Actually it's red tape part 17 by now, but I say part one because now I"m getting into authentic red tape (whereas the rest of it may have been a hassle but it actually served some purpose...).  If you missed my other post, to finalize my immigration, all I have left to do is redo an official medical exam and provide a copy of my passport.

There are slight, very slight chances, that I won't have to do one, the other, or possibly even both of these.  Which would be good because each involves a trip out of town and that's money we really shouldn't be spending right now.

With the medical exam, I've actually already done it once but now it's out of date and needs to be renewed.  In my online file, though, it says "medical records received."  And when they sent me the checklist before this one, my exam was out of date then but it wasn't on the list of things I needed to provide them.  Plus, I haven't left the country since I got here, and this exam is basically a screening for incoming communicable diseases, like TB.  I am not holding out a ton of hope though because I understand that technically it IS out of date and they can throw the book at me if they want to (or maybe they have to, and they just forgot on that one checklist or figured I wasn't far enough along to worry about it).  And also they have no way of knowing if maybe I snuck out of the country and back in or something.  But if I can save us a trip with a phone call, I'll at least try.  If I do have to do it, hopefully I at least won't have to pay for it (but then, I could totally see this being a special circumstance not covered by provincial health insurance, too.)

For the passport, the wording is actually passport or travel document.  I don't have a passport, but my birth certificate is still a valid travel document for a U.S. citizen entering Canada by land.  I sent them a letter to explain, but the next checklist they sent still had this item on it.  I actually already called about this today, but the guy I talked to didn't seem to know what he was talking about.  They are always very polite and friendly and usually well-informed, but I think this just wasn't something he'd ever dealt with before.  He thought a travel document was something issued by Canada to refugees and others who couldn't obtain a passport.  But after I got off the phone, I went and looked through my letters and forms and things and found this: "You must provide a passport or valid travel document delivered by your country of citizenship," and "A travel document is the document that allowed you you to travel to Canada and recognizes your right to re-enter the country that issued the document."  Sounds like I'm right, no?  The only thing I can think is that when you use a birth certificate to travel, you also have to have a photo ID, so maybe the "travel document" is the two things together and they are bouncing it back because of the ID thing.  But it seems like I really need to speak to somebody who can clear this up, and if they are going to be pigheaded about it I guess I will have to go get a passport.

Incidentally, I know I will have to get one eventually anyway, and I am planning to.  But it would be nicer to be able to put it off until I can afford the expense.

Anyway!  In addition to all of these questions I also can't find the most recent checklist they

So, to review:

I'll be calling them again to try to get better information than I got this time around.  I'm just waiting so that I don't end up getting the same guy! That would be embarrassing.

If I'm -really- lucky, I won't have to go to Quebec at all and my paperwork can get pushed on through as it is.  I am really not expecting this at all, but I am hoping for it.  It's worth a shot!

If I'm moderately lucky, I will only have to go to Quebec for one or the other and not both.  I'll think of it as a forced vacation!  DH and I both love to stay in hotels so it won't be all bad.

And otherwise, I will have to do both.  "Really lucky" in that case means the embassy will agree to squeeze me in on the same day as my clinic apopintment.  But more likely they won't, and I'll have to make two separate trips, somehow.  But I don't think there's any deadline on either of these requirements so we could possibly wait a few months until we have our own car, at least save a little on transportation and be able to come and go as we please.  But then maybe we won't be getting a car after all, because if we only have enough money to get a new car or a new apartment, the apartment has priority (we have GOT to get out of here!)

ARGH!