'Patience is a virtue' (aka The Shipping Saga .. continued)

The final (I hope) update on the shipment scenario is that, as of last week, I hadn't heard anything further from the shipping company as regards when I could attend the Customs Office in Barrie (2+ hours away), so I called them. I am highly suspicious she'd forgotten to start the process as she put me on hold and when she came back, she suddenly had an availability on Monday (24th). The thing was, it was 8am .. in Barrie .. 2 hours away. Not good. I am here on my own (hubby in the UK) and have two young children who catch the bus at 8am for school. I patiently explained that to my 'Import Co-ordinator' (although I had already told her).
Seems we hit a stalemate as she refused to give me another time as it "will go into overtime for the men if we make it any later" (at that point I should, perhaps have pointed out that if we'd done this in August, during the school holidays, we wouldn't be having this problem now!!) ...
I was losing patience fast, there was simply no way I could be in Barrie at that time. She wouldn't give me a later appointment, not that day, or any day ... she put me on hold (probably to get away from me).
Funnily enough, when she came back she was able to offer me 10.30 am in Barrie!! Perhaps hysterics DO pay off.
The final episode on this incredibly tedious experience, was that I got to Barrie on Monday, to be told by the Customs Officer that, "as a non-landed resident" I have no right to ship goods into the country!!!!! Arghhhhhh. By then hysteria was kicking in and I just smiled politely and said "Oh, okay ..." and waited.
He went away and checked on our file number with the Embassy and something must have satisfied his concerns as he came back and told me that he'd managed to sort it. He'd basically altered my status to 'Resident' although I will still have to go through the formal process when we officially land in January.
Finally, I have our shipment (all 120 boxes, arghhh!) here in my house, waiting to be unpacked.
One thing I would strongly recommend (and this may be obvious) is to think long and hard about each and every thing you pack to be shipped. I am opening boxes and wondering why I brought some of my stuff afterall.
Anyway, enough of this rambling! It's a good outcome, at last, after an incredibly long and frustrating experience!

Shipping - wrong information caused delay!

Our shipment arrived here in Canada in August. We were told by the receiving shipping company that as we did not have our visas, and therefore were not landed residents of Canada, we would have to pay a 25% tax of the value of the shipment in order to receive it!!! The alternative was to put it in storage until the visas came through.
Well, as posted last week, our visas have now come through and so I'm back on the case again of getting our belongings. However, I found out today, by speaking to the customs office in Barrie (who will deal with the release of our container) that, in fact, all I need to prove is that we have an application in for residency!!! They DON'T need to see our visas, nor do we have had to have 'landed' yet - I simply need to show a letter from the Embassy with our case number on it!
It is putting it mildly to say I am somewhat 'frustrated' by this, albeit good news, we could have had our shipment here a couple of months ago, all unpacked and concluded.
Grrrr. Bloomin 'red tape'

Visaaaaaaaaaaaas!

I am ecstatically happy to report that, as of today, 28th October 2008, we have visas to emigrate to Canada!!! They need to be validated before 9th June 2009 (when my passport expires) but our plan is to 'land' after spending Christmas/New Year in England.
I hadn't realised just how emotional I would feel - I had got a little blase I guess (well it's been soooo long!) and there was always that nagging doubt ("what if they aren't granted?"). And hey, it's only taken 1,074 days (from aor)!!
No more waiting for post and wondering if we'd ever get any reply to an email etc.
Champagne is in order!!!

Passports handed in!

Well, hubby took our passports in yesterday, to the London office. There was a huge queue when he arrived (and, of course, they only open for a short time!). He tells me that that the security was intense, far more than coming through customs at the airport - he had a very dis-organised laptop with his phone cable, calculator, etc stuffed in and they went through it several times before they finally allowed him to move on. It was very stressful, he said. Took a while to get through all that, then he was taken through to where you hand in the passports, and that was over in about 10 seconds! He was given a Tombola-type ticket in receipt and told to come back in two weeks' time!
So, there is light at the end of the tunnel ... !

Domino Effect (financial crisis)

Have just been hearing about the current financial crisis, banks collapsing and folks losing life savings tied up in shares. Scary stuff.
For us, it means that hubby is unlikely now to be able to come over to join us until maybe next April.
Is anyone else affected by the current state of affairs, if so how? There always seems to be SOMEthing to keep us down to earth with all the excitement of new lives and dreams ...

Passport Requests!!

On Thursday 2nd October, we had a letter from the Embassy (in reply to ours of 16th August!!!!) saying they'd sent the passport request letter originally to our old address. To cut a long story short, we now have the passport request and hubby is likely going to go into CHC with them in person. I have no idea how quickly these get turned around, whether he will be sent away and they'll forward them, or whether he will walk out of that darned place with those lovely new, shiny visas ... who knows.
But we are so very nearly there (or here), it's very exciting (and this could be the shortest blog ever!!!)
;)

Look at me - starting a blog!?

Well, I guess I should introduce our story: we passed our medicals back in early June ('08). Sold our house (phew). Took the plunge and moved to Canada in August. We'd had assurance that the local school would take our kids (grade 2 and 4) prior to the visas being issued, so long as (a) we could provide proof of our application for residency and (b) the visas are granted within a year of starting school (so, fingers crossed, by August 2009!??).
We haven't heard anything further from CHC. We have sent a fax them (three weeks ago!) confirming the position and asking if there is anything further they require from us ... no response at all.
We couldn't book single flights due to not having our visas, so booked to return to the UK for Christmas. Hoping that something happens in time for us to be coming back in January as residents!
The school - and life here - is brill, couldn't ask for better. We were very happy to discover that we didn't need to re-sit a driving test - I surrendered my UK licence in exchange for an Ontario one (upon passing a sight test and paying a small fee!).
Anyway, hopefully this entry is the beginning of some more eventful ones in the near future!