Hi myself my partner and my 6 yr old daughter are starting to plan to move to Red Deer in Alberta. We know people who live in Red Deer and have visited Red Deer in February so are aware of the Winters over there.
My partner would get a job very easily over there with our friends brother. Ive heard there is an express visa available for skilled workers so was wondering if anyone has done this visa and if so how quickly was you accepted? and any other information you could give us as to what to expect going forward?

Also any comments on life in Red deer would be great aswell?

Thanks in advance for all you comments

Hello and welcome to BE!
If you have questions about immigration / work permits etc., please post a new thread in our Immigration Forum as you will receive relevant advice there - the Canada forum is for general questions about Canada not including immigration.. . https://britishexpats.com/forum/immi...hip-canada-33/

Crime levels have increased exponentially in the last couple of years, especially with the downturn of the oil and gas industry, not looking to get any better any time soon. Red Deer isn't the 'nice' little city it used to be, you have to lock your cars and houses up these days Jobs are fairly hard to come by, lots of people going for the same positions, not as many positions open.

The transit system within the city is decent, not a lot goes on (it's called Dead Rear for a reason). Schools are decent. Slightly too far for a day trip to the mountains but it is do-able. Calgary and Edmonton are close enough when you start to get stir crazy. The winters are Looong.

I no longer love where we live, so will focus slightly more on the negative but if you have questions fire away. This will be our 14th winter, hoping it's not as cold as last year. We've already had snow. Winter driving never get easier or better. Warmed up slightly for now but the deep freeze is coming.

To follow up on Piff Poffs points, Red Deer ranked:

• 5th "most dangerous" place to live in Canada (10th for violent crimes, 6th for robbery, 4th for B&E)
• The highest fentanyl-related death rate in Alberta

Just some food for thought...

Sorry to read that Piff Poff, it's sad things have gone that way. Hopefully a change of government or policies will encourage more investment in Canada and Alberta specifically and so these economic problems will resolve. It just shows how quickly things can change.

Lets hope a change in government brings some good changes. When we arrived it was boomtime. Life was great, money was everywhere, crime stats were low and housing was hard to come by - zero rental availability. But now with so many people out of work or earning lower wages they are finding other ways to find money. Homeless camps are easy to spot. https://www.reddeeradvocate.com/news...p-in-red-deer/ I know several people that have had vehicles broken into/stolen, a friend was held up by knife, so it's not just I heard so and so's friend, it's people I know.

https://www.macleans.ca/canadas-most-dangerous-places-2019/?fbclid=IwAR1wioJGtgtI6pwJXvozZ5TpXb1A-bsUQz8kgKmvAy3EjJDc9ZVxGUIpQxQ

Wow, does anyone drive sober in Red Deer?

Could this be one of those cases where (made up figures) a third of accidents involve drunk driving, so seeing sober drivers involved in two-thirds, everyone decides to drink and drive in an effort to halve the two-thirds rate?

(not that drunk driving is a laughing matter of course)

still socially acceptable unfortunately. The old farts at the show n shines sit drinking beer all day, disguised in pop can sleeves. OH is always working on cars that have the breath test things in them. And now there are going to be even more driving high.

Doom and gloom for red deer on here. I lived there for 8 months and it's fine, visible crime is pretty low and people drive a little over the limit in red deer but are still better than all sober drivers in Calgary.
it's location again. North of the river is apparently high crime butt see high crime in Canada as drugs mainly. I lived on the edge of a "rough area" and regularly strolled to liquor store at night with no bother at all. This dangerous city list is absolute crap. Areas of Calgary are a lot worse than red deer. Mountains is a stretch for a day trip but go to Rocky mountain house Friday night and then hit the David Thompson highway to nordegg the next day and your in the most beautiful area without the tourist crap from Banff.
highway 2 heading to Calgary is nasty in winter. but north to Edmonton is trouble free. Most concerts take place in Edmonton so your close to that also. Job wise is field specific I drove lorries in the oilfield and they're is a bunch of work in red deer for that. Rent is expensive I find though.
winters in Canada I find are rated a lot worse than you would Think,
mainly by Canadians showing you how easy they find it but you will find it tough.. It's all crap, decent clothes and layers and the dry cold is easy to warm up from. I would recommend winter tyres though.
I worked in fort McKay outdoors in minus 50 with wind chill with longjohns, t shirt, shirt, hoodie, coat and overalls and it was more than tolerable.
I'm not so sure how the area will fare after oil consumption reduces or the province for that matter but that depends what direction you think the world will go.
I did express entry as a pipefitter for skilled visa and it's a right headache double check all documentation before submission and don't expect quick responses from the immigration people.
what's your fella do for a living?

I would have said much the same as you about Red Deer a couple of years ago. Things changed quite dramatically in the last 6-12 months. The North/South divide no longer rings true and with all the development in the Soouth, it's really busy for traffic. However Hwy 2 to Edmonton is worse than to Calgary - especially around Leduc. Equal amount of concerts in Calgary imo. Also Red Deer now has roundabouts. They are 'fun' in the summer and absolutley mind blowing in the winter.

Very surprising and disturbing to hear what has happened in Red Deer . . . especially to those of us who associated it with different circumstances. I know of someone who grew up there, and described the town as idyllic. But that was a long time ago. Thank you to the posters for their contributions and insight.

Speaking as someone who has never been to Red Deer (and never will go), I'll focus on visas. How will your partner get one? Your friend's brother would most likely (certainly) need to get an LMIA to make a valid job offer for immigration purposes. I rather suspect that neither you or he know what that is.

Read the Wiki.