Dropping off the passports at the High Commission

Fortunately, there are no dramas to report. I set off from Bristol at 9.40 am and arrived on time in Victoria. I took a casual stroll to the High Commission, arrived early, and started queuing at about 1.10 pm by which time I was 3rd in the queue. By around 1.50 pm there were probably around 35 (less than I was expecting) in total waiting. A man came out and separated us into 2 lines; those 'collecting' and those 'dropping off'. At about 1.55 pm he started calling forward the 'collectors' 5 people at a time. As soon as they were finished we (the 'droppers off') were called forward in the same manner. Once inside I met a man at a desk who asked for my File Number, which he then wrote on a check sheet. He then took my Updated Information Chart, passports and photos and put them all in a resealable plastic sleeve along with one of two identical raffle tickets. Finally, he stapled the duplicate ticket to an information sheet which he gave back to me as my receipt. This is what I must bring back with me when I collect my visas. I was done and out of the building at 2.05 pm.

Roll on 2-weeks, when I return and finally get the visas in my mitts :-)

1st anniversary of my Dad passing away

Today is a sad day as it marks the 1st anniversary of my Dad passing away. If anything, the grief I feel now is probably worse than the period after he died. The initial sadness was bad enough, but afterwards I felt almost relieved and liberated. My Dad was a very dominant character and as an only child I'd always felt the pressure to attain his approval; after he'd gone that pressure eased and I briefly felt a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Today that feeling has passed and I now miss not being able to ask for his advice and ironically to run things by him to see if he approves; to coin a military term, my 'top cover' has gone. I guess this feeling will pass with time but rather than getting easier, today I find looking at his photos harder than ever, the sense of sadness brings a tear to my eye more so than ever before.



I miss my Dad and I wonder if life will ever feel right without him......

The offical 'Passport Request (PPR)' email has arrived

Sure enough, true to their word, the official email from CHC arrived today (aka the ‘PPR’) requesting that we send in our passports to have our Permanent Residency (PR) visas inserted. I must confess that it’s been difficult to get too excited over the weekend; there was still a sense of reticence not to count our chickens until we saw something in writing. Thankfully we can now celebrate and breathe a full sigh of relief.

It’s my intention to drop the passports off by hand at the High Commission. This is a guaranteed 2-week turnaround and will mean that I’ll have my visa when I go off to CFRC for my CF enrolment trip. It’s perfect timing as I’ll now be able to prove to the CF that I’ve met the prerequisite ‘must be a permanent resident’ check and there’s nothing legally stopping me from enrolling.

Our visa photos are booked for Saturday with Martin Chivers Photography, Bath - a bit pricey at £100 (well there are 6 of us I suppose) but I want to guarantee that they’re exactly right in order to avoid an unnecessary delays. My transport to the High Commission is booked too, courtesy of National Express and their 50% discount for Armed Forces members. At £10.20 return it’s by far the cheapest way to get there from Bristol and it’s only a 20 minute walk from Victoria Coach Station.

After 469 days, TB tests, Asperger's Syndrome and a ‘Procedural Fairness Letter/Plan'…….CHC called today....

It's been a painfully slow 2-months since we sent in our response to CHCs 'Procedural Fairness' letter and having badgered them with no less than 3 case-specific emails (to no avail), we were beginning to lose heart.

So, imagine my surprise when my wife phoned me at work today in tears, to say that the lady from CHC had just rang and said we've been accepted and that an official email will be arriving in the next 2-3 days.

Whether they decided that Amber was no longer going to be an 'excessive demand' or whether they just accepted the plan I submitted, I guess we'll never know. We're just so relieved that the wait and stress are finally over and we can now seriously plan for our new life in Canada.

If I had to offer one piece of advice which has stood me well I would echo the words of the great Benjamin Franklin; 'By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.' Never truer words when it comes to the immigration journey.

Progress with my enrolment into the Canadian Forces (CF)

As the trials and tribulations of our immigration application take their course, lest not forget the small fact that my CF enrolment has been sitting on the back burner of late, waiting for me to near the end of my service. As august has now arrived, in accordance with the last email I received from CFRC, it was now time to give them a call to arrange my pre-enrolment medical, aptitude test and short interview.

I guess the way my luck’s been going lately I should have anticipated that things weren’t going to run smoothly. I duly made the call and my friendly recruiter promised me a response within a couple of days. Sure enough, all was silent so I rang again and was told again that an email with my flight details would arrive in ‘a couple of days’. Funnily enough, nothing arrived so I rang again and we engaged in a ‘candid’ discussion; a quick scan of his email in-box followed and I was finally given the disappointing news that ‘funding approval had not been given for my flights.’

It's amazing how much the fortunes of the CF have turned around in the last 12-months. When I was given my offer of employment I was advised that the CF would fly me out to do my enrolment tests and later they would move my family too once I'd enrolled. Unfortunately, full manning and good retention means us foreigners are no longer a desirable option (we cost too much) and I'm actually lucky I've still got an open job offer. The message that came back from my recruiter is that I'll be one of the last of the foreigners coming through for the foreseeable future. The upshot is there's no longer an offer to pay my travel costs to Canada and if I want to proceed with my enrolment I need to fund the travel myself. To be honest I look on this as a 'what you never had you never lost' situation and I am more than prepared to pay if it means that my enrolment goes through. At the end of the day it's a small price to pay up front for what could be a long term career with good prospects for me and my family.

Anyway, my flights are booked and I arrive in Toronto on 25th Oct. Hopefully it will be $650 well spent and I'll come away with the necessary ticks in the box. So far so good as they say; it's been a bit of a bumpy ride but we're getting there slowly but surely.

The 'Plan' is on it's way......fingers crossed!

Well it’s been a few weeks since CHCs letter turned up and our mitigating response is now complete. We're well within the 60-day time limit but I figured we've had enough delays along the way already and if we've any chance of landing before our medicals run out we can't afford any more. It’s fair to say that this is all a bit of a guessing game when it comes to what they want to see? Unlike the other families who I know have been down this road, we don’t have the option to refute everything that’s been said. At the end of the day Amber does need a degree of help and there’s no way of avoiding the issue. To that end, we’ve tried to show that we’ve provided for her needs rather than negate them. So, today our response went off in the post, all 40 odd pages of it. If nothing else it may bore them into letting us in.....lol. Seriously though, we've covered everything that they highlighted and I can't see (famous last words) how they can find fault with it. We've proved we have a credible solution and the funds to pay for it; the only subjective bit is whether they decide we have the 'intent' to see it through....

The Plan:

1. We provided a letter from the district school board (where we intend to live) refuting the need for a psychological or S&L assessment and saying that in their opinion Amber could be taught in their schools, in a regular classroom environment, using their extant special education resources. It’s been produced by the Principal of Special Education having read the same documents as were provided to CiC when they wrote their report.

2. We provided Amber’s latest school report showing the progress she has made this year.

3. We provided a 3 page letter from Principal at our chosen private elementary school offering Amber a place and listing in detail everything about the school, it’s teachers, their qualifications, the curriculum, the enrolment and assessment process, developing an IEP – you get the picture. The school has a Learning Resource Program and a Special Education Resource Teacher (who used to work for the school board above). The school has access to a Speech & Language Pathologist (S&LP), registered with the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario (CASPLO). They also use the services of a local Psychologist who is a member of the College of Psychologists of Ontario and a qualified psychologist dealing with children. The school also has a child in the same grade as Amber, who has Asperger’s and is doing excellently. The average class size is 12 compared to 30 where she is now.

4. We provided a 3 page letter from the Principal at our chosen private secondary school containing the same info as above and offering Amber a place once she’s finished elementary. The school has exactly the same facilities as before and is affiliated with our chosen elementary school. They have taught a number of children with Asperger’s, all of which have gone on and gained their diplomas. The average class size is 18.

5. We provided letters of introduction from the S&L Therapist and Psychologist (see Section 3), detailing their proposed plans to assess Amber upon arrival and the costs associated with their services etc.

6. We provided a letter of introduction from Autism Ontario (non-publicly funded) explaining the services, support, counselling and respite activities that they will provide us with when we arrive. This all comes as part of the $50 membership fee.

7. Finally, we’ve provided proof that we can fund the above (estimated at $15,000 per year) based on wages of $64,000 per year, a $22,000 per year pension and $340,000 in cash.

.........all we can do now is sit, wait, and chew on what little nails we have left.

It's official....the 'Procedural Fairness' letter's arrived and we're an 'Excessive Demand'

Having been 5-months since we had our medicals we were beginning to feel optimistic that things might actually be going to plan and that our Passport Request (PPR) letter may just be around the corner. That all went for a bag of spanners this morning when another brown envelope from CHC dropped through the door. There it was in black and white………the ‘Procedural Fairness’ letter we had been dreading.

It’s fair to say that we knew this was coming, and apart from the mention of ‘Respite care for the family’ I have no real reason to contest their findings. To be honest, the ‘excessive demand’ costs they estimate for Amber ($14,000 per year compared to $5,143 for the average Canadian) are a lot less than they could have been. My aim now is therefore not to question the findings, more to mitigate them with an alternative (self-funded) solution.

I started formulating our ‘individualised plan’ a few months ago and identified and contacted a Private Christian School with a Resource Base, to form the basis. Although I’ve exchanged a few emails with the school, in which they state that they have children with Asperger’s who are doing well, they have yet to send me the exact details of the ‘other experts’ that they use. No doubt you’ve guessed the problem that comes next…….the school is now shut for summer and won’t open again until my 56-days (the letter's taken 4-days to arrive) response time has expired. In effect, I have no way of contacting the school.

According to the letter, I need to provide details of experts who can provide Psychologist Assessments and Speech & Language Therapy. I would expect that our chosen school would cover the requirement for a ‘Special Educational Programme,’ as they have a process for formulating an Individual Education Programme (IEP)?

A busy few weeks ahead methinks……