…continued from More About Us
Six weeks for 2 countries plus Gibraltar, which is a country, but it’s small size and our limited time there didn’t seem like a country, if that makes sense. Anyhow, this trip was not our usual way of researching relocation, as we apparently tried to cover too much territory in too little time.
Also, a brief interview at a Spanish Immigration office quashed any attempt to apply for residency from within the European Union; application must commence in our home country. So we simply enjoyed the sunshine, sea, scenery, and history.
photos: see EUROPE – Portugal – Spain – Gibraltar
Upon return to Canada this time, Bill increased his research of using recycled plastics to create construction-grade building materials. He chose the Dominican Republic as a target location for his projected manufacturing business. I applied to the D.R. for a residency visa which took months of submitting documents, acquiring mandatory insurance, translations to Spanish, and legal fees. Finally, when my passport was not return-mailed, and the Consulate had not contacted me, I phoned them. I was informed my application had been rejected due to insufficient monthly pension income, and was asked where I wanted my passport/documents returned to. Huh? to my mailing address—where else!!! Some documents were returned with my passport that had a full page stamped “VISA DENIED”. It was a new 10-year passport, now with a humiliating stamp in it—that bugged me as much as the $900 cost of application and the 9 month’s duration of the process!