PR CARD

[sooke]

I came to Canada on June 1 and STILL have no card

I can't get a full drivers license, i can't register for a govt training programme….just how backward and bureaucratic is this country if after so long i still have no PR card.

 

[little_apple]

Everywhere I went my passport + COPR were accepted. Did you have these two documents with you?
My PR card arrived 68 days after landing (landed May 3).

 

[bhoot]

For me it took 2-3 months to get it. It was back in 2007 so I cant remember the actual duration. But it was 3 months max.

 

[tink23]

Everywhere I went my passport + COPR were accepted. Did you have these two documents with you?
My PR card arrived 68 days after landing (landed May 3).

Agreed. Your COPR and passport should be accepted everywhere in place of the PR card.

 

[teaya_ram]

Sorry what is a CORP??

 

[zardoz]

Sorry what is a CORP??

Confirmation of Permanent Residence. It's the document that you require to "land" as a PR.

 

[Cvstos]

I needed my COPR, Passport, SIN Page, and my US Driver's License to get an Alberta DL. They took the US DL and gave me a temp Alberta DL until the final one gets here in the mail.

 

[MissRepresentation]

Hi Sooke,

If your nickname is any indication of where you're based,my advice is don't let the fools at the ICBC office near Village Foods pull your leg. I've been given false or misleading information every time I've been there (and also across the counter at Coast Capital). As a result, I had to let my UK driving license expire without being able to drive here when in fact I could have had it converted to its Canadian equivalent. This has caused huge inconveniences in my daily life,and I must stress the word HUGE. The truth is that to get your license you don't even need COPR, a visitor's record, the old license, and your passport are enough.

As for how backward and bureaucratic this country is,I feel your pain. I gave Canada the benefit of the doubt thinking that it'd be a serious country, but boy was I wrong. If it wasn't for my husband and cheap peanut butter, like hell I'd be here!!! Rant over.

 

[sooke]

Hi Sooke,

If your nickname is any indication of where you're based,my advice is don't let the fools at the ICBC office near Village Foods pull your leg. I've been given false or misleading information every time I've been there (and also across the counter at Coast Capital). As a result, I had to let my UK driving license expire without being able to drive here when in fact I could have had it converted to its Canadian equivalent. This has caused huge inconveniences in my daily life,and I must stress the word HUGE. The truth is that to get your license you don't even need COPR, a visitor's record, the old license, and your passport are enough.

As for how backward and bureaucratic this country is,I feel your pain. I gave Canada the benefit of the doubt thinking that it'd be a serious country, but boy was I wrong. If it wasn't for my husband and cheap peanut butter, like hell I'd be here!!! Rant over.

cheap peanut butter...that's brilliant.... so good to get some british humoUr!

as for your driving license issue that's terrible….i was lucky , got stopped speeding on my UK license because everyone here drives at 2 miles a fortnight and they actually observe speed limits! Cop tells me i can't use my UK license and have to go to driver licensing office where i should hand in my uk license and get a straightforward swap for a BC one, felt bad handing over UK govt property, which they MAKE you do telling you it will go to DVLA, for a piece of temporary paper - no PR Card equals no driving full license card - but no option. Also, a UK license is an EU license but i think it shouldn't be a problem.

If you live in Sooke and can't drive and have to rely on the bus to get around that would be a nightmare. And really you feel done already, you've only been here a little while?!! But i agree, i have very ambivalent feelings about Canadians and their 'rules' their passive aggressiveness and their ability to be really really unfriendly with NOOOOOOOO sense of humor whatsoever, but not the country which i think is stunning.

do you live in Sooke then?

 

[MissRepresentation]

Hahaha Sooke, I reckon we'd have soooo many things to bitch, I mean talk about. The country is stunning, but just like a beauty queen, it can be both stunning AND dumb. I'm not even in Sooke proper, but out in Shirley. So no driving and no public transport, this feels like a prison sentence for someone who's used to coming and going doing my own thing. Terribly inconvenient. I just couldn't believe it when I found out that there's no public transport going 40kms away from the provincial capital. What the hell!?! Bangladesh has a more efficient system. Oh well, good to find someone who understands me....

 

[sooke]

Hahaha Sooke, I reckon we'd have soooo many things to *censored word*, I mean talk about. The country is stunning, but just like a beauty queen, it can be both stunning AND dumb. I'm not even in Sooke proper, but out in Shirley. So no driving and no public transport, this feels like a prison sentence for someone who's used to coming and going doing my own thing. Terribly inconvenient. I just couldn't believe it when I found out that there's no public transport going 40kms away from the provincial capital. What the hell!?! Bangladesh has a more efficient system. Oh well, good to find someone who understands me....

Shirley?!!! No car?

F$%^K. When can you get your license here? Is there any bus out there at all?

Beauty queen nails it actually. Someone in the UK who had done business here for years warned me that Canadians were 'naive witless and arrogant' i brushed it off at the time but i understand what they mean now. In terms of what is going on in the world they are so out of touch in the main, are almost devoid of humor, and think everything should be 'fair'

Couple that with a massive dose of taking themselves soooooooooo seriously, I must admit i find my self questioning my decision to move here a lot these days

But the UK doesn't compare for quality of life in my opinion. I just have to persevere.

Definitely we have much to whinge about ha ha!!

I met a Canadian girl in london in 09 and she moved me out here, what's your tale of woe?!

 

[MissRepresentation]

F$%^K indeed. There's no bus at all, number 61 I think stops rather abruptly somewhere near Otter Point but there's nothing after that. Last summer I had to CYCLE into Sooke 3 or 4 times to get groceries etc. because my husband was away, F$%^K me that was insane cycling up these hideous hills loaded with pineapples and ... peanut butter of course. When my then boyfriend now husband warned me about the lack of public transport I dismissed him thinking that it was just not possible. Wishful thinking I guess. Since my UK license expired in June and I never changed my UK address, I'm now forced to apply for a Canadian learner's license once (and if) I get my visitor's extension. This means having to go through the stupidly retarded graduated system that they have in place here, so, I can expect to have a license again in about 3 years' time. Hi-larious And then I have to put up with those CIC morons automatically assuming marriage of convenience?? What exactly is convenient about this? HA!

I've actually had no problems with the (few) Canadians I know, I found most neighbours were friendly enough, although I've had to cringe a few times due to their lack of knowledge about everything outside North America and due to their failure to understand my sense of humour. I've opted for only making jokes or sarcastic comments to myself (sometimes my husband gets them too...) IMO the problem takes place at institutional level, as inefficiency, lack of accountability, and plain dumbness seem to be the way to do things, this PR process being a fine example.

I was living the dream and the high life in Bangkok when I met my husband. We'd been in touch by email for over a year but we only met in person in 2013. Somehow he convinced me to move here and fair enough, it's quiet and nice and all that, but I can't wait to get PR so that we can start travelling again. Give me a shout if you guys are ever around French Beach!

 

[sooke]

F$%^K indeed. There's no bus at all, number 61 I think stops rather abruptly somewhere near Otter Point but there's nothing after that. Last summer I had to CYCLE into Sooke 3 or 4 times to get groceries etc. because my husband was away, F$%^K me that was insane cycling up these hideous hills loaded with pineapples and ... peanut butter of course. When my then boyfriend now husband warned about the lack of public transport I dismissed him thinking that it was just not possible. Wishful thinking I guess. Since my UK license expired in June and I never changed my UK address, I'm now forced to apply for a Canadian learner's license once (and if) I get my visitor's extension. This means having to go through the stupidly retarded graduated system that they have in place here, so, I can expect to have a license again in about 3 years' time. Hi-larious

I've actually had no problems with the (few) Canadians I know, I found most neighbours were friendly enough, although I've had to cringe a few times due to their lack of knowledge about everything outside North America and due to their failure to understand my sense of humour. I've opted for only making jokes or sarcastic comments to myself (sometimes my husband gets them too...) IMO the problem takes place at institutional level, as inefficiency, lack of accountability, and plain dumbness seem to be the way to do things, this PR process being a fine example.

I was living the dream and the high life in Bangkok when I met my husband. We'd been in touch by email for over a year but we only met in person in 2013. Somehow he convinced me to move here and fair enough, it's quiet and nice and all that, but I can't wait to get PR so that we can start travelling again. Give me a shout if you guys are ever around French Beach!

OMG that is awful about your license!

Your hubby must be quite convincing to get you to leave Bangkok for Shirley. Hope you are making him pay for it ha ha

I use my sarcasm on my dog now, even he gets it better than any Canadians I have met.

Love Bangkok, what were you doing there…and i am sure we can do something to get you mobile as i often drive into Vic…currently job hunting and many days i get very bored in Sooke, in Shirley you must be climbing the walls with no transport.

 

[MissRepresentation]

Yeah, from the most exciting city in the world to the hamlet of Shirley...honestly, the first time my husband drove me to Sooke to get a few clothes etc. I wanted to cry. I actually cried, the shock was that big. He WILL pay for it, don't doubt it, haha! He is a nomad just like me, I just happened to meet him at a point in life when he wants and needs to be 'home', unfortunately for me, but when all this is over we're planning to spend a few months in Thailand, then India, then Greece, ahhhh I can't wait.

I work online doing content marketing and SEO, so at least I keep myself busy for part of the day. That's what I did in Bangkok too, although I was also studying Thai and above all enjoying everything that the city has to offer. I try to keep myself busy, but it's hard as you know. I've actually applied to do a distance master's degree at Bristol Uni (and got accepted today woohooo!!!), so if I do accept the offer I might need to go into Victoria at least once a week to use the university library there...even that is inconvenient!