Right let me begin......ready????I'm 28 and my husband is nearly 36 and we have a son of 7.We live in cornwall where we rent a house. We will never be able to but our own house here although that is not the reason we want to start a new life in Canada. Our reasons are for a better quality of life for our son (oh my god his dream is to snowboard). My dream (please don't laugh) is simply to be closer to nature and the big out doors.
We are visiting Vancouver this year as this is where would like to be or near to there anyway we are open minded.
My husband has 15 years in commercial and domestic plumbing and I have my NVQ 4 in Health and social Care.
So what is it I'd like to ask you fine people
1. We are not rich,we both work full time and both work very hard,and although we have savings I think this will go towards renting some where to begin with so we will not have a large amount of money when we start off, so... should my husband search for job back home here or should we job hunt out there? Hope that make sense.(This may seem like a silly question but if we were out there job hunting then prospective employers could meet us face to face,and I always think that this is more helpful then a bit of paper stating what we have or haven't done.)
2. Opening a bank account what will we need?
3. Child care, I'm thinking about getting a job part time but of course I won't have family to pick my boy up from school how could I get round this,so I could work too?
4. Does my NVQ 4 mean anything in Canada?
I think I'll leave it like that for now oh hang on...
My driving license would I have to do another test in Canada?
Thank you for reading this very long post all comments and advice are welcome we want this more then anything!!!!!!!!!

Hi Vicki and welcome to BE.

You should start by reading the "wiki" pages on the site, which will probably answer many of your wonderings straight off. The link is in the blue tabs at the top of the page , but in case that's not obvious, click here http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Category:Canada

A word of caution: It's not as simple as just wanting to come to Canada, and parts of British Columbia are as expensive as the UK. However, plumbers as a trade are difficult to find, so you might be able to come over on a temporary work permit (TWP) to start with.

Anyway, read, read, read the wiki, and use the search facility to read old threads, and then come back to ask any specific questions that you think members can help with.

Good Luck!

hi vicki

we are also thinking Vancouver / around this area ,west Vancouver looks great sadly very expensive for housing , anywhere on the north shore i think will be a good investment.

we had a look around some schools and were impressed with all of them ,happy to pass on specifics.
we also opened a bank account whilst we were there , met a good real estate guy and an immigration lawyer both of whom i can again pass details (just email me)

we have three boys aged 17,15 12 and all of them share your sons dream to snowboard , my wife went out on a reccie in feb just to see the weather !! nothing we haven't seen in Edinburgh and she went skiing on the same day so it made up for any drissel down in Vancouver:

you have to start somewhere and this web site has answered many questions for me , the people are only too happy to help just ask away

We were thinking of using a company to do all the hard work for us ie:finding job, housing paper work etc etc,what do you think?

When you find the company that does that, do let us know. I'm all ears.

P.S. If you don't manage to locate such a company, your next best bet is to read the Wiki pages, as Morwenna suggested. A good starting point would be the link in my signature.

You mean you know of one?
Quick, get it posted on here..............

Try our area of Nova Scotia - Tatamagouche/Malagash - plumbers are really hard to find and in great demand. The Community Identified stream doesn't need points either and property prices are great ...but not for long.

Hello and welcome! A couple of things that jumped out at me reading your post - firstly, that Vancouver is *very* expensive in case you aren't aware. It was one area that we considered but even though hubby would be on a high six figure salary we still wouldn't have had the quality of life that we'd have wanted so have now discounted it.

Secondly, you say that you will be using savings to rent when you arrive in Canada but please don't forget other costs of moving - it seems to cost a heck of a lot. We've budgeted around £6-8,000 and that's just for visas, moving our stuff (including cats) over and flights. That doesn't include any immigration consultants (if you want to do that then you'll need to add another few thousand to that figure). And don't forget you need to show 'proof of funds' (just looked it up and you need to have $15,563 in addition to the previous costs as a family of three) - although you don't need this if you manage to get a job lined up before you go. Don't want to frighten you but the only cost you mentioned was renting so do just bear it in mind!!

I'm afraid I have no idea about your other questions but I'm sure somebody else will be along to help you soon. Best of luck and welcome again.

You have a lot of research to do before you can decide if it is actually possible for you to move to Canada. I think you are rather putting cart before the horse with some of your questions. However:


Opening a bank account? not a problem.

Child-care? depends entirely on what facilities are available where you go, and what you can work out hours-wise with your employer.

Driving test? Some provinces will exchange UK licences with no test. BC won't at this time.

NVQ 4? There are websites to evaluate qualifications and translate for Canadian employers (for $$) NVQ's as such are probably not recognised here for the most part.

Hi,

My husband is a plumber/heating engineer (36yrs old) and we've just come back from a reccee trip to Calgary and they really need good construction workers. There is a recruitment agency based in Calgary called Atkins West and they deal with foreign contruction workers. They arranged lots of interviews for OH and went with him to make sure he didn't get lost!
We initially go on a 2 year temporary visa as he has to pass an exam within 6 months of us arriving there (you get 2 chances to pass). There is a course teacher who guides you through with the study process and he also gave OH a code book to revise from which you use in the exam. We can then apply for permanent residence after that.
Hope that helps a little.

Hi guys

We're Vancouver bound I've just submitted our passports to London so our permanemt residence ( PR ) can be issued. Will pick them up on the 28th Feb. depending on the house sale we are looking at mid July for permanent move. I'm an electrician got the job through Tricontinental Global Services web address www.jobsearch-in-canada.com. Shadi Norman is a immigration & employment consultant we had no problems at all . The total cost for us family of 4 was just under £5000 a break down of this $500 fee for submitting application £2500 for immigration & Employment Consulatant, £1234 for PR application ( family of 4 ) medicals total £600 ( this was a rip off ) As pointed out Canada is crying out for Tradesmen so if you go through the PNP route you could be out there in 6-9 months . We started our application in June 07 . The other thing to do if possible is to go to the immigrate show there's one coming up 1st/2nd March at sandown Pk good luck chaz

That's very interesting, chater.

Do you mind my asking who pays this agency, the employer or the employee?

Hi Judy
I assume this question is pointed at me ?? I have paid this agency . I know there'll be a few people on here saying what a waste of money But i think it's a small price to pay for a better life style and definitely better for my young daughers. As the saying goes each to there own regards chaz

Hello and welcome to BE - read the WIKI pages you won't go far wrong. Good luck on your journey to Canada

Why would you assume that, since the question was directed at Chater by name?