Although this is the first time I have ever written a thread, I have been reading the forum with great interest and getting lots of advise on different topics. We (myself, husband, 2 kids (9 & 6) and dog!!) are hoping to move to Penticton, Okanagan, BC as soon as possible. We have put an offer on a house in Pen. which has been accepted, but have only just applied for PR (last Nov). We are well aware that the process could take up to 21mths, so our questions to anyone out there, that can shed some light on the matter are:- has anyone bought a property before getting PR? if so did you move into it straight away and wait for PR while in Canada? or stay in England and rent it out? We will probably go out on a visitors visa and hopefully!!! find work to get a work permit (is the job situation in Penticton as bad as everyone is writing in the forum?) How often and how many times can we renew the visitors visa? Can the children get into any schools without having PR? Would we have to put them into private, which I bet would be costly? What about hiring/buying a car, can we drive on a British driving licence ok?

If anyone has been in a similar position/set-up to us, that has gone either way, good or bad, we would really appreciate some advise/help, as we are going crazy with all the 'what-ifs' :scared: Thank you!

Sorry, can't help you with any of your questions...but just wanted to say...nice place to move too...I'm so envious!!

Good luck to you

Thanks for the reply anyway!! Me and my husband have been watching the computer for the past 5 hours to see if anyone would reply!!!!! (seeing as it's our first time on here!) Still waiting in hope for some positive feedback.

Hi,
with regards to house purchase, easy to do, find a good realtor in your area, and they will do most of the leg work for you. However my advice is before puchasing your property, get pre approved for a mortgage. We used HSBC Canada bank. If you are a non resident you will have to put down approx 35% of property value.

We are still waiting on our paperwork, and we don't live in the property, we currently rent out.

Our situation is different to yours as we intend to live in Alberta. On the other hand we think it was the best move to make.

Regards
frankiforehead

Thank you for the information, however, come the end of March 05 we should be the owners of our dream house in Penticton, this is without requiring a mortgage (due to sale of our house here in England). But as we do not know the situation with schooling (ie not received PR yet - see our original thread) we may have to look into renting out our Penticton house until we can get timescales right, with Visitor's visas only being for 6 months, husband getting sponsership for a work permit etc. We do not want to come over too early as I shouldn't think you can legally renew a Visitor's visa 3 or 4 times before PR comes through. Also do you know if medicals have to take place in England?
Thanks sjsnms.

Firstly, welcome to the forum - hope you find out loads of useful info on here.

We bought a property out here in Ontario last year and used it as a vacation property, coming out a number of times, however in November last year we decided that we wanted to come out here to live so we applied for Study Permits for my husband and my 8 year old daughter. These came through so quickly that, as we had already booked flights for the 9th December, we decided to just go for it. I booked the dogs, cat and pony on flights and off we went. Unfortunately my husband had to return to the UK at the end of December but my daughter and I stayed here. I had to return to England for my interview but my husband is coming out here to take the medicals in March.

My daughter has started school and loves it. If you are planning on staying over in Canada for longer than 6 months then you need to apply for a study permit for each child. You will have to pay for the schooling and this is quite expensive however if you can find a private school in the area it could work out much cheaper. We looked at a private school here in Ontario and it was almost half the price of the regular school, however it proved too far from our house so we had to send her to the local school in the end at a cost of $4,500 per semester.

In Ontario you can just swap your UK drivers licence and pay $50 and then you get an Ontarion one - that's what I did.

I do not regret coming over here for one moment! Definitely the right thing to do - however it will be even better once my husband makes it over here full time.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Interviews have to be done in the UK however medicals can be done anywhere so long as you go to a designated medial practitioner.

Thank you, you beat us getting back to you with regards to medicals! But one other question, did any of you go over on a Visitor's Visa originally? Bit confused on the Study Permits do we need to apply for those now whilst still in England? Can you explain a little bit about them. How did your dog get on ours is 11 years old and howls when we leave her for more than 5 hours, so God know how she is going to get on in a crate on a plane for more than 10 hours!!!

Driving - http://www.icbc.com/Licensing/lic_getlic_index.html

As you will be technically "non resident" until you get PR, you can drive for six months on your UK license. Once you become resident, you have to take the BC driving test within 90 days.

Non residents in BC pay for public (state) schooling, which is just as expensive as private, so I would suggest think about going private while you wait for PR and get the (most likely) better education. Your six year old will be way ahead of her peers as most will have just started school here. Some non-residents on the site have got away with not paying....the school usually ask for birth certs, vaccination records and the kids PR cards. Just say you are waiting for them to be mailed and fudge it...lol. Up to you. If you manage to get a work permit, refuse to pay. They probably won't fight you.

Unemployment is relatively high in Penticton. I don't know what you do for a living, but this is a major consideration for people moving to the area. Much employment is seasonal and locals get first pickings as always. I am not sure you can even apply for a work permit while waiting for PR, I am sure someone else will know.

Visitors visa's can be renewed as many times as the immigration official sees fit. In practice, about twice if you are lucky. My mother (who did what you are planning) got nailed on her second application to extend her visa after just over a year here and one previous extension and was told "no more". She had to go back to England and wait for six months, as she was told that she can only stay for six consecutive months in any 12 month period. I have heard many different opinions on the accuracy of this advice, however it happened to her and the official was quite nasty about it. Then she came back in after six months and one day with a visitors visa, that was restricted at Calgary airport from six to three months by the immigration official there. Her PR came through in the interim, while she was in Canada. She "landed" by "going round the flagpole" at Sumas border crossing. Getting a visitors visa extended appears to be a bit of a lottery, no consistency of policy application, but that is Canada (get used to it!).

Don't forget medical coverage - you won't have any until you become resident and will need private insurance.

I am here on a visitors visa which expires in 3 years time however our PR will have come through by this time so no worries there.

I brought a 2 year old springer x collie, absolutely mad, hyper active dog, a 12 year old arthritic collie and my agarophobic cat. They all travelled really well and with no issues at all. They have been using their sky kennels for a year now so they do see them as their beds anyway.

You should apply for your study permits before you leave the UK. They only take a few days to come through, however when we arrived in Toronto the Customs effectively "landed" us, so we had to show our list of goods to follow etc. The pony was on this list as I found out that I would have had to pay tax on, not only her value but also the cost of her transportation. She had to do quarantine in NY and when she finally arrived here on our farm, she was really chilled and it hadn't affected her in the slightest.

Just shout if you need any more info.