O.M.G. The all-important passport request (PPR) call has finally come. It lasted less than a minute, and that was all it took to turn my head upside down. The crossroads I have been journeying towards is now in sight!
So, I take my passport in Tuesday, and I wait for the call to return to collect it. My plans for going home to my husband before our second anniversary are very probable now, they are no longer just a possibility.
I have so much to organize and plan. First, though, a celebration. Getting this far required a lot of learning, a lot of hard work and expense, and no small amount of patience and I think I shall congratulate myself a little. Insofar as I have mostly resisted the urge to whine or complain, insofar as I have spent the time waiting fruitfully, I believe it is OK to congratulate myself that much and to celebrate. *cheers*
Friday, March 30, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
As of yesterday morning, all the documents I was requested to submit have been handed over to the Canadian embassy.
My second medical exam was done by the same doctor who did the first. A mostly painless and highly efficient process; I really do like this doctor. The pain was from the required blood tests, and of course I had to psych myself up for that. I almost passed out when she labeled two vials, I had forgotten they took quite that much blood! After the obligatory BP test and physical once-over, he pronounced himself satisfied and I went to get the X-ray done. That involved some waiting, but that was because a trauma victim came in at the same time and had to be seen to.
Earlier in the morning I went to get my fingerprints done. On Monday I had quite the drama with the taxi driver I hired to take me to the tax office to make the payment for this. He mis-heard my address and kept me waiting for 20 minutes before he mis-heard where I wanted to go and wasted another 10 minutes of my time going in the wrong direction. I was not pleased. This was somewhat mitigated by the lack of drama with making the payment, the cashier was only interested in my taxpayer registration number and the fees.
Going to get the fingerprints done was less dramatic. I went fully prepared for the long wait and found myself surprised to be the 43rd person in line at 8:00 a.m. A year ago at the same time I was 163rd in line. The mystery was solved when I learned they had opened 3 other fingerprinting centres across the island, thereby eliminating the necessity of everyone needing a police report coming into Kingston.
I made myself comfortable for the wait with a book, and just moved through the musical chair process in a very Zen state. There actually were a few people I engaged in conversation and enjoyed it, but for the most part I was entertained by Dean Koontz. The tech was actually polite and well-mannered this time, and male, as opposed to the surly female I had last time. Perhaps she has been moved to one of the other locations.
I waited out the week (5 business days) for the police report to be ready, then went to collect it. That involved some drama, but I am so glad this whole process is over with insofar as dealing with Jamaican authorities are, that I won't even repeat any of it here.
I bought an envelope, labelled it neatly in block letters with our names and file number and enclosed the police report along with a letter explaining why I should be exempted from providing a new FBI report, accompanied by neatly labeled and referenced copies of my passport pages. On my way to work, I looped up to the embassy, instead of passing below it, and dropped the window off at the heavily blacked out drop off window. Very odd experience, talking to someone you cannot see who is right in front of you.
Next step: wait for the embassy to call and request my passport, the all-important PPR (passport request). I am hoping to hear back in about two weeks' time, on the assumption that the medical results can be received and processed in 3 weeks. In the meanwhile, time to start making lists of all that I need to do!
My second medical exam was done by the same doctor who did the first. A mostly painless and highly efficient process; I really do like this doctor. The pain was from the required blood tests, and of course I had to psych myself up for that. I almost passed out when she labeled two vials, I had forgotten they took quite that much blood! After the obligatory BP test and physical once-over, he pronounced himself satisfied and I went to get the X-ray done. That involved some waiting, but that was because a trauma victim came in at the same time and had to be seen to.
Earlier in the morning I went to get my fingerprints done. On Monday I had quite the drama with the taxi driver I hired to take me to the tax office to make the payment for this. He mis-heard my address and kept me waiting for 20 minutes before he mis-heard where I wanted to go and wasted another 10 minutes of my time going in the wrong direction. I was not pleased. This was somewhat mitigated by the lack of drama with making the payment, the cashier was only interested in my taxpayer registration number and the fees.
Going to get the fingerprints done was less dramatic. I went fully prepared for the long wait and found myself surprised to be the 43rd person in line at 8:00 a.m. A year ago at the same time I was 163rd in line. The mystery was solved when I learned they had opened 3 other fingerprinting centres across the island, thereby eliminating the necessity of everyone needing a police report coming into Kingston.
I made myself comfortable for the wait with a book, and just moved through the musical chair process in a very Zen state. There actually were a few people I engaged in conversation and enjoyed it, but for the most part I was entertained by Dean Koontz. The tech was actually polite and well-mannered this time, and male, as opposed to the surly female I had last time. Perhaps she has been moved to one of the other locations.
I waited out the week (5 business days) for the police report to be ready, then went to collect it. That involved some drama, but I am so glad this whole process is over with insofar as dealing with Jamaican authorities are, that I won't even repeat any of it here.
I bought an envelope, labelled it neatly in block letters with our names and file number and enclosed the police report along with a letter explaining why I should be exempted from providing a new FBI report, accompanied by neatly labeled and referenced copies of my passport pages. On my way to work, I looped up to the embassy, instead of passing below it, and dropped the window off at the heavily blacked out drop off window. Very odd experience, talking to someone you cannot see who is right in front of you.
Next step: wait for the embassy to call and request my passport, the all-important PPR (passport request). I am hoping to hear back in about two weeks' time, on the assumption that the medical results can be received and processed in 3 weeks. In the meanwhile, time to start making lists of all that I need to do!
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