"Flexibility is the Best Ability"

Praying for Moving Mountains

Be prepared for a really long story: I will highlight the key points in bold.

This week I had my world flipped on its head. It was one of those moments that makes you shake your head and state repeatedly that this can't be happening. I have been puzzling how to succinctly share this story as I am still trying to process through all the feelings and implications. So here we go...

First: A quick little lesson in expatriate life, laws, benefits, taxes and social security and something we call TOTALIZATION.

So in short when you relocate to work/serve in another country your employer applies for a certificate of coverage (CoC) which is valid for up to 5 years before you need to return to your home country. You can reapply for a new certificate of coverage after a certain amount of time being spent in your home country.

Now due to an unforeseen error of mass proportions there is no record of my CoC application being submitted to Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA). Therefore I am overdue on my 5 years totalization requirement and need to return to Canada for a minimum of 6 months to comply with the totalization rules. Indeed there has been great frustration and wailing and gnashing of teeth, as we were under the impression that this had been taken care of 3 years ago. However, we are imperfect human beings who make mistakes and somewhere down the line a giant mistake was made.

I have worked through my initial shock, dismay, and anger over the past few days recognising that it doesn't matter who made the mistake, or why it was made; but rather how do we fix it and prevent it from ever happening again.

What is all means!

Right now TeachBeyond is applying for an extension to the CRA for my CoC. They are requesting that I remain in the CZ until July 2020 to finish out the school year.
Our prayer is that this extension will be granted and quickly.

This is my mountain. Both the Canadian and Czech Government will need to be in agreement to grant the extension.

To be clear this has NOTHING to do with my VISA! My VISA has already been granted for another 2 years. This all has to do with rules about taxes, and benefits and social security.

Best Case Scenario: My extension to stay until July 2020 is granted and I can finish out the 2019-2020 school year

Worst Case Scenario: My extension is denied and I will have to spend the rest of 2019 in Canada

I will still be coming back to Canada for a visit 14 June to 28 July as planned. If my extension is denied I will need to push back my return to the CZ to be in January 2020.

CISP and TeachBeyond are right now working on contingency plans for each possible scenario.

Please pray with us for the Lord's hand to move mightily. That paperwork is correctly filed quickly, and the needed extension is granted.