I'm interested to know how many brave people there are out there? How many people move out to Canada without actually having stepped a foot in the country before? I havent been to Canada for 11 year so its probably a different place now. I was just talking to a girl that moved from France to nz the other day and she has never come here before.

I came here to Ottawa in 1963 without a previous visit. Main reason was that a job offer came out of the blue and within 5 months we had arrived.

The company, (Computing Devices of Canada) paid all expenses and I knew enough about Canada to make a decision plus life in the UK at that time was still suffering from post war problems, mainly housing.

There were no cheap flights at that time so checking out Ottawa was not on the cards. Most people I know at that time did it this way.

Best move I ever made and I finally retired from that same company, ( had changed to General Dynamics Canada) in 1992. Only been back twice and have no regrets.

We (me and my partner) are planning to move to Canada to live/work without ever visitng before!

Well thats the plan, once my partners TRP comes through... lol

I did, in March 1969.
I didn't have a clue what I was getting into but someone wanted my skills very badly it seemed. They did all the paperwork and the whole thing took about 10 weeks from start to finish. I have no idea what "stream" I came with but the nice man at Montreal airport stapled a yellow cardboard thing in my passport which said "Landed Immigrant". I still have it somewhere.
I landed with $183 and a suitcase.
I don't regret it for one moment. I have never had any desire to return to the UK to live although I have visited many times over the years.
In those days there was no easy way to communicate with the UK except by mail, telegram (who remembers those ?) or 'phone at a pound a minute which was prohibitively expensive for me. I think a good average wage in the UK then was 20 pounds a week or 1,000 a year ! I used to send cassette tapes to my folks every week and they would do the same. How things have changed.
It's all worked out well for me and, as I said, I have no regrets.
Good luck to all those who make the move.

Me. Very few of the people who moved at that time have stuck it out as long as I have.

We did visit first, but only for a few days. To be honest, we didn't really learn much of any use in that time looking back anyway, just some 'wows' and touristy stuff really. To me, it takes weeks or even months to actually get enough of an idea about a place in that regard, so unless you need to go to interviews, it's up to you whether it's really that useful.

Only one of the families that came over with us in 1963 went back and they returned after a year because one of the kids hated it so much. That was in 1969.

I think the main reason most stayed was due to not returning for visits. In those days it was too expensive for a family. We just made Canada our home and the old one is just a distant memory. Most of our good memories are here.

I also want to move to Canada, but I'm visiting next month

I relocated without having been to Canada previously. I had visited the US, and my parents had visited Canada a few times before and said it was a nice place, so I presumed it was somewhat similar to the US.

A few advantages I had were very minimal things to move, and also, as it was due to an intra-company transfer, if I had not liked Canada I could have moved back to the UK and kept my job, so that was a rather large safety net to say the least.

Dh and I went to van in 2009 and can't wait to get back! The kids stayed with grandma here and my 9yo's main objection is I'm dragging her off to a country she has never even seen!
We did a full scale informed recce, checking out rentals, schools, areas, acouple of interviews for dh and we made a friend so we have at least one lol!
We also did some touristy stuff, and had some great things to show the kids about what we could do in Canada. Sure there is still the school run, but 70% of our lives probably won't change that drastically, justnicer weather for our barbie, more room to roam, and for dh a feeling of being valued at wOrk, which is sadly lacking in the uk.

I think with £300 return flights it's a big chance not visiting before you move but I'm a Planner type, I love to plan and need to know with a move this big what I'm getting into! I have the kids to consider after all!

I did. My husband is Canadian, but he'd been in the UK for 30 years and only gone back once in that time. I was going to accompany him, but I got sick and missed the trip. So, when I came with him in 2006, I'd never been to Canada before. I'd never even visited North America.

Me too. We arrived in 1982 without ever having been here before. Still here (although not for all that much longer).

1982 that was the last time I returned for a 1 week visit. Enough time to see my old Mum for the last time and came home to Ottawa. Things had only got worse since my last visit in 1972.

Hi,
Husband, I and the 3 kids, sold up and came here on a whim without ever visiting Canada in June 2010.
No regrets

When I moved to Hong Kong in 2000 I had never been further from the UK than Turkey before I got on the plane - didn't occur to me to go and check it out first - we would have done the same thing coming here if it wasnt for our young child and luckily the company paid for a recce this time.