stepnek

Couldn't agree more. I'm struggling to settle here but it's not deliberate. I'm not doing it on purpose it's just harder than I expected.

SANDRAPAUL

Just a bit of an observation.

We lived next door to a man who was emigrating every year between late October and early May. He would drag his family through the process, trawl information, of late web sites, look at the pass marks, qualifications etc etc.

America one year, Aus the next, France, Spain, New Zealand....it went on and on and each time it was 'we are moving'!

By May the sun was shining and all was shelved....until October time. This went on for the years we lived next door and is as far as I know still going on. We were told that getting into any country was easy for them and that they even got near a plane once.

With this level of committment I wonder how it would have turned out? Was/is he doing it for him or his family?

Protectionism:
I wonder if the guys at Longbridge/Rover would have liked their jobs protected from the influence of China? I wonder if they would though get pissed off if through protectionist policies they found employment in Canada hard. Two way traffic tends to be a one way road in some.

To my wife and I we view emigration as a bit odd in that we hope to have 20 years or so of a different and perhaps better life. But our children if they integrate will have their whole working life in a different workplace.

I have looked long and hard and whether anyone likes it or not Europe will get much harder to prosper in if you are near or at the bottom rung as the workforce available becomes ever greater. What one tends to see is here and now, what we read in the papers with all of the pat me on the back political rhetoric that comes forward. The past 25 years has seen the UK become a bigger part of the Euro economy but at the costs of heavy borrowing of late. The UK is at a crossroads and life will get that little bit harder as the only growth industry is within the civil servant sector. Yes its a lovely country...so is France, Spain, Greece...but to visit????. I think you have to be an isolationist and live in Expat groups or be extremely adaptable to live in a country that does not use your native toungue if you plan to live there forever.

I watched a programme, or bits of it, recently about a WWII celebration and a North America lady was interviewed. She commented that without the Royal family and a few castles the UK would be no different from anywhere else in the world. The UK just happens to have not had a 'recent revolution.

Madmac

Scouse

I don't believe in the old cherry: "Ignorance is bliss" but I do think that a certain amount of dedicated niaivety is required to go ahead with the life-changing step of immigration. As others have commented, this forum gives a biased view on moving to Canada and can easily concentrate your mind on the negative issues.

Take a break from here, go to Canada again for a holiday and reaquaint yourself with the best it has to offer. Then stick your head in the sand and bulldoze on through!

Our anniversary AOR-wise was March and we know we probably won't hear until the end of the year. However, we haven't put our life on hold. That's the fatal move I suggest: you feel as though you can't move on? We're getting married on Sunday, I'm sitting more qualifications in August, we hope to grab a quick recce to Canada in October and just generally acting as if life goes on as normal.

Go have a pint and a laugh. Maybe one day I'll buy you one when we meet in Canada?

Souvenir

[QUOTE=Madmac]we hope to grab a quick recce to Canada in October/QUOTE]

The first two weeks in October are a great time to come. You'll catch the Fall colours. Spectacular!

Madmac

[QUOTE=Souvenir] Yup, sounds nice. It'll just be a quick week as I get the October week holiday off.

Souvenir

[QUOTE=Madmac] Where will you be going?

Madmac

[QUOTE=Souvenir] Thought about looking at some of the towns in Ontario such as Oshawa or Hamilton? I'm a lecturer and my fiancee is a part qualified accountant. We're both educated to degree level. God alone knows what we'll do at this point but hey, that's half the fun for us. Mad eh?

Any ideas would be great.

Souvenir

[QUOTE=Madmac] Oshawa or Hamilton? You're not exactly picky, are you?

dbd33

[QUOTE=Souvenir] We went to Hamilton a few weeks ago, to have a look at the waterfall mentioned on this site. The waterfall was nice, picture attached. It's on the fringe of a large formal garden. A path leads away from the falls downstream, medical students from the nearby university were bicycling on it. Around the park are fairly large suburban style houses on large lots, such as one finds in the older parts of Oakville or in the Lorne Park area of Mississauga. Nearby there was a cluster of shops and a pub, I suppose that was once the village of Flamborough.

We'd been to Hamilton once before. We turned off the highway following signs to a castle, we never found the castle but ended up in an area called undercliff or underhill or some such. It was very grand, something like Hampstead.

Hamilton, seen up close, is nothing like one would expect after seeing it from the highway. It's not all heavy industry. There's even a botancial garden there somewhere. What is awful is the area between Oakville and Hamilton, along Dundas St. from about Trafalger Road out. It's all squalid housing projects, most of them thrown up in the past few years on farmland, there are no trees, no landmarks, no shops or pubs. It's just warehousing for people.

Rete

As usually a thread has been hijacked from the OP and the subject matter now deals with someone else's vacation plans rather than the Scouse's note of departure.

Scouse, I'm not a regular on this particular forum nor have I ever migrated to a foreign country and in fact still live in the same town for the last 57 years and the same rental apartment for 29 years. So my experience is not first hand. I do have a Canadian husband who migrated to the US when we decided to marry and I know the frustration he went through to get here and to adjust to the US culture. I also know the frustration I underwent when in 1997 I wanted to migrate to Canada and was told it was impossible because of a past battle with breast cancer. (Yes, I know the ruling has been changed.)

What you are feeling is normal and yet should not be discounted. You have a dream and are young enough to follow your dream to fruitation. The time it takes for the conversative and oft times seemingly unfair CIC in Canada to grant your residency is just that time. While the petition(s) are pending you are continuing, or should be at the very least, your life in the UK. You are working, loving, living, planning and dreaming. The wait is just another part of the day and really should not effect your daily life.

The supposed injustices of the Canadian employment agenda by prospective employers are real and have to be dealt with. Some here say that you could and should take any menial, low paying job you can get even if it is flipping burgers at MacDonald's or pouring coffee at Timmy's. To that I say rubbish. And I believe you feel the same way. Unless you are starving there is no reason to lower your expectations of employment to menial positions. If you have to start at the third rung of the corporate ladder instead of the 7th where are at now, that should not be an issue. At least it is the same ladder you have been climbing for years.

If you're an adventure seeker as another poster here is, then you can accept any position that appeals to you. Me, I would never think of working in any field other than what I have worked in all my adult life. It is the field I love and at which I am profficient.

But the choice to stay or leave are strictly a personal one. I know that there has been talk about whiners and moaners but in truth I see that everyday here in NYC. Foreigners who bitch and moan that America is not like their country in culture, food, dress, socially, etc. My husband is one of those moaners and he is now an American Citizen.

I wish you the best of everything in life, Scouse. I envy you the mental and emotional ability to want to start a new life in a new country. But then sometimes I don't envy those traits because I'm a lover of security.

Blessed be

Rete

MikeUK

I was going to post about three paragraphs on this but I’m back to not really caring anymore… I’ll keep reading a bit more but as I do I think Glas was right

Happydayz

Sorry to read all the above Scouse....not here to judge , just wanted to wish you all the best, and give you a little chattering teeth, All the best in whatever you do...

JAJ

Would your view of Canada be the same if you were trying to escape a poverty or war ravaged country? Or a communist regime? Or a country with deep-seated sectarianism or corruption?

People from places like that who migrate to Canada will usually do *whatever* it takes as there is no alternative but to make it work. Even if they have to learn the language from scratch.

On the other hand, if you're migrating from the UK to Canada, you're swapping one prosperous, tolerant, industrialised democracy for another one. You don't have the same reasons as many other migrants.

But you do need some kind of reason (eg a sense of adventure?) to make the whole migration exercise work. Otherwise it may well be easier to keep your existing life in the UK - you're unlikely to slot right into something the same in Canada.

Ask yourself what attracts you to Canada and what you want to get away from in the UK. And then ask yourself is it worth the price you'll have to pay, whether in terms of career, training, or needing to re-build social networks. For some it is, for others it's not.

Jeremy


PS As for the point about Ontario 'not recognising' your divorce papers, have you looked into it in detail? Most jurisdictions do recognise overseas marriages and divorces, with only specific exceptions. And many UK qualifications *are* recognised in Canada, although usually there is some conversion/bridging study involved.

Scouse

Thank you, everybody, for taking the time for your replies and good wishes.

I know that Canada will be a better place for being graced by your presence.

I have come to regard you all as my friends, and I will follow your progress with interest.

Good luck, best wishes, and love to you all.

Scouse.

Jingle

Hear hear!
Agree totally Madmac - I have taken a break from here for the last few months - mainly because hubby has recently had corrective surgery for an earlier fracture to his tibia and it has gone very wrong leaving him with no feeling in his lower leg - talk about focusing the mind. It has made us re-evaluate our decision to emigrate and our plans once we get there .... especially now that hubby could be permanently disabled. HOWEVER - we are both in our 40's - no kiddies left at home - and we are up for an adventure

Sorry slightly diverted from what I was going to say which was ...... having taken a break I decided to come back and first thing that greeted me was the tirade against Canadian Affair and various other negative posts ..... I am not sure what has happened to this forum - it used to be a wealth of good natured information with maybe a few niggles - now you really have to search for the nuggets. Therefore regretfully like a few others I am signing off now.

Good luck to everyone and thank you to some of the "old-timers" for some invaluable advice - I am now off to do it MY WAY ..... with heaps of optimism and a smile on my face

Jen

PS- best of luck Scouse with whatever you decide .....