Alex and Bob

Hi There,
Just writing to say that we are still waiting to hear abour study permits.
Buffalo asked us for more info on proof of funds and ties back in UK
Had already sent this with application.
Sent it anyway, but as we didn't hear anything for days we decided to pay them a visit. That was a waste of time as they just said that our study permit application and permanent residence application were being looked at together by two of the officers and we will just have to wait for a decision.
We should of had our initial assessment for our PR application on Aug 4th. Our lawyers faxed them requesting this but we've still not heard anything.
Getting desparate now as kids are due to start school next week.
Anyway, hows your summer been. Sorry we haven't contacted you yet, we've moved down to the farm in Keene and haven't been in Buckhorn for a few weeks, will get round to meeting you soon.
What info did you give about your ties in UK.
We sent them property deeds on our commercial factory unit, business bank statements to show that we have a business still running and a copy of the inventory of all the furniture we have in storage.

Tiaribbon

Are you in Keene, just south of Peterborough/Norwood? We have been in Campbellford for August but only got broadband yesterday so haven't been on here. We went up to Bobcaygeon last week and had lunch there. If it is the same Keene then we are only a handful of miles away from you! We fly back to the UK on Monday. Hope all goes well with your Study permits. We were contacted by Immigration just prior to us leaving the UK, so it looks like our application is moving along now thank goodness!

Alex and Bob

Hi Tiaribbon,
Yes it is the same Keene. We actually went to Cambellford a few days ago.
We stopped off on our way back from the livestock auction.
Have you been working on your farm or taking it easy ?
We've been really busy cleaning out the barn ready for the stables to be installed.
Anyway, nice to hear from you.
Keep in touch.

Tiaribbon

D'you know we were going to go up to the auction on Tuesday, so we would have met! We were in Keene just the other day as we have a friend who has racehorses in Norwood whom we were visiting and then we took a drive out to Keene as a round about way of getting home. Never mind maybe next time. We are back out in October so must meet up then.

We have furnished the house and have been having the second cut of hay done. We have some cattle on the farm right now which has been lovely and one has produced a late baby.

We aren't working it yet as we have leased the land out but we have been pricing up arenas and stables etc and found the places to put them. Bought a Dodge Ram which has been priceless to us, carting all our new purchases home.

Have you heard from Crocbill yet? Did they get all their permits and things sorted out? What are you going to do without your study permits? Will the school take the children without them? If not then they will just have to take a sabatical and do some work experience with running and building up the farm. Joking aside, I really do hope that it gets sorted out for you quickly - what a nightmare!

Did you manage to get your insurance sorted out?

squarepants

Did someone say Bobcaygeon? For those that don't know, you have got to see this place to believe, peaceful and tranquil it is, we loved it down there when we visited, and also had a meal there.

http://www.kawartha.net/~bobcom/

Also in this neck of the wood, is Port 32, these areas have a lot of retirees, but it's one of the best towns in Ontario, along with Niagara on the lake.

www.port32.com

Alex and Bob

Hi Tia,
Yes we've managed to get insurance because we are living here now but if we weren't they wanted $600 per month !!!

No, I haven't heard from Crocbill yet, he must be having too much fun !!!

Would love to meet up in Oct.
We are still debating what to do about study permits.It may be that we have to go back to the UK for another term.
The children can study for 6 months without them, so if our immigration looks like it is on the way then we may decide to stay and reapply for permits.
We are running out of time fast.
What did you hear about yours before you came over, What is your time frame again ?

Alex and Bob

Hi Squarepants
Yes bobcaygeon is lovely, we've visited there many times. We love the lock area. Also Algonquin is beautiful, we went up there in April, hopefully to see some moose, but we weren't lucky.

Tiaribbon

CHC sent us a letter asking for extra documents. The sheet had tonnes of things on it but there were only 2 ticked: one asking for RCMP fingerprints (which we have underway now, however we are sending a cover letter saying that we do not think we need to do these as we have never been residents of Canada) and the only other one was asking for a letter from the Inland Revenue to confirm that I was self-employed from 02/03. I sent them a letter from IR but it only had one year on it. Anyway letter has arrived in the UK so will get it off to them as soon as we return on Tuesday.

Our timeline is 19th June 2003 - AOR
Nothing heard from them until two days before we left for here at the beginning of August. Fingers crossed that we are finally on our way.

I have my fingers crossed for you too and hope that you manage to get everything sorted.

Our insurance works out to being just under $200 per month but this includes the truck too, so we thought that this was a fairly good price, especially as the 2 barns have been insured for $50,000 each and that the truck is pretty new. We were pleased with this.

Good luck, will keep in touch.

CROCODILEBILL

Hi Alex and Bob, Hi Tiaribbon.

Its been a while. Just been so busy here. Been doing some home improvements. Visiting friends and family. watersports and four wheeling. Did a great run from Buckhorn to Bancroft on the trails. took us 6 Hours to get there.

Just a little update with regards to study permits. We applied for them on the 7th July and were due to fly on the 18th on a previously booked flight. Unfortuneatley we still had no word from them on the 14th i faxed them and left a message on an answering machine. I nearly fainted when they called me the following morning. They wanted to confirm a couple of things before issuing the permits.

1. We are commonlaw so they wanted the childrens full birth cert showing father and mother.
2. They wanted to know what our intentions were with regards to the children in Canada. (I followed up with a letter explaining this by fax)

They said they would fax me a decision by The close Friday.
The authorisation Came Monday morning which means a trip to Niagara this week.

Anyway the Kids are enrolled at Buckhorn popping in to Peterborough later to Pay The school board $15000 (Ouch!)

Although the weather has not been so great this summer fun has been had by all. The inlaws were with us all summer and are returning home today. Probably the same flight as tiaribbon. Thomas Cook.

With regards to the proving links to the UK I was not asked.

Anyway let me know when you are around theres a bunch of kids in the bay at all times its great here to keep them occupied.
Theres always a stock of cold beers in the fridge and the wife makes a mean curry/chlli.

While on the subject of study permits has anyone been to niagara and them come back to get the kids passports stamped. Do we need a us visa to leave Canada or can we just turn up go across and then come straight back?

We are going in the next couple of days and are a little worried!

Dont be strangers A & B. Speak soon Tia

iaink

Glad you are settling in. As far as "landing" goes, you can leave canada and come back in without entering the US, just follow the return to canada signs before you reach US customs. The US side of the falls is quite entertaining anyway if you have gone that far, with a boardwalk down among the crashing spray, but it may be getting too late in the season to enjoy that. Getting the US entry visa is no big deal, but they will want US cash for even the shortest stay, so if you want to avoid that then the flagpole turn would be the way to go.

Landing at Landsdown (1000 islands) may be a shorter drive than Niagara anyway.

All the best

Iain

iaink

Glad you are settling in. As far as "landing" goes, you can leave canada and come back in without entering the US, just follow the return to canada signs before you reach US customs. The US side of the falls is quite entertaining anyway if you have gone that far, with a boardwalk down among the crashing spray, but it may be getting too late in the season to enjoy that. Getting the US entry visa is no big deal, but they will want US cash for even the shortest stay, so if you want to avoid that then the flagpole turn would be the way to go.

Landing at Landsdown (1000 islands) may be a shorter drive than Niagara anyway.

All the best

Iain

Alex and Bob

Hi Tia and Crocbill,
Yahoooo !!!! We were notified today that our study permits have been accepted and so we too will be making the trip to Niagara this week.
We are so relieved we can now start planning our future now we know we can stay.The good thing is that when we enquired obout the status of our study permit application last week, they told us that an officer was looking at both the PR application and study permits along side each other.So hopefully our immigration application is underway too.

Iain, that sounds like a much better idea to go to Lansdown a lot nicer than having to take the 401 through Toronto. Is it a recognised port of entry for landing ?

Anyway guys, lets all keep in touch.
talk to you later

iaink

I hope so, its where I landed! Congrats.

Iain

squarepants

Yes....love it there, and the lock area is awesome Algonquin is the bee's knees, we love the trails, the site, and we get to ride our mountain bikes too. I don't think there are many of the mooses around at that time of the year, but it's a nice feeling when you see one.

Hope to see you guys here soon !

Alex and Bob

Hi Iain,
Thanks for the info went there today to get study permits.It was a breeze.
Only 2 and a half hours along hassle free roads and no problems when we got there. We were home 6 hours from when we set out and that was with an hour stop for lunch.