DCIM\100GOPRO\GOPR0121.

I have been coming to work on the Ottawa river in Canada for four seasons now.  When I first came here I was planning to stay for just one season to see how I liked it.  The place, the people, the river, it is all amazing here and I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent here so much I made the choice a year and a half ago that I wanted to make the move more permanent. Relatively permanent at least.  

The application for Permanent Residency at the time when I applied was a crippling mountain of paperwork which took me a while to work my way through.  As well as a number of other seemingly innocuous tests including an English reading, writing and speaking exam.  But anyway, after I sent the application in (by post, who still does that?) thew waiting time was very long.  I basically waited over a year without hearing anything more than a conformation that they had received my application.  And then as if by magic in Late May I had to complete a medical examination from a certified doctor and a month later I received my conformation of permanent residency in the post.  All I had to do was make a quick trip to the border to collect it.  Result!

As a PR I can now stay in Canada full time, wherever I want, doing whatever job I want.  I have all the same benefits of being a citizen with two exceptions I can’t vote and I don't get a Canadian Passport.  

All in all I am pretty stoked about it, the prospect of being able to come and go as I please without the need for work permits is pretty appealing and I have so much more freedom to explore Canada now.  Happy days. 

Thats all for now.  

See you out there, eh!