Immigration Aggrivation

[Vixen78]

Welcome back,

The last few days I've been a busy little bee trying to put together my end of the paperwork I need to send into Immigration.

The downside to all of this is that everything that is required is not posted under one section. Much of the information is out dated and there has been a lot of research involved to make sure I have everything that is required.

In some cases the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing...Like for example:
I recently found out that I will require a Police Certificate from every State I lived in for 6 months or more since I was 18 years old... And with that I also need to get a full set of finger prints done... Seems simple enough..

I did my share of the research this morning and called the local Police Dept, they said I could come down and get fingerprints done anytime... but I could not get a Police Certificate from them.. OK fair enough..

I did more searching and found the web address for the part of the government that handles the Police Certificates... I call and was referred to the site I was already on.. BONUS!... I look and look and look and can't seem to find the right link to print up the request form I need... So I call back and was walked through it and was able to find the form and printed it out.

I get dressed, and drove to the local Police Dept and let them know I need to get my fingerprints taken... I was asked why, I let the officer know that it was for immigration purposes and was told to get the fingerprint card from immigration.... But I could come back anytime after I get that card. Fabulous!

*sigh*... So I hop back on the Canadian Visa website and read through other similar posts to find that a few people were able to go to their local Police Station and have their fingerprints done, no problem... Another person said that they went to their local court house and got the FBI approved card and took that to their Police Dept.

All I could think to do was post yet another "help me" question on the Canadian visa forum and hope for the best.


The more that I think I'm finally getting close to the end, there are another 5 hoops to jump through...

As it sits now, the Application fees alone are just over $1,200.00 USD... The Passport $130.00 USD which I had to sent it out to have my new last name updated that was $75.00... The medical Exam which has to be done will cost me $400.00 USD and I'll have to drive 2 hours to get there, but that covers the exam the blood test/ urine test and x-ray and for them to mail out the results... which even though "Their" doctor and I are both using the same health insurance, my health insurance doesn't cover it. Just makes my point again about this State having mandatory Health Insurance and the times I do actually need it, it's useless... More money wasted...

The Police certificate that used to be Free now cost $25.00 USD... The passport photos for the exam cost $12.00 USD... and god knows what else I'm forgetting or have yet to stumble upon.

So we already down close to $1850.00 for doing all of the leg work.... I wonder what it is exactly that the employees at the Immigration offices do all day... We have called them a few times and have yet to get the same answer twice... Seems they are just paper pushers and have no idea how things really work... I don't know This is all very frustrating...

Once this whole thing is behind me, I will make a list of everything I needed, the fees involved and a timeline of things to do and when they expire.... As a list of this nature doesn't exist and sure would be helpful for the next person trying to go through the same process....

Thanks again for listening/reading... I'll do my best not to yank the hair out of my head before the next blog entry... no promises.

 

[MindStar9]

OMG ... that is absolutely unbelievable. Tell me something my dear ... if Jam were to move to the US, would there be that much of a hassle? I'm not up on the immigration laws, but it sure seems like an incredible challenge to have to endure, especially since you're married.

I wish you guys the best Hon!

 

[Vixen78]

That's tough to say... We haven't really looked into the US immigration process as we decided over 18 months ago that I would make the move to Canada.

Although, I do have a friend that moved here from the UK last May, married in Las Vegas, and was able to get things in order with immigration, so that by September he was able to work legally and is now an assistant manager.

But then again, it's taken us so long because we didn't have the money for the fees... just over $1200.00 Although we have been documenting out relationship as needed... there are somethings you can't do until you are ready to send everything in... like all of the police clearances, as they are only good up to 3 months... the medical exam is good for 6 months I think... but that was an added expense we just uncovered.

Thank You for your support