Hello,
We just received our PPR on 15/09 and are over the moon!

We are planning to settle in Gatineau-Ottawa and right now deciding if we should go around the end of December or January.

We dont want to wait any longer, however we understand the issues that we could face arriving in the middle of winter, specially with 2 toddlers.

Both my husband and I lived in Canada for almost 7 years before coming to the UK 6 years ago and we both know how hard the winters are.

Is it really difficult to secure a job in January? I know it all depends in our career, experience and connections, but is realistically something that we should rather avoid?

We've just started looking at all aspects of relocating from a more realistic way, and I am suffering insomnia since we got the PPR.

Any ideas and tips specially around Ottawa-Gatineau will be appreciated.

Thank you all!

We. Are hoping to land in December too. Although we have dh's job already I'm a little daunted by arriving in snow etc. The children are a little resistant, age 11 and 9 ( the baby doesnt get a say lol) and I'm worried that our first few weeks they will be stuck in the house etc. Hoping the snow is enough of a distraction
What worries me is getting drs, dentists, schools etc sorted out when everything is shut!
That said if the house is sold, and the visa is here we are off ASAP!

We arrived in Calgary in January and faced no issues. I was able to get a job within 2 weeks of beginning to look for one. Different location and different economic times, though.

Thanks for your replies... I am sorry it took time to come back but after 2 years on the market we have just accepted an offer in our flat! Talk about perfect timing!
So I've been around looking for a solicitor and planning next move....

Thanks for your answers!

Hi and Congrats, we were in a similar dilemma a year ago, though it was somewhat easier as hubby had a job to go to.

In the end we chose to go after Christmas and arrived in Calgary on New Year's Day! The main reason was that the kids could finish up school in the UK and we could have some sort of closure here before flying out. We did not want to spend our first Christmas in Canada in a hotel room! We visited both our respective families before Christmas. This meant driving up and down the M5 in a hire car as we'd sold both our cars and then getting snowed in for 4 days in Devon!

We had a quiet family time at home and then the removals arrived on Dec 28. We spent New Year's Eve in a hotel at Heathrow and then the adventure began.

Arriving in the snow was not a huge issue and luckily for us the really cold weather held off for the first week or so, giving us time to buy decent coats, snow pants, boots,etc.

We were in a hotel in Calgary for a month and were able to do all the important bits from there. The only thing that I think we struggled with at first was getting a car, but it all worked out in the end. There was not a lot on offer to rent in January so we had a fairly limited selection of properties to choose from.

Nothing stops here really due to the snow, but obviously over the holiday period you would experience problems with closures of gov offices etc.

Good luck anyway and don't worry too much about the kids. Mine were just in awe of the amount of snow outside the window!!

Dont have any snow in Vancouver so no problems there.