losttraveller

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to ask is anyone knows the quickest way to get to bc, canada? My OH is electrician, last year he spent 5 months in Calgary on PNP. The plan was to get him there before us while I was staying in UK selling our house. It didn't work that way, we couldn't sell the house and he didn't like Calgary(it wasn't our first choice, we always wanted to go to BC,preferably Vancouver island) also the dollar rate gone down the pan just under $2. His 6 month limit to take red seal exam just expired ( he never took the exam, ..I know how stupid?). He has bank account, insurance number, canadian driving license - all for Alberta. Is there a quicker way once you have been approved by AAT in Alberta?
The situation now is just sold the house to a cash buyer, need to be out in 10-wks. Got rented accommodation till September by then I will finish my law degree.We were planning to get to BC not later than September. Is this possible? I also have 3 kids, one school age another two nursery age, is it better to employ nanny or au pair or nursery? What is the cost in BC? We need the visas which we don't pay for my daughters school. I would appreciate if someone can put me in a picture of how much family of 5 needs to earn to live comfortably. Thank you very much. Any advice or info would be much appreciated..... By the way, no offence to Calgarians I quite liked it there.

scaffroche

All I can say is that cost of living is apparently away more expensive in BC than Alberta . Everybodys idea of a 'comfortable' standard of living is different . Some people on here seem to think that living on x-amount a year in BC is impossible, whereas others would be more than happy to live on x-amount . Somebody will give you more indepth info !

bazzz

Where in BC? How much money will you be bringing, and what kind of house do you envisage living in? What are you going to do for work?

losttraveller

We were looking around Victoria or somewhere near Vancouver. We should have about £100 000. Looking for 3/4 beds house. OH will work as electrician and I studied law in UK just finishing my degree ideally wanting to work in legal firm with the view of becoming a lawyer , but I am also a Restaurant Manageress with 12 years experience.

scaffroche

Electrician earns $25 - $30 an hour to start .If lucky maybe $35

scaffroche

My wife has Degree in Psychology and she still cant figure me out ! She is also Head Chef and reckons she would earn more as Head Chef

JonboyE

Flying is generally considered the quickest way from the UK.

Sorry

I don't know what AAT in Alberta is. It is a shame he didn't get the Red Seal certification. It could likely cost him $5 an hour until he is certified in BC.

Yes, it is possible, but only if he finds a job. Assuming your OH is a time-served electrician he will be eligible under the PNP in BC. He needs to find a job with an employer who is willing to sponsor him. There is a lot of work for an electrician in the Vancouver area so he needs to get over here and start meeting up with employers.

I don't know, someone else will hopefully.

If OH goes the PNP route this will not be a problem.

How long is a piece of string? Buying a house in the Vancouver area is very expensive. The average price of a detached house in Vancouver itself is now $900,000. The cheapest suburb is Maple Ridge where the average is $500,000. Townhomes can range up from $300,000, depending on where you decide to live. You can rent a detached home in the $2,000 - $3,000 pm range.

Realistically, you will need more than you OH's starting wage. Very few families get by on only one income. If you can target $100,000 pa gross income between you life should be good. It is just that you will likely have to live in the suburbs if you want to buy a detached house. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

SarahBC

Hi there,

Possibly, you might be able to secure a Temporary Work Permit if a potential employer was interested in your husband. However, I really feel he has to know the licensing requirements for BC first. BC is arguably renowned as having the most licensing red-tape of anywhere!

That's a very tight time span with children involved. Many good schools are over-subscribed. You will need to investigate how you gain permission for children to be entered into school if you enter Canada via a Work Permit.

The employer seeks permission for your Work Permit, and there is very detailed information on this site regarding the process. It is the quickest way into Canada - my process took 6 months beginning to end, but that included finding a willing employer and applying to my licensing board for certification.

There seems to be tons of work for electricians here as we had tons of trouble getting one to come and do our electrical upgrade.

With 100,000 pounds you are not going to be able to buy a single family home anywhere near Vancouver or Victoria. However, it would be a comfortable deposit for a house for somewhere outside of those hotspots such as Nanaimo, the Comox Valley or Campbell River.

I was able to obtain a mortgage within 6 months of arriving in BC on my Work Permit. I used a Credit Union (bit like a building society but more local) and they accepted by 10% deposit, provided I pay for the BC insurance policy that protects lenders against less than 25% deposit mortgages.

My main downsides to living in BC on a Work Permit are:

You can't get car credit - I have had a series of old vehicles, which I could buy for cash. Still, it's worth asking a dealership if you had a good deposit.

You are tied to your employer - good or bad! Until you apply for Permanent Residency, you can't work for anyone else on your existing Work Permit. However, I learned through the excellent knowledge on this site that they are now doing an expedited PR application for people already working here on Work Permits. Search this site and you'll see that the transfer can take considerably shorter time than just applying for PR from the UK. There is a Wiki detailing the information, and a number of posts about it.

So my short answer to you question is:

If you can find an employer, sort out the BC electrical certification, find out how to registered children into the schools while living on a Work Permit, pack up your life etc, then it's all possible.

However, I think you're timescale is going to put enormous pressure on you, so you may have to take a bit longer in the planning process.

I hope this helps. This is a condensed version of some of things I wish I'd known before coming to BC!

All the best,

Sarah

PS - Don't make our mistakes - sort out your proof of no-claims bonus with your UK car insurance before you come to BC. There is a very specific way of doing this, and lots of information on this site about it. If you don't have the right evidence in the correct format, you will be paying 100% of the ICBC car insurance rate. There is no competition in BC car insurance - one province-run insurance decides how much you pay. Our insurance is really expensive because we didn't sort out our information properly. This has haunted me....

Oh, and by the way, bring all quilts covers, bedding, crates of Bisto instant gravy, a TV with a really long lead so you can get UK television.

Good luck!

losttraveller

In alberta my OH was on $62000 a year, i can do part time job in catering industry or law industry while I qualify as a lawyer in canada.May got it wrong. maybe ATA ? Alberta's training and apprentership government body which approves your UK experience and qualifications under PNP.

JonboyE

If your OH was approved for Alberta he is highly likely to be approved for BC's PNP as well. But, the first thing he needs to do is get a job.

As for you, there are plenty of available jobs in the catering industry. It is not a great payer unfortunately, but will certainly get you going until you find your feet in the legal business.

losttraveller

Thank you SarahBC. Can you bring electrical items such as TV to BC and will they work? Someone said don't bother they don't work.

bazzz

You should probably read the wiki:

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/

Most of the questions you're asking have already been asked before. I think you'd struggle on the kind of income you're talking about.

SarahBC

Hi,

I wish they did - and got all the same programs we had in the UK. Nothing electrical from the UK works in Canada - not without some complicated transformers.

I'm just fed up with Canadian TV and the ad-fest they call TV channels.

Sarah

Tangram

Hardly complicated. $30 and you plug it in ??? How is that complicated ?

G586

There is a gadget called a Slingbox which can let you view your home tv (or a relatives in your case) anywhere in the world...no personal experience but there is a big thread about it on the ME Forum, I think.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=slingbox