J-A-UK

Hi folks - Came across this site in desperation.... Trying to find if it is in fact legal for the Manitoba Government to actually retain the deposit or not.

We have been screwed!! Having taken 3 and a half years being processed on the PNP we eventually had to "sell" our house in the UK - But in real terms we gave it away, along with most of our posessions. We had 8 months from the day our visas arrived to the day they would expire. In that 8 months we lost in the region of $190,000 on the house price and exchange rate.

We eventually had to fly to Canada before our visas expired and without having sold the house. We then watched the computer every morning as the exchange rate dropped - We lost a further $60,000 just on the exchange rate alone in 2 months.

And what a friggin nightmare it is to sort out the most basic requirements like a car when as far as Autopac is concerned... We don't exist! Eventually we got it all sorted. But boy did we receive daily conflicting advise.

But hey = Look on the bright side, the house is now sold, we have a house and a car here. We've got a credit card too (now we've bought one!!!!!!!) We had to pay for a credit card even tho the government have $75,0000 of our money and they've already had it for 2 years. Why - because we simply don't exist.

We cannot get jobs, our experience and qualifications account for sweet FA. Our deposit agreement says we will open a child care facility within 2 years..... Yeah right to get the relavent ECE documents required I have to go full time to college for 2 years to learn what I have been doing for 13 years.

But hey, that's ok John has been a class 1 driver for 15 years has the hazadous license too for everything from Explosives, gas, flammables the lot!!! Oh no he hasn't - he hasn't even got a truck license under Manitoba regulations and we have also found that even if he re took his license here the chances of being offered work is remote as the employers "who are screaming out for truckers" wont take him on without at least 1 and in most cases 2 years Canadian / US experience.

Last Friday, having been here for 2 months we were ready to drive to the airport, park the car and fly back to the UK......

What the f88k have we done???? We are at the end of the line with this but desperate to make it work..... HOW IS IT DONE??

dakota44

Definitely sorry to hear about your troubles. Have you checked regulations for employment in other Provinces?

Zap0ne

Just an idea, when I came here I found that breaking into the first job a bit of a nightmare too. I changed my approach as I was starting to feel like a job begger. What about going and seeing a few of these companies and asking if you can tag along and work (sort of intern/volunteer) with a driver to get some feel for the job etc. in Canada. Not many turn down free labour. Once you show that you know your stuff it will make it a bit easier to get a real job. I had to jump around a few jobs at first to get into something a bit real.

Good luck

Biiiiink

Wow, that doesn't sound like fun. We had it easy setting up life in Winnipeg, but I think we maybe knew more about what had to be done with regard to converting qualifications, etc. That must be a nasty shock to find that out after you've arrived here and not before

Do you have an advisor at the PNP office? Are you getting any help from them?

Also check out the Trucking subforum - there are a few truckers who post from Manitoba and they might have some potential contacts for your husband.

Almost Canadian

Sounds to me like you are blaming everyone but yourselves for the fact you didn't research the situation sufficiently before going for it.

How is the exchange rate, the fact your house didn't sell and the fact John is experienced enough to be considered by Canadian employers the fact of the Government of Manitoba

Sorry to sould harsh but that is how I see it.

Here's hoping you achieve whatever it is you are looking for

J-A-UK

Yup - Sounds harsh!! The situation we find ourselves in is a set of consequences..... It has nothing to do with us not researching, we were here in 2003 and 2005 doing just that. We were told by our PNP guy, and we are still being told by some departments that my child care qualifcations are transferable. But they are not. We have had soooo much conflicting advise it's unreal.

Only yesterday we were at a large meeting (for Canadians in child care) where the hosts were asking questions of each other and replying to questions "Well I should think it'll be alright"

For sure many people slip right in and have no problems, good luck to you for sure. But there are many in the same boat as us, being let down in a big way by the system.

Sitting on our butts for 3 years not being able to know where we are at in the system and then suddendly given 8 months to be here. Or the visa expires!

My thread is a "warning" to those who are contemplating this massive step - It aint all plain sailing.

Happy_Feet

Not that I am an expert and I DO NOT know your circumstances but I'm confused as to why your hubby cannot get a job as a long haul truck driver in Manitoba?

There is many trucking companies in the area looking for drivers, take BIG FREIGHT ( http://www.bigfreight.com/ ) for example, they actively seek UK drivers, even have a section on the website for UK recruitment, and even hold interviews in the UK, did you not realise this while in the UK? Your hubby could have had a job organised before you left the UK quite easily.

All the info is easily found within this forum, that's where we found it, it's common knowleage that you need to retake your class 1 in Canada, every area is the same, did you not research this before moving to Canada?

Anyway, now that you have yourselves in a situation, get hubby onto Big Freight or any of the other companies in the area that do employ UK drivers, they are there, here is a link to all the trucking companies in your area...
http://www.trucking.mb.ca/online.htm

Good luck and it is possible

Judy in Calgary

Thank you for posting your account. I believe you've provided a valuable service in warning other forum members that things can go pear shaped.

It ticks me off the way some government officials -- at the federal, provincial and municipal levels -- provide wrong information.

Since I've belonged to this forum, I've experienced it myself. Mind you the consequences were much more minor, and didn't actually affect me.

On three different occasions, I phoned the department of the Calgary Board of Education that is responsible for enrolling children who have newly arrived in Calgary. Somewhere along the way, I also phoned an individual school. The purpose of my phone calls was to find out if the children of temporary work permit holders needed to have study permits or if they automatically were entitled to register with the school system. Four different people all told me that the children of work permit holders automatically were entitled to schooling, and they did not have to have study permits.

Some time after I'd posted my findings on the forum, we heard of a British family in Calgary whose children were denied schooling until they obtained study permits.

We've seen other instances in which government officials have provided people with erroneous information.

Now admittedly the example that I provided wasn't as serious as the setbacks you've experienced. But what I'm saying is that I've experienced enough sloppy advice from government officials to be able to confirm your contention that the Canadian government is less than 100% reliable.

The business about your house and the exchange rate wasn't the fault of the Canadian government. Yet these are things that some people overlook during the early stages of their planning, while they're still wearing their rose coloured glasses. Some people are so starry eyed that nothing you can tell them gets through to them. However, to the extent that forum members will notice what you've said, I think you've provided them with a service by warning them.

From the posts that I've seen by British truckers on the forum, it seems to me that John has a decent chance of getting a trucking job. As other posters have said, I hope you'll take the matter up on the Trucking forum, as you may be able to get some useful advice there.

All the best in salvaging your plans.
x

Coffeepot

I hope you can salvage some of your sanity along with your money,
Houses are loosing value here at the moment,a friend has just reduced hers by £100,000 been on the market for a year now,
and its very hard to sell your house at least your new one should increase in value,
I know there are others on here that are returning due to sim circumstances especially the converting of qualifications and loss of money so you are not alone, not that thats any comfort, try and stay possative and stay away from the airport
We are here to help support you.

hope it all works out for you

J-A-UK

Hi - Thanks for your comments.... It's a long and involved story!! But John had really had enough of trucking, that was to be a fall back if we needed it and could still be I guess. Our gripe is with the "system". They say they are screaming out for this that and the other. They take your $75,000 deposit, in our case our commitment to set up a profitable day care and then don't recognise the qualification, the very qualification they got us here for. Yes we did loads of research, and still we are being told by some govenment departments that my child care qualifications can get me into any job!! We found a coloum in the daily paper recently that said "Call them skilled workers or nominees, that will apiese the natives. Let the immigrants in after all workers are taxes, now we have the most highly qualified taxi drivers, cleaners, and garbage men and women in the world" We can now see where that's come from - We will stick at it, but it's bloody hard, real hard

Judy in Calgary

A while ago, I wrote a Wiki article called MISTAKES. This was by way of a warning to people, to help them avoid erroneous assumptions that might waste time and money. I'm now going to add "Believing government officials" to that article. I hope it'll help other people in the future and help them to avoid the situation in which you are now.
x

Eve N

I don't have any advice, I just wanted to say good luck and I hope things get better very soon for you both,chin up!

YYZlover

2003 and 2005 was now 5 and 3 years ago. Things change. Your research didn't stop with those two trips. It continues the entire process through.

Welcome to the life of being an immigrant. This is very where. Heart surgeons driving subway trains or taxis.

And as for losing money on the house - well - as others said, that's not Manitoba's fault at all. It's how the market works. Win some - lose some.

wbexpat

Look yourself in the mirror.
Now read back this post in the most high-pitched, whiney voice you can find. Think about how it sounds. Think how attractive it is and how likely it is to solve your problems. Learn from it.

Now look yourself in the eye and say:
"I own this situation. My reality is no-one else's but mine. I control my destiny."

Now. Facts.

You have no control over housing markets or exchange rates. It's over.
You have no control over what has been said to you or actions that you have taken. That's over too.
You are both able-bodied, yes? With a roof over your heads.
You are not responsible for what other people do or say, only your own conduct.

OK, so we have a platform.

Here's what you do control.
Your budget.
Phone calls to local employers.
Finding out how much it costs to hire an ECE qualified individual.
Finding out whats required to get a Canadian HGV (or whatever) license.
Networking with other child-minder types.
A schedule of what you need to achieve by what date.
A plan of what to do if you have not achieved what you have set out to achieve by when.

Treat it like a job. "Pay" yourself $30 an hour and try and "earn" $1200 a week. If you spend 8 hours moaning that's $240 down the drain, right? Focus. This is what you do for a living now. You live in Canada.

For example.
Day 1 - get list of every haulage firm within 1 hour drive
Day 2 - re-write business plan with hired-in ECE qualified individual in the frame
Week 1 - work your contacts looking for ins to the above
Week 2 - make targeted approaches to everyone you can think of
(and so on).

Get a golden rule:
If within 120 days we dont have $x coming in, then we....
what? really. what?

You are where you are. It can either kill you or make you stronger.
And yes, I do speak from experience. Now every time I see my kids healthy, I'm like "pffft. So fskcing what".


I'm sorry it's a cr4ppy deal but life's full of cr4ppy deals. Good luck with it.

Positive attitude!!

Poppy2

*I* needed to read that, its easy to not see the wood for the trees sometimes, especially when you are struggling.

J-A-UK............sorry about how lousy this has all been, I would be totally let down and gutted too. We lived in New Zealand for the last 4 years and when we arrived there we were totally ripped off in a house sale, our house was gutted out and we had no support. I never totally got over that sense of anger and loss because we got totally shafted by the system. I think of this alot, how it coloured our experience in NZ and how we are now starting a new life in Canada.......after losing $125,000 in our house sale in NZ plans have been changed radically and money borrowed from PIL isnt getting repaid any time soon. But there are so many positives for us and I am determined to not let any problem (and thankfully, since touch down there havent been any) colour my view of what I hope will be my home for a long time. I hope you can withstand this and triumph over this. I am certain you can. Take a little time to be angry and then let it go, with positive action, start walking forward into your new life. Good things still can come, and will.