Planning to move to Nova Scotia
 

HI People, new here so thought I'd ask a question. My wife, kids and I are hoping to move to Nova Scotia and have been advised to sell up in th U.K and buy properties now to rent out as holiday homes whilst still working in the U.K in theory have a self employed buisness plan established within 24 months and apply for a business visa. On the other hand I am a qualified industrial electrician and could apply for a skilled workers visa. Any thoughts, opinions and advice would be greatly appreciated.:confused:

Re: Planning to move to Nova Scotia
 

Hi There

An early welcome to Nova Scotia!!

I afraid I can't help you with jobs etc as I am here being sponsered by my husband so I don't really know much about the working visas, but \i can help with the family side of things. What part of NS are you looking at coming to? Have you visited before? I moved here a couple of months ago with my 2 young children to Halifax and would well recommend it. Any help you need then drop me a line

Re: Planning to move to Nova Scotia
 

Hi!

I have very good news! Nova Scotia is a wonderful place! :D
I went to NS last year and loved every minute of it. The countryside is stunning, full of forests, lakes and an amazingly pictureque coastline. Halifax the capital city, has pretty much everything you could wish for, shops, nice bars, cinema's, leisure centres. It's just great and I'm sure you won't regret it!
I would have loved to have grown up there when I was a kid! The oportunities for adventure are incredible! NS is also the location of the famous Pirate's money pit (In Chester I believe?)

:)

Re: Planning to move to Nova Scotia
 

Thankyou both for the encouragrement, hopefully my too youngest are going to get to grow up in the most beautiful piece of country I have ever seen.
I should be coming over myself for a week or two in May to do a little house hunting so wish us luck

Re: Planning to move to Nova Scotia
 

Yes good luck!! Hopefully by May it will be nice and sunny and a bit warmer! :)
Not sure what it's like at the moment with all the snow melt?! UKJo?
Might be a bit yucky!

I was very impressed with Nova Scotia I must say. The pace of life is very slow compared to Britain, which I found very attractive. People just seem to amble along at their own pace. There's none of the rushing about and stress you get in Britain.
The countryside is very nice indeed. Most of the province is rolling, rather than hilly (apart from Cape Bretton), but it is heavily wooded and there are litterally thousands of lakes. The coast too, is breathtaking with rocky inlets, tiny offshore islands and gorgeous little towns of brightly coloured wooden houses. Mahone Bay was perhaps the prettiest town I've ever seen in my life!!
The roads are bizzare though! We drove along the highway to Lunenburg and perhaps passed 10 cars and a snowplough the whole time!! Some Highway!!:D I would say the quality of life must be very high in NS since there isn't really a lot to worry about (save the odd hurricane or blizzard). Crime doesn't seem to be much of a problem, although a friend did have her car's rear window broken! I guess that happens everywhere though, just petty stuff. I don't know about unemployment, I understand it's quite high for Canada, but I suppose it depends what line of work your in. There seems to be a serious shortage of electricians everywhere from what I can gather.
When you go, check out Peggy's Cove and the highly moving Swissair crash site. Also go to Lunenburg, Crystal Crescent Beach and Mahone Bay.
If you like a quiet life, Nova Scotia is pretty much perfect! However if you're a city slicker you'd probably be bored stiff! :D :D

Hi Garry, Greetings from Nova Scotia, where at the moment it is snowing! Well seamonsta and ukjo have been singing Nova Scotia's praises....yes it is a beautiful province, as I am sure you must know or you wouldn't be thinking of moving here. As for buying holiday homes, well now that depends on what you consider a holiday home? A holiday home wouldn't be rented out all year so may not give you alot of income. But to purchase a house and rent it out may be an idea. It would probably be much simplier to just immigrate and maybe even faster, depending on how quick you would like to be living here. Nova Scotia is quite popular to people from Germany and Switzerland and alot of americans buy property here. Recently we have had alot of people come from Ontario to purchase homes. Everyone is always amazed at the price of houses on the sea or a lake so it is an investment for them and they can live in the home at least 6 months of the year. I live in an area where there are alot of cottages on the lake, we sold our home in the city to move to the "woods" and it is great, we have 285 ft of waterfrontage on an acre lot and it only cost us $10.000....then we had to build the house! You should check out the job sites to check for work in your proffession. I don't think you will have a problem....
Well let me know if there is anything else you want to know you can pm me if you like.
Cheers

This is where we are hoping to emigrate to as well and we have just bought a small farm about 20 miles from Lunenburg & Bridgewater.

My husband visited recently and got stuck in the worst blizzards in Nova Scotia since the 1950's!! However it didn't put him off. He was made to feel extremely welcome by the Nova Scotians

Here are some recent snaps of the bad weather in lunenburg

http://www.acountrylife.com/datas/us...ngrid&Ezra.jpg Ingrid & Ezra from www.theartisans.ca dig out the car

http://www.acountrylife.com/datas/users/4-chester2.jpg Nice wintry scene in Chester

http://www.acountrylife.com/datas/us...mlunenburg.jpg Snow storm in Lunenburg

http://www.acountrylife.com/datas/us...mahonebay2.jpg Shop in Mahone Bay

I've tons more photos of the area if anyone is interested. (just e-mail me and I'll send you some)

Quite surprised to often see cars just left running with keys in ignition outside shops and garages (can't be much of a prob with car theft). Was told by someone local that there was little crime except for over enthusiastic celebrations with fireworks which led to a church being burnt to the ground in the area fairly recently!!

And its a small world. I was just organising taking over the lease of the furnaces at the farm with local Bridgewater firm called 'Irvings'. I was amazed to find out the guy I was e-mailing with regards to this had brother-in-law, sister, and grandmother who are to be our immediate neighbours out in the sticks and he knew loads about the place we were buying.....it really was quite weird!!!

Re: Planning to move to Nova Scotia
 

Garry

We are going down a similar route to you. We would have liked to gone down the business route (but not enough dosh) but we earn just enough points in the skilled worker category. We sold up here (now renting in UK) and have bought a nice little place with a second barn that is currently used for tenants. We are hoping to go over this summer on a study visa as although husband has lots of good computer skills there may not be much work in that department in the area we are moving too so he hopes to retrain in diesel marine & industrial engines for a year at the local campus. We will live in the holiday home we bought and hope to get barn OK'd by Nova Scotia Tourism and promote that area for next summer. We are hoping that the extra qualifications and getting listed with the tourist board etc will help our applications possibly (it may not but as far as I'm concerned anything to show your genuine commitment to your local area must help a tinsy winsy bit?)

Its nice to hear from others who are thinking of moving to NS......its not mentioned much on here so I've kept quiet thinking we were the only ones!!!

ACL.....where are you moving to? I live just outside Bridgewater. Bridgewater is a great place ot live, they are getting a lot of new stores very soon.....Like Walmart! Get in touch....Angie

Hi Angie

We have just bought a small farm near New Germany.....Farmington Rd, Parkdale (Parkdale Farm). I think we are about 1/2 hrs drive from Bridgewater which is our nearest larger town.

So how long have you been living in NS? I read in the local newspapers about WalMart........some people were for and some against!

Please tell me more as you can imagine I'm at that stage where I just soak up any info that is available.!!!!!!

Warm Regards

Carolyn

Hi Carolyn
Well as far as I have heard they are suppose to start digging for the new Walmart store in the Spring.....we can't wait....it will attract lots of other spin off stores, as of which havenot been revealed yet. Yes I am familar with New Germany Area.....you will like it there....funny, we nearly bought a place there a few years ago, we now live in Greenfield on Molega Lake. So when are you planning to move over here?
For Now Angie

We are coming over in July, hopefully on a study permit as hubby wants to do a course at Lunenburg Campus. Hopefully I'll get an open work permit so I can do a bit of part-time work to bring a bit of money in. The kids have been accepted into the schools at New Germany so they will also need study permits.

I've just found Greenfield on the map! Do you live rurally or are you in the village? When did you move over and how have you adapted?

Carolyn

:)
Hi Ladies nice to see my thread making new people become friends. We are hoping to move to Bear River near Digby. Hope you all come to the house warming when we eventually get sorted.
Any tips on the study visa would be helpfull thanks hope we talk soon ;)

Hi there

I believe you can study in Canada if you are from the UK for up to 6 months a year without a permit but if your course at college is longer than this then you need to apply for a study permit through the Canadian Embassy in London www.canada.org.uk ....there are forms that you can fill in on line. The only down side to studying as an international student are the fees involved as they automatically seem to double!!!!!!! Yep...you'll need to get accepted by the college and once this has happened you can apply for your study permit with letter of acceptance to accompany the application. Your spouse may then be entitled to an open work permit which means he or she can work locally without the need to seek HRDC approval (please check at the above or with www.cic.gc.ca that what I have told you is correct.....I think it is)...this again you apply for at the Canadian Embassy.

I've seen some photos from Bear River somewhere on the internet......are there a lot of buildings on stilts?

Bye for now

PS Garry...you'll find info on your local campus and learning courses here http://www.nscc.ca/ . Fees for international students are $7500 CAD per year.

Bear River..........nice spot! I haven't been there in about 2 years but always thought it was rather a funky place! Lots of bright painted buildings and lots of tourists hanging about. Lots of potential for opening a Band B I have heard.
We don't live in the village of Greenfield but we live on Molega lake. If you find Wildcat Indian Community you are very close to where we are. It is a great spot which started out as cottage country, althought there are still lots of cottages there are also lot of homes where people have moved from the city to the woods....we have lots of wildlife around us. Not to crazy about the coyotes but they keep there distance.