super quick entry!
*pets Livejournal* I may be a little overexcited that LJ is back and functional again. Don't ever leave me like that, baby.
Okay, so here's the quick scoop on the whole maybe going to Michigan thing I posted about last entry. I called the CIC, and basically, the woman at immigration told me that they don't recommend leaving the country because they can't guarantee re-entry, and if I was unable to come back to Canada, then they would consider my PR application to be abandoned. Which, on the one hand makes me really nervous, but I had a good conversation with eclpse who's in a similar situation with her immigration status, and she pointed out that there's never a guarantee of re-entry. But I'm here on a valid work permit, I'm not doing anything wrong, and I'm following the law, so they most likely would not have any reason to deny me entry. Worst case is probably that I get some extra hassle at the border, which is something that's happened before, and I've dealt with. And, as she very wisely said, you can't live your life in fear. So I'm going to Michigan tomorrow OMG! It's still a little surreal, and I've got all my usual pre-trip butterflies in my stomach.
The other thing I wanted to vent about the other day, when LJ was not available at all, is the irritating delays in me getting my EI. I've been periodically calling Service Canada to check the status of my application, but up until this week was unable to get any information because they had not yet received my record of employment (ROE) from my work. I had emailed the payroll person who's responsible for sending the ROEs, and her automated response basically said that the ROEs couldn't be sent until after the July 15 pay had been processed (why, I don't know), and that Service Canada should have them by the end of July. (You know, only a month after work ended, but whatever, it's not like your employees could use money, right?) Anyway, so I called Service Canada again on Wednesday or Thursday, and found out that based on the ROE that they'd (finally) received, I hadn't worked enough hours to be eligible for an EI claim. She said you need to have worked 595 hours to be eligible for EI, and my ROE showed me as having worked only 590 hours. The hell it does. A full work week for me is 35 hours. Some quick math will tell you that I worked over 500 hours from September to December alone, and yet you're telling me I somehow only worked 590 hours the whole school year? I think not.
So Service Canada lady tells me if I think that's incorrect, I need to go back to my employer and talk to them. I call my payroll person, who of COURSE is on vacation now, but has helpfully left her supervisor's extension on her voicemail greeting. I call the supervisor, who says that they actually break the ROEs into three separate ones for the year, one from Sept-Dec, one from Jan-March, etc., and that it's likely they just missed one when sending mine to Service Canada. She promises to put the missing one through to Service Canada for me that day, and advises me to call them back to make sure they re-assess my claim with my correct hours. I called today and they did receive the ROEs (two of them, not just one!) from Peel, and they will re-assess my claim. Sooooo everything's on track at least, but it's already been a month since I've gotten paid and who knows how long it will be before I actually get any EI at this point. I swear, by the time they finally pay me, I'll be back to work already!
Anyway, that's my life at the moment. I need to go finish putting music on my ipod for my road trip tomorrow and get some last minute cuddles with the hubby in. Hope you all have a great weekend!
Okay, so here's the quick scoop on the whole maybe going to Michigan thing I posted about last entry. I called the CIC, and basically, the woman at immigration told me that they don't recommend leaving the country because they can't guarantee re-entry, and if I was unable to come back to Canada, then they would consider my PR application to be abandoned. Which, on the one hand makes me really nervous, but I had a good conversation with eclpse who's in a similar situation with her immigration status, and she pointed out that there's never a guarantee of re-entry. But I'm here on a valid work permit, I'm not doing anything wrong, and I'm following the law, so they most likely would not have any reason to deny me entry. Worst case is probably that I get some extra hassle at the border, which is something that's happened before, and I've dealt with. And, as she very wisely said, you can't live your life in fear. So I'm going to Michigan tomorrow OMG! It's still a little surreal, and I've got all my usual pre-trip butterflies in my stomach.
The other thing I wanted to vent about the other day, when LJ was not available at all, is the irritating delays in me getting my EI. I've been periodically calling Service Canada to check the status of my application, but up until this week was unable to get any information because they had not yet received my record of employment (ROE) from my work. I had emailed the payroll person who's responsible for sending the ROEs, and her automated response basically said that the ROEs couldn't be sent until after the July 15 pay had been processed (why, I don't know), and that Service Canada should have them by the end of July. (You know, only a month after work ended, but whatever, it's not like your employees could use money, right?) Anyway, so I called Service Canada again on Wednesday or Thursday, and found out that based on the ROE that they'd (finally) received, I hadn't worked enough hours to be eligible for an EI claim. She said you need to have worked 595 hours to be eligible for EI, and my ROE showed me as having worked only 590 hours. The hell it does. A full work week for me is 35 hours. Some quick math will tell you that I worked over 500 hours from September to December alone, and yet you're telling me I somehow only worked 590 hours the whole school year? I think not.
So Service Canada lady tells me if I think that's incorrect, I need to go back to my employer and talk to them. I call my payroll person, who of COURSE is on vacation now, but has helpfully left her supervisor's extension on her voicemail greeting. I call the supervisor, who says that they actually break the ROEs into three separate ones for the year, one from Sept-Dec, one from Jan-March, etc., and that it's likely they just missed one when sending mine to Service Canada. She promises to put the missing one through to Service Canada for me that day, and advises me to call them back to make sure they re-assess my claim with my correct hours. I called today and they did receive the ROEs (two of them, not just one!) from Peel, and they will re-assess my claim. Sooooo everything's on track at least, but it's already been a month since I've gotten paid and who knows how long it will be before I actually get any EI at this point. I swear, by the time they finally pay me, I'll be back to work already!
Anyway, that's my life at the moment. I need to go finish putting music on my ipod for my road trip tomorrow and get some last minute cuddles with the hubby in. Hope you all have a great weekend!