dbd33

There were important issues for us too. Some things to be aware of:

- schools vary widely in quality, if you want to catapult poor immigrant children ahead of the pack you want ones that offer the IB program and you want your kids in the IB program. The snag is that good schools offering that tend to be in affluent areas and, of course, poor immigrants can't afford to live in the catchment area.

- in Ontario only there are two sets of state funded schools, Catholic and other. The Catholic schools tend to be better, so much so that there are kids in turbans who have somehow managed to be "Catholic" for the purpose of education. As an Englishman, I'm a bit reluctant to suggest that an Irish family exploit the sectarian divide in Canada, but, if it's the way up...

- Canada is full of immigrant children bent over their school books while they tend the corner shop, it's not easy to beat them in school, forget about ever seeing a decent class placement in hard sciences. Be aware that it's very common for parents to fund tutors for their children's weaker subjects. My kids picked up useful amounts as tutors in French, almost as much as I paid to get them up to mediocre in physics.

- University is gobsmackingly expensive, I can't see that there's better access to university for poor people in Canada than in Europe except in the case that they're really good at a sport.

In short, hard driven children can do well here, focussed parents willing to spend money can help them along until the end of high school. I expect this is also true in Ireland and Timbuktu. After high school, lots of money is needed, I suspect more so than in Europe.

ExKiwilass

re: factory work maybe once but not anymore.

You can survive but you won't be doing much more than that.

I don't know why you're arguing with us about this. We live here. You do not. I would not want to live in this country on a low wage, because there is very little social safety net here. I would go back to NZ which is more set up for that. There is far less income security here.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide.

deise1980

Please don't think I'm arguing with anyone I'm absolutely NOT and I apologise if i have come across that way . I just find it hard to believe if 2 people were working an industrial wage each can't survive comfortably without been rich of course ?
And clearly anyone that says the cost of living in Calgary Canada is marginally the same as the UK or slightly higher are talking rubbish because i know with one income of 35000 pounds in the UK you can have a descent life supporting a family of 5 whereas in Canada you need double that ?
Rgds
Deise1980

Almost Canadian

Not necessarily in "Canada", but in Calgary I believe you do. Posters in the eastern Provinces seem to cope on the salary you have been talking about. I think you need to realise that they live closer to you, than they do to those in Calgary. Stating "Canada" is very different to stating "Calgary"

Best of luck with whatever you do with

Dashie

You can choose to believe it or not, that's up to you. People are giving opinions based on their own experience of life in different parts in Canada, and pretty much everyone who has lived here says that you will struggle on that kind of money in Calgary. We would have found it hard to believe before we came here too.

deise1980

Has anyone idea where i should look instead of calgary or even alberta ?I have a lot of experience in industrial butchering or meat cutting and looking online on various job sites the most il prob be able to take home in that industry is around 40k ,any suggestions where my budget would stretch a lot further lets say 50k inlcuding my wife getting something pt (again i know it wont be easy to
find that job either) somewhere not to remote and not to far north ??
Rgds
Deise1980

P.S ONE of the main reasons I have chosen Alberta is my job background is classed as semi skilled I believe its also that in BC ,and Simular in Manitoba through pnp .

christmasoompa

OP, what is the job you've got the offer for? Is it definitely one that will get your wife a Spousal Open Work Permit so she can work?

Dashie

To be honest, unless you are coming with enough equity for a chunk down on a house, to buy a car outright and get other things set up and still have some savings in case things go wrong, I would likely look a lot closer to home. It's the kind of income you can tick along on, but it doesn't go as far as you would think here.

That's a higher income than you originally said, but bear in mind that what you can earn up to is not likely what you will actually earn, possibly not for years if ever. It must sound like we're all putting a downer on your dream, and I'm sorry about that, but the lifestyle you're talking about is not a good one here. We've all seen people come here thinking the streets are paved in gold, and that everything is cheap, and the houses and cars are bigger than you can get in the UK. For some people, it is better for them, but for those of us who have experienced Canada, not many would come for the level of lifestyle you're suggesting.

christmasoompa

Actually, I think I've just answered my own question. You mention meat cutting and the semi-skilled stream of the PNP, so I assume the job is 'industrial meat cutter'?

If so, then I don't think you've realised that your wife will not be able to work until you get PR?

That job is NOC code 9462, which is Skill Level C on the NOC Matrix. Only the spouses of those in Skill Level A, O or B jobs can get a Spousal Open Work Permit.

So you'd have to rely on your income for a year or so, which may well make a difference.

FWIW, my thoughts are the same as everybody on the thread - that to uproot your family for a financial struggle in another country is probably not the best idea unless you have a large financial cushion. Not sure what savings you'd e taking with you, but knock off the £25k or do it'll cost you to move and get set up, and then make sure you've got enough left over. Last thing you want to do is make a very expensive mistake and move to be worse off than you are now.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

PMM

Hi


Also take a real hard look at the wages. Xl Foods was advertising for butchers at 14.60 per hour.

deise1980

My wife and I were heading to Canada under the IEC scheme which would allow her to work and we were going to go through the pnp process after 6 months providing of course we were to get the IEC which we both qualify for but we know that's not a certainty either . We will now seriously re consider our options .
Rgds
Deise1980

dbd33

Are people who are a) married and b) have children, eligible for IEC?

deise1980

Under the IEC each person is required to have "there own status" so yes but as seperate applications i believe (feel free to correct me ?).I must also apply for study permits for the school going kids .As I said it looks ever more a distant dream now after getting all the feedback and I know and thank people for there honest opinions.
Rgds
Deise1980

HGerchikov

It is also very difficult to compare between the two countries because the exchange rate fluctuates such a lot but what you can buy in each country with the same amount of money does not change so much. When we moved here the exchange rate was over 2.4 so 35,000 pounds was not so far removed from $100,000. Infact I switched a 35k salary in the UK for a $95k based on my employers at the time saying they would match my UK salary plus a bit. If I was moving now with a 35k UK salary then the same approach would get me maybe $60k. Comparing between the countries means nothing - so I would listen to the advice of the people who live in the area you are thinking of moving to.

dgagitw

Actually, compared to England & Wales, it's cheaper other than for law and medicine. E.g. an engineering degree at UofT will cost you around 11K CAD per year for 4 years whereas the same thing in England will cost you 9K GBP for 3 or 4 years. Neither is cheap, but I see no evidence for Canada being gobsmackingly more expensive.