Finally a Canadian Citizen!

After nearly 12 years (😱) living in Canada, I am finally a citizen!

Most of you reading this will know my story by now, but to recap, I first moved to Toronto in 2011 on a Working Holiday Visa for what I thought would be a year, but then I met a boy and stayed.

Now here's the real fun part of how I got to this point, as it's a long way from a working holiday visa to citizenship!

Back in 2013 you were allowed to apply to IEC program (International Experience Canada - the Canadian working holiday program) twice, but now a second round is a lot more complicated, so I am grateful it was an option for me at the time.

Something I haven't shared much is the fact that my mum is also a Canadian citizen. She moved Canada around the same age I was when I moved here, for 6 years, and managed to also get her citizenship. My brother and I were actually eligible for Canadian citizenship if we applied before the age of 18, but my dad thought it probably wouldn't be necessary for either of us (if only we knew!)

This is important to mention, as when I was applying for my second IEC, one of the questions asks if you have a Canadian parent, which I had to answer yes to, but as I was also applying from within Canada, I selected that I was within Canada for this application. Well, it turns out the application process was actually wrong on the Canadian immigration website, and it sent me down the wrong path, so I applied for, and was subsequently rejected for, the wrong visa.

The other wrinkle was that my first visa was due to expire when I was to be out of the country, and usually if you are waiting for an application, you are advised not to leave Canada as even with an expired visa you are able to stay on what is called "Implied Status". Implied Status means essentially that you have a pending positive application in the works, but the government is still cool with you working in the meantime - so long as you don't leave the country. So I had to: apply for my correct visa, have it approved, and activated in only a week or so, when it was taking over a month.

Thankfully an immigration officer took pity on me and read my plea and approved my new visa within a few days, now all I had to do was activate it! So how do you activate a visa? All you have to do is re-enter the country... so, anxious to get this sorted before I left the country, I rented a car after work one day and drove to Niagara Falls, and did what is called a "flagpole", which is just chucking a "u-ey" at the entry to the US border and being sent straight back across the bridge to re-enter Canada.

Fresh with my new visa in hand, I was cleared to stay for another two years! But by this time, I knew I wanted to stay. The original plan was to have Jordan sponsor me for Permanent Residency as a common-law partner, but some friends of ours said that if there is any other way that I qualified to apply, that I should check, as with the amount of immigration fraud amongst "couples", it can be quite an invasive and complicated process. As luck would have it, I qualified under the Canadian Experience Class, and could use my experience working in my role as an Executive Assistant in Canada to qualify to apply for my Permanent Residency!

This was right before the "Express Entry" program started that allowed for Permanent Residency to be granted within 6 months. I applied in May 2014, and was granted permanent residency in December 2015. The application process was very complicated, and it seemed like every time I paid a fee for one form, I had to pay another for something I wasn't aware of. Oh, and I had to pay $300 to prove that I could speak English, which I was obviously thrilled about! I also had to apply for a bridging visa, because my second IEC was to expire in October 2015, and there was still no sign of my PR being granted.

So December 2015 rolled around, and it was time for another flagpole trip to Niagara Falls, and then to wait for my official PR card to come in the mail so I would be allowed to officially leave the country again. Oh, and that bridging visa I mentioned earlier? It arrived the day after my PR approval came in the mail, so I ended up having to make use of Implied Status for those two months while I waited.

So what's next? A move to the country, a wedding, and a new house! And after a few more years, it was finally time to apply for citizenship, which if I applied for at this point would mean I wouldn't have to renew my Permanent Resident card.

I submitted my application in November 2018, but missed a signature on a form and had it returned to me. Far too much travel was happening in 2019 and I didn't really have the time to focus on submitting my application again until the world shut down in March 2020. And as I had now procrastinated, I also had to apply to renew my PR card as well. Yay for another travel document application!

I signed the missed form and re-submitted, then as it had now been 18 months since my initial application, the form had changed and my photos had expired, so it was returned to me for another round of changes!

Third time was indeed the charm, and I received my confirmation of application submission by the end of 2020. December 2021 finally brought my Canadian knowledge test, only a few weeks after I threw my back after shovelling the driveway - something I felt was the practical version of the knowledge test. I passed with full marks, and then heard nothing. Nothing through the entirety of 2022, when the website says it should take place 4-6 months after the test! And then finally, in February 2023, I received my notice to appear for my Canadian citizenship... 2 days before I was due to leave the country for 7 weeks back home in Australia.

So the thing is, as part of the Canadian citizenship ceremony, you have to cut up your PR card, as you have to apply for a passport before you can travel. But to apply for your passport, you first need your citizenship certificate, which takes 2-4 weeks in the mail. So as you can imagine, as excited as I was, it was not practical to miss most of my trip. You also need to provide proof that you are in the country for your ceremony, so I had to provide a photo of my boarding pass to prove I was back! I included this other photo, just for fun - yes, this is a snow bank. The one right behind my house!

As if this all weren't enough to deal with, Citizenship and Immigration Canada have recently been on strike, so there's been a back log of applications and ceremonies to process. I tried to check on the status of my application and was told several times there was no update, and no new information they could tell me. Not even how long it was expected to take, just no update.

And then finally, 6 months after my initial ceremony was due to take place, I received the info for my rescheduled ceremony!... the day before I was due to leave the country... again. Obviously, this triggered a rollercoaster of emotions, as I was supposed to be flying out for two events and a speaking engagement that I had been looking forward to all year. But after talking to the immigration specialist at my local MPs office, they said you have to provide a very good reason for rescheduling again, or else you may need to start the application process again! Obviously, I really didn't want to have to go through this all over again, so I unfortunately had to cancel my speaking engagement and trip.

The good news is that now you can receive an electronic citizenship certificate in 2-5 business days - a huge improvement on the 2-4 weeks previously, as I have a family trip scheduled for the week after!

So, here I am. Nearly 12 years since I first touched down on my one year adventure, officially a Canadian citizen! Here on land traditionally owned by the Haudenosauneega, Wendake-Nionwentsïo, Anishinabewaki, and Mississauga people.

Wearing an outfit featuring some of my Canadian brands, including a ribbon skirt from Under the night Sky, medicine floral earrings from Indi City (two wonderful Indigenous designers), a top from Retro Glam and bow by Gracie Klutz.

Judge Albert Wong (along with 100 strangers on a zoom call, and yes, it was as chaotic as it sounds) talked about how as new Canadians we should be working on reconciliation and supporting the Indigenous communities whose land we reside on. That's a big part of why I choose my outfit details - I wanted to show my some Indigenous pride and support!