logic500

Thanks for your input Ian. I have up to now focused my research on the GTA, I'll have to do a bit of digging on other areas. Let's face it with an average of 24 months processing time, I've got plenty of time to look more in depth at other areas, and add other places to my "fact finding" trips.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

Rich

Rich_007

Gulp......sorry to bear bad news dude but you need to suck hard on 36-42 months of waiting time for the privelidge of living in paradise.

Rich.

logic500

:scared: oh dear.... hey you never know

yonk

It's true, we applied this January & have the letter saying 39 months until our file is even looked at.

Buchan6

Rich,
We've just moved to Ontario. I'm adding my thoughts for anyone tlike yourself whos thinking of emigrating. There's a lot of issues that we didnt think about or consider as much as we should have. We were engulfed in the "We're emigrating" scenario. We sold our house at a good profit, but I wonder if this was the best thing to do.

We felt we'd buy early over here and $$, though once you arrive you realise this could be a big costly mistake and lease instead. This raises the issue of could we have made more cash next year ? Dont know, will never know
Also we felt keeping the house would give us a cushy fall back position if things weren't so good - Again maybe this wouldnt have been a bad thing.

Wherever you go property purchases are varied and the websites you look at won't show you the crappy things you'd know if you lived there.
You wont confirm this til you arrive and discover the property / area your actually happy to buy in. We'll pay more that we banked on for the house no doubt about it, I reckon in all our mortgage will be similar to the UK, we'll just get more space internally.

Some people on here talk of getting a lesser car, house, fewer holidays etc as a trade off for the privilege of emigrating.
Forget this bull****.
I'm not status driven but all these factors are key.
Why accept less than you have in the UK thats hardly moving forward !

We both had panic attacks in the last week but felt we had to follow this through. Our "logic" for moving is to give our children a longer & freer childhood hopefully.
If we go back to the UK in the future, hopefully we will return to a similar financial level, nor will I have taken a risk with work. We'll have tried out something we wanted to do, if its not worked out and its our decision to go home, then no regrets.

In my opinion these are the key questions you have to answer
1.) If it goes t*ts up, can we return to the UK and continue our lives at a level we were at ?

2.) Also look closely at what you have at home and critically ask.
"Is what we have really that bad"
Forget being pissed off that half the ****witts in the country don't
work and are fixated with no mark celebrities etc.
Focus on yourself and family only.

3.) Can you live "In Limbo" for a potential 3-4 year period ?

I'm coming to the conclusion that unlike a lot of expats I've come across, we didnt "have to" leave the UK. We had good jobs, kids close to grandparents and making friends at school etc etc.

To date, I'm glad we've moved over but if things don't go smoothly,
I can hopefully return to a similar level albeit we'll have spent a few quid but hopefully had a good experience which will have made up more settled and grateful of what we have.

Have also PM'ed you.

Souvenir

You're looking in a straight line. Flights to western Canada from the UK take a more northerly route than those to TO, Montreal etc. It's only about two hours longer to fly to Vancouver than to Toronto.

Hit&Run

I agree with Buchan 6.

I too have a great job, a decent house in Harrow Middlesex but have decided to take the plunge to come to Canada for the sake of my children. I want them to enjoy the outdoor and a have a longer childhood as well. We will be arriving in Toronto on or about 21 August.

I have a 3 year work permit - I will review my situation in a years time - see how we are progressing and then if we like it will file our PR.

I guess everyone is different but we ( me and the OH) wanted a new adventure, new culture. We made a couple of reserach trips to Toronto - drove round a few areas, met with people , liked what we saw and decided we wanted to be there. I could not wait for 42 months though for a PR and therefore started applying like crazy to Canadian employers ( I sent 146 applications/resumes and ended up with only 3 interview and a job where the employer not only was willing to get apply for a work permit but also wait for months till we got.

We are looking forward to it all including the cold winters.

dbd33

How is childhood longer in Toronto than in Harrow?

Buchan6

Hey Mate,
Whereabouts are you heading for ?

We've leased for a year, generally shorter term are harder to find especially if you want a child friendly type place.

Its the right thing to do but weird. You're still living in limbo as you know you'll be leaving sooner rather than later so it does make settling that little bit harder.

Buchan6

The social issues - Would you let your young kids play in the local park or go to the local mall on their own in the evenings in the UK ?

stepnek

With reference to your comment on having a longer childhood I'm curious as to how that is more likely to happen here in Canada? I don't mean this as a criticism I'm just interested as to why you should think that to be the case.

Hit&Run

I am not too sure yet - will lease for a year as well. My employer provides me with temporary accomodation for 4 weeks as part of my relocation package. Will use that time to drive/walk round. I need to get the balnce right between a child frindly place and also a reasonable commute to downtown Toronto

dbd33

Not if they were young, no. I'd be no more likely to do that there than here.

Buchan6

Have PM'ed you.

Hit&Run

Good question - what I should have said was that I want my children to appreciate the outdoors etc. Bit difficult to explain but I was born in Tanzania East Africa before I came to the UK 15 years ago and one thing I noticed was how kids here were too focused on achieving the material things in life. When I grew up it was very easy to go and play in the park till late. That is not the case here.

I know that these issues are also the same in Canada but the vastness or the space makes it easier to enjoy the outdoors and also my OH will not be working so she will definitely be taking advantage of the outdoors. Over here both of us had to work - I worked from 9-5 and the OH worked in a hospital from 6 to 10. This will not be the case when we get there.

What I noticed also when I came to the Toronto in April last year was also that kids still had that childhood innocence in them - again bit difficult to generalise based on two weeks of mingling with friends.