Ugo51

Hello everyone!
It's ages since I last wrote in the forum.

I am once again thinking about moving to Canada. The place would be Vancouver Island where my partner resides.
I heard many things said about the Island. It sounds like a cool place and I will go visit it soon but I am concerned about the somewhat limited job opportunities (I am a research scientist) and the housing market, which looks really expensive.
Does anyone want to share their view on what life on the Island looks like?
My partner is Canadian but she has just moved back home after over 10yr abroad so she's not very up to date with the job and housing markets, and despite her desire to settle in to what is home for her, we are still trying to understand whether it makes sense...

Thanks!

dbd33

Isn't "research scientist" the sort of job that one moves to take up regardless of location. I don't think you can pick a place, Vancouver Island, Outer Hebrides, Watford, and expect a research laboratory matching your area of expertise to pop up there. Is it a job that can be done remotely?

Ugo51

...where is it that I say I expect positions to be available?
I looked if there were, and there aren't. As it happens for all jobs.

christmasoompa

If job offers might be limited, then will you qualify for a visa without one? Or is the plan to marry your partner and apply via spousal sponsorship?

dbd33

Fair enough but Vancouver Island is a leftover hippy enclave. If you were a potter or did something with patchouli you'd be more of an obvious fit.

Ugo51

Exactly.
And then look for job once I'm there, or in any case with the advantage of not needing sponsorship from the employer

Ugo51

Haha, yes I'm starting to see that. An idiosyncratic one though. They seem to have an awful lot of rules and restrictions to be hippies

dbd33

I know! My daughter got married on a yak farm there. I was working with a Nepalese guy at the time so I got all this instruction on yak riding only to discover that yak riding is restricted. Jackbooted fascist oppressors, etc., etc.

christmasoompa

Perfect. In which case, I offer my congrats ahead of your wedding.

When you are married and ready to apply for PR, this Wiki page will be invaluable - https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spous...lication_Forms

Good luck.

rivingtonpike

Lots of middle management and abouve are moving to the island and working remotely

Lychee

Vancouver Island's an island in the same way that Ireland is an island. It's vast, has its own distinct regions, distinct climates, various cities, towns, remote areas, populated areas, and so on. So much depends on where on Vancouver Island you move to. While there are hippy enclaves, certainly, there is also the exact opposite, with forestry/natural resource extraction jobs at the core of the rural island economy, which typically attracts folks with completely different values than the hippies. Look up Clayoquot Sound or Fairy Creek to see both sides butt heads! In the picturesque towns, tourism thrives, as do the AirBnB accommodations, and with the pandemic, folks are moving out of the expensive cities and moving to these towns, buying up homes, working remotely from their homes, and all of this, especially now, is driving up real estate prices which are driving a housing crisis. Locals can't find affordable homes, once affordable towns are becoming more expensive, and so on. In Victoria, it's a government town with lots of government jobs, and some academia too. It's also fairly walkable, and has a great brewery scene.

Ugo51

Thanks. The real estate prices are objectively a bummer. I had a look at prices in the Victoria area and they are really high. Salaries can be quite high too, which is good, but depends on the job, obviously.

The Island is vast yes, and I surely enjoy the idea of being so close to nature and the outdoors. I grew up in a village and would love to have access to some real outdoor space, as opposed to what is available here in England (where nothing seems to be more than a couple of miles from a road or a village). What I like a little less is that even Victoria is barely more than a little town. Already Vancouver felt provincial, so I have mixed feeling about the idea of being on the Island in terms on cultural life and social events. I have been contacting people who I share common interests with, and they seem to all agree that the "scene" on the Island is essentially non-existent, which I sort of expected, but it was a bit of a cold shower to hear.
Anyway, or one or the other I will have to give. Here I enjoy good social life and events, there I would have more outdoors and nature. I'll come visit in March and make a call.

Lychee

Victoria's old moniker was "Home of the newly wed and nearly dead". It's a lovely weekend getaway, but a sleepy place. If you feel Vancouver's sleepy, Victoria will feel downright dead. Upon further thought, you could throw yourself right into a massive lifestyle change and move to somewhere rural and small town like Tofino, Sooke, or Cumberland and embrace the rural, wilderness lifestyle.

LynseyRP

Hi, we live in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. The Island is beautiful and every area a little different as previously said. We lived in North Vancouver and got fed up of the housing market there and where able to buy here 5 yrs ago but prices have shot up recently. Nanaimo is the town most people drive straight through when they get off the ferry from Vancouver and the down town area is run down and full of the homeless sent there buy all the other provinces but there are some really nice areas and great schools. Its growing fast and we have loved our time here but it could be time for us to move on soon. It has great access to Vancouver and to many of the other smaller Islands, only 90mins to ski hill and 3-4 to Tofino and the west coast. No night life to speak of but lots of outdoors and indigenous culture. It is definitely the quiet life here.

TheAwesomeMatt

I live in Victoria, it's a nice place to live tbh. Not sure if it's really much of a hippy town, I don't know how many hippies there are that could afford $2000 rent or mortgage. I've been here for several years and there is a lot of development happening, places like Langford, Sooke, Saanichton probably have much more affordable housing if you don't mind the commute.

I've also lived in Vancouver too, don't know how anyone can think of it as a small place as it's about the same size as Manchester.
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