Picking your life up and moving it to a foreign country is no small undertaking. It's fair to say that leaving loved ones, selling the house you've worked hard for, putting your dogs on a plane for God-knows-how-long, even giving up the job you've worked at for the past 5 years, is quite a big deal. But we'd made the decision to make the break and now there was no turning back. We broke the news to family and friends, we dreamed of our new life in Canada, and we visualised getting on the plane and leaving for that magnificent, diverse, breathtaking environment. Yet there was just one small matter to take care of... the visas.

We hired an immigration consultant to manage the application process. To emigrate to Canada, most people apply for a skilled workers visa by way of a points system. The consultant prepared the paperwork, coordinated requests for untold copies of college certificates and character references, and gave much valued advice at every stage of the process to ensure that we met the minimum number of points. She also worked on a 'no visa, no fee' basis, which gave us some small comfort when it came to parting with the princely fees required.

We attended immigration fairs, signed up to expat forums, spoke with distant relatives in our chosen new home, and undertook endless research on the web. This culminated in a fact-finding trip to Vancouver to research areas to live in, jobs to work at, and things to see and do. We were ready to go. However, the Canadian authorities were not ready for us to go. In fact, little did we know it but we were two whole years away from getting our visas. Two years of endless waiting, total frustration, and a complete lack of communication from the powers-that-be. There was nothing more we could do but wait.

In January 2003, the envelope landed on the door mat. Immediately, the house went up for sale and we got our pups ready for travel. I left my job early and began readying us for the move. In May, we were ready to leave but we had one small problem. After two years of waiting for this move, the bloody house wouldn't sell. The UK had invaded Iraq in all its military glory and the whole property market had changed. Buyers became nervous and houses wouldn't change hands. The seller's market became a buyer's market, with first-time buyers now calling the shots. We had offers fall through, buyers backed out, and our beautiful home stayed just that. Ours. The rental house was waiting for us in Vancouver so we had to make a decision - pull out or stay the course.

In May, I left for Vancouver, almost two months ahead of my family. I would set up our Canadian life and my wife would arrive to a new home, new friends, and new adventure. Unfortunately, she would also have the unenviable task of selling our house, dealing with the removal company, organising temporary accommodation, quitting her job, and putting two dogs on a plane. Our life-changing journey had got off to a slow start yet somehow we were already on the back foot...

For what it's worth, I've pulled together a quick top 5 things I'd recommend if you ever think you might move country:

1. Use the services of a reputable immigration consultant. We used Access Migration and thoroughly recommend their services.

2. Book a fact-finding trip to your country of choice. Witnessing firsthand the actual look and feel of a place is many times more valuable than reading any travel brochure or Lonely Planet guide.

3. Start writing a list of things to do well in advance of moving. There are utility companies to contact, bills to be paid, houses to be sold, crates to be packed, dogs to be shipped. Write lists of lists. There can never be enough lists.

4. Employ a little patience. It's a long, drawn-out process and you've likely got a long way to go so don't go putting the house on the market just yet.

5. Be brave. Loved ones will be upset/angry/annoyed, friends may question your decision, and work colleagues will think you're mad. Keep reminding yourself of the reasons for leaving and stay the course in search of your better life.

Read more about my expat adventures in moving from the UK to Canada then Australia at <snip>

Unless you have a problematic past I dont think consultants are necessary unless someone else is paying for it and you are the nervous type. In most cases the applicant has to gather all the relevent paperwork together anyway, and thats the time consuming part.

Fact finding trip, good idea. I didnt, but coming with a family its close to essential.

Lists? Like these ones perhaps
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/To_Do_Lists-Canada

Patience...gonna need that, less so for the process now its much faster, but certainly once here in adjusting to Canadian life. Give it at least a year before making any major decisions.

Bravery... I think as long as you have a thorough understanding of what it is thats motivating you, and you keep that in mind through the hard times that helps a lot. Being motivated by something that draws you to canada, rather than pushes you from the UK helps I think in making long term sucess more likely.

I'd certainly agree with all of this as it makes sense EXCEPT #1 - the immigration consultant. They really cannot do anything for you that you cannot easily do yourself and they charge a ton of money to do it. Many claim they have access to things that you do not and that they can put extra things on the application forms, which is untrue. The no-win-no-fee type promise means that if you're borderline, they will tell you that you have little chance of succeeding so that they don't have to waste time and money with you in case you might lose, meaning that if they sign you up then you have a stronger chance of acceptance, therefore you wouldn't likely need them anyway.

Point of order.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to google that username. Migration consultant. Did live in Canada. Now lives in Australia.

He's also into Cooking and Gardening

I agree with everything IainK says above too.

And you can follow him on Twitter.

Using Immigration Consultants? Beware! : British Expat Discussion Forum

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT....

Always completely wary of someone who says "use an i/c" and then gives a link on their first post.

OP you don't come across as being helpful - just as a ticket touting t****r looking for cheap advertising.

If you can't come clean about who you are why should anyone trust you as a consultant.

Access Migration no longer covers Canada, they only "do" Australia.

We used them and they were fine and did more than most consultants seem to do. Was this guy pimping for them then?? I doubt that the woman who runs it would be impressed by that.

cheeky begger

It seems that posting to forums to promote a business can be a double edged sword sometimes...

To be fair to the OP his advice is perfectly sensible up to a point, and a consultant is a good idea for some people. One size doesnt fit all though I guess.

Point of order from me, the guy who posted the original link.

Yes, I'm into gardening and yes I also look cooking. I make no apologies for that.

I'm also a legitimate expat who left England in 2003, moved to Vancouver for 18 months, worked for the Canadian Govt in Ottawa for 18 months, before emigrating to Sydney, Australia in 2006 and have lived here ever since.

My mistake was to include the link to Kerry and Access Migration on my post. The post was taken from my personal blog which follows my travels and I should have removed the reference to her but missed it. She became a good friend of ours through using her service and she'd certainly have no qualms with mr 'touting' her service through my blog but it wasn't my intention on this site so apologies to Ian and the gang at this forum.

So, no, mandymoochoops, I'm no immigration consultant and no ticket touting t****r... just an expat like your good self passing on my experiences and hoping to get bit of extra traffic to my personal blog. Shame you couldn't have given me the benefit of the doubt! Follow me on Twitter and you might actually learn some reliable facts that you can use in the future, not gossip...

Looking forward to posting on this forum in the future, minus links to consultants we've used in the past!

By the way, I tend to agree... the Canadian visa process used to be so convuluted and slow that using a consultant helped us see the wood for the trees - especially given we had busy jobs and were completly daunted by the process. But it is just a paper-gathering exercise and things have changed so I'm sure you'd have no problems following the process yourself rather than spending the dollars on a third party.

Cheers,
Russ

Then please accept my apologies for calling you a tout