help!! do i move to canada
 

Hi
Me and my family are looking too move to Canada but we are not
Sure were? We are wanting some were that is child friendly and has
A very low crime rate?
We have two young children so are wanting to best school for them.
Also needs to have jobs available around the area.thanks

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Have you ever been before? If so, where did you go and what did you like about it? If you haven't, why do you think Canada is for you?

What do you like doing? What is important to you?

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Are you moving from an English speaking country ?

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

No I have never been before but my mother in law has, I have never heard a bad thing about Canada it looks such an amazing place, my partner is an emergency care assistant here in the UK and thinks his skills are transferable to the Canadian industry, as for places to live Ontario has taken our fancy

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Yes I'm in the UK small phone small keypad sorry!

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Welcome to BE! You might need to help us a little more to help you.

Ontario is around 4 times the size of the UK. It's also hugely varied - from the Hamilton-Toronto conurbation in the south (pop. 6.5 million) to the remote Northern communities not accessible by road, and pretty much everything else in between. What is it about Ontario that has taken your fancy? What is it that attracts you to Canada? Do you have a realistic prospect of being granted a visa - and if so, under what category?

The best first advice is usually to make yourself a cup of tea, sit down in front of a browser, and look through the Wiki on this site (accessible via a link on the blue bar at the top of the page). It is a goldmine of useful information: if you can't find an answer to a specific question, by all means come back and ask, but the more specific your question the more helpful our answers are likely to be.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Too many questions that need answers before anyone on this board can give sensible advice.

1. What makes you think you are eligible to migrate to Canada? What research have you done on immigration pathways?
2. What skills do you have? Are they transferable to a Canadian context? What qualifications and work experience do you have?
3. Are you a risk-taker, or risk-averse?
4. What makes you think the grass on this side is greener?

Read the Wiki (blue bar at the top), have a think about the whys and wherefores. This should help you frame questions that can be answered by those with experience. Canada is a huge, sparsely populated country with massive variations in living standards and employment prospects across its Provinces.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Ontario has one of the lowest crime rates from what I've read, we have been sat in front of a browser for a week weighing up the decision, im pretty sure my partners skills are transferable he is a fully qualified medic motor mechanic and welder.

He took a quick points checker and he had 170 points but that was with a job offer, but how likely is it that an employer in Canada would employer a British citizen still living in Canada? And as for what makes you think the grass is greener? Everyone in this country wants something for free and the country's being run into the ground

Thanks for your replys

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Have you considered the North West coast of British Columbia?

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Do you mean he is a mechanic working on ambulances?.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Compared to where? Just playing devils advocate, but Canada has more murders per capita than the UK does. If you're after a crime free utopia, then I don't think you'll find that anywhere in the world sadly.

So you've looked at the Skilled worker program? But regardless of how many points he had (it's not possible to get 170 so I assume that's a typo!), there's not much point focusing on it just yet, as your partners jobs aren't on the list of eligible occupations for that visa - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigra...pand=jobs#jobs So if that's the route you want to use to get PR, you'd need to go over on a Temp Work Permit first, so maybe research that visa too?

Your comments about the reasons you think the grass is greener made me smile. I would strongly suggest you visit Canada before spending tens of thousands of pounds on moving your family there. Far better to move for the love of a country, rather than the perceived negatives of the one you've left behind, as unfortunately the same problems are everywhere.

Best of luck with it all.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Have you checked out costs of housing, taxes, healthcare and a million other things, you would be leaving, and losing all the UK benefits you currently get. Canada gets a fair bit colder than the UK, and for a lot longer each year.Travel programmes, on-line adverts for areas in Canada are all slanted to give a rosy picture, they want you to visit, the reality might well be a lot different. If you are people wo like British foods, then you can find them there, but quite expensive, read some of the threads in 'The Maple Leaf', in fact read a lot of the threads on the Canada forum, you will find both positive and negative reports about life there. Read them and see what you fell afterwards. It isn't cheap moving a family to Canada, think in terms of tens of thousands of pounds.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

But he may qualify under the Federal Skilled Worker Trades, as Welder is on the list. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigra...plications.asp

If he didn't mind going to Alberta, he could get a temporary work permit without the need for a Labour Market Opinion if he can get a job offer and/or become certified (welder). http://www.albertacanada.com/files/a...steam-pipe.pdf

:)

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Yes, I realise that but the OP specifically mentioned points so was talking about the FSW prog, hence why I pointed out that he's not eligible for it at the moment! There no point in her wasting time on researching a visa that isn't for them, hopefully she would have done more research and found the ones he is eligible for.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Sorry he got 87 points on the points grid, he is a trained medic he drives and takes care of patients and classed as a first responder and an ECA (emergency care assistant) but he trained as a mechanic when he left school and did 5 years as an apprentice welder.

I kind of figured Canada wasn't a utopia for crime but 40 times the size of the UK with half the population there's bound to be a higher crime rate somewhere per person. I don't know what it is but we just feel this is what We need to do

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Okay, so he's definitely not eligible for the skilled worker visa until he's there working on a TWP. Has he actually worked as a welder before? If not then he's not eligible for either of the visa routes that Siouxie mentioned above either, and would almost definitely need a job offer to get a visa.

But it's not like the population of Ontario is spread out over that huge area - the vast majority of Ontario is uninhabited! Nobody is saying that you shouldn't move to Canada, just that you should make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. You might find that a move to Shropshire would achieve what you are looking for without costing the same amount of money and without taking you away from the familiarity of the UK and your family/friends. We just playing devil's advocate! Whereabouts in the UK are you now?

In any event, as said above, there is no point spending so much of your hard earned savings on moving your family to somewhere you've never even visited, so really that needs to be your first step. If your partner does need a job offer to get a Visa, then you can hopefully job hunt whilst you're there on your recce trip. The wiki has lots of useful information about how to job hunt in Canada.

Best of luck to you.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

In a nutshell - Canada offers many things that you can't get easily in the UK (space, quality of life, more diversity, etc etc) but that's a very personal perspective. My opinion/experience will not be the same.

If you've never been then its worth saving some £s up and doing a big trip to visit some of the places that you've been looking at online and see how it compares in person.

The reality is that the transition can be easy logistically if you've got your ducks in a row, but there's no way to anticipate the emotional impact. This kind of move is massive which is why everyone has posted to make sure you're not looking with rose-tinted glasses b/c life in the UK is especially harsh (at least that's what we're experiencing - too crowded, too expensive etc - we're leaving to head to Ottawa in a few weeks). People have moved and loved it, best decision etc -and others have moved and hated it, regretted it and moved back. All you can do is prep as much as you can, research as much as you can, visit the places you're interested in, and try and manage expectations.

As many people said above - read the wiki, read the Maple Leaf threads - read other people's experiences, there are inspiring stories and ones that give pause. And trust your instincts. If you upped sticks and moved to Canada and hated it then you can always leave - an expensive decision but there's always that. You may also move and love it and never look back :)

Good luck!

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Amy as a critical care paramedic looking into moving to Canada I dont think that your chap would be able to use the ECA qualification as something to count on job wise. The canadian ambulance service is ahead of the UK ambulance service and very differently set up so its not easy as applying for a job as it is here in the UK.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Something I was going to say, his ECA qualifications are unlikely to translate to anything in Canada, and you need to check that his other qualifications are also acceptable, you comment he did 5 years as an apprentice welder, but did he qualify, otherwise that's not worth anything.
An ECA qualification is, AFAIK, a First aid qualification, with a few additional bits, and a first responder gets there quicker than the ambulance and gives first aid treatment until the qualified paramedics arrive to take over.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

My personal perspective is that those things can easily be found in the UK, although maybe not all in the same place! My quality of life in the UK could not be bettered (unless I win the lottery of course), and in my rural corner of England I have days where the only living creatures I see are the deer/ guinea fowl/ partridges in the fields around us! Not much diversity though, for that I'd need to live in a city (shudder).

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

So basically his medical experience does not count toward anything? He is qualified as a welder to advanced diploma level 3 and mechanics level 2. He spent 2 years mending chainsaws and he figured with canada being a logging country that there might be an opportunity.

I can see why your questioning this so hard it is a very big move. This was something we decided together but were thinking seperately if you understand? We both feel canada has something to offer us but reading the threads its hard! People un employed for 18 months at a time, we wouldnt be able to manage financially. He has applied for jobs already this past week but we doubt anything will come back.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

haha - see! that's what I mean ... its all a matter of personal perspective :)

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

More diversity? Of what.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

As is the case over here Amy and ECA is not recognised as a registered health professional as you know they ECA role was to assist the paramedic and give basic first aid.

Not that I know anything about welding etc but would assume that would be your best route?

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

So he has worked as a welder for 2 years? That might be your best way to get a visa, how long ago was it?

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

She seems in a state of flux about it all. I suggest she solders on.


:o :getcoat:

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Predominantly landscape (BIG country with loads of different geography), things to do that aren't limited to city-life (bear in mind I live in London), I find England very same-same (and yes I've been all over) and too crowded and small ... I'm not new to Canada btw, lived in Calgary for 15 yrs. And without question I prefer Canada to the UK for lifestyle, opportunity to try different things, space (!).
Yes, alot of the day-to-day is just the same stuff different country/city I'm under no illusions having lived all over the world - but my vote is definitely for Canada. I'm personally looking forward to discovering Ontario having had very little exposure to it - and heading east having only explored Western Canada previously.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

Well, yes, the landscape differs over the width of Canada. That's 3,000 miles, almost as far as London to Addis Ababa. The landscape differs between London and Africa too.

The difference being that, if you're in London, you can use some holiday days and jump on a cheap flight to mountains, deserts, topless beaches. If you're in Brampton you don't have holidays and there aren't cheap flights so you're left looking at the flatness.

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

http://www.voyageurtransportation.ca...ngs/?career=74

This might help

Re: help!! do i move to canada
 

:lol: