3 year plan. Possible?
 

ok so having decided that immigration is the correct move for our family me and my partner have decided the best way is to have a plan. we have spent some time in new york and love the lifestyle over there although we have never been to canada i hear its a similar way of life.
I am a fully qualified plumber and gas engineer but i know i will need to do some trade exams my partner is studying to be a hairdresser and we are waiting for her to complete her course before we move. the reason for the 3 year plan is to get some funds behind us and give us a chance to sell our property i would like to have approx 20k to move with. we will only be brining clothes with us i may export some tools but i may buy new ones depends on the cost of shipping. i have read some of the wiki stuff and its great but i also feel its great to just chat with people from there that have already done it. i have a few questions as we are from scotland we have a lot of rain we would like to go somewhere with little rain and nice weather, also looking for a nice suburb to raise a family my kids are 8 and 5 at the moment but will be 3 years older when we hope to move, whats the schooling like there is there plenty of sports similar to america after school ect. i have my own company which i will be selling before i move, for the people that have already done it would you recommend me coming before my family to get stuff sorted like my exams ect, also would i be better coming on a temporary visa then applying for a skilled worker visa.
as im my own boss here what would the chances be of me starting a company in canada. thanks for any replys

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

I am not sure what the process is now, but my Dad (now retired) qualified as a plumber/pipe fitter/gas fitter in Scotland and he had to take classes when here before sitting his trade papers (you cannot work in the field without passing the exams). I will ask him when I speak to him later on what he had to do and will post it here.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Not quite right, you can work, but not sign off on work, without the papers one would have to be under the supervision of a ticketed tradesman.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

You can work unsupervised in some provinces.

When you say New York do you mean New York City or New York State?

To qualify as a gas fitter , called technician in Ontario, you would spend most of that 20k on college fees and still have no guarantee of a job.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Good point.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

In what provinces can one work unsupervised while without papers? According to government info you must be licensed in every province.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Here is some info that might help you:

http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/...LUMBER_CM.html


A few things on that site might sound like they are written for an imbecile but that just seems to be the way a lot of Ontario government websites have been done the last few years. I don't know if the person doing the writing for the website doesn't write particularly well (entirely possible) or if they are trying to keep some things simple for those for whom English is not their first language (a sensible idea).

Plumbing is also a 'Red Seal' trade in Canada. Because education and training are provincial responsibilities in Canada, the Red Seal program seeks to set national standards in certain trades so that those who pass an exam can have the red sal added to their license signifying that they are qualified to work in any province.

Here is some info on that program for you:

http://www.red-seal.ca/[email protected]?tid=181

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Not where most of the work is though
http://www.hrai.ca/tradelicencecertification.html

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

You can work unsupervised but someonne has to check your work and turn the equipment on. They don't have to be there alongside you.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

That is what 'supervised' means, not the ticketed journeyman looking over your shoulder.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

You might want to look at BC PNP and also the FSW Trades stream http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigra...plications.asp .

http://www.workingincanada.gc.ca/rep...abs_container2

:)

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

wow lot of info guys, gives me something to start researching, 20k sounds like a lot to become a gas technician surely some of my qualifications will transfer over or allow me to just top up and resit exams as the exams here are amongst the hardest in the world my brother is in fairfield ct. ill have a look at these links. would i be able to start my own company or would i need to work for a company

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Not in Ontario, you will have to apply to TSSA to get your experince recognised and tgey will say if you csn challenge the exam without studying? The problem lies in not being able to access online study ir the books needed.

My husband was a gas fitter in the UK , also steam. The steam people won't accept his RN training and experience as he doesnt have the details of every boiler, furnace etc. The gas authority TSSA would let him challenge the exams to level 2 which is unusual but stuff happened and he went back to college on two intensive courses to sit gas tec 3 and 2, as well as oil burner 2 and 3. He said the course and exams were much more thorough than the UK ones. It's also very rare for anyone to pass the exams without taking a course.

Your company would need to be registered with TSSA as well as yoursrlf.

Cost would be college fees plus your living expenses while studying. You would not be able to get an LMO without a job offer so i think your woukld need to look at the plumbers certification so at least you can work. College fees are more if you are not PR.

Edit. There are practical exams for each level, for gas 2 they are over 2 daysd. If you challenged the exam you would have to arrange this somehow.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Ah, in my line of work supervised means they have to be in the same work area, not watching but available.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Yeah, we had discussed that.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

The only place in Canada that is even remotely like New York is Toronto.... and it's still nowhere near as good as NYC IMO.

You'll be sorely disappointed if you come over with the wrong expectations.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

No I know it's not the same. But the lifestyle must be similar compared to what I have here in glasgow.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

What is "the lifestyle" that you are looking for? I know people in Glasgow who have a great lifestyle, and folks in Canada who have terrible lifestyles.

Or are you just looking for somewhere different?

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Well here in glasgow I'm a plumber / heating engineer which to be honest any kind of manual labour job here is deemed shitty and everyone tries to undercut everyone driving down the price. Don't get me wrong I do ok here but I have 2 kids whom I would like to great things and this country is so greedy it's hard to become anything. Some nice weather would also be great. And to not pay 20%tax on everything I buy would also be nice

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Market forces apply everywhere surely?

Ontario has 13% HST compared to your VAT. There is a 5% tax on childrens clothes and shoes compared to 0% in the UK. You get more from the govt for those taxes though so you end up paying out for prescription meds, dental, over the counter meds cost more too. f you were employed full time you would very probably have medical as a benefit but you still have to pay a percentage.

In my experience people here work longer hours and have fewer days vacation.

As Jings says what is it about the lifestyle that you want?

The weather is better though!

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

As a fellow Glaswegian, I will try and answer a couple of your questions as I know what you're coming from...

We have been here for 4 months now, and loving every second. You mention spending time in NY, is that holiday time, or actual inhabiting time? Huge difference.

But I have a few friends around the USA, and I would say that yes, it's broadly similar lifestyle to where we are in Ontario.

Apart from the last two weeks, as you know, Glasgow is generally grey and miserable. I have just returned from a week trip to Troon and the sun shone every day, lol. But, it STILL isn't a proper summer. You just know that the grey is just arround the corner. So I returned two days ago, landing at Toronto in 31 degrees and the wall of heat you walk into as you leave the airport is just amazing, I love it.

Sitting out on our deck in the evening in shorts and not much else, looking up at the stars, feeling sorry for the poor souls I've left behind, lol. AND, knowing that I have a couple of months of this to look forward to every year from now on, is just mind blowing.

Even after a couple of days back in Glasgow, I could feel the depression trying to take hold of me again, but as I was driving my old Ford pick-up around my new home-town in Canada today, I was exstatic to be back.

Sorry, went off on a tangent there...

We have two kids, 12 and 14, and they are loving it. The schooling is quite different, and will seem a bit laid back at first, but it's just that we are used to our kids being pushed so hard in the UK, by both teachers and fellow students. They are definitely allowed to be kids for much longer over here. My youngest is out all the time, and after many years of sitting in his room playing Xbox, admitted the other day that he would gladly get rid of his console now.

My oldest protested the move for two years, vowing to return to Scotland when he reached 18. Yeah, that's not going to happen now, lol, he loves it here too.

And yes, plenty of sports for the kids, not just bloody football!! There's Hockey (ice Hockey), baseball, basketball, Soccer, Football (the one with the rugby ball ;) ) , tennis,cycling, running, you name it, it's all here. But it will be expensive finding out which one they want to stick with, lol.

It's easy for me to go on and on about how great Canada is, but that's partly because we planned and prepared for the move, like you are intending to do. Of course there are loads of potential hurdles, but they won't be a problem if you know how to deal with them.

If you have Facebook, add me as a friend (link below) and you can see how we have been living since we got here :-)

Good luck with the process.

Dave.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Hi thanks for the reply this is the exact reasons for wanting to move I don't think people understand when you say summer is Scotland is about 2 weeks lol.the time I have spent in Fairfield has mostly been holiday time but I have been over to graft as my brother has a house and needed work done. That heat of 31 sounds a bit much for me but I'm sure my Missis and kids would love it. My brother works very hard but he is rewarded well for what he does (soccer coach for NOGA). Can I ask what it is you do and do you find you get more quality time with your family because that is one of my main reasons for the move. Can I also ask how is your standard of living in comparison. Thanks for the replies so far guys great stuff here.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Hey, 31 is too hot for most normal humans, lol, but remember, we have AC everywhere here. (Except in my truck, it's broken, lol). My house is ice cold, I had to step out to the deck just there to warm up (it's 2am ;-) )

Our financial situation, like everyone else, will be different to everyone else. In our case in Glasgow, we were stuck in a cycle of paying the mortgage, no spare cash, and all our house equity tied up. No point selling as we would need all the money to buy another house.

Over here, we came with the house sale profit, not that much, but enough to put a decent deposit down on our new house. We chose a great area over a huge house. Our house is perfect for us (for now) and twice the size of what we had in Glasgow, plus we have a full basement that I can add another couple of rooms and a bathroom.

My wife is the earner, I cook the food and wash the cars, but I have options to make some money on the side if needs be. She earns far more here for doing the same job in Glasgow (engineering systems something or other)

She does work very hard though, and I wouldn't say she has any more time with the family than she did in Glasgow, but the big difference is, we can go outside and enjoy the sunshine together, instead of sitting at the dinner table on a soggy sunday afternoon forcing everyone to play Monopoly, lol.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Your life in Canada looks amazing. Honestly if I could just get up and leave and go right now I would. Did you deal with the whole process yourself or did you use an agent. Part of the reason were waiting is so we can sell our house at the moment we are equal on what it's worth to what it can sell for. So if I wait ill have some cash to bring over.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

We didn't use an agent, we did it ourselves, with a lot of help from this great forum's members.

But we did have help with the actual move, as Ailsa was given a relocation package. If we had to pay everything ourselves, we would have done it WAY cheaper than what it must have cost her company. You mentioned you don't plan on bringing much, so that will save a lot of expense and hassle.

We sold our house to the first offer we got, as we just wanted to get the hell out of there and start afresh over here. We don't regret that decision at all, so don't hang on too long expecting to make fortunes on your house sale, time is just ticking away.

I should point out at this time, that I generally don't report on the bad stuff, lol. There's plenty of other folk on here that will be happy to burst your bubbles ;-)

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

I know there will be downsides to this but all I'm really wanting is 1.better weather 2.better quality of life 3.better options for my kids when older. I think all of these are achievable in Canada.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

But (bubble burster alert!), all of those things can also be achieved by moving within the UK. Don't get me wrong, I love Canada and think it's a great country, but it would be better to move because you love it too, not because you think it can offer you a better life.

Or you may just find yourself there cursing the unbearable humidity, the 10 days holiday and the £25k you've spent to get there. ;):lol:

Move for the positives of a country, not for the perceived negatives of the one you're leaving behind - as most find that the same problems are everywhere unfortunately!

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Sorry mate but have you been in the uk recently there is nothing but junkies and drunks I wouldn't move to England because I'm Scottish.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

:lol: So you wouldn't move to England because you're Scottish, but you'd happily move to Canada?! LOL. OK, so forget England (although that won't help with the weather side of things), is everywhere in Scotland full of junkies and drunks then?

BTW, I'm in England, and not a junkie, drunk or yob in sight. ;):lol: Actually, not a human being in sight, but that's because I live in the middle of nowhere.

All of the things you've mentioned won't be solved by moving to Canada, that's all I'm saying. Funnily enough, they have tax there too, and drunks (actually, drugs are far more of a problem there than alcohol), and crap weather, and etc etc.

Go for it if you love Canada, but I'm just saying don't go with unrealistic expectations.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

I'll stop trying to help. I am English so you wouldn't want it.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

I think I've made a mess of what I was trying to say in the last post I wouldn't move to England because its still Britain there is still hugh unemployment. I disagree that I pay tax for drunks to get more money and junkies get methadone I like the fact that my kids youth will last longer and have better employment prospects. I'm sorry I have offended anyone but I was more meaning Britain as a whole.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

You sound like a perfect candidate for a Scottish wannabe-Ontarian.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

ah, the old grass is greener effect

- better weather ??? ; the humidity of ontario / the cold of winter
but hey the sky is blue

i've seen more drunks,druggies and jakeys in parts of vancouver and toronto than in Scotland

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

You guys haven't been in the east end of glasgow recently. My biggest problem is that there are kids coming out of uni with degrees here fighting for a job stacking shelves in asda. There is no future here for my kids.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

This may sound daft but how many ppl say I would love to live in Australia or Canada or the USA don't think I've ever heard the statement oh what I would give to live in glasgow, the knife crime capital of Europe.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Nobody is saying you shouldn't want to leave Glasgow (just going on this forum and the number of members from Glasgow, it seems to be a popular place to move from!).

But the reasons you're giving for leaving Glasgow all exist in Canada too. You mention knife crime, are you aware that there are more murders per capita in Canada than the UK? And that drugs are a big problem with teenagers in Canada? And that the cost of living is about the same as the UK?

As I said above, Canada is a great country and if you love it, then great. Just don't move for perceived negatives as Canada has crime/tax/unemployment etc too, as pretty much every Westernised country does these days unfortunately. You can also avoid the problems you've mentioned just by moving within the UK.

Out of interest, have you ever visited Canada?

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

I was over about 20 years ago with my parents. As I said my brother lives in Connecticut New York and I've spent a lot of time there and I love the lifestyle the people the service just everything. I've read that the closest place to there is Toronto as a plumber in the uk I struggle to earn 30k a year I've read many places in Toronto offering 60+ which would allow my family a better quality of life also living a long drive away from my brother would be nice as I've not really seen him in 15years yeah we catch up on FaceTime but its not the same. I just don't feel like Britain has anything to offer where a country that is up and coming so to speak would allow my boys to flourish also my oldest son has a great nak for sports which is not nurtured in this country. I just want my boys to have the best chances in life and I can assure you they are not in Britain. The weather and everything else is a bonus.

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

$60k a year or £60k a year? The former wouldn't give you much of a life in Toronto for a family of four. And again, you're tarring all of the UK with the same brush - I know you don't want to live in England, but you'd earn a lot more than that if you did.


I can understand that. 15 years, wow! Hope you can see him soon.


My son is also very sporty, and his ability is nurtured (and for a heck of a lot less than it would cost in Canada!). Again, it must be dependent on area and you're assuming all of the UK is the same.

And we'll have to agree to differ on your last statement, you can't 'assure' me of that as my opinion is different!

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

have you thought of Aberdeenshire ?

Re: 3 year plan. Possible?
 

Things have changed in Canada in the past 20 years, as well! And have you checked the weather in Canada lately? 800 kilometres from Toronto to New York, so a REALLY LONG drive!