Oh Canada.... Amore Italy!

Monday…Oh Canada…

Getting ready to go out

After a week of being away from Canada we decided it was time to go back! Monday morning we went to the Canadian Embassy to see if they could help us get information about obtaining a family VISA for Veronica and I as well as health care. I am not entirely sure why we thought the Canadian Embassy would be helpful. It seems all they deal with are passport issues – renewal and losses - and if a Canadian meets an Italian person while on vacation and wants to stay longer then they are allowed.

We were told that Veronica and I are only allowed to stay in Italy for 3 months and not the 6 we thought. They told us that we could only stay up to 3 months within a 6 month period and then we had to go back to Canada for another 3 months before being able to come back. One of the many problems with this is if Veronica has her surgery at the end of December she will be expected to go back to Canada in January. However, they did say that if the doctor writes a note saying she has to stay longer to recuperate we can stay longer.

ARG… Our meeting with them was not the greatest but they did suggest I go with Mike to his immigration meeting this morning (Tuesday Nov.9^th) to ask them all of our questions. They also suggested looking more into whether Quebec Health Care would cover her surgery because we are not yet residents of Italy. Even though we are not living in Quebec they seemed to think that Quebec would reimburse what the operation would cost if it were done in Quebec.



It has been very rainy

Tuesday…Amore Italy!

This morning Mike had a meeting scheduled at 10 am with immigration to get his permit of stay. The way it was told to us was that once he gets his permit of stay Veronica and I will have to apply for VISA’s. This morning we show up an hour early – the transit system cannot be relied upon to get you places on time so we have learned we must leave early – and go to the wrong floor. On this floor a lovely lady – who naturally fell in Love with Veronica – left her post with lots of people waiting and walked us up a flight of stairs and into the immigration office.

The immigration office was 1 room with 5 people in it, their desks all around the room, papers and big binders everywhere. All the people in the room were very nice, only 1 spoke English but we had no problem talking to them. Once Mikes forms got settled we found out that he has to mail them in and then have ANOTHER meeting in 2 months before getting his permit of stay.

At this point I was so sad because I kept thinking that if it is going to take him another two months to get his permit of stay, that is another 2 months we have to wait before we can apply and we – Veronica and I – will have to go back to Canada. It was also at about this moment that Veronica – who was sitting on my knee – turned bright red and pooped, charming everyone in the room!!!

The lovely Italian guy who spoke English gave us a book/pamphlet on services in Italy as well as how to obtain a family VISA. It looks like we will NOT have to go back to Canada and that if we bring in the receipt of the papers Mike has mailed in – we should be able to get our family VISA’s!!! This also means that we can apply to get health coverage for Veronica and not have to pay cash for the surgery! Everything is looking up again! YAY ITALY!!!!!!

This pic is for you Joanna!