So I've been preparing to move to Canada for the last 2 months (or maybe more)... although I must admit, I don't yet feel like I am. The excitement of it happening seems to be over-shadowing the 'anxiety' of it happening! There are mixed emotions - the thought of leaving life as you know it and starting out in a place where you haven't even been a tourist, is scary, exciting and a little weird!
In my previous post, I mentioned that I would write a bit about the process in my next post - which as it seems is this one. I am not going to go into the details of the process (honestly, that's available on every second blog and video). I am simply going to go through the emotional journey.
I had started the process last year, in October. I must admit, I had signed up with an agency. Although to be honest, in hind-sight I think that was a bad decision - not because the agency was bad - simply because I underestimated myself. I assumed I may have scored fewer points (CRS Score) and therefore I would need to apply through PNP (provincial nominations). But that wasn't the case. I sailed through with the score I got.
The excitement of starting the process soon turned into frustration due to the time taken at each step. I should add, frustration, excitement, and various other emotions were all fighting for the top spot! I got my ECA on 23rd March, and then it was one thing after another - creating my profile, submitting it, getting the ITA and then collecting all the required documents and actually submitting my application for Permanent Residency - everything was done by 6th April!
Come to think of it, that was an extremely stressful time - and I don't mean just for me. I'll bet it was just as stressful for my friends and family who were literally being driven mad by me during the process. After submitting my application, it was an agonizing waiting game!
By June end, I was under the impression that probably my application was being rejected. But that thought was soon put out by some amazing friends! On 26th July, I got my PPR (request to submit my passport to get the One-time entry Visa stamped)! I was excited and of course super happy!
The thought that I am leaving a life behind and literally starting afresh didn't seem to come to mind till my farewell parties started. Leaving Bombay was difficult, to say the least, but then again, I knew many of them were on their way to move to the other side of the Globe as well.
Moving continents turned out to be tougher than I thought!
