Thinking about moving to Canada - thoughts and experiences please!

[lazyhen]

My DH and I have a 6 month old DD. I have been to Canada twice, and he's been once on honeymoon. We both love it and DH is desperate to move. Objectively I think it's a great idea but worried about homesickness etc...

Think we'll plan to do a proper research trip next year to look at nurseries, and I can shadow someone who does my job out there. Also thinking we'd actually shop in the grocery store, look at leisure facilities etc (i.e. not just touristy holiday things).

What else could/should we be doing? How do you know when you're absolutely sure?

Many thanks!

Thank-you ladies. I can imagine high suicide rate for long winters. I really do only want to work part-time, so that'll have to be researched further. I'm hoping in the healthcare industry (as in the NHS) they'll have lots of flexible working available for parents.

Lizzylou - Kelowna is one of the places we're looking at. That and Vancouver. We thought it was really lovely. Did your Mum work over there? How did she meet new people?

Hi LazyHen, like you I'm an ex-pat wannabe and would love to move to Canada. It is true that applying for PR via skilled worker takes 5 years and rising, but this is all due to be shaken up very soon so don't apply yet - there will be fast-track PR for workers that are needed, everyone else will go to the back of the queue (it is to be made more like the Australian system). You need to find out what your profession is classified as in the National Occupation Classification list and that will tell you if it is under pressure (good - more likely you'll get a temporary work permit) or just desirable. This varies from province to province.

I cannot recommend British Expats highly enough. All of the info you need is there, most contained in the Canada wiki section. You really don't need an immigration consultant - they won't make the process any faster unless you're case is complicated, and will cost ££££'s. Here is the link: britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=56

Thanks Callisto - will definitely explore that later. Interesting about the fast track process. 5 years does seem like a ridiculous amount of time for everybody to wait.

Lazyhen, Mom didn't work but my Stepdad did (why they went over)so they made friends through people he worked with/neighbours. It is a lovely place, the people are very friendly. She keeps in touch with them all now. When we visited people threw BBQ's/parties (we even went on a bearhunt in someone's orchard??!!) and treated us so well. It is very beautiful, easily accessible via Vancouver airport and a good gateway to the Rockies, plus it has "Big White" ski resort close by. Mom rented a fab house backing onto the lake, we used to sit on the jetty and watch the sunset with a glass of wine (great vineyards all around that area) and go out on the lake in a pedalo. Very lovely.

If you have really decided that Canada is the place for you, I think your quickest route will be the province of Alberta. The economy there is booming there on the back of high commodity prices, including both oil and agriculture. People are making all kinds of money due to the acute labour shortage. Canadians from the rest of the country are flocking there to work. Housing is a bit of a problem at the moment, supply-wise. A few weeks ago the government of Alberta (each province has its own immigration programme) was over in London telling people that if they were tired of living in a 2-bed flat in London, they could move to Alberta! They are in desperate need of people with specific skills (as someone said earlier on in this thread).

BC was the boom province for most of the 1990s but things have really shifted to Alberta over the past few years. Ditto Ontario for much of the 1980s!

One thing to keep in mind is that as you move west, it becomes more expensive (and long) for people to fly over to see you and for you to go back to the UK for visits. not sure if that's a factor or not.

A friend of mine said a similar thing about Alberta. Think she heard it at an emmigration exhibition.

I wonder whether flight time really is a factor in whether people visit. I'd have thought once you've decideded to get on a plane and go to Canada the amount of hours is kinda academic.

Lizzilou - That's how we remember Kelowna too. Thought it was just rose coloured honeymoon glasses clouding our judgement, so interesting to hear that day to day it was similar.

A friend of mine said a similar thing about Alberta. Think she heard it at an emmigration exhibition.

I wonder whether flight time really is a factor in whether people visit. I'd have thought once you've decideded to get on a plane and go to Canada the amount of hours is kinda academic.

Lizzilou - That's how we remember Kelowna too. Thought it was just rose coloured honeymoon glasses clouding our judgement, so interesting to hear that day to day it was similar.

Alberta is booming and set to continue for quite some time. If anywhere is recession-proof right now it's Alberta.

i've only ever been to albert and BC, on many holidays/climbing trips.

both were fab!

For good immigration info, the provincial site government cites are quite good. We were looking at BC/Alberta a few months back, and I am pretty sure they both have specific web sites for immigrants.

gggirl - i am in a village just west of Ottawa, have heard of Dundas, but it's a good 5 hours from here.

That's all really useful information, thank-you. We haven't been 100% here for a few days, so have lots to be getting on with once I'm back on form.

What does everyone do about childcare when you don't know anyone living nearby? My Mum has juts taken DD for a few hours whilst we have some downtime so it made me wonder!

All i can say is take the chance if you have it. If i could like ANYWHERE in the world it would be on the East coast of Canada as i just love the climate, even the harsh winters (nutter).

lazyhen I've read this as I'm Cdn (living in London) I would love to move home.
As far as childcare issues - you rely on good friends to have your kids an hour here and there - and make sure it's reciprocal! We have no family nearby at all and I'm often envious of my SIL who has my mum a 5 minute drive away

Using friends once you're established I can imagine, but say you wanted a night out after being in the country for a month - do you use agency staff to start with? I'd want to know people a while before asking them to babysit.

I can't see agencies being so widespread in most of Canada as they are here. maybe in the bigger cities

lazyhen, i don't mean the distance is a deal-breaker. But if you're a family travelling across the atlantic and each person's ticket is slightly more expensive for west coast vs east coast, then it all adds up. Also, it just takes considerably longer to fly from London to Vancouver (10-11 hours? not sure, never done it) as opposed to Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, etc (6-7 hours).

I'm afraid you just have to wait for that night out until you have made enough connections. We will be using our neighbours eldest son (15) as our babysitter in the future, and one of dh's friends from work looked after the children for an afternoon a little while back (I think we were probably at the 2mth point). But my kids are 7 and 9, so a different kettle of fish. One of the things that you don't really anticipate when emigrating to an English speaking country where so much is the same as the UK is that you have to start again on everything, and it takes a long time to get to where you were in the UK. For example you will have to set up bank accounts, build up credit history, find out about childcare, find a doctor, figure out good places to live, find a hairdresser, figure out good shops for all sorts of things etc etc. If you have already done some moving around the UK you may find these quite easy to do. I've always lived in London and so have my family, so finding out about stuff is really easy. Now I'm in NYC I feel a bit disempowered because really I know nothing!

Good points well made! If anyones willing to disclose this - I'd be interested to know how much savings you had set aside? We'd expect to rent a property to begin with but buy a car. My job would come first before DH found work... Last thing we want to worry about is running out of money!

I've been told that to move to the States (Canada may be different) costs about $30,000. We certainly seem to have spent a whole bundle, especially if you factor in losing one income for a considerable period of time with a question mark as to whether the new income will be similar to the old one. Moving itself is expensive (budget 3-4k on shipping depending on how much stuff you have), replacing all your electrical items, renting (deposit etc), car rental (take into account a few months before you can buy one or move to a longer term lease). I'd also recommend British Expats for more discussion on the practicalities.

Thanks nooka. I'm hoping we'd have at leask £20k saved before we tried to go.

You need to speak to DaddyCool. He's Canadian and he and his English missus went over there but came back after a year.

We thought about it, but the 10 days holiday a year put us off.

Hello

Thought I would offer my input. I have been living in Vancouver with my DH for more than four years. We are both British and came over here on his work permit, we are currently applying for permenant residency (which we could of done ages ago, but just got around to now).

BC coastal climate very similar to UK, rainy wet winters, summers hit and miss though July and Aug are usually great. You can drive inland 4/5 hours for much hotter weather though (Okanagan).

We live downtown and own our apartment, prices are fairly good for a major city, but rising all the time (Vancouver is one of the most expensive cities in Canada for living - the suburbs are better value for buying a house). Eating out is great value and there are fantastic restuarants at every budget.

Amenities are good, lots of libraries, sports clubs, gyms etc. Stanley Park is great for rollerblading, biking, jogging. The local mountains are 20 mins away for snowboarding/skiing and open till 10pm everynight (Dec-April).

We both love living here, but do miss family and friends from the UK - we try to travel back once a year and our families have been here a few times.

We have a mixture of brit ex-pat friends which are great for getting that British humor and gossip fix - as we have a shared 'heritage'. But our Canadian friends are all lovely too, very welcoming and sociable - mostly met through work.

I still read british magazines and we download a lot of british tv off the internet (UKnova).

Shops are a bit crap compared to what you get in the UK no topshop etc, fashion moves slower. But we did just get a H&M so improving.

I would say the average holiday allowance here is 15 days per year, I don't know anyone who gets just 10. We do get a couple more bank holidays than the UK, so we usually plan long weekends around those through the year and then save our holiday up for one long trip in either the summer or the winter (last summer we drove to the Rockies and this year my family is joining us for skiing in Big White resort).

Flights back to the UK are ok, but expensive to do often. Vancouver is a great base for exploring North America, Seattle is 2 hours drive, San Fran 2 hours flight, LA same, Las Vegas 2 and a half. But to get to the east coast (NYC etc.) it is nearly as much as flying home (cost and distance wise).

I don't know much about the childcare system here yet(first is due in Sept), most women take maternity leave for a year, then go back fulltime or to jobshare.

BC is really a beautiful place to live, and does offer a great lifestyle and I recommend moving here to anyone. I would just say do your reseach about which area you want to live and keep an open mind when you get here (takes awhile to make friends and feel settled). Good luck with your planning. Feel free to ask any questions.