fordhjn

Good morning
I have come to a point in my life where it's time to consider the future of my family and am considering moving to Canada.
I am a externals construction site manager and have had interest from Canadian company's.
My partner is a nneb nursery nurse and we have 4 children ages 7 to 16.
I would be wanting to move to BC.
If we sold up here i would have approx 350000 Canadian dollars to purchase a property or land to build one on.
I would like to be Margate free.
I am not expecting Buckingham palace just something to start and maybe extend over time.
The wage I've been offer is approx 100000 per year plus what ever my partner could earn.
If I could achieve a Morgage free life would the wages offered equate to a better quality of life for a family of six.
I currently live just outside London but with the way things are going in the UK my children face an uphill struggle to find work placements due to the uncontrolled migration from the rest of Europe and house prices around London and surrounding areas mean little chance of buying a home in the future for them
I am not expecting an easy life just a better quality of life.
Any comments on the construction industry and early stage education jobs would be appreciated as to what educational differences that our children would face if we did take the opportunity and moved to Canada.
Kind regards Steve

quiltman

Are any of the Canadian companies showing interest willing to go through the hassle of sponsoring you for a visa? They would have to show that no Canadian is available to do the job first , then spend more money on the visa process.This is the first potential stumbling block.If you have niche experience not easily available in Canada then you may stand more chance. regretfully we often hear on these forums that people have been offered a job but on checking find the company has no idea what is involved in sorting out the appropriate visa.
Others will be along soon with more relevant local advice , although I understand your feelings, I feel it is going to be a much harder process than you realise .

I'm sure your wife's NNEB will not be recognised over there and I'm not sure if there is an equivalent qualification she could train for.
do have a read of the wiki above regarding working visas for Canada.
Good luck anyway, hope it works out for you!

evets

What city or area of Canada are you looking at?

Depending on what city have you looked at property prices in Canada, it is not as cheap as you would believe especially when you add property taxes. I am just going on posts in this forum and different websites.
350k will provide a very good deposit, prices I have seen you could be looking at the 500k - 1 million mark for a 5 bedroom property all depending on the area and how far you are prepared to commute(this is based on the GTA and surrounding areas of Toronto only). You would probably end up with a much bigger property than the UK though!

100K a year, sounds a lot but as I am figuring out not so much for say Toronto or Vancouver which I suspect where most of the work is. Others in the forum will confirm.

Would the company provide healthcare, life assurance etc to cover you and your family, as this does add up.

Your comments about immigration I would say apply just as much to the UK, as the do in Canada as they do in Australia. I cannot comment on Canada, but the general feeling in Oz is the 457 work visa's are being abused and immigration is out of control. Which is having an overall impact on the job market. Local forums I read and I already see how despondent Grads are at finding work. As the years progress this is not going to get any easier.

Regarding house prices, the same now applies to Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Melbourne as it does in London. The housing markets are out of control, due to uncontrolled foreign investment which leave many properties sitting empty and not being rented out. Chinese investors would rather buy a property and leave it sitting empty than rent it out. And even if they rent it out, from what I understand, really only want to rent it out to a Chinese person(source from reddit). This I hope does not apply to all investors.

I really feel for the next few generations as jobs get outsourced to cheaper countries, wages are not on the rise, low interest rates. We are heading for a Japan situation where people take out 100 year mortgages and pass on these to the children.

magnumpi

Margate free, yeh I feel for ya pal, all them Mods n Rocker battles.

evets

Hopefully this would get past the IELTS test...

JonboyE

It depends whereabouts in BC. In the Lower Mainland and, I suspect, the Capital Region of Vancouver Island $350,000 is not enough to buy a detached property big enough for 6 people. Upwards of $600,000. Prices vary a lot around the province. Prices are higher where there are well paying jobs available, lower where there are not.

That seems in the right ballpark.

Better quality of life is too subjective. Mortgage-free it is enough for most people.

OK, but if you are thinking of somewhere like Vancouver then it is full of immigrants. Way more than the UK. Relatively speaking, house prices are as expensive as London.

It is in reasonably good shape at the moment.

Plenty available but she will likely need a Canadian certificate to get anything other than minimum wage / low pay work.

The Canadian system starts a year later so the age appropriate classes will be a year behind the UK. The early years are less academically focused than the UK but the end result is pretty much on a par with the UK.

Aviator

In and around Vancouver, that would be a good down payment. I would look to be spending $700k+ for Vancouver suburbs, more closer in.

Snowy560

Excellent points Jonboy. If you are trying to "escape" immigration, this is the wrong place to immigrate to! And I think your points about education are perfect too, exactly my children's experience.

S

Engineer_abroad

agree with that. If you don't want to live in a city with a lot of {snipped} immigrants, Vancouver is the not the place for you. Wait till there is a president Trump we will have a huge rush of uncontrolled immigrants from just across the border.

dbd33

Rapists one and all, I suppose. Perhaps a wall would help to keep them out.

Photoplex

Hey, heads up. You are an immigrant too.

Engineer_abroad

yes, very well aware of that, I wasn't the one complaining about immigrants though.

Siouxie

And can we get back to the OP's question now please?

Thank you kindly..

rivingtonpike

As is almost always the case, unless you're a Canadian or married to one, it always comes back to visas.


I think on the whole you get more bang for your buck in Canada when it comes to housing - even in the expensive bits of Vancouver or Toronto. A 3 bed condo in downtown Vancouver is going to be VERY expensive. A 3 bed apartment in Chelsea or Soho is going to be a hell of a lot more! It's all relative. $350,000 won't buy you a lot if you want a detached house for 6 in a nice area (depending on where the job you allude to is based).


Schooling here I personally really like. Perhaps we're lucky in so far that both our kids are bright and self motivated, so the more relaxed approach to early education hasn't been detrimental to them. Not sure whether this works for all kids though.

happyhammers

Site Managers are called Superintendents over here mate, its what I do for a living.
Was a Site Manager back in the UK for a London/National firm, been here for 19 months now. I have found a big difference with how things are done over here with regards to construction (experience in Sask only cant comment on other areas)

Second that about the London thing, was one of the many reasons we moved. Better living over here for us though, First time I managed to have dinner with the family was when we got here. Hardly had dinner with the family during the week back in the UK, up early, commute, work late,commute, get home late, beautiful!

What do you want to know about the construction industry?