YorkshireUK

Hi all,

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My wife and I are expecting our first child in April of 2018. There is nothing quite so good at focusing your attention on what you want out of life than a whole new little life you have responsibility for.
With this in mind, I have spent the summer pondering a move out of this country. I won't get into the nitty-gritty of it but despite having good jobs we do not feel like we are getting by. We are under no illusions that we will have to work hard, but we are happy to do so. We are going to wait until our child is getting ready to start education(The education system here is an absolute joke, almost half of students fail to make decent progress.) so we can spend the first years of their life with our family with their support and guidance and leave just before/after they start British education. This gives us between 4-6 years.

Can anyone, therefore, offer any advice to us about things we should start considering now and the things we should be considered as the times get s closer?

Cheers

Mike

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

Tbh, planning a move so far ahead there isn't much we can advise you on. The key thing will obviously be whether or not you're eligible for a visa, but as things are likely to change in immigration between now and then, there's not much point in worrying about that yet. You could apply for a visa relatively soon though, if you wanted to go in 5 years (as an example), then I'd get your visa sorted earlier if you are eligible, just in case things change and you become ineligible further down the line. Generally speaking, the older you are the harder it is to qualify for a visa due to losing points due to age, so you could apply and drag the process out. Once you've got PR, you've then got a few years before you absolutely have to move, so for a 5 year moving target, I'd look at visas about 3 years in advance and apply if eligible.

Make sure you save as much as poss, the cost of emigration is huge (this thread has some useful figures in, although it's a bit old now so just bump them up a bit - http://britishexpats.com/forum/canad...canada-735341/), you've got plenty of time to do that anyway.

You could also think about areas, as you've got plenty of time to do trips to check out various locations, although of course that is really only relevant if you're in the lucky position of not needing a job offer to get a visa, as if you do then you might not get much choice of where you go anyway.

The only other thing I'd recommend you think about now is whether or not you need to do anything to be able to work in your professions in Canada. Given how obsessed Canada is with paperwork and qualifications, you may find that takes a while - for example, if either of you were a nurse then you can expect a year or two before you'd be able to work there. So you might want to double check to see if you'd need to sit exams or get certified to work in Canada. If so, you could start that sooner.

And lastly, as somebody who has two children in the UK schooling system, I'd say don't knock it until you've tried it! My two are absolutely flying and in excellent schools. Here's a recent post from me about my experiences - http://britishexpats.com/forum/movin.../#post12302415. If that's your main reason for moving then a move within the UK would be a heck of a lot easier and cheaper, and there are lots of areas with excellent schools.

HTH, best of luck with it.

YorkshireUK

Thank you for your reply, much appreciate you taking you time to give me some advice. It is a little early, though obviously not to start saving. There is more to it then just education though that makes up a part of it. There is lots more to consider and take account of, but i just feel we will have a better standard of life in Canada then we could achieve here in the UK.

Mike

dbd33

If the objective is to get to Canada at all costs then learn to speak and write in French.

christmasoompa

Out of interest, have you ever visited Canada?

DBD's suggestion is a good one, depending on your age and education level those points may be useful (if the system is the same by the time you come to apply!). If you're young and highly educated, with quite a bit of skilled work experience, then those points won't be needed though, but otherwise that would be a good skill to top the points up and you have time to learn if you don't speak it already.

dbd33

Also, if one spikas da lingo, Quebec immigration streams become an option.

christmasoompa

Mais oui.

YorkshireUK

Thank you both for more advice. This is part of the reason we have set the 'date' so far in the future. So we can prepare, visit and listen to and learn from others.

Learning French seems like a good idea, though I was horrible at it in school so I am not sure how I will get on with it now.
I have only been to Canada as a young child to visit family (though we all seem to have completely lost touch now). I have not visited Canada as an adult, with an adult attention to everything so this is something we would need to do in the coming future.

christmasoompa

If the family is parent, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle or cousin they could also be useful for visa purposes, so maybe time to rebuild those bonds.

YorkshireUK

Its a great aunt and uncle I think. It all seems so long ago now.

Atlantic Xpat

I’m not trolling ... but that standard of life comment. What do you base that upon?

bats

Why not just move to an area with a better school?

YorkshireUK

Hi, no problem. Its based somewhat on the fact that the rate of inflation, council tax, pension contributions, utility bills and rent are all going up faster than my annual salary. Early in the autumn the IFS basically cut the forecast for productivity, earnings and growth in every year until the 2020s. Now the government are going to allow a bigger increase in council tax bills next year. This is despite absolutely no real term growth in salaries for the last few years as it's been completely wiped out by inflation. We work both work hard but have very little to show for it.

Vulcanoid

Canadian income grew by average of 1.08% annually over the last ten years (Canadian median income growth sluggish over past 10 years, Statscan figures show | Financial Post), which means the only year in the last 5 it outpaced inflation was 2013 (https://www.statista.com/statistics/...ate-in-canada/).

BristolUK

@YorkshireUK
It sounds like you may be somewhere that living costs, in particular those for housing, take too great a share of your income.
If you were aiming for Ontario or BC you may well find it the same, or even more so.

Do you have equity that might make it possible to have a low or no mortgage depending on where you might be willing to live in Canada, allowing for all the immigration technicalities being in place.

You can find house prices on Realtor.ca