Our Canadian Immigration Story (I)

By: Dave Lympany

After 6 weeks in Canada and the finality that we were no longer on vacation hit with a thud – we weren’t going “home”. I'd served 16 years in the Royal Air Force (RAF), so saying goodbye to a “safe” job seemed surreal. The final Christmas and New Year, the emotional family farewell, even the one way flight - it all seemed totally unreal! We found it hard to believe that over 2 years of planning had actually come to fruition and we were starting our new life near Calgary.

Well, it was true. I was starting my new job the next day and the temperature was a cool - 25ºC ! We had discussed living in Canada in great length after my wife’s sister had moved to Edmonton with her Canadian husband and were enjoying a lifestyle we could only dream of. We tried a few DIY assessments to see if we would qualify but found ourselves 1 point short of the “pass mark” which was 70 at that time.

We decided that we’d have to hire an immigration professional. When we opened up the Immigration Newspaper “Canada News”, the first advert we saw was Access Migration Services who offered a free assessment. We spoke to Kerry Martin and discussed our thoughts. We received the assessment in the post, filled it in and returned it the next day. Kerry decided that we had a good chance of qualifying and so offered us a no visa no fee contract and so the process began. We were inundated with forms and questionnaires and set to researching thoroughly what it all entailed.

I assembled my qualifications and sent them to IQAS in Edmonton for a Canadian equivalency. Then I contacted Transport Canada to see if my aircraft maintenance licenses were valid. They weren’t, but I would be able to sit some exams, provide my full career history and work for a minimum of 6 months in Canadian Aviation. It didn’t seem too bad considering I was hoping to move continents! We had to send off for police checks from Germany, the UK police and the RAF police to prove we had no criminal records, once they were back we could submit our application.

It was announced that the Canadian Immigration visa system was changing; no-one knew what would happen or when it would come into effect. Kerry kept us informed and was very reassuring during a troublesome time. I had to put in my 18 months notice to leave as the Immigration authorities required an exit date from the RAF – 17th Feb 2003 was the date we chose.

We watched the horror of September 11th unfold; the aviation world collapsed and with the rest of the RAF, I became involved in the Afghan War and the unstable world climate that followed.