Hi All,

Myself and my otherhalf have been thinking about moving to canada since we visited Toronto 4 years ago. Lately, due to the ever failings of the Uk and its government, we have now decided to really look into it and start gathering as much info as we possibly can.

A bit of background on us - I am 23 and have been working for 7 years as a administrator/secretary and my otherhalf is 29 and he is a software test engineer. We are not married but have been together for 6 years and we own a house. - we have done those tests which assess whether we would have enough points to enter Canada and we do (74 I think we scored).

Here are some question that we have and any answers would be gratefully received.

1) Visa's - How and what do you have to do to get one, which one?

2) Property wise would it be better to buy before you go over or rent to start off with. I think we could probably afford a house but we are unsure on how they work out mortgages etc.... Also where are the better places to live? We were considering Milton, Kitchener, Waterloo (in Ontario) those kind of areas.

3) Where are the best places to look for work? I understand that in certain areas they are crying out for I.T staff. Toronto seems a good place for my otherhalf to look and also Milton looks good for admin/secretarial jobs for me.

4) How would you go about taking a dog over with you? How much does a pet passport cost?

and finally:

5) How much would moving from the Uk to Canada cost?

Thanks for your help. If you want to add any further info please feel free.

Nikki

Realistically, you need to get yourself(ves) a job offer. You might have enough points on the self assessment, but without a job offer, you're unlikely to be processed anytime in the next 5+ years, if at all.
Theres a backlog of 7/8 years I believe, full of people with enough points but no job offer.

Okay, my otherhalf works for a company with an office in toronto. If he could be moved internally through the company to toronto that would help?

4) How would you go about taking a dog over with you? How much does a pet passport cost?

Can help you with the above as we are at moment getting costs for taking dog. No need for pet passport unless you are thinking of returning with your dog, as GB is rabies free.
Most airlines say you need to use an agent, so not sure if you can DIY.
We have had some costs this week for taking Lab from Manchester airport to Vancouver, they have come in at £1300 and another just a bit less than that.
Our one way tickets cost less than that but its what you are willing to pay.
All the other questions you have you will be able to find answers on the 'wikki' or by searching threads.
Good luck

Hi Welcome to BE

The option of a possible transfer could be a good way to get to Canada, although I belive there are some provisions for being able to go this route

Here is a link to the wiki which may be helpful to you

Good luck

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Quick_...an_Immigration

Also a link to CIC website where it covers details about a transfer.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/apply-who-permit.asp

Thank u for your replies

So is there any areas to recommend in and around Toronto as good places to live? We would rather not live in Toronto, we prefer the quieter areas.

Also, as we obviously need to look into this very carefully what is the next step for us?

Thanks
Nik

take the time and have a thorough read in the wiki pages as nikki dreaming suggested???

welcome to be btw

I think you should rent somewhere close to work and figure it out from there. The big issue with Toronto is how much commute you're willing to suffer, we live somewhere quiet and cheap but it's an hour and fifteen minutes to get downtown even leaving early in the morning. The desire to live out of town will also be an influence on the choice of job, I currently have a contract in Guelph and find that many of the people working for that firm chose to do so specifically so they could live rurally. From time to time I have contracts in Markham which is suburban Toronto but about as difficult to commute to as downtown.

Find the job and it'll all follow from there. Note though that apart from the near insatiable demand for 1401 Autocoder programmers there's not an overwhelming need for more computer people.

We live in Milton and work in Cambridge - a little backwards, but when we bought the house OH was working in Mississauga, so it was equidistant. Kitchener and Waterloo are NOT feasibly commutable to Toronto. Milton is a push - it has the GO train, but you'd be spending an hour each way on the train. When we lived in England, our commute from Coventry to Birmingham was a combination of car (for OH) for almost an hour, then an additional 20 minute train ride and 20 minute walk for me. You'd be surprised how quickly you snap out of a commute of that length, I had to go to Toronto for a course, and an hour on the train drove me nuts.

Our commute to Cambridge is only 30 minutes door to door, which is awesome.

Just something to bear in mind...Milton is an EXTREMELY desireable area at the moment. House prices are rising to what are stupid prices for what you get (not as bad as England, but still...). We're in a 4 bedroom semi, and the house has gone up $50,000 in 18 months.

Just appreciatingly rapidly one hopes. It doesn't look any more desirable than Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, any other part of the concrete blandness. Is there some feature of Milton of which one should take note?

I would have thought renting first would be best, otherwise you won't know what you are getting into.
J.

hi there,with regards your dog,we brought our dog de bordeaux over in march and was told we needed a pet passport plus the rabies injection,i think in total the vets bill amounted to approx£150,we then contacted flyzoom as they were the only ones that would accept the dog because of his weight and his ticket cost£612,when you contact the airline company they may have a list of requirements they need before they will transport your pooch,hope this helps,if you need anymore info just give us a shout,god luckthumbsup: