In today's border-crossing adventures I was unlucky to go through the line of a young borderVogon who didn't need coffee, and so was alert enough to notice my expired work permit. I was sent over to the new customs and immigration office they've been building for as long as I've been going across there and was told to go inside and talk to them about it. There were about 5 people sitting in uncomfortable chairs who looked like they had spent the night there, and nobody standing in either the customs or immigration lines. I was confused, and so I just walked up to the counter from the "exit only" side of the line and presented my papers. The questions were these:
"Who are you working for in Canada?"
"What do you do?"
"What KIND of research?"
"What disease are you studying?"
"Is that the one that's killing all the oaks on Vancouver Island?"
I gave them the official story from Ottawa that the disease was not, in fact, present in Canada at this time. Even though it is. But it's not killing all the oaks on Vancouver Island or I'd know about it.
So they looked up the status of my visa, and found that it was all in order and took my expired one, telling me that it was "property of Canada", and that I should tell them at the border next time I cross that my new one is coming in the mail. I did that today and they sent me inside.
But the really good news is that when I got home tonight, it was in my mailbox. According to the website it hasn't been processed yet. In any case, my travelling will be a lot easier from now on.