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!!!)
;)