Thank you so much everyone! I cannot stress how much this forum has helped me and in turn, my husband, find our way through this arduous process and keep our sanity intact on the other side. This has been such a happy day for us - I want to cry and cheer at the same time. I will be staying on here to help with any questions and pay it forward to everyone here the only way I feel is appropriate - with advice and kind words when you need them the most. This place has been both a sanctuary and a place of knowledge - you are all like family to my husband and I even if we have never met in person.
The landing appointment itself was great. Our appointment was for 10 AM but we arrived early hoping to squeak in if someone cancelled their appointment. When we arrived there at 8:30, the waiting room was full and there was a line out the door - So I was pretty nervous that they were going to call on my husband and we wouldn't hear it. About half an hour later, a woman came in and asked if there were people taking the citizenship test and most everyone left except for us and another couple. We waited in the waiting room for about 45 minutes - there was no reception desk, just a small room with glass walls and two doors in a little alcove at the other end of the room. A woman came out of one of the doors, called on a woman that didn't show up, left, came back, called the other couple and then came back for us at about 9:15.
We got in early because she said her 9:30 cancelled on her. She was very friendly, chatted a bit and asked for the landing letter. We were over-prepared, well, I was over-prepared. My husband didn't want to bring extra documents in case they asked, but I made sure we brought with us the required paperwork (hubby's passport, pictures, work visas/study permits/visitor visas, my passport) and proof of relationship (marriage cert, proof of common residency, insurance documents) as well as the online receipt for the fee payments. All she asked for were the required documents as per the letter, she didn't even ask to see the receipt for the fees. She looked at the passports, and casually asked where we had met (not sure if this is a question she had to ask or if she was just curious) Then she asked the four magic questions and specified that they were yes or no answer questions for my husband:
1. Have you committed any crimes while you have been in Canada? No
2. Have you ever been asked to leave Canada? No
3. Have you ever been denied entry into Canada? No
4. Do you have any dependents within out outside of Canada that you have not declared in your application? No
She typed a few things in on the computer behind the desk (which we couldn't see) and then said she'd be back. She came back with papers and asked my husband to initial beside each answer and then sign on the bottom. She took the papers back and then turned to me with the most important question.
"Do you want to keep him for another two years?"
We chuckled a bit back (the officer and I) and then I answered: "Of course."
She went over the conditions of the PR status with my husband and I, stamped his passport and then congratulated my husband on becoming a permanent resident of Canada. We were in and out before 9:30. My husband had booked off time today until noon so he even had time to run over to Service Canada and get his permanent SIN.
This is the most amazing feeling! It's so surreal to finally be done everything with a few weeks to go until the year anniversary of sending off our application.
