And only 34 months after I activated my permanent residency!
To be fair, the biggest hold-up was getting the first card, in my maiden name.
However, I did apply for the updated card with my married name way back in January and I asked for urgent processing, as I was going back to Scotland for a wedding in February. They wanted me to have an appointment to pick up the card – rather than just posting it to me. Probably just as well, as my appointment letter was delivered to someone else! Apparently, two letters got grabbed and put in the same envelope, so the first I heard of it was a very apologetic letter from the CIC, with an appointment date in April.
Unfortunately, this was right in the middle of a period of lots of travelling for work, so I couldn’t make the appointment and the CIC said that the Vancouver office’s policy is to reschedule for six months after the missed appointment.
I was considering just buying a cheap or refundable train ticket and trying for urgent processing again, but then another Scottish wedding invitation came through, so I had real flights to use :)
I faxed everything to the Vancouver office on a Friday afternoon, on Monday they called to arrange a time with me and I collected my card on Tuesday. Hurrah!
It’s actually worked out quite well, as my first PR card ran from my landing date, so it would have expired in 2016. However, I won’t need to replace this new one until 2019 and (hopefully) I’ll be a citizen by then!
