thepeacock

Hi,

guys I am both excited and also down. Why? Because I have finally decided to give this dream of mine a go. I talked to my wife aboutt he situation Monday/Tuesday/Wednesdy and she agrees it is worth at least looking into seriously.

I have wanted to move the Nova Scotia for 10 years on and off. One year I am going to do it then next I give it up as a silly dream.

What changed? Having a child. We only live in small attached cottage. Worth £150,000 (£60 K equity) but we barely have a garden. It's cramped as heck. The houses I want with hiuge gardens are way out of my league. Not only that I am tired of sitting in traffic jam after traffic jam just trying to go for a hike in some woods. It's only going to get worse. UK hs some great areas and is stil la great country to live in on a grand scale but as I am nearly 40 it's kind of now or never.

Now for the past 10 years I have been wokring from home making good money Interent marketing. I make about £26K p.a. Not a fortune but I get to work from home in my own hours etc. It's about as stable as any job or self employed person can be these days.

My wife is an I.C.U. nurse at a big hospital here. I am told she would get a decnt job in Canada no problem and I can do what I have been doing.

On the face of it does it sound doable? Why do I feel I am pipe dreaming? Some questions:

1) I have about £60k equity in the house. And about £40k in life savings..that's it. So I need some kind of savings as back up say £20k. If I was to put £70K Can$125,000 deposit 42% on a house and I would be looking at spending max. of $300,000 Can$ on a house in N.S. would this buy a good house? doesn't have to be huge. Big garden, nice area.?

2) Would my wife get a job ok? I do not think that's as easy as people make out any more. What qualifications does she need to pass for Canada and how long doe sthat take?

3) If she did get a job could I kind of tag along with her?

4) How long does it take to get visas etc? I have heard anything from 4 years to 6 months?

5) Is there an age limit of getting in?

6) Roughly and I realize this is very rough what kind of costs are you talknig about to move over? £10k, £15K+ £5K :-)

OK that's about it for now....I wish I felt more confident about this. It gets harder the older you get and the more responsibiltiy you acquire. I would have jumped at this opportunity 10 years ago and single

iaink

Welcome to BE


Many of these questions have answers, either in the old posts, or the wiki (blue bar at top of page)

You will need to pass the appropriate CDN nursing exams I think, it can be a pain.

$300k will buy you most of Nova Scotia, never mind a decent house MLS.ca is a good starting point for prices. DOnt forget, big house = more property taxes, more maintainence and more to heat.

If she did get a job, then yes, there is an companion open permit you can apply for.

No age limit as such, just deminishing points (see wiki or cic website)

Costs? How long is your piece of string? Anything from the cost of the visa and airfair, up to tens of thousands if you plan to bring a piano or a pony with you.

Dont forget that access to land in Canada is just as dependent on location as it is in the UK. Public rights of way as they exist in the UK dont really have an equivalent here...there is lots of land, but much of it is private, although there are exceptions. Did you consider moving within the UK? It sounds like you both have easily transferable skills there, and with small kids its much easier to keep in touch with family within the same country. My kids (born here) see their Grandpa once a year if lucky, and uncles every other year at best.

Atlantic Xpat

In the words of the prophet....'Read the wiki!' It will answer most of your questions. Essentially however, yes your wife might be able to get a job as a nurse but may/will have to requalify. Yes, you can buy a nice house for $300k in Nova Scotia, potentially you can buy a nice house for far less. Getting here in 4-6 months is a challenge. Without an approved job offer try 4-6 years! However there are, in NS, other alternatives. Try 'Community Identified stream' in your searches.

I say again though 'Read the wiki'....it'll make you an informed consumer and you'll be able to ask more pertinent, directed questions that should get useful answers.

AX

JonboyE

$300.000? Are you planning to buy the whole of Nova Scotia or just somewhere to live?

Seriously, look at the MLS website. There are loads of places for less than that.

christmasoompa

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Not a clue, but hopefully those in NS will be able to help you on this one. Have a look at www.mls.ca to give you an idea of what your money will buy in different areas.

Again, not a clue but hopefully a nurse or two will be along to answer these questions. I know we have several on the forum who are in NS, Silverdragon springs to mind as one who is particularly helpful, so I'm sure they'll help you with this question. There is a nursing forum (further down the page) which may be worth a look as no doubt you'll find the answers there.

Any visa you'd be able to go with her, and get a visa yourself (as would your child).

Depends on the visa. Assuming you'd be applying as Skilled Workers (as she's a nurse, which is on 'the list' of 38 occupations in demand), it takes 6-12 months. It used to be 4 years (or more), but since they changed things in 2008 that wait time has been reduced dramatically for new applicants.

Again, depends on the visa. Some routes do, some don't. As a Skilled Worker your wife would get maximum points for age until she's 49, then after that the points start reducing year by year.

Again, it depends. Some people can do it for £5k, but it can cost 5 times that. Just depends on how many of you, what you want to take with you, whether you have any pets to transport, etc. Don't forget to add in things like deposit for a house, buying a car (and car insurance - can be v expensive) to get set up over there. Emigration is definitely not cheap! If you do a search of the forums you'll probably find quite a few threads where people have given their moving costs. The Wiki (on blue bar at top of page) is also full of really useful info so that's well worth you having a look at.

Hope that helps a bit, best of luck!

thepeacock

LOL

I need a kind of ball park figure on the cost of getting over for I guess one containers worth of household goods/furniture. No ponnies or pianos. We aren't rich. Basic average.....£5k to £10k ish...

$300 Can $$...I kinf thought that would buy a decent home in N.S. I have seen some nice properties in the $500K+ region so it isn't that cheap.

And we would be ok financially? I am not looking to get rich. Comforatble, great life style is all I want now. Mortgage free a.s.a.p. would be wonderful but that's years off.

Thank you above

thepeacock

ok thanks I'll read up on this "wiki" thing tomorrow. Great help and somethign to lie awake all night thinking about again...

Lady Locket

Okey dokey,thats a lot of stuff you are asking!
1) Depending on where you want to live in NS, that kind of money could get you a huge house. We have looked at cutting our mortgage to a half or third of what we have here, so have limited ourselves to CAD$200,000 and we are still looking at being close to a major hospital - however we have found a lot of 3/4 bed houses with acreage in our price range! Take a look at www.mls.ca for an idea of prices around NS.

2) I can't give ou a lot of information on this except to say that depending on province she will have to sit an exam to prove her competancy and register with the appropriate professional medical body. My hubby is a radiographer and he will sit a CAMRT exam then register with the NSMRT to show he is allowed to work. After that, it is just a matter of applying for as many jobs as you can and making good impression - the same as getting a job anywhere else. As far as I am aware Nurses are still on the Canadian High Demand Occupations List (HDOL - 38 sought after professionals). I am sure someone else will be along to talk about nursing wit you.

3) Yes, if your wife qualifies as a federal skilled worker and can therefore apply for immigration, you and your child will be a part of that application.

4) Getting Visas depends on the route you take to immigrate, and there are a lot of ways to apply (please check the Wiki for more information). If for example, you are on the HDOL and have enough points to apply as a Federal Skilled Worker 1, then you could be looking at 6-12 months. It is true that many people have waited and will wait 4 years or so for PR visas.

5) As far as I am aware there is no actual age limit for getting in, BUT the way they work out how many points you have does include an age factor. They are seeking a certain age group, so that will get the most points. The older you are, unfortunately the points go down.

6) That can vary a lot and there are loads of threads on this forum discussing it. You can be careful with pennies, but it will still wrack up quickly. As a simple example - shipping a 20' container of your household goods could cost £3-5k. Search the forums for some older threads on 'cost of moving' to give yourself an idea - many people have been in the same boat, so it may help you.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please just ask.

LL x

thepeacock

wow you are right about the houses and prices....there are some beautiful properties for $200 - $250,000 no need to go as high as that....wow £120,000 and you get all that! It's unbelievable.

Thanks I am off now. Back tomorrow.

sparkling_gal

On kijiji.com I saw houses in Nova Scotia for way cheaper than that. There were two semi-detached houses (duplexes I think they're called) for $25k total for the two of them advertised the other day.

I guess it depends which part you want to live in. If it was me, I would look for something cheap to do up myself - others on here have done that.

thepeacock

yes I agree......I am coming down to $200 - $250 max my -self. at a push I might be able to pay $150,000 deposit... Probably not though.

thepeacock

Lady Locket when are you moving out there? What made you do it? I want to give it ago more than anything yet I have this annoying little voice in my head tellnig me to stop kidding my-self....

Oakvillian

there's still an element of piece-of-string about costs, even if you don't have any ponies or pianos!

The cost of simply shipping a household's worth of goods in a container, we brought a 40' container for around GBP 5.5k; a 20' would be less than that, and you can shave the costs further by packing and unpacking yourself, etc.

However, that's only the beginning. There are things (mainly electricals, especially large appliances) that it's not worth bringing with you and that you'll need to replace when you get here. A decent-sized house is likely to need more furniture than your current cottage, so factor in an amount for that. You'll probably be looking for a car, too - add that in, along with much more than you're used to paying for insurance.

$300k should certainly find you something nice... no change from the UK there, it's all about location, location, location. If your OH is a nurse there have been a number of threads recently about somewhere they're building a big new hospital so there's likely to be a job or two going at some point.
[on edit: New hospital is in Truro. Do a forum search to pick up more detail on this, as I know nothing.... ]

hth

thepeacock

ok I get you....I kind of have an idea. Thanks.

Bali2010

A lot to think about at first I know...

the NS nursing website might help:

http://www.crnns.ca/

Bali