Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I last wrote, and that’s because having a little one at home makes maintaining a full-fledged blog quite difficult. Plus, there weren’t many updates to share. But today, I’m finally writing this post as a permanent resident of Canada!
Yes, it finally happened—we got PR. I’m incredibly happy to write this post! Whee, just two more years and we can finally apply for citizenship. It’s been a nerve-wracking and laborious journey, and it’s scary to look back on.
Let me try to summarize everything in this post.
2019
D. and I had just met, and my job at the time was opening an office in Amsterdam, where I was in line to relocate. Meanwhile, D. went through an interview process at Microsoft out of curiosity and unexpectedly received a job offer. Microsoft proposed a one-year move to Canada, after which we could apply for an L1 visa to move to Seattle, USA (though things didn’t go as planned, haha). We deliberated where to go, with our hearts set on Europe. However, my job faced many changes, and instead of relocating, I was told to wait a bit longer, so we slowly applied for a Canadian visa and received it in March 2020.
2020
My couple of months of waiting turned into several more months. Meanwhile, we were desperate to leave Russia, so we decided that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and chose to move to Canada. Then COVID hit, and all flights were canceled. During this time, D. changed his last name, and I kept trying to move to Amsterdam. However, since I was told to wait again, we packed our things and moved to Canada.
Upon arrival, we were met by an extremely unfriendly officer who refused to issue us a work permit.
2021
We lived in Canada for one and a half months without status, under immense stress that we would be sent back. But finally, we received a one-year work permit instead of two years. We were incredibly happy. Throughout 2021, we made friends, which helped us integrate quickly and settle in. In spring 2021, we sent our diplomas for evaluation to register on the Express Entry portal for PR, just in case, and in summer, we scored excellently on the English test. Also, in summer 2021, we applied to renew our work permit, and in November of the same year, we received a letter from immigration stating that they couldn’t renew it because that first officer had given us a special status usually given to criminals, so the whole process had to start over and would take about a year.
2022
Our work permits were about to expire, and our lawyers recommended doing flagpoling. With the risk of not being allowed back in, we went to the Canada-US border, got refused entry into the US (it’s a part of the procedure), and returned to Canada. Luckily, the officers were kind, removed our special status, and issued a two-year work permit. Meanwhile, we prepared documents for the L1 visa and became eligible for the Canadian Experience Class draw, waiting to be selected for Canadian PR. You might ask, why did we need this if we were planning to go to the US? I’ll tell you. As immigrants who had already lost years of our lives due to stress over our status, we really wanted permanent status in Canada to breathe easily and return if things didn’t work out in the US. For instance, if we lost our jobs or were denied a US visa.
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, making life with a Russian passport even more stressful. In March, we went on a long-planned vacation to Belize and got stuck there because the immigration service deactivated D.’s Canadian visa, which we found out at the airport check-in for our return flight to Canada. My nerves over our temporary status finally broke, and I anxiously checked every draw we couldn’t get into, freaking out each time they took 5 points away from me on my birthday.
In the fall of 2022, it turned out that Canada had stopped draws for the Canadian Experience Class for about a year, and when the program resumed, the scores were very high, and we didn’t qualify. Since Microsoft was preparing documents for the L1 visa, they refused to provide a certificate of one year of work, which would have given us 50 points in the Express Entry system, and we couldn’t get selected. Meanwhile, D. realized that working at Microsoft was not what he hoped for and interviewed at Apple. This time the conditions were similar: work in Canada for a year and then move to the US on an L1 visa, but first, we had to move to Vancouver. We went through the process of renewing the work permit, getting Canadian visas, and everything all over again.
2023
Without a new work permit but with a letter from immigration saying we would eventually get it, we moved to Vancouver, and D. started his new job. We still couldn’t get into a draw (sometimes I was just two points short). In summer, our CELPIP results expired since they are valid for only two years, and we had to retake it. We retook it with excellent scores, even a bit higher than last time. But our Express Entry points were still insufficient: I had 494 points, D. had 484, and the draws required 500+ points. There were no separate draws for STEM or CEC with lower scores. In November 2023, we had a baby, and Apple allowed us to delay the relocation to the US for a few months. We realized that we had been in Canada for three years, all our friends were getting citizenship, and we were still constantly renewing our visas and work permits. The political situation in the world was, to put it mildly, not great, and we really wanted Canadian citizenship. Also, our money was and is still frozen in Canada, and if we left, our accounts would be closed, and the chance of getting our money would be almost zero. D. explained the situation at work, but they still refused to provide the certificate that would give us 50 points for the same reason as Microsoft. In December 2023, we finally got selected for the STEM draw and submitted our PR documents.
2024
D.’s manager didn’t mind if we stayed in Canada for a couple of years, but unfortunately, the team’s policy required him to be physically with the team, meaning moving to Seattle. We weighed all the pros and cons. The main argument was that although financially it would be much easier in the US, it would take at least 5-6 years to apply for citizenship, whereas in Canada, it would be two years after getting PR. After everything we had gone through with temporary documents, we really wanted to apply for a passport as soon as possible, so we decided to risk it and stay in Canada for now. D. went through interviews from scratch to switch to a local team (which was also hard to find!), he succeeded, and we stayed. Due to our convoluted work permit history and when we arrived in Canada (technically in December 2020, officially in January 2021), we were terribly worried that the PR process could take years.
PR Timeline
But the timeline turned out much more pleasant, albeit longer than for other acquaintances:
- December 8, 2023: Selected
- January 8, 2024: Submitted documents
- May 7: Medical request. We emailed that we had already done the medical exam and that they accepted it under the new rules. IRCC confirmed this within a few days.
- May 17: Biometrics request
- June 11: Request for D.’s military status in the country of origin. We were tense because the military ID didn’t have the new last name. We sent it for translation online, got the translation within a day, and submitted it.
- June 18: Received the so-called P1 (first portal email), meaning—your PR is approved, confirm some personal information and that you are currently in Canada.
- July 11: Received the second email—P2, where we had to again confirm that we were in Canada and upload our address and photo for the PR card.
- July 15, 2024: eCoPR—Electronic Confirmation of Permanent Residence. The status confirmation.
Now, just two more years and we can finally apply for citizenship! We are incredibly happy, but as our friend commented, “Why did it take so long? Our government is inherently flawed!” :) Next steps—celebrate with poutine, continue fighting to get our money back, and apply for citizenship in two years.
maple leaf and I