We plan to land in Calgary on Temp Work visa on 6th October then head on up to Lloyminster to start my new job.
We exchange contracts on the house tommorrow (fingers crossed).

Does anybody have any experiance of landing at Calgary and how long does it take?

Can anybody recomend a hotel to stay at near Calgary for one night with wife and two kids before we do the six hour drive to Lloydminster?


Ps Does anyone know of any cheap flights to Edmonton?

We arrived in Calgary with a work permit and passed through immigration within 20 mins. Your best bet for hotel is downtown Calgary both the Westin and Palliser are posh (expensive) have a look on www.travelalberta.com also if you are renting a car it will be about 15% cheaper if you pick it up away from the airport ie.downtown. Avoid the Holiday Inn downtown, I hear its not very nice. Cheap flights here aren't as cheap as in England but try www.westjet.com or central mountain air - hope this helps

We landed at Calgary in September 2004, no problems whatsoever. The immigration and customs officials were marvellous especially with our 2 young children. Gave us a very warm welcome to Canada. Process took about 20 minutes and no queue to speak off but obviously depends on the day.
Have all the required information with you but did not request proof of funds or goods to follow as we told them we would be returning to the UK following our 3 week trip.

Suggest staying at the Sheraton Cavalier just down the road from the airport - great fun swimming pool for the kids to relax and de-stress. A nice hotel with a bit of luxury for the start of your new life if your budget stretches that far.
http://sheratoncavalier.com/calgary/

Paul

Hi we are flying in to Calgary on 10th sept, weve booked the Holiday in at airport for 2 nights, cost $109 per night for 2 adults 2 kids and kids eat free. The one at airport looks really nice, got free internet in rooms,pool. www.ichotelsgroup.com.

We came through Calgary on a temp work permit in August (its our one month anniversary on Saturday
The immigration guy was very nice, again it took about 20 minutes.
When you come through passport control just mention that you are coming in on a work permit. They direct you to the immigration room behind them. They then look at your LMO approval letter and ask you your weight (in kg) and height and stick you work permits in your passport. It was very easy.

Hi

We landed in Calgary in March this year. It seemed half our plane was "landing" that day but still only took an hour from landing for us to be through and on the way to our hotel. We are here as a PR though and work permit people seemed to take longer than us.

We have stayed at the Country Inn and Suites at the airport. Not sure how much it will be as we got a deal, was in the travel industry at the time, but it was a very pleasant hotel. They also offer a free shuttle service to the hotel from the airport so you don't have to worry about driving when you land. Also think they include breakfast in the price, but don't quote me on that!

HTH
Tanya

Both Zoom and Canadian Affair fly to Edmonton from Gatwick if that helps any, it would take a good bit off your journey.
Stuarty

Hiya and congrats on being on your way!

I always stay at the Delta Bow downtown - easy to find, extremely helpful staff and just a good place for walking out from. Rates vary but I pre-book mine online before I go as it is always cheaper than walk in.

Have you thought about hiring a car one way to Edmonton - would be cheaper than flying and much easier, in my opinion. We did just that for our latest holiday and after a few days in Calgary to chill out we headed on up - it is possibly the EASIEST drive ever - hit the Deerfoot Trail all the way up.... we got excited when we saw a bend in the road!! Took us about 2.5 hours but should take nearer 3 but as we were so excited we didn't notice the time.

P.s. if you're hiring a car from the airport avoid Dollar and it's sister company as the queues were over an hour both ways!!!

Good luck and enjoy yourselves