Originally Posted by Buchan6

Hi All,
I have PR which is valid until Aug 2nd, when the medical expires. Myself and wife are visiting Ontario on a final research trip in May.

Can I take up residency on this date and apply for SIN numbers etc.
We also have have two young children and the original plan was for the four of us to emigrate in June / July but perhaps it may be of advantage to process papaerwork earlier ?

Any comments appreciated.

Originally Posted by Rachelmark

Hi there Cornish couple and Sue,

I don't expect I can help you on much (I'm usually the one doing the asking!!) but I would like to know what part of Cornwall you are all from! We both grew up in Cornwall (Truro) and our parents still live there although we had to move away to Cardiff for work many years ago. I think the Cornish coastline is the thing I will miss most about moving to Canada.

Rachel

Originally Posted by R2D2

[
Hi
A very mixed response from this camp. We have been here since May. Chose Alberta as it gave us the best opportunity to secure a job beforehand as hubbys work conected to the Oil and Gas industry, and we knew we wanted to be near the Rockies, and we 'needed' access to them LOTS.
He got a good job ready to begin 2 weeks after landing, in those 2 weeks we had bought 2 cars and our lovely home in Sherwood Park after much trawling around looking at the different areas. So far everything was going smoothly Apart from the way my hubby felt. He was very emotional for the first week or so, contemplating what we had done, was everything going to be OK. I think the enormity of it all and all the goodbyes we had just been through hit him like a ton of bricks. Plus the fact the rental property we picked, was not where we wanted to be. I could look ahead and look forward, but he seemed unable too and I spent all my time trying to rationalise everything in his mind.
Anyway, time has gone on and he loves his work, we love where we live now, 5 yr old settled into a wonderful school, we are all making friends and feel we have fallen into a great community.
Coming from small towns in the UK, we thought thats what we wanted here too, but small towns here are way too 'hickey' for our liking so we chose nearer to the city. And Sherwood Park is fantastic, but hubby works in the city itself and that presents us with his next issue. He is most definately NOT a city person and hates driving through the 'dumpy' light industry outskirts of Edm that his route takes him. Because of this he has a bit of a downer on Edmonton, but as I keep telling him, all cities have this and the centre of Edm and the river valley is lovely, but he judges it all on the 'bit' he sees everyday.
I think he just wants to live in the heart of the Rockies, but thats just not practical.
We both find Alberta a bit flat, and at the moment too 'brown', so that makes us miss Englands green green grass all the more, but having said that we don't miss the rain that makes it that way. We think the last time it rained here was Oct 1st the day the MIL arrived.
On the whole we are happy here as we are all together, and are having a fantastic time going off into the mountains whenever we have a long weekend, seeing some of the most wonderful natural sights in the world. We are both more relaxed, have more time together, have more to show for our years of hard work. The kids are happy, we like the climate (not seen a harsh winter yet)
But we miss 'home'. We miss familiarity, and our friends and family. We are still in the period of adjustment and I know I am more settled than the other half. He asked me if I would be prepared to try another part of Canada if he really couldn't settle into our part of Alberta....................I don't know. I like it here, we are making friends, I just want time to put down our roots and make it 'home', but not at the expense of his unhappiness at SOME aspects of life here. And i also don't want to uproot the kids again just to 'try' somewhere else, only to find that that place may not be quite right either.
He has agreed to not analyse everything and just relax into life here and see if the waves of homesickness subside. It helps to not look at this as forever, but NEITHER of us can imagine going back to England either. We are going to do the 3 years then apply for citizenship, and the just see how we feel.
As i have said in previous posts, you can and should research as much as you can, but nothing can prepare you for the mixture of feelings and emotions that you can come across. All we can do is go with the flow, make the most of our time here, do all the things we wanted to do and just live the life we dreamed of.................hopefully given time it will ALL click into place.

Originally Posted by Gray C

Hi

Would be interested in hearing from anyone that moved to Canada a few months ago to hear their views as to how their move has gone and whether they have any regrets, concerns etc

Have you made the transition to Canadian way of life?
Any regrets about the province you chose?
Have you managed to secure work, and if so how hard a task was it?
Is coping with the Canadian weather harder than you thought?
Is there anything that you should have bought with you and didn't, or visa versa?
Are you getting homesick?

Finally, for those of us who are still stuck in the UK, do you have any suggestions/advice to offer, and given the chance would you have done anything differently during or prior to your move?

Originally Posted by JoD

Hi. I've been in Cananda since June last year with hubbie and daughter and we are beginning to find things difficult. Canada is a beautiful country and we have a lovely detached house in a nice neighbourhood that we could never afford back home. My hubbie managed to find a job without too much hassle, although he has had to take a pay cut and I stay at home with the little one. There is a very big car culture here and with us only being able to afford to run 1 car which my hubbie uses for work, means I'm stuck in the house alot of the time and most things are not within walking distance (although there is a bus service).

We have found that although Canadians are very polite and the children better behaved, we are finding the transition difficult. It is very work orientated and we hardly see anyone from week to week and are feeling lonely and isolated. We are thinking of moving back to the UK, but if we do we won't have any regrets about coming here. If anything, it has made us realise what sort of people we are - we need our families around us.

To those of you still waiting to emigrate I would say, just like what was said previously, live your life - enjoy you last few months with friends and family and enjoy the UK/European country. My only other advice would be to try to bring everything you can with you. We threw out or gave away alot of stuff that we could have used here without thinking - Christmas trees and decorations, kitchen utensils etc.

Good luck to all of you.

Originally Posted by SUES

Hi i'm sue, i've been reading alot on this site, its great to know there's others out there in our situation and those like yourself, who are already out there. We were going to go through an agent, to save time and hassle. We have now been told we can do it ourselves, its not that bad! PANIC!!! Soon has our house is sold, we are ready apart from a job for my husband. He's a truck driver, we are looking for employers who sponser at the mo. Our children are 14,13,10,7 yrs, they can't wait to start a new life. I understand what you were on about, that your husband not settling like you are, thats why we haven't gone with an agent as we would have to live where they put us for work and i wasn't keen on that AT ALL. We like the look of calgary and surrounding areas to live, we are coming out end March or beginning of April, to have alook around, schools jobs and property to buy. I feel we have done so much research that we are ready to burst. We live in Cornwall, lovely for the beach and walks etc, but oh boy we get alot of rain!! I have found your post very helpful, keep smiling

Originally Posted by R2D2

Going camping for the first time EVER. Yikes..........but when in Canada !!!!! :

Originally Posted by Morwenna

When in Canada.......? ....... watch out for those bears! :scared:

Happy Camping

Originally Posted by julius smith

hi! you know, i feel really sad for you--that was exactly what we were like after our 7 to 8 mths in ontario last year.
we also felt that there was an awfully high work culture there, with every one totally absorbed with work, work, work.
and god help you if you fell sick!! they looked at oyu as if you were a leper or something!
i agree with the car culture--you just cannot do without 2 cars or the one who stays at home, will do just that--stay at home till the partner comes home, as virtually nothing is withi walking distance.
well, i say that, but we were about 200yds from the local loblaws, cibc bank etc, but try walking there with -25C wind chill!!
we tried it but could not live it!
yes, the kids there are much better behaved-none of this hoody culture we have in the uk, but then you have the drugs and gang culture, esp. in places like scarborough etc.
personally, i am happy we came back, as we missed our culture here so much!
ok, they have pubs there etc but its not the same thing.
what i found amusing was how they rushed around like blue-a--se flies at the weekends trying to fit everything in, before going back to the grind on monday!
ok, we work here too, but i dont get that rushing around feeling i got in canada, or maybe its just me!
you are right about the family thing--you do get to miss that so much.
the uk is not such a bad place you know now--we have maximum employment, very good std of living and all the mod cons americans/canadians have, so why move there, i say!
anyway, its horses for courses--you either try it and come back, or you settle down and live it for what its worth!
good luck to you in canada and keep us posted!

Originally Posted by R2D2

I know !!! You even have to keep toothpaste well away from your tent I hear, as the wildlife will sniff that out too. Looking forward to the experience all the same !

Originally Posted by CalgaryBlade

This one in Kananaskis took my toothbrush too, but I wasn't going to argue