I thought I'd introduce myself as I've been lurking around here for a while.

My husband and I live in Derbyshire, having moved here from Southampton last summer. I'm a year 5 teacher and he works in education research. We're in the early(ish) stages of thinking about moving to Canada. We spent our honeymoon travelling around BC two years ago, and are going back this summer for a month in ON, AB and BC. Strangely, we'd both wanted to move to Canada for a while before we even met 5 years ago.

I've spent the last 2 years doing a lot of research on the ins and outs of emigrating... which brought me here!

The route we'd take is PR as skilled workers... however we haven't yet applied for one huge reason.... our wonderful house bunny, Toby. He's 3.5 years old and we've agreed to stay in the UK for his lifetime... he's the centre of our world, and we made a commitment when he became part of our family 3 years ago, so couldn't leave him. As house-bunnies can live until 12 it may be a while until we're in Canada. We've looked into pet-transit but I don't think we could put him through the stress...

Anyhow, that's us! Looking forward to getting to know people on the BE forums, and perhaps posting a bit after years of lurk-age!

Hi and welcome, hope you enjoy your holiday in the Summer. Good luck and best wishes!

Hello and welcome. Hope you have a good time in Canada and that Toby appreciates what you're postponing for him - he's a very loved rabbit obviously!! Just a quick word of warning though - don't forget that CIC can (and do) change things for skilled worker applications occasionally so that might be a consideration if you're close to the minimum points, just in case in two years time they suddenly up the requirement by 10 points or something!! Do bear it in mind, if you do postpone things for a few years as planned, the requirements may change for better or worse.

Yes, he is Who could've love a bunny this gorgeous

Thanks - that's a really good point. We're quite a bit over the minimum points, although if it were raised by 10 it'd make it pretty tight... I think we may apply in a year or so (so around 5 years from now until PR), and then take it from there...

If you apply now you will be lucky to get there is 5 years, the list is growing all the time. Don't forget that if you get your PR you don't have to move out immediately so that gives you some flexibility too.

If you are planning to get SW PR without arranged employment and want to go in 5 years or so. Apply NOW.

Hello Icklesarah and co. Welcome to BE

We waited to put in our application too - we had 5 cats and 2 young greyhounds (one extremely neurotic!). Now we're a little 'lighter' on the pet front we may be pet-free by the time it all goes through. I know what you mean, they're part of the family and when we get pets we make a lifelong committment to them.

At least it means there's plenty of time to up your points if you wanted to. I've been learning French and my OH decided he had time to do a degree!

My French is pretty good, but my husband did German all the way through school - so I've already started teaching him French!! (on his request)

I'm not sure if you're being serious or not, but either way there's a 5 year wait for Canadian PR Federal Skilled Workers. When you get it you can validate it and come back to the UK for a number of years (you will need to check this), so it might be worth applying right now. If you're serious about waiting 8.5 years for the rabbit to move on to heavenly pastures, then with the 5 year wait for visas you would be looking at arriving in Canada in 2021.

I mean.....

Just replied to your thread as i used to live in Derbyshire, am now in Oz.

Are you really thinking of putting your lives on hold for a wee rabbit? He's cute but i couldnt do that, i'd be thinking of my kids lives first & hubs... And before you say it, i did love our little maggie pussycat.. she was in the family 7 yrs, couldnt put her through it so my bro adopted her.... That not a goer? She pops on the webcam every now and then, but not a very good convo, just get a bit of MIOW & a flash of her bottom... kids like it though.

Good luck anyhow, hope you dont miss the boat.

S-j x

We feel that when adopting Toby we took on a commitment for the whole of his life and he's such an important part of our family. It's great that other people have been able to re-home their animals with someone lovely, but it's just not for us! he has several medical problems which we're used to dealing with.

We aren't putting our lives on hold... we're just thinking a bit into the future! We wouldn't be waiting until Toby was no longer with us to apply, just a year or two from now...

We don't have children yet, and are only in our mid/late 20s so are happy to stay in England for a bit long yet... it's just that the ultimate plan is to head Canada-wards.

Can I observe that emigrating to another country can be a challenging, emotionally fraught process. If your life revolves around a bunny to the degree that it will influence whether or not/when you emigrate, those challenges might be beyond you. Or to put it another way, read the tales of heartbreak and woe that are appear here regularly - families being split up, folk having trouble integrating, homesickness, unemployment etc etc and maybe that might give you a sense of perspective?

Ok, perhaps I should rephrase myself.... we are not 'delaying' applying for PR because of Toby, but are doing lots of research well in advance so that when we're ready to apply we know all the facts.

We don't detest living in the UK so are happy to be here for several years to come; we're not 'putting our lives on hold' but hope to end up in Canada around our mid-30s to raise our family there. Yes, planning a long time ahead, I know!

Just wanted to address the comment that my life 'revolves around a bunny' - when i said he was the 'centre of our world' perhaps I exaggerated a little!! Toby is a big part of our lives, but my husband and I both have busy full time jobs (i'm a teacher... so if anything, my life revolves around school!!), are renovating a house and have and lots of other stuff going on, including supporting my elderly grandmother whom we moved 200 miles to live near last summer. When we got Toby (3 years ago) Canada was part of our plans, but we still know that it's a while in the future - we're happy staying where we are for now, for various reasons.

I am fully aware that the path to immigration, and the aftermath of moving, is no walk in the park. However, I don't think the fact we're taking our rabbit into account in our life plans is anything to be ashamed of! We have done a lot of research over the past few years to prepare ourselves the best we can before going through everything. I was in no way saying we are in a horribly difficult situation compared to anyone... I know we're very lucky to be happy in our jobs here and able to wait to emigrate. I know the situation regarding points/waiting times may change.... but we're fully aware of this fact.

I know we're a waaaaay further back in the process compared to everyone here - I just came here to find out more from people who are going through PR application, and living in Canada now.

Anyhow, I only came here to introduce myself... not to start a debate. I fully accept that different things work for different people - this way works for us!

Welcome to BE icklesarah - I think you jumped in at the deep end! You'll find some people on here are not too sensitive and others quite happy to speak their mind so be prepared. Most are, however, very helpful so good luck with your future plans. My OH came from Derbyshire and most of his family are still there.
Toby looks beautiful and I can see why you are so attached to him. We came over in May with 2 dogs and they love Canada (well one loves Canada the second sadly died earlier this year - he was 16 so he had a very happy end to his days and we were so glad we brought him). If things move faster than you at first thought, Canada is a great place for bunnies too. Good luck.

OK I have to ask.....whats a house bunny when its at home? Does he have the run of the house or in a cage in your house? We had some kind of bunnies when the kids were small and we kept them in the garage.....they stunk! So I am curious to find out what a house bunny is.

This has to be a wind up?