mrmrshunter

Hi Everyone - any advice help greatly appreciated

My husband and I are looking to immigrate to Calgary in the near future with our 2 daughters - we have got the ball rolling and had been in touch with Brazolot and paid the administration costs to start things going but i have heard a few bad things about this company - i think for us as we both work full time etc we would prefer to use an agency other than do it ourselves (we do know doing it yourself is the cheaper option) can anyone recommend any good agencys?

We are flying out to Calgary this year to visit our family over there and we are staying for the first two weeks in August - Any recommendations of home rental companies etc we could visit to check out house prices etc?

This is a big move obviously and we would like my husband to secure a job before we head over as we dont have lots and lots of money behind us to bring over. Is it the consultants place to find my husband a job in his area of work or is this something we could do on our own?

I hope everyone is getting on well with their applications we are just at the very beginning but have no idea where to go from here on in! small nightmare!

Any advice on anything greatly appreciated

Thanks

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

If you do a search of the forum, you'll find the consultants that are regularly recommended on here. I'd also strongly suggest you do a search to see what's been said about Brazolot in the past! Not sure what you mean by 'paid the administration costs', hopefully you're not tied in to a contract with them yet.

It's not something that anybody is allowed to charge you for, so consultants are really just there for the visa application side of things. Most on the forum are very successful finding a job on their own, although obviously it will depend on what your husband does and how in demand his skills are. Have a look at the Job Hunting section of the Wiki, which has loads of useful info in, and I'd suggest he uses your trip in August to do some networking and job hunting.

What visa route were you planning on going down, is a job offer essential for it?

Re: rentals, again have a look in the Wiki as it gives some good sites to have a browse on.

HTH a bit, best of luck.

bcmama

Hi there, we used Campbell Cohen a Canadian based legal firm a few years back for advice on our PR application. It wasn't expensive but then it was only advice rather than them actually doing anything on our behalf.

mrmrshunter

Thanks for your swift replies

We are still looking into visa types at the moment my husband works in IT Security and IT general work - i am a secretary/Admin we both work with the NHS Health Board at the moment.

Yes i did notice all the talk of Brazolot and got into a small panic - we saw them at the Down Under Live conference in Glasgow and were impressed but i am suitably unimpressed with the reviews i have read - we paid for then to process an application to see if we would be eligable in the points system to gain entry to Canada - im quite sure we are not in a contract with them.

I will have a look into everything suggested so far thanks again

Ainsley

christmasoompa

Something that any other consultant will do for free.......

Ah well, at least you've only lost £20 or whatever it is and aren't tied to them.

The points system wouldn't be relevant to you anyway from what you've said, as neither of your jobs are likely to be on 'the list' for the Skilled Worker program imo - although you never know, so do keep an eye on it when it's announced just in case.

Sounds like you'll need a job offer to get a visa, so that will need to be the first step, best of luck with it.

jkgoulds

What id give to be going BACK to Scotland from Calgary!

If you want someone to do paperwork etc.. look into VRV GLOBAL

They sorted my parents things out 6 years ago and their still here and they had no problems with them at all and they also help out looking for employment. It is costly though but worth it if your committed!

If you want any information about Calgary, hit me up. Im currently here so might be able to enlighten you ITS A HUGE DECISION !! Please don't base your decision on you tube videos -.-

Good luck

JBJ14

Now you've made me nervous about my move to Calgary next month

mrmrshunter

I have family in Calgary/toronto/vancouver - so Im commited to the move we cannot wait to start a new life in Canada all going well with applications etc - I will look into the company you suggested - thanks very much

If you dont mind me asking what dont you like about Calgary? We are going out to visit family this year we are so excited! we will be looking at it from a different view point when we arrive - it wont just be a holiday

mrmrshunter

Hi there - can i ask did you DIY or use a company to do your application?

Ainsley

jkgoulds

sorry! didn't mean to nerve you, although nerves are a good thing because you shouldn't come with just high hopes and expectations (although it is good to have this) but the reality side of things weigh it down so open minded would be a good start

coming over on a holiday is AMAZING i instantly fell in love with it ALL and then 2 years later, it all becomes a bit bleek and dull. it all depends on your prefences, some people like the big city, then land, land, land, land, oh a barn!, land land etc... you get the jist but then its the houses where they all look the same. calgary is a big up and coming city however still very undeveloped so its construction alot of the time. the winters, well 7 months of snow and 4 months of sunshine.. if you lucky! i loved our first winter and this one well i actually can't deal with it anymore and it has played a big part of moving back to UK. we visited toronto, bc etc... very nice places indeed, beautiful! but to live, well thats not for me.

i also have my mother, brother and step-father out here which was one reason why i thought id give it a try but im too set in my ways of being british - i travelled 1hr to the nearest fish and chips yesturday... to find it was closed little things i say, little things

AJRowan

Hi, just sent you a private message

Regards

Angela

VicE

Hi

We used a couple called Sara & Warren Green (alberta immigration is company name) They were fab! We meet them at a seminar in London. We also talked to Brazlot and were told that my husband that is a Heavy Truck mechanic could only come over as a Temp resident, and could not get PR as he did not work on off road heavy vehicles. We really did not want to take this route. So we left it there with them. We went to this seminar and saw Sara & Warren, where they discussed that we could get PR for sure. We decided to go a head. the process started in Dec 2010 and we arrived in May 2012. They did everything just asked us for all the info that they needed for the form filing in which Sara did. She kept us informed all the way through how our application was going. When we arrived it didn't stop there Sara took us around to get Alberta health care, driving licence's and social insurance numbers. They also live very close to Calgary.

We also decided to buy our home and as they are also realtors we used them to find our dream home in Okotoks, AB. The immigration cost was minimal bet well worth it. Highly recommend them!!!

Good luck with the process!

boybiskit

Re the brazalot q. I saw these guys at a fair in mcr not too long ago. I knew more than they did (and I don't know enough to do this confidently yet!). So I went back, asked the 'main man' dennis instead and he promised me a whole load of things I knew / know he couldn't deliver on. I certainly wouldn't trust them with shifting our whole family west 6000 miles!