Today is my one year anniversary being an official Canadian Permanent Resident! And as of June 6, I will have lived here for two full years :) That’s a lot of maple syrup and igloos, eh? I’ve loved every minute of it.
Hope everyone is having a fabulous long weekend. :)  Only 33 days until the wedding!  Are YOU ready for Vegas?

Yes, yes I can!
That’s right, the next big thing we’ve been waiting on… I got my Alberta teaching certification! After 10 months of waiting on Immigration, waiting a month for the Alberta teaching certification office to examine my Indiana credentials and deem me qualified to hold a professional teaching license was a cake walk. This weekend will be busy as I organize my resume and dust off my teaching portfolio that has been waiting ever so patiently to be needed again. The final step of fully immigrating feels so close to being complete now… there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and I anxiously and happily await teaching again next school year.

So the day we’ve been waiting 9 months for finally arrived: as of today, May 17, 2007… I am an official Permanent Resident of Canada! As I reported a few posts ago, I received notification at the end of April/first of May that I was approved for Permanent Residency, but today was the actual day I went in to the Calgary Immigration office to be granted the official status.

I know there was no reason to be nervous, but my stomach was doing flip flops all morning. I kept worrying that I would forget some important piece of ID, or the photos I had to have done wouldn’t be perfectly to spec… I was just …

Woohoo!
Last week we got good news on the Immigration front; my application for Permanent Residency was approved and I’m able to get a work permit now. The last step was waiting for the Calgary office to set up an appointment with me so I could go in and get my PR card. I was worried it would take forever to get my appointment set, but the letter for it with a date arrived a day or two later. I’ll be picking up my PR card on May 17th! Go me! I think we’re going to have a little “party” on either Friday the 18th or Saturday the 19th to celebrate …

“We are pleased to advise you that processing of your application for permanent residence has been approved and completed. The Canada Immigration Centre in Calgary will contact you concerning the appointment to pick up your permanent resident card.”
“You may now apply for an open work permit, which will allow you to work in the occupation and location of your choice.”
I got the two letters yesterday and finally got to read the words we’ve been waiting eight and a half months to hear… Canada has decided they like me enough to keep me! Now the bulk of the process is behind us and I just have to wait for the Calgary office to contact …