After landing how long does it take(if possible) to get Mortgage Pre-Approval for house-buying , ie we won't have jobs right away, & then am sure it will be a case of not being in work long enough ?
(am aware you have to be resident to apply)
hopefully have about £50k/100cad from UK house-sale, but looks like family homes in Calgary are 200/300 cad mark

is best option to rent until work history built up ?

(we do have a HSBC Canada Account from 2003 still open)

any similar experiences ?

I can't comment from a Calgary point of view but here in NS you don't have to be a resident to have a mortgage and with a hefty downpayment like you are suggesting (30%) you should get a pre-approved mortgage the same day.
Whatever cash you have, i would suggest a 25% downpayment and use the rest for set-up costs.
HTH a little, check out the CMHC website for more info.

Yep we were told that UK residents can get a Canadian mortgage for a house so long as they put 25% down and show proof of UK earnings.

In BC it took us three hours from sitting in front of our mortgage broker to have the pre-mortgage approval. It is quick as long as you have all the documents they require (eg full credit report and credit score from Experian in the UK). The jobs isn't an issue as long as you can prove your credit rating in the UK and show you pay your bills. You also need to be able to put down at least 35% of the house price.

Renting, in my opinion, is dead money. We are paying more in rent for a small condo than the mortgage on out house costs. If we'd know that getting a mortgage was so easy, we'd have bought straight away!

Hi there

We have arranged a pre-approved mortgage whilst still in the UK using the HSBC. We have HSBC accounts in the UK, both personal and business and it seemed that as long as we could put down 35% as a deposit the mortgage was ours.

If you have this deposit it does not matter that you have no credit history, employment etc.

Jane

Hi can you tell me if you arranged this mortgage approval through a UK branch of HSBC. If so what exactly did you ask them to do when you went in? Thanks.

Worried my branch will look at me as if im a crazy woman asking for the world!!!

Hi, We've also had a pre-approved mortgage through HSBC Calgary, they've been really helpful and not had any problems at all, I've not actually met them or spoken to them it's all been done on email. All I had to do was ask our local branch to fax a reference over to Canada, then I had to send copy of a current wage slip and that was it - Easy Peasy!!

Let me know if you'd like the contact information of the branch we've been dealing with.

We did all our pre approval from the UK...Our realtor helped us out immensley...It was simple really...we were not residents, and everything was arranged through HSBC Canada in Crowfoot Calgary.

We arranged this through our UK branch. They, so far have been very helpful. We already have a Canadian HSBC account which we set up about 18 months ago, again through our local UK HSBC.

We went in and explained our situation, they arranged the release of the equity from our UK home (we probably won't have sold in time for our house buying trip in April) they then set up a Premier account in the UK, which will transfer to Canada when we move there. They then organised a pre-approved mortgage through their Canadian branch so that we have this in place when we move.

We have to put down a 35% deposit and basically it doesn't seem to matter what financial position you are in as long as you have this deposit.

So far all very easy.

Jane

Excellent helpful reply. Thank you