Originally Posted by dingbat

Changing career (as opposed to just taking any old job) over here involves significant commitment of time - sometimes years - and horrendous expense. Working for $8/hr in the meantime and usually being treated like an idiot is hard going when you have managed your own professional career up to that point. Quality of life is a relative thing of course, and just about every prospective immigrant to Canada thinks that they will acheive this here for some reason. Many do. However, over the years I have noticed that there appears to be a number of women who arrive here with decent careers behind them, to discover that their quality of life is no longer within their control as they have no status without professional recognition. The enforced dependency factor can tarnish any perceived quality of life changes. It may not happen to you, and this type of difficulty can of course also happen to men, but it is worth really thinking about how much you value your financial independence and right to a career before giving it all up. Edited to add: check out Madmac's posts. She is an accountant - and could not get work in Ontario. ACCA's are also not given full credential reciprocity in BC; more training is required, but I am sure you are checking that out.

Originally Posted by RubyRose

Julie are you a teacher in BC and did you train in the UK

Originally Posted by The TWs

I think this is rubbish. We are looking at career changes for both of us (similar industries but different roles for me and completely different industry for my husband) and we have both found that there is significant interest in both of us even before we're still in the UK and neither of us has been asked to start at $8/hour.

Although changing careers can be difficult this has FAR more to do with having to start over rather than Canada. If you were to change careers in the UK would you start at the same level? Of course not. You would have to invest time (and perhaps money) in learning something new.