Buried in Bureaucracy

We're up to our ears in paperwork around here. We knew we would be. Immigrating to a new country is always a bit of a hassle. The requirements for entering New Zealand have changed since we last went, however. It is a much more involved process now, with medical forms, physicals, blood work, urine analysis, and chest x-rays.

Here's the real kicker. Because we are not from this province and obviously have no doctor here, no one would do it. We spent all day yesterday on the phone to pretty much every doctor in North Battleford, and NO ONE would do it. AND, we don't have Saskatchewan health care, so we were starting to panic about how much this all is going to cost us. Apparently we can't have SK healthcare if we're only here 4 months. AND, we can't keep our BC healthcare unless we lie and say we're still living there. And start paying the premiums, as that was coming out of Colin's paycheque before (there are no premiums in Saskatchewan. Did you know that? I didn't know that). So, if we want healthcare in OUR OWN COUNTRY THAT WE ARE CITIZENS OF, we have to lie. How insane is that?!?

SO, today we started over. Colin decided to start phoning Saskatoon to find a doctor who'd take us, and the first place he called, they said yes. Now, I'm just hoping and praying it really is that easy and that when they see how extensive it all is, and for FOUR people, they won't turn us away. We have an appointment next Tuesday.

AND, after talking with several official NZ immigration people, we have decided to forego the work/visitor visas, and just go ahead with a Residency application. The requirements are the same, as far as paperwork goes. The fee is higher, but in the long run, it's to our benefit. We had planned to apply for residency eventually, anyway. We thought we had to be there 2 years first, but apparently not. As long as we meet the requirements (which we do), we can do it already. It also benefits us once we get there because we will then qualify for any tax benefits any other citizen of NZ might receive. Last time, I lost all my child tax credits from Canada, AND I couldn't receive any over there. This way, I might, and that is a load off, believe me. And although the cost is higher initially, we save money in the final end because we don't have to also pay for work/visitor visas, which would also mean we'd be doing all this medical stuff AGAIN in a couple years in NZ. Now, we do it all once, and it's set. Once we are residents, we may come and go from NZ anytime, for the rest of our lives. And since we apparently like coming and going so much, it suits us. (Yes, that was a bit sarcastic.)