getoutofbritainquick

We have been in Canada 11 years now and are seriously calling it a day and returning back to the UK in about 5 years for retirement. My family and I have become disillusioned with Canada especially in BC. We live on Vancouver Island just outside of Victoria having moved from the LM just over 4 years ago and wished we hadn't (culture shock is an understatement). The cost of living is going up so fast I don't see how the average income family can possibly survive here. Most of our major bills have gone up approx. 100% in the time we have been in Canada, food, electricity, property tax, food, wine, insurances and I am not even going to mention property especially in the Lower Mainland and Victoria. Salaries have been static for many years and being eroded by inflation plus. We share some of the sentiments of Steve where there is a strong feeling of entitlement here, nepotism is rife (both my wife and I have seen many examples of this), people seem to be getting ruder as their 'property wealth' increases and have less time for others. The government both Provincial (being run by developers) and Federal seem clueless and totally corrupt (no different from what we have come to expect from politicians everywhere) at least I understand what a thief-tom is now..!! Canada is hardly short on space but they seem to be pushing families should no longer expect to live in a single family home anymore. Ugly condos and towers are springing up like mushrooms destroying the landscape, no infrastructure (new schools, viable public transport, play areas). Traffic is horrendous and only going to get much worse with no forward planning with public transit etc. We are one of the lucky families, my wife and I have very good government jobs plus a company pension from the UK and a very small mortgage. The quality of life seems to be dropping rapidly from when we first moved to Canada. Just going out for a beer is getting outrageously expensive. We went back to the UK this summer and it was the first time we noticed a big change in the cost of living in the UK compared to Canada. Normally when we visited the UK we couldn't wait to get back to Canada but not this time. We found the Brits much more friendly than they are in BC and really missed the British culture. We took in a week in Greece as well and found the same thing. Now looking towards retirement we are seriously considering moving back to the UK probably somewhere on the coast of Cornwall or Devon. Property is far cheaper than where we are now and much of it seems unchanged since we left. We would miss the summers in BC but hope to spend much more time in the sunnier parts of Europe during our retirement.

durham_lad

Interesting user name for someone thinking of moving back. We moved back 18 months ago after 29 years in the USA and absolutely love being here. We had a great time in the USA but it is nice to be back among family and be so close to Europe again.

getoutofbritainquick

We moved out of the UK just before everything went downhill in the last recession. Canada was great then and affordable but seems to be following in the same path downwards. We had some good times but think the best times have gone now. People have got greedy here and we lack of controls in place its running riot. They are destroying its natural beauty and the housing they are building is just awful. We moved here for quality of life but as that gets eroded the reason we came to Canada is no longer here. Fortunately we have made a lot of money in Canada not by design and will be financially independent if we return to the UK.

durham_lad

Well, it sounds like you have had some good times in Canada. Hopefully your return to Britain will bring some new pleasant adventures.

Moses2013

Good point and I always say that a successful move depends on timing too. 10 years ago you could go to Canada or Australia with no money in your pocket and come back with your pockets full. Now you have to be loaded with cash and will probably come back broke.

Ozziechris

Yes agreed, perhaps not 10 years ago in Australia but closer to 15.

Moses2013

True, I forgot it's nearly 2018.

apskinner

Interesting perspectives from everyone.

I was a Brit ex-pat up until late 2015 and now I'm a Canadian Ex-pat, but within 12 months I will be a Brit ex-pat again.

We moved in 2007 before the recession when the exchange rate was really in our favour and I had a good job to go to. We lived outside Waterloo (between TO & London), so edge of a city but not one I'd say was over crowded. We had a great life, we returned for family reasons at the time and I had lost my job in 2014 and was working for myself and could do it anywhere.

We moved back at the wrong time, exchange rates were perhaps the same as 2007 but the UK was coming quickly out of recession (in our perspective) house prices that were depressed between 2008 and 2014 have shot up in our neck of the woods, job availability for the over 50 is HARD - I've not been able to get back on the career ladder and work in retail but its a lifestyle change which is liveable, my wife still works for the same Canadian company here.

But we're going back, although ProBrexit I'm totally fed up with the politics and EU, and fear the length of time before we're really free of them. I love being with the friends and few family we have here but we sat down and looked at things real hard and decided that we would just be happier back in Canada (more friends, better housing, more space (easy to get away to the peace and quiet of the cottage).

The rates have worsened, there was a big house price increase in the 12 months after we left but things have stabilised, the biggest thing for me though is the job opportunities have been coming thick and fast, Canada or at least the businesses in the Silicon Valley of the North appreciate age and experience.... and my pension fund is in $CAD so there wont be income fluctuations when I officially retire.

Thats just one more perspective I wanted to share

Avon81

We've been in Canada for 17 years & are calling it a day, not because we especially dislike the place (although I am homesick), but for family reasons. Sure there are good & bad people here, thankfully more good than bad, but that's true of the UK too.

Good luck with whatever decision you come to.

getoutofbritainquick

Totally. At least we are the former!

getoutofbritainquick

Its good to hear everyones experience good and bad. Thats what the forum is all about. Thanks for sharing your experience.

DaveLovesDee

I moved to Toronto, Canada in 2006, married my Canadian spouse in 2007, and submitted an application for PR (for me only) at some point after that. At the start of 2011, CIC informed me that my application had been cancelled because my ex-wife in the UK had refused to have medicals done for our teenage children even though they weren't included on the application. I'd even offered to pay for the medicals and transportation.

A couple of months later, I returned to the Uk. Eventually, after 3 years, we moved to Malta to live together. We returned to the UK, but due to the uncertainty over Brexit (both of us voted Remain) we're seriously looking at returning to Toronto in 2019.

Avon81

I moved to Canada in 2000 with my Canadian wife. At the time, my son from a previous relationship, who wasn't accompanying, also had to go through the immigration process (medicals etc), although I was lucky enough to have a cooperative ex.
We're now planning to move back to the UK. Go figure.....

Pretty Flowers

I'm moving back to the UK with my husband this year, after 13 years in Canada. We're moving back because it's been incredibly difficult to find a new job here for me, and there's simply about 10x the jobs in my field in Canada compared to the UK.

My husband is an EP of video games, and like me, there's simply more opportunity. Plus the fact that my Mum & Dad are also getting older.

It's funny that people are concerned about Brexit, when as I do most of my work in the US, our biggest concern is the future of NAFTA and the impact of the current implosion south of the border.

As a couple who live in downtown Toronto, we are also very lucky in that our house has appreciated by more than 300% since I bought it, and moving back to the UK will enable us to either earn more money (living in London) or mortgage free up North.

Farmhand

Pretty Flowers, your not from Holmfirth are you? I ask because there is a place there with that unusual name.