‘We miss each other like crazy:’ Newlyweds separated by border restrictions following U.S. wedding

Ashly and William Schmidt tied the knot on March 6, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the two haven’t been able to be together since March 8.

Ashly, who currently resides in Saskatoon, has been away from her new husband due to border restrictions. William works and lives in Florida, a state ravaged by the novel coronavirus.

The couple’s wedding date of March 6 fell just one week before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

“I had to fly back home, with the assumption that we were going to see each other in May,” she told 650 CKOM.

“That has not happened. I have seen my husband for a total of one day (since) we’ve been married.”

The Schmidts were told that Ashly could fly down, but crossing the border on the ground would be a no-go. Additionally, a two-week isolation period would need to be fulfilled when she, or her husband, entered Canada.

“It has been very hard for us. We miss each other like crazy. It was hard before, but at least we knew when our next trip was … now, those dates kinda just keep moving,” she said.

“Now we’re thinking that we probably won’t be able to see each other until the end of August, beginning of September.”

Ashly said her husband also wouldn’t be able to take off the time for the isolation period. She said, unlike Canada, his work only allows him to take three days of vacation a year.

“(The U.S doesn’t) have the structured rules (like Canada), they don’t have the stat holidays that we have,” she explained.

In talks with immigration lawyers, Ashly says spousal applications are being accepted at this time for William to move to Canada. Still, those applications take 11 to 17 months to process, according to her.

Instead, the couple has been doing their best to make sure they stay connected.

With consistent phone calls and video chats, they continue to get that interaction in, at all hours of the day.

“We fall asleep together on the phone at night. I know that may be mushy, gushy, but that’s what we do,” she said with a chuckle.

“We have our photos of our visit. We have the fact that eventually, there will be that silver lining of us being together again.”

For the time being, the couple is planning a wedding here in Canada for next year.

Ashly knows how she will react when she can see William again face to face, a day she looks forward to.

“I’m going to run up to him and hug him. Try not to cry, but I can’t guarantee that that will happen. And just be in his arms and just kiss him — I can’t wait for that,” she said.

“I just miss him so much, it’s crazy.”

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Justin Blackwell