It took more that an year of discussion and analysis and double check pros and cons with my wife, Sandra, to take a decision.
There were several factors that took us to go throughout the process of the idea of emigration. It was our daughter birth and we would like a good future for her -whatever it means-, it was the deep Argentinean social, political and economical crisis of 2001, it was that some friends emigrated at the same time to other countries (i.e. Spain, US), it was the idea in the relatively near past (1996) to move to live in Mendoza. A lot of things influenced us to go through the process of the idea of emigration, in order just to analyze the idea of leaving our country.
Sandra and I think that if you want that things happen, if you want your decision to be real, then you have to set a due date. For us, that day should be something important in your life, a day that does not pass as just another one. After that date you decide: or you make things happens or you stay with the status-quo.
It was the ending of 2001 or early 2002, we have enough information and data to make a decision, however -don't know why- we decided at that moment to take more time to make a decision. So we decided to make the decision on May 19th, our daughter first birthday.
We grabbed information from any resource we can get. The best was the Internet, but everyone knows that most of what is published on Internet is not always true. Yes, I know, it is a light way to say that Internet lies. So, we read books and magazines, we subscribed to immigration forums, we talked with friends who immigrated to several countries and we talked with people who came back to Argentina after going through the immigration process.
Finally, the decision due day came. It was May 19th, 2002. After celebrate my daughter birthday, we decided to give the decision another 6 months. There were not just information and data in the decision making process, there were something that you can't evaluate just that simple, there were feelings involved in the decision. There were family and friends we will put in behind after a decision like that... so, we decided to postpone the decision 6 more months and we set the new due date on December 28th.
Why we chose December 28th? Any day would be good, but why that day. Why that day was special for us? Well, it has to do with my normal humor sense... December 28th is the fool day in Argentina, is a day where everyone plays jokes on other people, laugh out of them and things like that. So we thought that it was a very good day to take a so important decision in our lives and our daughter’s life.
During the rest of the year of 2002 we continue grabbing information, asking questions on the forums, etc. Someone mentioned and we got in contact with HAIS (oficina@hiaslatam.org.ar). They really made a good job, we have only the best of words for them and how they work. That was our personal experience. They really opened our minds and gave us Canada as a country to emigrate to.
When it came December 28th, 2002, we decided two things:
- It would be better for our family to try in another country, and that country could be Canada.
- At any day, any moment, when every any of us wants it, we could go through the reverse process. That means that we can go through the process to analyze and implement the idea to go back to Argentina.
- We have to choose a city in Canada, where to live.
