So Close, Yet So Far!

At the end of 2019 whispers of an outbreak of a pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan had turned into a roar and in January 2020 the Novel Coronavirus subsequently named Covid-19 was officially identified.

In February 2020 during the growing trepidation over Covid-19 we finally received instructions from Canadian Immigration advising us that we could proceed with our medical and biometric (fingerprints & photographs) assessments, this was music to our ears! These assessments are usually the last check required before the final decision is made on a visa application. If the Canadian Immigration did not approve of our application, then surely, they would not require us to submit to a full medical? What would be the point?

Quicker than you can blink we booked our medicals (which can only be completed by a Canadian Immigration approved specialist) and paid the fee, we did not see any change from $500+ per person nothing in this process is cheap and that is just for the things you expect, when things do not go to plan you have to be prepared to make it rain! Moving to another country can be an expensive venture you need savings and some.  

Within a couple of weeks medicals and biometrics were complete and submitted luckily for us at this time there were no Covid restrictions, so it was relatively quick and easy and then it was back to the thing we had become very experienced at …waiting!

We both knew that we were healthy and physically fit so failing the medical or the Biometrics for that matter was not going to be an issue, as far as we were concerned this was the green light, and all the waiting was finally coming to an end.

Its life Jim but not as we know it

The rapid increase of cases exposed to the Covid virus soon led to the outbreak being declared a pandemic and countries around the world were starting to go into a lockdown like dominoes falling, and Canada was one of them. At this point we had no clue as to how this would affect our application, being in New Zealand we were in a unique position to observe how the virus was unfolding around the world. It had not reached our shores thus far and we were so far away it was easy to view it with a detached naivety, this was uncharted territory for most of us.

At this point face mask and hand sanitizer usage, toilet roll shortages, lockdowns, vaccine mandates, misinformation and mass confusion were a thing of the future in New Zealand, a cautionary tale.

Whilst the pandemic picked up momentum, we received the news we had been waiting so long for, some 20 months since we first submitted our application our Canadian visas had been approved! We had done it! We were finally moving to Canada and whilst we hoped, borderline expected this outcome it did not detract from the excitement (and dare I say utter panic) and sheer happiness that we felt, our dream was going to happen (if I could go back in time, I would slap some sense into myself at this point, how stupid were we to think things would be that easy).

If the road is easy, you’re going in the wrong direction

At the time that our visas were approved the Canadian borders were closed to anything other than essential travel, and when those wonderful much longed for Permanent Residency documents finally arrived at our door they were emblazoned with the words “NOT VALID FOR TRAVEL”, what the eff!!

We contacted Louise Willis our Canadian Visa Specialist to get clarification over what this meant for our application, the news was not good. It was crushing to be honest, but we must have had a break from reality to think we would be permitted to travel during a global pandemic just because our PR’s had been approved!

The waiting would have to continue until such a time as the pandemic slowed and international borders were re-opened and whilst we were bitterly disappointed, we had to be grateful, people the world over were getting sick and some losing their lives, the inconvenience of not being able to travel and start our dream did not even compare to the tough times being experienced by others.

So, we hunkered down sat tight and waited, and waited, and waited. If we thought that the first 2-year wait was a challenge the next 2 years were to be epic!