Emma H

Hello,
I am new to this site and I hope you are able to assist me as I am so stressed and almost in tears.
We are a family of 4 mum, dad and two children age 2 and 7 and have decided that we want to move to Toronto Canada for a better quality of life and to be honest totally fed up of the UK.
A friend forwarded me the link to Global Visas I spoke to a lovely chap called Max and the services sounds excellent as they assist you with everything including linking you up with interviews, forwarding you job vacancies as well as applying for work permits and sorting out bank accounts etc.
I have spoken to them a few times and I’ve been totally impressed with the service. Global Visas charge a total of £2400. I was about to make a payment today and thought before I make a payment I should read reviews on the company Well I was so shock to read so many bad reviews and lost heart.
I am not sure were to start as I was informed that we needed to secure a job offer than apply for a working visas.
I have been working in the housing sector as a senior manager for over 8 years working with vulnerable client groups as well as general clients in social housing.
My husband works in a similar Area and we would like to stay in this sector when we move over to Toronto. However we have transferable skills and willing to try new things. If I want to start the process myself where should I start contacting recruitment agencies, social housing and support companies? Does anyone have any good contacts or websites?
I am really grateful for all the advice many thanks in advance.

Piff Poff

Best thing to do is get a cuppa and sit and read through the Wiki. You really don't need to pay anyone to help you with your application unless its really complicated. Now you have found this site your going to get almost every question you can think of asked, along with banter along the way.

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

Why Toronto specifically, do you have family there? Or have you just visited and loved it? When you say 'better qualify of life', what is it that you're after?

That's a ridiculous amount of money. Under Canadian law, they are not allowed to charge you anything for helping you to find work, so essentially they're proposing to charge you £2400 for filling in a 2 or 3 page form for a Temp Work Permit?!? And given that you can get the TWP at the airport when you arrive, it's not even a form that you need to complete.

If you want to go to Toronto, then yes, it sounds like you will require a job offer and LMO to get a Temp Work Permit. Have you explored all of the other options though i.e. straight to PR (not sure if either of you have the relevant experience as a FSW?), study permit, any family in Canada, investment etc?

If a job offer is your only option then have a look at the Job Hunting section of the Wiki which has loads of info and helpful websites for you to start your search - but realistically to stand the best chance of finding a job offer from an employer prepared to go through the paperwork/hassle/wait of hiring you over a Canadian, you need to get out there and meet people face to face. Have you any holidays there planned? If so, use that time to network and job hunt too.

HTH a little bit. Don't give up just because Global Visas aren't great, you can do it yourself and if you do want to use a consultant, there are regularly recommended ones that you can find on the forum.

Best of luck.

magnumpi

As above

They can't find you a job you will have to do that.

There is no quick fix to moving a family to Canada, be ready for a lot of hard work searching, collating, form filling and writing.

DandNHill

Welcome to the forum.

We can all help...you don't need to pay vast amounts of money. But the first step is to network...
This might be of use to you...https://charityvillage.com/jobs/sear...jws=&searchId=

Emma H

Thanks for such swift and useful replies:
Piff Poff: I am getting my self a cuppa and will read through Wiki and my application should be straight forward as I am British and we all hold British passports with no convictions.
christmasoompa: I visited Toronto a couple of years back and totally loved it. We do not have family there and was planning to live on the outskirts. However we are planning a family holiday in July for 4 weeks to check out other places /states. Any suggestions? We are looking for a family friendly neighborhood with cultural diversity that has employment in our sector of work or similar and good schools. Speaking to Max at Global visas he suggested Toronto for work? We honestly don’t mind what state as long as it has the above…. Well that’s why we are visiting in July for a long period. Sorry what do you mean by PR personal recruiting ? and FSW. Well now that I will not be using GV I need to do more research. I was advised that without family and investment my only way in would be through a solid employment offer?
DandNHill: thanks I have starting making note of some useful contacts through you link and will be sending them my CV and covering letter.

Emma H

Thanks for such swift and useful replies:
Piff Poff: I am getting my self a cuppa and will read through Wiki and my application should be straight forward as I am British and we all hold British passports with no convictions.
christmasoompa: I visited Toronto a couple of years back and totally loved it. We do not have family there and was planning to live on the outskirts. However we are planning a family holiday in July for 4 weeks to check out other places /states. Any suggestions? We are looking for a family friendly neighborhood with cultural diversity that has employment in our sector of work or similar and good schools. Speaking to Max at Global visas he suggested Toronto for work? We honestly don’t mind what state as long as it has the above…. Well that’s why we are visiting in July for a long period. Sorry what do you mean by PR personal recruiting ? and FSW. Well now that I will not be using GV I need to do more research. I was advised that without family and investment my only way in would be through employment offer?
DandNHill: thanks I have starting making note of some useful contacts through you link and will be sending them my CV and covering letter.

Zoe Bell

Take a good read of the section on how to produce a Canadian style resume rather than a cv
Big difference when you are job hunting over here

Emma H

Zoe, thanks

DandNHill

Yes. Def worth adapting it. Simple things like spell checking it Canadian style will help...my resume hasn't changed tbh since I was in the UK. It seems to get the interest I need although my case is a bit different because of my location...

Emma H

DandNHill where is your location?...

Emma H

What is lacombe , Alberta like for families and employment? it seems to have high ratings...?

Emma H

What is lacombe , Alberta like for families and employment? it seems to have high ratings...?

Dorothy

Just an FYI...Canada has Provinces, not States.

You mentioned a better life. Can you elaborate on what you think will be better in a country you don't know much about? I'm not trying to be argumentative here, but the reality is that Canada (or any other first world country) will have the same problems you see in UK. There are drugs, gangs, crime, etc.

Mikeypm

As a lot of posters say on here Canada is not better its just different. The grass is not always greener so think hard about the reasons why you want to move. One of the main motivators for myself and my OH moving is we have family in Canada.