Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Why a four-year-old child could understand this... Run out and find me a four-year-old child. I can't make head or tail of it.

More fun with immigration...

I'm working my way through the stack of residency forms today, among several other things. To apply for residency in Canada, you need to complete a lot of paperwork, get an immigration physical ($195 Canadian), get fingerprinted so the police can do a background check, and have a "sponsor" in Canada so they know you're not going to be roaming the streets looking for work.

Here are some of the things they ask, which I'm assuming are barriers to immigrating to Canada.

Have you ever:
* been detained or put in jail?
* been refused admission to, or ordered to leave, Canada or any other country?
* been convicted of, or are you currently charged with, on trial for, or party to a crime or offence or subject of any criminal proceedings in any country?
* had any serious disease or physical or mental disorder?

(And my two favorites...)
* been involved in an act of genocide, a war crime, or in the commission of a crime against humanity.
* used, planned or advocated the use of armed struggle or violence to reach political, religious, or social objectives? (Well, I am American, so...)

Anyway, at the bottom, it says: "If your answer to any of these questions is YES, please provide details below." I'm wondering how many people admit to having committed an act of genocide and then try to explain it in the box. "Okay, it's a funny story actually..."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

A friend of mine recently became an American citizen. One question they asked her was "Would you be willing to take up arms for the United States?" She said "hell yeah" and got her citizenship. Can't say what would've happened had she said "No," though.

Holly said...

Not enough stories start with, "This one time at band camp..." and end with, "So, Kofi Annan said it was genocide. We laughed about it, later."

Rufus said...

Hiromi: That's really interesting. Canada asks nothing like that. Maybe they do when you get to the citizenship test. I'm halfway hoping they'll ask: "Would you be willing to cut off a finger for Canada?"

Holly: Not a lot of Broadway musicals start that way either. But I hope to change that.

Rufus said...

Hiromi: I should also mention that we might well find out about that because there's always a chance I'll get a position in the states and Claire has said that she has no intention of taking up arms to defend anything. So, we'll see what happens.

I actually just learned tonight from some older Americans-turned-Canadians that you used to have to renounce your US citizenship if you became a Canadian. The states made you do this. But, now they apparently keep on taxing you while you're a Canadian.

Greg von Winckel said...

I'll let you know what the questions are here should we ever apply.

Holly said...

Have you ever
- turned down an invitation to lunch?
- stood directly behind the person ahead of you in line?
- been friendly to a stranger?
- paid your tv/radio license?

If your answer to any of these questions is yes, please explain in the box provided. Attach additional pages, as necessary.

Rufus said...

I've been told that I'll have to know how to spell "Gretzky" to become a Canadian.