Two years in Toronto

Say hello to Canada’s newest permanent residents! We’re ten months older than when we started our application and almost $4,000 poorer, but it’s official: we can live and work in Canada indefinitely. There were surreal moments on the way: Harriet proving her English skills by discussing her favourite advert; chasing the University of Toronto to confirm that a degree from Oxford is up to Canadian standards; the medical exams conducted by the cast of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest . The process demanded references, bank statements, fingerprints, police checks, detailed family trees and lists of every organisation we had joined in the last decade. It was such an ordeal I wrote an article for The Globe and Mail , warning Harry and Meghan what lay ahead. Duly warned, they went to LA instead. So why did we do it? Primarily because, after two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow, Harriet can now be promoted to Research Associate – a role reserved for citizens and permanent residents that c