The passports are back with shiny visa's in them and the container of furniture has sailed!!! The removal guys were amazing and had everything packed and gone in 2 days. Unfortunately the ship didn't actually set sail on time....think it left around June 24th but according to GB Liners it will still arrive on time!!!!! If not my fab pal Amanda has a Plan B involving blow up mattresses and a van lol!!I got my days muddled...yes me the queen of organisation!! I'd booked us 2 nights in Toronto when we land on July 4th and the plan was to have Monday in the city then head to Barrie on the Tuesday with another hotel stay there. We now have to be in Barrie at the lawyers at 9am Monday morning...aaaargh!! So the plan now is that me and hubby will head to the lawyers and leave the kids in Toronto for the morning...I say kids but they are 20, 18 and 10!!!I am finding some of the Canadian companies a tad frustrating in that we email them information and they reply later asking for the same information we already sent them...its as if they don't read the emails!! We are also having problems contacting the gas company as the numbers we have are for businesses not residences and when we asked them for the number they didn't know it but have apparently had this problem before !!!! Even so we have managed to arrange electricity, water, TV/broadband/phone, house insurance including tornado cover, banks...yaaay!!So now its just trying to get the last bits into the 5 flight bags...I can feel a battle coming on..groan!!Its a chaotic week this week with loads of things happening with the kids...eldest is moving into his new flat, middle one has just finished her A levels and the little one has Yr 6 disco and speech day before the school breaks up for the summer. Finally after more than 16 years since we first set foot in Ontario and 3 years of immigration hoops to jump through we can finally say we are moving permanently to Ontario on Sunday!!!!!!!!!
OMG there is an actual end to this process after all!!! Brown envelope landed on May 6th asking for passports and 2 photos of each of us. Spent the next day frantically searching for the eldest two kids passports....took most of the day to turn the house upside down only to find that in my wisdom I had put them in a drawer where I keep wrapping paper and bows...huh!!!! Managed to get them posted and they should have arrived at CHC in London today!!On the container front...the removal firm are coming June 9th to pack and the container is being shipped June 14th. It should arrive in Toronto June 30th where it will just hang out at customs till we get there. Our plan now is to fly in July 4th and spend 2 nights in Toronto. Then we'll go to Barrie and get the furniture released and sign for the house. GB Liners has arranged for the Ontario removal firm to deliver the furniture on July 7th.....so provided there are no unforeseen problems everything seems to now be organised. I just have to complete the goods to follow list and the insurance as well as do the goods to accompany list.I've now handed my notice in at work and I'm marking the last assignments for OU....feels really strange! I also have numerous boxes for charity which I need to arrange pick up for.My parents have already got their flights booked to visit us at the end of September....they're coming via Barbados (alright for some!!) and will stay with us till just after Thanksgiving.P.S. thank you Linda for reminding me to get my blog updated!!!
After such a long wait we seem to now be speeding along....yikes!! We finally got a medical request on April 1st which felt amazing.....such a relief to know that the documents we sent were satisfactory!! April 2nd was our daughters 18th birthday. We had a great day with a family dinner. We then went to London for a family wedding....it was a traditional Hindu wedding and although it was very long we had a great time. It was nice to see all the family but sad to then have to say goodbye as we have no idea when we'll see them again.April 8th was medicals!! We had to go to Newcastle and had x-rays first at a private clinic....all very quick and everyone very nice wishing us well in Canada. Then it was of to the DMP. That was a bit chaotic as normal surgery and a baby clinic was running when we got there. We had full examinations and apart from the 10 year old we had bloods taken too. In all we were there about an hour and a half. Then we went off for a really nice lunch....yum!!Posted the bankers draft for the RPRF (Right of Permanent Residency Fee) last weekend and also sent off the eldest two's passports for renewal. Hoping they'll all be back and we get a passport request in time for youngest to go on school trip to Paris mid June!
We've decided to go with GB Liners as they gave us a very good deal plus insurance cover of 28 days to open boxes. Now were just deciding whether to pay for storage so the container can land before us. Last thing we want is no furniture for 10 days as hubby and son are only in Canada for 3 weeks. Renting a holiday home for 2 weeks is likely to cost more than storage too. So now waiting for a storage quote.
So much has happened since my last post. We are still waiting on our medical requests which seem to be taking forever. I emailed the Canadian High Commission to ask if I needed to send in updated passports or to just wait and see if our documents were successful. They emailed the next day (mega quick!!) to
say no updates were needed and that our file would shortly be reviewed by an immigration officer....at least they know we exist!!In the meantime we decided that we could still move in July as planned. Canada will allow us in for 6 months provided we have a return flight and we could still ship the furniture over and pay the import duty. The school would allow the youngest to attend provided we got PR within the year. My pal Amanda did this so I know its doable. So all that we needed was somewhere to live......So within 2 weeks we put offers on 2 houses mainly to test the market. Our realtor has been great, he's videoed the houses and already knew exactly what we were looking for. Obviously I wouldn't recommended buying without viewing but hey needs must! The third has ticked every box although we are well overlooked at the back. Managed to get $10,000 off the asking price, all appliances in and a closing date of July 6th. Home inspection was very good and the vendors agreed to his only condition which was to have the furnace serviced as the small fan was noisy. So with finances in place and a lawyer contacted it was all done and dusted within a week!!!!We also got 3 quotes for removals and had a letting agent round for the UK house as we've decided not to sell for a couple of years until the market picks up.So after getting very stressed out about the lack of a medical request we are ok now and will definitely move out on July 4th!!!!!
I decided to create another blog.......http://www.mychildhoodfood.blogspot.com/I've got favourite recipes, many from childhood, that I didn't want to forget. In fact I'd like them to be passed down through the family. So I thought a blog was the best place to put them. I'm no amazing cook by any means so they are simple easy recipes.
Since the last post there have been a couple things worth noting. First of all I got my Master of Arts degree in Online and Distance Education....yaaaaaay!!!!! So two years of non stop studying and researching has finally come to an end...phew! We are still waiting for the medical requests but we're ok for time still so not worrying too much...it is really stressful though! Family want to book their flights to visit us in October but have told them to hang on for the meds requests.Eldest daughter has sent off her application to Toronto University. They are now in receipt of her transcripts so we are waiting for those to be processed and hopefully she'll be offered a place!We're spending the next few weeks doing up the house and then putting it on the market....also have the option of renting it out which we're thinking might be the better option. Waiting on our realtor to send us some properties in the north Barrie area.Youngest had a bit of a blip over xmas....didn't want to talk about Canada but I think she just wanted a normal xmas and that's just what we had and it was great!!! Now she's all set for moving and is pretty excited!!!Hubby decided that due to price increases he would book the flights....yikes!!! So we're flying out on July 4th!!!!!!!!!! We've asked family not to come to the airport as its not the place to say goodbye...too public! So provided the meds arrive soon we're on track :-)
Well after a lot of sweat and an odd tear of frustration we finally got all the documents together and sent them on November 11 2009!!!!!! I honestly don't know if I've provided everything they wanted....sometimes I get a sudden panic thinking I missed something out!!So now we are waiting for the medical request. I reckon we'll hear from them in Feb as CHC have been shut over xmas and there'll be a back log to get through. Someone who applied after us has their requests but either they haven't had as many jobs as me that need checking or their immigration officer works fast!!
