Originally Posted by mags1972

Big move, big decision but deep breath time and take the plunge, lifes too short to be thinking "what if"

Originally Posted by andrewhatton

Hi

I made the decision to move to work in Toronto in October having never been here before and just spent 3 weeks checking out the job and area (although living in Oakville). I staretd my new job (although it was an intercompnay transfer) in December. The family are moving out in February and we have signed a 12 month lease on a house in Oakville. We too are from the North West, a little town called Congleton in Cheshire. We are also struggling to sell our house but it has only been on the market for 3 months and we have it 25k less than it should be sold for. The housing market in the UK is pretty poor at the moment. We have only had one viewing in the 3 months. It is a lovely 4 bed detached but noone seems to be buyinig at the moment. If we dont have any offers by the time the family move in Feb we will look to rent as this will cover the mortgage payment. Also keep it up for sale at the same time although having sitting tenants will make it more difficult to sell.

I really love Canada, especially Oakville and Toronto. Almost everyone is really welcoming and helpful and the level of service you receive from staff in the shops and restaurants is far better than the usual surly attitude of those in the UK.

I have only been here 6 weeks (I was back in UK for Christmas) and i have got my Social Insurance Number (15 minutes), bank account (1 hour), canadian driving licence (1 hour), leased a car (this was more difficult as most places do not take your UK credit history in to account but Ford sorted me out in the end after being turned down by Nissan and VW), car insurance (I used Johnsons as they took my UK experience into account - you need letter from insurance company with no claims record and summary of driving record from DVLA. This costs 5 pounds from DVLA. Although insurance on a new Ford Escape is $1900 per year, others were quoting $4000 per year so beware of the cost of car insurance in Ontario). I will be getting my health card this weekend and will be applying for PR in the next few weeks.

Forget to say we have 3 children (16, 9 , 3 - the third being an OOPS!).

If you need any further advice/help/assitance then send me a message and i will reply. i know how daunting it can all seem but I think it is worthwhile.

There is snow everywhere at the moment and about -10C in Toronto.

Good luck