trixyangel

Hi Everyone,

I'm quite excited as it's only a couple of weeks till the Canada Live Event in London and we will be able to find out some more information hopefully! Has anyone been to one of these before and know if they are any good? Is anyone else on here going to the event?

iaink

Reviews in the past have been lukewarm at best. If you know absolutely nothing about the process then you may benefit, but if you have already researched a bit and done some homework you may be disappointed.

You have to keep in mind most of the exhibitors are there for what they can get out of the process. Ive not checked out who is going to be there, but in the past some of the less well regarded immigration companies have been there, and follow up charges have looked a little pricey to me.

Also in the past some of the realtors that post here have had complimentary tickets available for those who ask, so it may be worth holding off on paying anything to attend just yet

Former Lancastrian

For those interested
http://www.canadalive.co.uk

trixyangel

Hi Iaink,

Thank you , we've already bought our tickets but they weren't too expensive. I've done a fair amount of research but it will be good to find out some more and I wanted both me and my partner to be able to attend so he could find out more about it - he's not really one for sitting reading/researching stuff on the internet like I am.

JamesM

I went to an event about 6 years ago.

One interesting session from CIC who got snowed under with questions at the end.

The rest was moving companies and forex companies.

CIC also had a stand with a line up that took an hour to ask your specific question.

It was fairly painful.

trixyangel

Oh really, well fingers crossed they've improved a bit since then, if not never mind more surfing on the net and here it will be

JamesM

It's worth taking a look.

You kind of realize why CIC are so snowed under after.

This forum was definitely more useful in the process.

christmasoompa

Fingers crossed it's improved in the past couple of years, they started off with about 4 stands for Canada (the rest were for Oz, despite it supposedly being a 'stand alone' event - Down Under Live was in the room next door and they had so few exhibitors they just merged the two after the first show!). When I left they had one or two exhibitors for Canada (both consultants, including Them Who Must Not Be Named) and that was it.

The CIC representative was also useless, it was a middle aged woman that had to be corrected by others as she was answering questions completely wrongly! She admitted afterwards that she wasn't a trained immigration officer, just an administrator.

Anyway, as I say, hopefully it's improved since then, although as the magazine has since folded, I'm not sure…………!!

rivingtonpike

I didn't know the magazine had folded. I can't even remember what it was called. Only saw a few copies but at the time it was quite a comfort to hear the experiences of like-minded people. I didn't know about this forum back then.

We never went to one of the expos - but then we'd already spent a fair bit of time in Canada by the point we'd decided to move over here.

trixyangel

Oh gosh, well from the looks of it they now do separate events, one for Canada and one for down under.

Oh well I have lower expectations now so maybe it will be better than expected, I'm going on the 16th February so only a couple of weeks and will be able to tell you whether it was any good or a load of nonsense!

christmasoompa

They said that every year I exhibited there too…..but we were all in one room, just at opposite ends of it!

But to be fair, it's been a year or two since I was last there, so maybe it's grown since then and is now a buzzing hive of people full of really useful information and exhibitors.

Just take everything you're told with a pinch of salt, and whatever you do, don't pay a certain immigration consultant £10 for a visa assessment - every other company does them for free!! And a quick look at your previous threads and the obvious answer for you is IEC anyway.

Have fun, and do let us know what you think and how many exhibitors there are, it would be useful for others searching the forum in the future.

christmasoompa

It was just called Canada Magazine, but didn't last long - until 2012 I think.

Let's face it, BE is far better.

trixyangel

Thank you christmasoompa

Catri

Sorry for being blunt here but we went to Canada Live last year.
Absolute waste of time and money for us.
More like Down under Live!
There was an immigration company there who I had already been warned to stay clear of.
The international removal company were helpful to a point but apart from that all the stands were for Australia or New Zealand.
We were very disappointed and lasted about 2 hrs max.
The most we got from it was the free pens and mugs!
To be honest you will get so much more info from this forum.
At least you only have the entry fee to lose.
We were daft and had to fly to London in the first place to attend the Expo.

Managed to get few hrs shopping in London though

mandymoochops

Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.

And don't pay the unmentionable company any money WHATSOEVER