Hi All,

My wife and myself are seriously considering leaving the 'wonderful' climbs of London and immigrating to Canada. We are looking at moving to the Vancouver area.

First step of course is to submit our Applicayion for Permanent residence which I hear can take 2 years (plus) to come through. Form is filled in, will post next week (promise).

Having lived in London all our lives we would like to move to an area in the Vancouver region that has a good mix of cultures. We have been told to avoid certain 'ghetto's' - so any advice on areas that are culturally diverse rather than culturally peverse? Budget wise, i'd say we are looking at the $600 - 650k mark.

Jobs wise - what is Vancouver like for IT and HR jobs? Have been searchings monster.ca and workopolis and haven't seen much on there. The forum seems to suggest networking - but is quite hard from here.

I have a plethora of questions which I'll post up some other time. Meanwhile, I hope you can advise on the above.

Many Thanks

CFC

Hi to you too, ChelseaFC.



If it's a regular permanent residence visa application via the skilled worker route, think in terms of 5+ years.

Here is a BE Wiki article that describes residential neighbourhoods in the Greater Vancouver Area. Suggest you combine a reading of that with a search through the Multiple Listing Service's website.

Some people are able to expedite the process by coming to Canada on a temporary work permit. That application takes months to go through rather than years. If you can secure "arranged employment" once you're in Canada (which should be feasible if you're already here on a work permit), you can apply for permanent residence. In that case your PR application will be fast tracked, and should be approved within a year.

Some people are able to get into Canada through a Provincial Nominee Program, which is a type of permanent residence application that gets approved faster than a skilled worker application (typically within a year or so).

Suggest you read this BE Wiki article on job hunting. Well, that article is not a full article in itself. Rather, it acts as a roadmap to other articles that, taken together, describe the job hunting process.

Which area of IT do you work in? Some software gurus are in such short supply in Canada that they can get a work permit without a positive Labour Market Opinion (LMO). (An LMO is the green light that the prospective employer has to get before he/she can offer a job to a foreign worker. He/she gets an LMO by demonstrating that a diligent recruitment campaign has been conducted, and there no willing and able Canadian resident has been forthcoming.)

Also check whether or not your job occupation is listed as an Occupation Under Pressure in British Columbia. If it is, a prospective employer would need to jump through fewer hoops to get an LMO.

You also might consider casting your net wider and including Victoria in your job search. I read an article the other day that IT had overtaken tourism as Victoria's leading industry, and that's saying something.

Hope that helps.

I think ghetto is a far too strong and emotive a word. Pockets of culture exist all over the place. Metro (as we are now supposed to call it) Vancouver is VERY multicultural. As multi-culture is the opposite of assimilation there are areas where people congregate to preserve their cultures. It is one of the aspects of Vancouver that makes it such a wonderful and vibrant city to live in.

For example, you will find concentrations of Persians in North and West Vancouver, Hong Kong Chinese in Richmond, Punjabis in Surrey, Koreans in Coquitlam and so on. None of it is exclusive and populations are, by and large, very mixed. Us whities are all over the place.

I don't know about HR but with IT a degree is important if you want to progress. Also knowing the right people helps a lot. In my company I've seen the HR and managers interviewing many people for a relatively low level IT job and then not bothering to hire anyone-they seem very picky.

wow .. thanks for the detailed info.

We were told that the initial app takes 2 years+, but I guess that is in an ideal world. I guess we should prepare for a 4/5 year wait.

I have a degre in Economics and a Masters degree in IT. I have about 10 years work experience specialising in Internet Development.

A number of friends have immigrated to Toronto and have advised I relocate there. However, we prefer BC, so TO is definitely out of the question.

Having had a quick browse on MLS, I have identified a few 'nice' properties in the Maple Ridge area. Any advice on this region? What are the amenities like? How far is it to travel into Vancouver downtown?

thanks
CFC

There is either the quicker routes suggested by Judy or the long wait as the queue is processed in time-submitted order.

The application takes time to put together as the various checklists and forms have the bits of info spread amongst them and you have to distill the vital bits and it also takes time to collect the info.

Victoria BC.

Most services are provided jointly with its twin city, Pitt Meadows. I am not aware of any particular problems with services in the Ridge Meadows district.

Good:

Ridge Meadows is the cheapest area of Metro Vancouver and I expect housing prices to remain strong over the next few years (no guarantees!!).

A mixture of older houses, older acreage lots and new housing.

Much of Maple Ridge still has a very rural feel.

Close to nature and recreation: Pitt lake for kayaking, dykes for cycling, and mountains and forest for hiking.

A new bridge is being built across the Fraser river.

There is a commuter rail service right into downtown Vancouver.

Bad:

It is almost cut of from the rest of Metro Vancouver. Access is either east up the Fraser valley towards Mission, a (free) ferry crossing to Langley, or across the Pitt bridge to Port Coquitlam - both with long waits during rush hour. If you need to commute anywhere other than downtown it has to be by car. The free ferry crossing is being replaced by a toll bridge.

Many people say the air quality is very poor. The prevailing wind in onshore and it blows the pollution from the rest of Vancouver over to Maple Ridge. I can't say I have noticed this myself, but it seems to be a widely held view. Maybe a consideration if you or your family have respiratory problems.

Being so close up against the mountains it gets more than its fair share of rain.

It is the least culturally diverse area of Metro Vancouver.

I assume Lenmil's first photo was taken at the height of the rush hour.

I live in Maple Ridge, as do quite a few posters on here. I concur with some of Jonboye's info re the area, but certainly not the bit about the air quality. It's fine. And only the police service is shared with Pitt Meadows. Each town is its own entity and has its own mayor and council and recreation centre, etc. Commuting is a challenge, if you insist on driving your own car and not car-pooling or using public transit. Unless you work downtown Vancouver, in which case the West Coast Express is the ultimate in commuting - I use it. Lots of facilities for families, best of both worlds really. We don't have a Walmart, thank god, however many newcomers are screaming for one so no doubt it will happen. PM if you need any more info, and I am sure others who live here will respond to your question too.

, dykes for cycling


quite scary how one can mentally conjure up an image of this group

It was taken August 2002 by the way. They were having a heat wave at the time. The locals stated there is loads of rain normally. The traffic in Vancouver was heavy but it flowed nicely and you could drive about ok. That was back then so i can't really comment on how it is now. But you could try Google Earth for a look as well as web cams etc. I liked Vancouver and Victoria, but one of the pasport officers said "why would you want to go to Victoria" I liked the place any way. If you go for a recce, then go on the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria, fantastic sceanery. We saw some killer whales too ( in the distance unfortunately)

I'm so glad I wasn't the only one that creased-up when I read that.

So what other areas close to Vancouver do you guys recommend?

I guess we would like somewhere with a good mix of cultures.. from what was said above Maple Ridge is the least culturally diverse. Plus we need to be in an area with a variety of restaurants.

I've searched MLS and the houses in Maple Ridge look ideal - are there any areas nearer to Vancouver with similar house types and prices?

Don't laugh - there is a well-known local dyke by the name of Linda that cycles. Topless. Not a nice sight I'm afraid. It's enough to put anyone off of moving out here.