Permanent Residency

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 carries the luxury of paid sick leave. It doesn’t mean we’ve decided to reside in Canada permanently, nor that we’ve fully embraced the Canadian way of life. (Disagreement should be direct, sarcasm is funny, and what is with all this cold, fizzy beer?) But it does mean that our first years in Toronto have been happy ones – with amazing experiences, fulfilling jobs and good friends. And when normality returns, we’re very excited to continue exploring our adopted country. In the meantime, there’s just one task left: we need a new name for the blog.