Hi Everyone, and apologies for the multiple questions in this thread.

I'm contemplating proposing to my better half who lives in Vancouver, Canada. Can anyone help with what we would need to do with regards to engagement rings? Realistically I'd like to buy the ring in London (where i'm based) and give it to her when she's here at christmas, but am i right in thinking she would need to pay tax when she takes it back to Canada? If so what sort of rates are we looking at? I assume if the goods are leaving the UK, then I should be able to claim the VAT back right??

Secondly we've not decided who's best placed to move. She is a litigator for a large law firm in Vancouver, whilst I'm a structural engineer. Am I right in thinking it is probably easier for me to leave the UK and work in BC as a structural engineer, rather than for her to come to london, and start her career from scratch?

Thirdly - Does anyone know about engineers working in BC? I know to sign off drawings etc you have to be professionally licensed which for me means passing the MIStructE exam in the UK, as there is a mutual recognition between BC and the UK. Can anyone recommend medium sized consultancies who may be worth approaching?

Any help on anything above would be helpful...

Thanks in advance D.

Hi David,

I am also a structural engineer, now living in Alberta, married to a Canadian girl! Welcome to the forum.

Engagement ring - arguably the engagement ring belongs to you, not her, so you pay tax on it in the UK and she doesn't need to declare it as it is "on loan" to her... Once you are married, and you have residency, you could declare it then on your good accompanying list, and not worry about the tax! The other way of looking at it would be that if she pays tax when she returns to Canada, you can get your VAT refunded. That probably means a net refund of tax. For the record, we never declared my wife's engagement ring, so never paid any tax in Canada on it.

Once you have your Permanent Residency, I cannot see you having a problem getting a job over here. Be prepared to maybe take a salary drop for a year or two before you get the one year of Canada experience required for your P.Eng., but after that nothing should hold you back. Your degree should be transferable, and assuming you have a Masters, as is common in UK engineering courses, you will have a head start on most of the grads here who just have Bachelors.

BC is a little different from the rest of Canada on the licensing front, as they have a special StructEng designation. If you can complete the IStructE exam before you come, then do, it will make life much, much simpler for you. If you were planning on working anywhere other than Vancouver, it wouldn't matter (I have my P.Eng. without having done any technical exams), but it sounds like it would be to your benefit to have it. As mentioned above, you need one year in Canada before you can become a P.Eng., but the time flies by in your first year of marriage anyway!

Can't recommend any consultancies - there are a wide range out there, depends whether you want buildings or bridges, and quite what size you mean by medium - there are national companies, provincial ones and local ones...

Feel free to ask any other questions, either here or PM!

Good luck!

Andy

Hi Andy, and thanks for the replies.

I'll have to do some digging around, as she's a lawyer, she must do everything by the book in her own mind. I know most people wouldn't declare an engagement ring, but I'd rather have all the information in hand before popping the question... as i'd hate for her to get lumbered with a tax bill upon arriving back to Canada.

Hopefully I'm sitting the MIStructE exam in January, so fingers crossed its a pass second time around... With regards to P.Eng status, are there any references you could point me to, in terms of things I need to be aware of? Is this technically based, or more encompassing of ethics, working practices etc.
Also do schemes like NHBC/ Building regulations apply out there??

On consultancies - I've worked for a small consultancy in London for almost 7 years since graduating. I've worked on projects from single storey rear extensions to the new courts at wimbledon tennis club (sadly i missed the retractable roof, but its for the same firm behind that). I'm experienced in the 4 major material groups so i'd hope that whilst the codes of practice are different, there's not too much I should find challenging. I'm currently practicing as a senior engineer at the moment, so overseeing the less experienced guys. I suppose i'm looking to find a firm that is established, but works on a wide range of projects and across varying sectors... If you've got any firms in mind that may be worth checking out i'd be more than interested to hear about them... in my own mind a medium sized firm would be anything from 30-100 employees in one office... above that we're getting into Arups/ AECOM territory, and i really don't want to be a cog in a machine (not yet anyway).

How did you find the switch in codes of practice? Are there any major differences? Can you recommend any good text books that would be worth looking at? Also how do you find working out there in comparison to the UK?

Thanks

David.

Hopefully someone will pop up with a response about the tax question then - JonBoyE is usually the guy for those...

The P.Eng. is based on having 4 years of experience, 1 year of which is in Canada. You will also have to do an exam on ethics and professional conduct. In Alberta this was multiple choice, and I have not yet come across anyone with English as a first language who has failed this exam having read through the material at least once. I don't know if BC has the multiple choice or short answer essay questions, but either way this is nothing to worry about, and once you are over here and have applied to APEGBC for provisional status, you can get the info and do the exam then (I moved over in October and applied to APEGA straight away, did the exam that January, got provisional status in April, applied for P.Eng. in October and got my stamp in November).

The building codes and design standards here are very similar to the BS / Eurocodes - it is still limit state design, though some of the factors are different, and so it is more just a question of learning the local ways of doing things, rather than relearning lots of stuff (physics is still the same, after all!). For example, I used to do a lot of work with composite floors, but here they barely touch them because they don't have the equipment for it. Your biggest learning curve will be the significant seismic stuff in BC, so maybe read up on that. I can't make many book suggestions on that though, because seismic over this side of the Rockies is almost insignificant... My steepest learning curve was wood design, because I hadn't touched it in the UK, and here it is the go-to material.

The major difference is that there is a very personal involvement with each project here - the design engineer stamps his or her work to verify its authenticity, and that stamp has their name on it. In Alberta, and I believe BC, there are also schedules for each building that engineers and architect sign to certify that the building has been designed to the code, and that he or she has completed field reviews to verify the work that has been done on site. Oh, and also most of the work here is done in imperial, so start memorizing conversion factors.... 3.28, 20.8854, 14.5939, 4.44822......

As I said earlier, you might have to accept a drop in pay and status until you get your P.Eng. Chances are here if you are supervising people, a number of them would be Engineer-in-Training's (EITs), and so their supervisor would need to stamp their work for them, having properly reviewed it. I moved with four years post-graduation experience, so it wasn't a big deal for me to take a Junior Engineer role for the first year or so, and then I got my stamp and got promoted to Intermediate. I worked for one of the big national firms for the first three years, but a year ago this weekend moved over to a small local firm, which is working out much better for me, both professionally and financially... I was very fortunate in that my UK company allowed me to work remotely for them (part-time) for a few months between getting married and getting my residency, and during that time I lined up my job so that I started work 4 days after I landed. If you can swing something similar, being present in Vancouver would probably be your best bet to find a job. Unfortunately I do not know the Vancouver market at all, so cannot really help you there.

If she is in the UK for 7 days she can bring $800 worth of goods back into Canada without paying tax/duty. So be cheap. Problem solved!

It's like he hears his name....

Alternative plan - buy it from a Canadian company and get it shipped to her address, tell her to bring it with her without opening it, and then all the taxes will be paid in Canada plus you'll be able to tease her about it! Win-Win!

Except then she would be potentially liable for duty in the UK and they are likely to ask her to open it!

Oh good grief, bring her to London, propose, give her the ring. (Or take her to Hatton Gardens to choose it herself, thats what I did). Do the neccessary paperwork for a VAT reclaim for her to process on her way back to Van. When she get's on the plane, put the ring on her finger and lose the box. Sorted.

(Substitute St Johns for Van & that's pretty much what I did 12 years ago with the now Mrs AX)

Please tell me you're not thinking of volunteering to pay duty on a ring your fiancee will be wearing? What do you realistically think the chances are of a customs officer stopping a woman in Vancouver airport arriving from London and asking her for the receipt for a ring she is wearing?

+1 for Atlantic Xpat's advice, then do spousal sponsorship, outland. Spreadsheet showing timelines is in my signature!

Er ... rule 3?

Ummm... I don't think a link to a spreadsheet about spousal sponsorship timelines really comes under that one!



3. Links to Inappropriate Content
Links to adult content, pages with links to adult content, near adult content, warez, hate sites or messages describing anything against the law is not allowed and will be removed.

I'm guessing he's referring more to the whole tax-dodging suggestion... There's a definite grey area over which country you should be paying tax in, but not paying it at all is slightly more black and white...

He quoted Site rule 3 though, without any reference to which post he was indicating; the only post with a link was Schnookolollys (or my signature, but mine is quite safe too, lol).

Siouxie, I do think your website is particularly suspect... *shifty eyes*