Choosing a Visa

At first, we weren't sure which one of us would apply for immigration.

I was unemployed (oh, the joys of job searching during the Recession, especially in a small town). And Gates had a job that he didn't like. So, we made a deal that whoever found the best job, the other would try to move to them.

I applied to every local opening I could find (there weren't many) and searched all over the United States and Canada for any job that involved editing, copyediting, or proofreading. (I have a Master's degree in Publishing and worked as a Fiction Copy Editor at Tyndale House Publishers in Chicago for a couple years before I moved to West Virginia in 2006.) Every day, for months on end, I sent out numerous resumes and filled out application after application.

I was given only three interviews: one for an editing job at Research In Motion in Canada (the guys that make BlackBerry), one for a graphic designer job at a small publishing house in Ohio, and one for the remodeling crew at the Wal-Mart in New Philadelphia.

So I ended up working the only job I was offered, as part of the temporary staff at Wal-Mart during the summer of 2009.

Luckily, Gates' old high school friend, Chris, recommended him for a IT Services job with the Canadian government. Gates was hired, receiving not only a substantial raise from his last job, but also receiving an amazing benefits package and pension plan.

In Gates' opinion, he'd found the job he wants to keep until he retires.

That's when I started looking into Canadian Immigration policies in earnest.

It boiled down to three options for me: Employment Visa, Full-Time Student Visa, or Family Class Visa

I was still searching, but the prospect of finding an employer who would sponsor me to move to Canada to work for them wasn't looking too great. I had no money (or desire) to go back to college full-time. Which left us with the Family Class option.

There were three ways for Gates to sponsor me using the Family Class option.

The first was sponsoring me as a Common-Law Partner (meaning we would have to live together for one year before he could sponsor me, which wasn't a possibility).

The second was sponsoring me as his Conjugal Partner-- yes, that sounds funny, but what it means is that we would have to date each other exclusively for at least twelve months, but “forces beyond our control” would keep us from living together (ie, an international border, etc.). The problem with this option was that, even though I'd filed for divorce in April, I still didn't have a court date as of the end of August. We wouldn't be able to claim an exclusive relationship until I was legally single.

The third option was to sponsor me as a Spouse. We knew from the day we started dating that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, so this option made the most sense. But, again, we weren't able to start any paperwork until after my divorce was finalized.

Which it was, on October 6, 2009.

I didn't realize the dates were so close until just now: I'm landing as an immigrant on October 5, 2010, almost exactly one year after my divorce hearing.

In a lot of ways, the whole immigration process seems to have taken forever and ever. But, really, it could have taken much, much longer. There were a few difficult times, of course, but overall these past twelve months have been some of the happiest of my entire life.

And I have no doubt that the next twelve months will be even better!