Normal Life

As much excitement as it brings with it, planning a move across the Atlantic is shockingly unspectacular in the earlier stages. Right as we arrived at our decision in January 2022, Sky went “... So, Canada?” It felt important and like we had just nudged this big ball to get it rolling. But we realized quite soon that it wouldn’t be a fast or easy process.

The reality is that the current average processing time for Permanent Residence (PR) is over 12 months, a lot longer in other cases and only rarely shorter. In June 2022, the Canadian immigration office (IRCC) had a backlog of 2.4 million applications (study and work permits, tourist visas, PR etc.). Canada is actually trying to speed up that process, but I doubt that will have any major impact on my application, which we submitted in April 2022. 

Business as usual

I’m going into this relatively clueless, so I can’t say for certain, but most of that time will probably be wait time: for more documents to be requested, for them to review the ones they have etc… While we were working on gathering our application documents, we were still just doing our normal jobs, living in our apartment in Munich or hanging out with friends and family in Germany and the Netherlands, doing almost the same things we were before we decided on the move - aside from some extra phone calls and emails of course.

I ended up extending my contract which means that I will have my job until the fall and that I will fly to Canada in October. That is still 2 months away from 2023 and who knows how many months exactly until I am actually approved. But that also means that, until October, I don’t expect much change at all. The occasional email, the odd additional document retrieval… and that’s it?

Enjoying the moment

But I think that’s also why the reality of moving hasn’t fully hit me. I’m not packing or even planning what to bring (except for my Dutch oven which would likely take up half my allowed luggage weight, so the sad reality might be that I have to leave it behind). No major goodbyes will happen for another several weeks, months or even later, once I actually have my PR.

A little snippet of our future home.

At the same time, both of us are aware how impactful this move will eventually be. Sky hasn’t lived in Canada since he started his studies in 2015, bar the unplanned stays during COVID-lockdowns of course. I have never lived this far away from Europe and Germany without plans of when to return (except during the unplanned stays during COVID-lockdowns of course…). 

Considering it was only late February when I wrote the first draft of this entry and it’s now August, I have a feeling time will pass quickly and the end of the year will come faster than I’d like. Until I have crossed the ocean for our move, I’m trying to soak up as much as I can from my time in Europe.

I’ll sit on a Canada-bound flight soon enough. Any hopefully my PR isn’t too far behind.

To read more of my Canadian adventure, click here.