Questions on a potential family move UK to Canada
 

Hi everyone :)

Glad to be here, been reading the threads for a little while but first post. My husband and I are considering a move with our 13 month old son. Were still in the earliest stages of thinking about it but want to have all the necessary facts and any helpful information that can help us in the thought process!

So about us - he's 37 in April and I've just turned 34. I have done two ski seasons in Canada (Big White, BC and a small hill just outside of Medicine Hat, AB). We met living and working in the Alps and spent a few years there pre-Brexit. We're both big travellers/adventurers and also spent some time living in Portugal with the plan that we'd move around a bit and decide where we wanted to settle before getting married and having kids.

Unfortunately life got in the way and I suffered some health issues which meant we had to return to the UK, shortly after that we lost my younger brother so had to stay to support my Mum. Now it's four years later, we got married and have a kid and are in the UK trying to decide whether we can really live here forever!!

I've always liked the idea of living in Canada but obviously the decision is a lot more complicated as a family than it was when I was on my own! We're both super keen on mountain life, skiing and boarding and we also spend as much of the summers as we can paddleboarding the sea and lakes and leisurely cycling around. Canada offers everything we want in terms of the lifestyle we'd like to raise our son in - the only thing holding us back from jumping at it is leaving my Mum behind.

Now to logistics, my husband is a web developer which I believe is covered by Alberta & BC PNP. I previously worked as a ski instructor abroad and as a nanny in the UK, unfortunately my health issues put an end to this and I have been doing freelance admin work from home for the last few years (but mostly raising our son the last year). The way we would be looking at coming out is with my husband as a skilled worker and me and my son with him.

The CRS we have currently calculated is 402, however I believe about 600 would be added to that if he was to get one of the province nominations? His NOC is 21234. Also to ensure I'm calculating right - does two years of 6th form (for myself) count as 2 years college? I completed two years of uni but never graduated.

So the questions I have are:

- We would need him to have a job offer before we could seriously think about moving. I know this does happen but I can't quite get my head around why an employer would offer a job to someone who may not even be able to enter the country? If anyone could explain that to me it may seem a bit more realistic than it does now!

- How easy is it for a family to get by on a single wage? I know province makes a huge difference but overall? Our household income is above the UK average but not by a huge amount, we have a comfortable life here but I still have to keep an eye on the budget! I hope I'd be able to continue freelancing over there but we are planning a second child at some point and that and my health are our priorities.

- I think that (within reason) we'd be happy to go where he is offered a job. With that in mind would we be best not applying for the PNP and getting locked into one province?

- How simple is the switch into the Canadian healthcare system? I'm under a rheumatology team here, I only see them about twice a year at the moment but am on quite a few medications that I need to stay on reliably.

- With the healthcare issue, how far into the visa process is the medical tests? I'm aware we could be denied entirely on my medical grounds and would such to spend all the time and money only to find that out at the end of the line!!

- I understand there is a backlog from covid but if we were to begin an application does anyone have any idea of the timeline we'd be looking at?

- From the brief look at jobs we have done many don't list the wage or list it as an hourly. Is this normal or am I looking in the wrong places?

- Are there any major issues that I'm overlooking and need to consider?

I hope this isn't way too much information but I wanted to lay all our cards on the table to get the most accurate responses!! I'm sure I'm still missing a hundred things I want to ask! I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to get back to me :)

Thanks so much if you read this far! And Happy New Year!

Re: Questions on a potential family move UK to Canada
 

I think the only way a web developer supporting a family in Canada could afford to buy a house is by working contract and being lucky with the continuity. (Assuming there's no secret stash of cash). Work permits require full time employment so that's not going to fly.

Of course, you may not want to buy a house but the issue is going to be the same with rent. Suppose an income of $100,000. That's $5,000/month after taxes and deductions. Suppose a willingness to spend half of it on shelter, have a look at what's available for $2,500/month in the sort of place you'd like to live. I don't think there will be much, especially allowing that you'll need an internet connection that can support remote working.

Of course, I don't know what someone may pay a web developer in AB or BC and I may have miscalculated but this doesn't look like a winning proposition to me.

Re: Questions on a potential family move UK to Canada
 

Hi dbd33, thanks for replying! We definitely dont have a secret stash of cash unfortunately!

I assumed that would be the case in BC but I found quite a few decent properties in that price range in Calgary. It's just surprising because everything I've read online suggests developers are paid more in Canada than the UK and we're able to live on a single wage here. I'm not expecting so suddenly be living large over there but we'd like not to have a huge drop in lifestyle. But thanks for getting back to me, definitely something for us to think about further.

Re: Questions on a potential family move UK to Canada
 

I don't believe that to be true. I was a contractor from about 1986 to 2021 and, when I had work in the UK, I billed my usual rate but in pounds instead of dollars. At one point that was more than double the price.

I'm now a mid-level manager with staff retention difficulties, most of which relate to the cost of housing.

Re: Questions on a potential family move UK to Canada
 

Unfortunately not, years 11 & 12 would be counted and part of your secondary education in Canada.

Re: Questions on a potential family move UK to Canada
 

Hi, and welcome to BE.

402 is too low, but yes, provincial nomination would give him the extra 600 points if he can find a job offer/sponsoring employer. And as mentioned above, your 6th form would just be secondary education for points purposes.

He'd need a job offer to get a visa from what you've said. He'd be able to enter the country (and would be advised to, to job hunt in person - see the Job Hunting section of the Wiki for more info on how to find a job offer), he just couldn't actually work until he had a valid work permit.

Bit of an obvious answer I know, but it would totally depend on the wage, and the lifestyle you want to achieve on that wage.

So how would you plan to apply for PR? Even with a job offer it doesn't sound as though he'd qualify for EE without provincial nomination, so I'm not sure you'd have any other option tbh.

It would depend on the province, as each has it's own healthcare system. Note that prescription meds aren't usually covered by provincial healthcare, so the cost of your medications are something to research. The medical for PR is towards the end of the process I'm afraid, so you'd already be living there (assuming you do go over on PNP/work permit) by the time you did it. The amount to fail the medical is quite high though, so you may be surprised and not have an issue passing the medical.

It would depend on the visa.

Perfectly normal. For details of the wage, look at Job Bank (this is what is used to make sure the salary is meeting the requirements for the visa, and where all jobs have to be advertised to get a work permit). So for your husband's NOC code in Alberta (as an example), the median wage is $30ph. So assuming a 40 hr week, that would be approx $62,400 a year.

HTH a little bit! For future threads, it would be worth splitting your questions, so any visa related ones should be in the immigration section of the forum, and any lifestyle ones here in the main section of the Canada forum. It'll just make it easier to answer multiple questions and for you to get good info.

Best of luck to you.