And the nominees are...

We just got notification today that the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program has nominated us for Canadian permanent residency! Yea!

It's a bit stressful though, because we now have 6 months in which to secure all our police checks. We'll need criminal checks from the FBI as well as every state we've lived in for at least 6 months since age 18. So that's a lot of fingerprints and forms and money orders, but I'm not worried about it--I figure it will be straightforward. If there's a question, it's easy enough to call the US.

I'm not too worried about getting a police check from the UK either. I recently emailed a police department in Edinburgh, and got sent a link to their process--again, we have to send a money order, forms, certified passport copies. But it also seems straightforward.

The one that really worried me was Kenya. But fortunately, I went to the Kenya High Commission website here in Canada, and they have a process outlined to obtain a "Certificate of Good Conduct." They also require a copy of the passport I had when I was there (fortunately I still have this--it was 14 years ago!). And they'd like a letter from the school where I studied--I am still in touch over email with people from the school, so hopefully someone can write something to me and perhaps fax it? It's a bit nervewracking, but I was originally thinking all I could do was write to the police headquarters in Nairobi via snail mail and hope for the best. To be able to work through email and apply to an embassy in North America is much better!

All this, plus our application and photos, will get sent to the Canadian consulate in Buffalo, New York. And then if all looks good, they will direct us to get medical exams. We have to go to a doctor in Regina who is trained to do these for permanent residency applicants.

I know it will all get done--but I will be glad when we have our permanent residency cards in hand!