the postal option.

With our hand written forms attached to our visas, we got back in the car and headed back into Canada and home.

Six months of worry, stress and anxiety had come to an end. Thanks to the efforts of countless people, everything worked out for the best, and we have another 12 months working in Canada to look forward too. Sure, hard lessons were learned, and that's what I'll be sharing in my next post.

To Be Continued in A Learning Experience