Hi

im just posting this on here to give some kind of help to those who want to move to Canada, or anywhere else for that matter.

This a long post so if you get bored easily..you know the rest, right!

My long love affair with moving to The West began when I was a teenager.

I had the habit, and still do, of watching cowboy movies! Seeing the wide open spaces, the scenery, planted a subliminal message in my psyche about moving there.

In fact when I’d left college here in the UK (I was about 24 then), I began applying for sponsorship to America and Canada, not being remotely aware of their requirements!

I did finally get my PR for Canada but I guess I had the nomad gene in me, always wanting to to move to the USA.

I spent around 7 years of my life trying to get into America; I was even invited to attend an interview there, all costs paid, including flight, hotel costs and chauffeur driven limousine to pick me up at Seatac airport!

I didn’t get the job unfortunately.

So went back to Canada but didn’t quite fit in so came back to the UK again.

Fast forward to now. I’m semi retired but still working a couple days a week.

Still have that bug in me wanting to move there but it’s way too late now. I’m too old to work and my resources would not last long without a job.

So why am I writing this?
Simple. If you want to do something, be firm and steadfast and do it and don’t look back.

Dont waste time thinking and faffing about, or procrastinating.

Ive wasted my life doing that and am back where I started…at level zero.

Go with your gut instinct. Easier said than done, but that’s what you gotta do.

Now then…let’s watch Tombstone on Netflix…😂

I moved to Canada in 1987 and I thought I had hit the jackpot. The cost of living was much less than the UK and the wages were higher. It was not so lucrative, to me at least, when I left in 2012. Those who had gone out after the war had the best years and most had done well for themselves. Do we do it for the money or the life experience? Probably both. I had previously lived in South Africa and that had gone pear-shaped. Trying to catch these countries at the start of an upward trajectory is not as easy as it seems. The World is still opening up and it is reassuring to see people moving to places that no one would have thought of going to many years ago.

Still, at least you have had that life experience and you may not have been any better off if you had stayed in your own backyard. Who knows?

I don’t think you have wasted your life at all, you lived in Canada and tried your best at having a life in the USA but that did not work out (fate maybe) but as my dad use to say “you waste your time if you have not tried as that’s all you can do” and you certainly did try, sometimes the real life experience can spoil the “dream” Can you not afford long holidays in America instead the good thing about living in the UK you can visit far flung places on most budgets.

Thank you very much for your support!

Youre absolutely right! Even though I still have that bug inside me saying “What if”, I cannot blame myself for not trying.

I gave it all I had at the time! Made not one but 7 trips to the USA trying to settle there, but then got into Canada.

Again, you’re perfectly correct in saying that both America and Canada can be visited from the uk without hassle. I plan to visit both very soon as I have bank accounts in both countries that I need to close down.

At the end of the day, it is what it is, and I’ve just resigned myself at spending my years in the uk, which, let’s face it, isn’t a dump as many people say. You make your home by being happy where it is, whether it’s in Timbuktu or Watford! My family is here and my kids are here, and we are happy here.

I did however procrastinate a whole lot, wasting several years, and that was the intention of posting my comment, to make people aware of not wasting time.

When we are relatively young, say up to around 35 or 40, we think we are going to live forever. It’s only when you reach 55 to 65, and you realise you’re that old, and how can it be true, when you were 35 one minute ago, and now you’re 55?!

Thats life!

Hi and thanks for your reply!

In my case, I did it mainly for the standard of living. I had a decent job in the UK as a financial advisor but when I emigrated to Canada, I got the PR on the back of my qualifications and work experience with the RAF.

In fact, I landed a job in Canada within 1 month of landing, working in Quality Assurance of commercial aircraft.
The money wasn’t huge, basically the same as in the UK but I loved the open spaces, the freedom to roam in the mountains within half an hour drive from my home!

As you say, life started getting pear shaped there too!
Seems sarcastic saying this as an immigrant there, but they started letting in the riff raff shortly after, and the place started becoming almost an inner London ghetto.

As my kids said at the time, what are we doing here if it’s becoming the same as England….we may as well go back.

Fast forward to now, the world everywhere has moved space, and almost every country has changed, mostly for the worst. America in my eyes, is not the American Dream anymore, rather the American Nightmare. The same with Canada.

We are not far behind, what with the present and past governments, cost of living elect etc but at least there’s still a semblance of normality left here!

🙂

The good thing is, anyone wanting to move abroad these days is no longer restricted to the traditional former colonies (i.e. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, etc.). Countries such as Turkey and Vietnam are developing. Investment is pouring into the Western Balkans and those countries are aspiring to join the EU after a turbulent past. Panama has stabilised and there is massive potential in Latin America. Going forward, there is Africa and maybe even Russia one day. So, plenty to go at for those who are interested and have the skills.

I try and put this across to our two sons without sounding like a dictator, “go for it while you can” ….before you know it… age catches up and although that itself does not stop me but I take certain things into consideration (without being morbid) a bit more than when I was younger …being practical lol

From my point of view, you wasted time by not becoming a Canadian citizen while you had the opportunity.

Agreed. I moved at 22 and so glad I did, gave me enough time to figure things out, make some mistakes and still end up with a decent quality of life. That being said the cost of living and housing costs make Canada a less enticing option for young people today, but I am hopeful things will improve.

True!

Agreed!
The cost of food and medicine in Canada is far far higher than theUSA.

A decent 3 bed house in Vancouver BC is no less than $1.5 million C$. The same house in a Seattle suburb is only around $500000 US$.

Yeah, BC is expensive, but there are other parts of Canada. I got that decent 3 bedroom house on a 33k square foot property for a fraction of that in Quebec.

interesting story, though. i got that same call of the west from growing up in Norway watching western movies. I never had any big desire to move to either Canada nor the USA however, my thing was that I wanted to drive coast to coast in the USA one day. Then one day while at University of Oslo, I walked over to an American exchange student i had briefly been introduced to a day or two earlier and uttered the lamest pick-up line ever: "Can I practice speaking English with you?" All I really wanted was to practice my English, but next thing you know I had my engineering degree and was moving to New York to marry the girl. The things we do for our women, right? Flash forward 30 years, and I am managing an IT support team for a French bank in New York, living in New Jersey, I am a US citizen by this point. Management decides to move my team to Montreal, and asks me to move up there to set it up and run it from there. My wife and I had talked about getting out of New Jersey for a while, so we took the opportunity. Only downside was that while most of Canada speaks English, Quebec where we were going, do not. Oh well, can't have them all, right? Besides, how hard can French be, anyway? Don't get me started on that one.... :-) It will be 10 years since the move in January.. i got my French up to the level required for a Quebec Selection certificate, and we received our PR during the pandemic. Starting to think about Canadian citizenship next, after that I will apply to get my Norwegian citizenship back since Norway allow multiple citizenships now and I lost it when applying for US citizenship.

No regrets on any of this. Would I do it again? It all kinda fell in my lap, but I would not change a thing.

And yes, I did get to take that coast to coast drive in the US. i have done it so many times I lost count, actually.

I don't think you have wasted your life doing it at all.

I would love nothing more than to immigrate, however the wife won't leave her mum as she is now by herself.

I would move in heartbeat if I could, however I'm not getting any younger and at 42 realise I won't have long left to do it given the chance.

The mother-in-law couldn't come to Canada with you (unless she qualifies for a visa on her own merit of course), but there are other countries that would be much easier to move to with her. Somewhere like Portugal maybe?

interesting hearing the story of someone that’s so active in giving help and info on here.

Im 31 in November so time is against me but I’ve got the bit between my teeth. Desperately want to get out there but the more time goes on the less confident I feel that I’d ever get PR.

canadians are turning against immigration and the CG are scaling back on immigration because of the backlash from people fed up with large numbers of immigration not being met with infrastructural investment, that and people abusing the system etc.

fingers crossed though.