To fill you in a little about ourselves...

We almost emigrated to Canada (Winnipeg) in 2008 but the recession hit, we were in negative equity, house prices in Canada were rising, the job my husband wanted to do over there was paying 40% less than over here, and in the end we realised it was just as well tbh, as we were beginning to have doubts about the -40 temps in the 'Peg anyway! So we decided to stay in the UK, bought a dog, had another two kids, and resolved to be more positive about the place (concentrate on the positive things, etc.).

Three years down the line, we've just bought a lovely brand new house (got rid of the dog as he bit me and my son ) and are really enjoying it (the house), but are getting more and more depressed about the things we originally hated about the UK (but decided to try and ignore when we cancelled Canada). I think there will come a time when our priorities change, and although we love our house it won't be enough to mask the things we hate about this country, and our fears for raising our children in it.

Unfortunately there are so many things going well for us at the moment though - we have a lovely new house (sorry, did I mention that already?! ), I'm getting on 200% better with my mother-in-law (when we originally started the emigration process you could've cut the atmosphere between us with a knife) - plus she lives just 2 streets away and helps out all the time with the kids, so we wouldn't have that if we moved away (although, having said that, she's only renting (in a big expensive house they don't need) and their financial situation has always been a bit dodgy, so she may not even live near us this time next year, so that 'plus point' may be academic), my husband has a fantastic job which he loves (and if he passes some exams he'll pretty much be able to command twice his current wage), and my parents are only 25 minutes away and I see them twice a week (although my dad's turning into a grumpy old man and my mum is (imho) a functioning alcoholic, so though I don't want to be away from them, some days I can't stand to be near them either, iykwim!.

So, the questions going round in my tiny little brain are:-

(1) Should we emigrate in the (possibly near) future, or maybe just try for my husband to get a job secondment abroad somewhere?

(2) If we move permanently, I don't think it could be Australia as my parents would never visit (and it's too far (and too much £££) to fly back for a week every year), whereas Canada's closer and my mum would probably fly over (but I think they only have 10 days' annual leave in Canada so we'd have to use it all up if we ever flew back, plus with 3 kids it wouldn't be much cheaper than Oz...).

(3) Should my husband try and get a posting to America? His company have just opened up an office there, and I know it's nigh-on impossible to get into the US, but I thought if you got an intra-company transfer then that would maybe work...? (nb: they have been sending staff there for up to 3 months at a time (presumably because this doesn't require a work permit?) but they'd only pay for a 1 bed apartment and we can't afford to put money towards paying for a 4 bed (and pay for our UK mortgage at the same time, and it's too short a period to rent out UK property out).

(4) If it all kicks off with the Eurozone disaster, is it too late to jump ship before the UK's economy sinks? Should we just ride it out or make preparations now (or soon), on the basis that, even if we are too late to avoid the financial disaster that awaits our country, whenever we can get out will still be better than never getting out...?

(5) Have there been recessions in Canada and Australia yet? Have the housing markets crashed yet?

(6) My husband's job is not on any of the skilled lists, but he thinks we'd be able to get in with a job offer and sponsorship. Would this work...? He was offered the chance to interview for a job in Sydney the other day (but turned it down as it was too sudden and we've only just started thinking about it again, having just increased our mortgage and bought a big, spanking new house only 3 months ago! Sorry, we're so proud of it! ), and they would have paid $100k and sorted out the sponsorship side...

(7) I don't want to sell my lovely new house, we'd probably rent it out instead, but that seems like an awful hassle (and don't you have to pay tax on any profit you make?), and I don't know if our mortgage company (Nationwide) would let us rent it out (do you need permission?), plus my brother-in-law has a 2nd house he rents out, and he recently had squatters in it that he couldn't remove...

To fill you in a little more on my husband's side (as I'm 'just' a housewife and he would be the bread-winner): he's worked in IT for the last 10-15 years (most recently as a Systems Administrator), but 7 months ago he moved into a different sector (IT security) and is now a Penetration Tester (ethical hacker). For those of you who know IT, he's currently studying for his CREST exam (there are less than 100 people in the UK with this qualification, making it extremely valuable, although I don't think it's recognised worldwide, so he'd probably have to do his CISSP as well at some point, if we decided we were serious about emigrating). He's in the US at the moment (Kentucky), at a hacking conference (Derby-con) and he skyped me earlier to say he's been doing lots of networking and doesn't think he'd have a problem getting a job offer in the US, if we decided to go there, although I still think I'd prefer Canada....

Oh, and my eldest has just started school and I wondered when would be the worst time in his academic life to move? (i.e. should it be done by the time he's 10? 11? When do they have exams nowadays?!).

Cheers,

Anita

As this forum is purely for new members to introduce themselves...I will move your thread over to our Canada forums. I see you are also interested in moving to the US...please repost relevent questions about living and working in the US in the US Forums.

Seems like a no-brainer to me if it is an option. Try before you buy.

Hmmm a secondment would be the obvious choice, because it means we could just rent our our house and return to it in a couple of years (or however long we were away for), plus we could appease our distraught parents that it wasn't permanent... However, thus far his company only have an office in New York (although I think they could probably 'create' one elsewhere in the US if we didn't fancy NYC), and it would probably entail Sean travelling around the US a lot, so it's not like I'd see him much.

I'd prefer Canada personally, because it's like the US but without all the negative stuff with which you associate America (although it does have its own 'version' of bad stuff, of which I'm fully aware...). The accents are a bit funny though, particularly the French ones (I'm raising my children to be bilingual (French-English) and I do wonder if they'd be able to understand what the heck the French-Canadians are saying, as I myself would struggle and I speak it fluently!).

Oh, and my eldest has just started school and I wondered when would be the worst time in his academic life to move? (i.e. should it be done by the time he's 10? 11? When do they have exams nowadays?!).[/COLOR]



WE just moved and our kids are 12 and 13. They adjusted straightaway and love the relaxed approach to schooling compared to where we lived in the UK.
I think we would have had problems if they had been much older as they would have been more settled in their secondary schools.

If you are that worried about the impending financial crash id have suggested you not buy that nice new house. Renting is more stable when the Market is falling.

I have read your other thread, which seems to be descending into a witchhunt. It looks like you are not sure if you want to leave everything you have to start over. I'd suggest that if you don't really want to go, don't go. Think about it, plan it maybe- use Canadian affairs sale to book a trip over there(wherever "there" may be) and look about. Check out schools, speak to an accountant there, check what your dh will earn, versus what taxes you will actually pay.
Knowledge is power but without a passion for the country you want to go to it can be an awful lot of money for a one or two year jaunt.

In the uk my dh works 70 hour weeks so we can have a nice house and the things we want, and I can have time off to bring up my children, and study towards my degree that will hopefully see me in a strong position to earn professional money in 4 years (2 years for my BSc hons, 2 more for Canadian equivalency/ start of doctorate work) when the baby is at school. the reason we want to move is not the vastly lower taxes in Canada, (less on income, but more on other things)its because out there he can make more money doing a lot less hours, so will spend more time with us which is his main motivator.

If you are not entirely committed to a move then it will almost certainly be doomed from the start.

That said, with regard some of the technicalities:

You can rent your house out but your mortgage company may need you to swap to a buy to let mortgage, in which the rent would have to cover 125% of the mortgage (ie rent income is more than mortgage). any income from this will need to go on your canadian tax return.

School swapping shouldn't be a problem, I guess teenagers would be more problematic, so you have a decent window of opportunity.

If you can get a secondment, that would be the way to try it out before you commit.

With regards cost of living, I am currently grossing a little more in numeric terms working full time in the UK than I was in Canada and I feel that I am in a similar position. However in manitoba I worked for myself and didn't pay into health plans and didn't put much into a pension, whereas in the UK I don't need to pay into a health plan and I chuck a reasonable amount into a pension.

You didn't read my response properly - I didn't condone the child biting .

quite difficult to spell too

I know- shall stick to ex pat - I can cope with that - bloody Crackberries!

Thanks for your comments, they're really helpful - I didn't know about 125% mortgage thing, I just thought the government taxed you on the profit. It's been a few years since we discarded the idea of emigrating so I may have forgotten a few things, but I'm pretty sure Canada had / has something called Medicare...? Do you need a healthcare plan on top of that, or do you mean for dental, etc.?

I would prefer a secondment to be honest. It's not that we want to emigrate because we're not happy at the moment - we are happy (although we both get very disheartened by the whole Europe thing!! ), but it's really for our kids that we worry. We know (pretty much) that we won't live in this country forever, so I guess we're thinking should we maybe get out before this country gets any worse, or leave it a while and then go.

My youngest will be 5 in January so he's a got a while to go before he sits any exams (not sure what age they start nowadays - is it 8??), so that's reassuring because it means there's no rush

Thanks again for your comments.

When you say 'relaxed' do you mean they're not so worried about adhering to a strict curriculum, or do they have exams at a later stage, or what...? My little boy has only just started so I don't know much about the curriculum yet!

Unfortunately we didn't really have a choice because we needed the space and my husband had started a new job which meant (means) working from home on certain days, and we didn't have anywhere for the 'office'. Incidentally, we did really well because we part-exchanged and ended up getting more for our house than it's currently on the market for (been on since June, still hasn't sold), and we got a little bit off the new build. One of our better financial decisions...!

The interest you pay on your buy to let will be offset against the income, and tbh by the time you have paid management agency fees and nsurance etc, the profit will be negligable, so I wouldnt beat yourself up over the tax. As I said it will be paid to canada as part of your world wide income, not the UK

I dont think the eurozone is in any worse state than the US - to which canada is inextricably linked, so far canada has faired pretty well due to lots of natural resources and a pretty strict banking code, but to make any cash they have to be able to sell their products to someone.

the state provides basic healthcare, it varies a bit by province but you can see a GP, but if you need meds you pay or use insurance - the cost of meds is huge compared to the UK prescription cost, Also dentisty physio etc is private dentistry is particularly expensive. If you need an op this will be covered, but if you need an ambulance that will cost you.

I did, and I know you 'excepted' my child, but you insinuated that a dog is clever and can tell if a person deserves biting or not. My apologies if I misread what you meant.