mandyandjohn

Hiya after many months of researching I am looking at at Nova Scotia. Can anyone give my any advice on areas, on job availability, etc.?

We are looking into a Reccie trip later in the year.

deanjp32

Everyone on here who lives in NS will give there own idea on where's best but that will really be up to you when you come and have a look around.

We live on the North Shore, Tatamagouche to be precise however jobs are much harder to come by but the cost of property other than sea front is way lower than similar types of property closer to the city and that stands to reason. If you can turn your hand to anything or want to run your own business it is good for that up here. It is not the paradise some in the past have made it out to be however the area has a wonderful community spirit and i would not change it for the world.

Truro is a growing town about an hour away from HRM and is the central point in NS and seems to have more and more brits living there.

HRM is where most of the jobs are and i guess where most settlers end up. If you want big city life then thats the place although it's nothing like Toronto etc. Some great areas just outside the city to live/work & play.

You need to decide on what it is you want from your move to NS and work from that

mandyandjohn

Thanks Dean for your quick response. We have worked out that we could put a hefty deposit down on a nice house in Nova Scotia enabling us to have little or no mortgage at all.

We both have good jobs here - hubby is a maintenance engineer and myself a legal secretary but you know what we would do any job to have a better quality of life there, we ain't proud. Life is too short and want to make the most of it.

deanjp32

Which way are you planning to go about getting here if you dont mind me asking?

We live here but are not quite PR yet. Came through the CI NSNP which meant not being able to work however once nominated my wife got herself a job and we both got work permits without the need for LMO because the province had nominated us and then wrote us a letter of support which we took to the border and hey presto 2 work permits.

You can do the CI NSNP from the UK however once you have the letter of support from the RDA in your choosen area

Our timeline was

Applied to NSNP July 08
Got NSNP nomination NOv 08
Med requests Dec 17th 08 although did not get them in post until 5th Jan 09
Med booked for 28th Jan
And from Nikki's post its about 7 weeks after the CHC receives the med reports to PR

Any other info you need then just ask

Poppy2

NS is great, we really love it, but there have been a few people recently who have come and ping ponged back to their original destination, so I urge yu to thoroughly understand the place if you are quite as *flexible* and fly by the seat of your pants, as we might be. So consider very carefully what you give up before making the leap.

We came here with no recce and we love it. People are great, so generous and welcoming. The scenery is great, particularly in summer, and not being landlocked like other provinces, you have beautiful beaches and ocean views. Its great for kids and there is something for everyone, if you know what it is you enjoy and want to do of course.

We work in Halifax (healthcare) and live 25 mins out, on the South shore, in Tantallon. We absolutely love it where we live, just by St Margaret's bay. But the thing you will find, and it is a good thing if you ask me, everyone wll tell you that their part of NS is the best. I dont know many people that could say the same about where they lived in the UK.

Just come out, tour around and explore the areas. look at areas nd things to do online too, it all helps. We were lucky to ahve some Canadian NS contacts who answered all our stupid non-Canadian questions But we can do that for you!

Good luck, hope it meets your needs, but if you need support and help either on a recce or if you move oer here - for goodness sake ask for it, dont rush back to the UK. I feel so bad for these members that find it so overwhelming that they leave within a year or less. I always think with some friendly faces i might have been better.

AmyDavid

I don't think people "rush" back. It may seem that way to us, but to them it is probably the best thing for them.

We only stuck BC out for 6 months but by month 4 we knew we hated it and would never settle there. A lot of people would say we should have at least given it a year - but we just knew we had to go.

If your not happy, and deep down you know you never will be, then your the braver person to "go home".

deanjp32

Poppy is dead right

As with any move to a new country you will have major ups and major downs and some of the downs can really make you question why you did what you did but usually once you are really settled and i dont mean a few months settled it all comes together and there are loads of us that can at least try to help.

Poppy2

I'm not disputing that, but what I am saying is make sure what you are coming here for is exceeding what you are leaving. You didnt go to BC and then have a knee jerk reaction and move back to the UK, you knew that there might be somewhere else worth trying, and that worked out really well for you. The people I refer to arent just the ones who we have heard from, I am also thinking of two families that came and left very promptly, from NZ. Aswell as the others we know of from here. And those people come on thei own, dont try to get support or information and just seem to despise the place because it isnt what they are used to. Its just a shame. But I agree, knowing that somewhere isnt for you is key, but Icant help but feel that some arent as prepared for living outside the UK as they think they will be.

Anyway, that is off topic I guess. Good luck on your recce!! Maybe we can arrange a get together when you come.

mandyandjohn

Thanks for your response Dean and Poppy.

Don't worry, we are not going to rush into anything. Definitely going to do a recce first. I am searching all the Novia Scotia websites and have seen many jobs that John and I could do (albeit not brilliantly paid). Also checking out the areas and house prices but it's very time consuming and mind boggling

I went to Alberta (Calgary and Edmonton) last year with my daughter and I love the Canada way of life and the people but felt it was too big and spaced out. Another thing too is that the house prices are so high. I am 49 and John is 53 so we don't want to move and have a huge mortgage over a small period of time.

John thinks we are too old but I get to differ. After speaking to people in Alberta they are looking for people with experience.

Like I said I am a legal secretary and prior to that I worked in Local Government as an administrative assistance and also a school secretary. I love learning new skills and would not expect to get a brilliant job to start with.

John is a maintenance engineer but does not have a degree but has plenty of experience. After looking at job descriptions I feel he could soon find work if we came over on a reccie and networked enough. Perhaps I am being naive

Another option I have thought of is maybe run a bed and breakfast but then would we need to have experience of that? I have been a housewife for 30 years so plenty of experience of housekeeping and I love cooking.

Anyway I am grateful for your advice and opinions and it's nice to know that there is support and advice out there.

Just need to talk my husband round as we have three children and one grandson and he doesn't know if he can leave them behind.

We discussed years ago we would not retire in UK, hence the reason buying a property and paying into a private pension plan, but now we are getting older he seems to be getting cold feet! I keep saying that if one of the children decided to emigrate I would support them 100%, I really feel that the UK does not offer a good standard of living of anymore and it certainly isn't as safe as it used to be.

Anyway once again thank you all for your comments and don't mind any advice you guys have out there (good or bad).

deanjp32

Get him on the plane and he will soon change his mind.

We had been all over Canada and was hoping to settle in Ontario.

The day we landed on our first reccie to Nova Scotia (sept 2007)we landed and it was Pi***ng it down. It felt so much like England coming out of the airport although nowhere near as many cars on the road. Driving down to halifax with it raining and dark we were just a little disappointed. (why wouldn't it rain or be dark???)

The next day was very different and every other day after that. We travelled as much as we could meeting so many people who really seemed to be interested in us and why we were in Nova Scotia and our plans. Everyone we met were very friendly and supportive. The 2 weeks flew by and we had not really touched the surface but we knew 1 thing, Nova Scotia was the place for us.

The next thing for us was where did we want to end up when we moved. For us it was the North Shore. We went back to the UK and booked another trip for the Jan 2008 to take a closer look at the area. We had just sold our home in the UK and were renting on a 6 month lease. At the end of that week we had decided that after the 6 months which was apr 2008 we would just come over as visitors and go figure what to do once we got back to NS.

We gave up jobs and everything to come back, that was the pull of NS for us. We had a federal SW app in since aug 2006 but really did not want to wait so we set about getting a CI NSNP which we got in nov 2008. We are now at meds stage which we are having on the 28th and the rest is history so to speak. My wife recently got herself a job. We got a wp without the need for an LMO because we had been nominated so all has worked out in our case. (i also got an open wp)

As a footnote to the above:

I wouldn't suggest that people just give it all up and just come over without a nomination without very careful consideration as it is a big risk but we know of a few who have done it this way and it has worked for them. The CI NSNP can be done from the UK and is probabley advisable unless you have the funds and are ok with the risk element of doing it this way. What it does do is get you making those community ties so much earlier which is really what the CI route is all about.

Silverdragon102

We love it here DH never really visited NS until we moved here and I had just visited a couple of times to Niagara Falls from the US when visiting friends hadn't had much contact with Canada. The people have been so welcoming, we live rural in a very small community with the land to walk with our 4 dogs. Was a risk but dh says he is only leaving in a coffin so got to sort PR out, we are so settled here it is amazing and even when the temps -28 the skies are still blue and the sun is shining which is better than the grey skies of the UK

mandyandjohn

Know what you mean Silverdragon. Even in Alberta they had had snow a week before but when we arrived beginning of May it was lovely and bright, despite being -8. Really weird weather in Canada but at least not dull and grey which is really depressing. In the 2 weeks we were there we had -8 to 18 degrees in temperatures. Got sunburnt whilst be spent 2 days in Banff and Canmore! The air was amazing and did wonders for my sinuses and congestion, better than Olbas oil and the likes

I guess I will have to use my powers of persuasion on hubby . He is on a job in Norway at the moment but is back next Saturday so have more time to research (I have a notepad full of useful websites). I think once he sees Canada for himself he will be smitten by it too.

Thanks for your input too Dean. Maybe if I was made redundant or hubby was this would spur us on more. Probably rent our house out in the UK initially anyway to see if we could live there first and of course find employment.

I find BE such an interesting and informative website and reading peoples comments helps me greatly. I even read the bad points but like Dean has said some people don't find out enough before making the plunge.

I love my house and job in the UK and will not give it up until I am sure that it would be in our best interests to do so. It is just that I cannot stand the thought of retiring here. England has changed so much. I really wished my husband and I considered emigrating when the kids were younger but never thought it would end up like is has in the UK.

I have already checked out flights and they are not badly priced with Canadian Affair but they only fly from London. Does anyone know of any flights that go from Birmingham or Manchester to Halifax?

Once again many thanks for your comments.

destinationnovascotia

There are no direct flights from Birmingham or Manchester to Halifax. Canadian Affair fly from Gatwick (April/May to Oct/Nov only) and Air Canada from Heathrow all year round.

AyrLass

I came across this article about Dominik Diamond (who some people may or may not know from Scottish radio / TV / newspapers) who recently moved to Nova Scotia. I think it's a really well written account of moving to Nova Scotia, and if not the article itself, the comments sum up the friendliness of people and life in Nova Scotia.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1101361.html

Greenhill

Holy crap, I know this man. He knows me