Hi! just hit forty and contemplating a a new life in Canada with my wife and daughters aged 5 & 11 we thought we had made up our minds but since discovering this excellent site we have some new doubts, cant believe it takes 3 yrs to get visas sorted ! I thought it would be 6 months then on the next plane ( how naive eh!) oh well we will have to do a lot of thinking and talking over the next few weeks.

Indeed.

But welcome to the forum nonetheless.

But then if you don't do it, what might you be thinking in 3-4 years time and beyond - If only we had started when we first thought about it. My parents thought about moving here in the early 60's and never did, now when they come over they wonder, What if?

If its what you want, go for it.

All the best whatever you decide.

We arrived in Saskatchewan last Sept and I had my 51st birthday here my OH already being 51 so don't have any doubts just get on with it

Our son who is 25 tells people we left home at last

Oh and welcome to BE by the way.

It depends on which route you take to get into the country I believe - applying for permanent residency is apparently about a 5 year wait, not 3! But there are quicker ways i.e. if you can get a job offer from the UK and then apply for a temporary work permit (that's what we're doing - you then apply for pr once in Canda and it's fasttracked). Have a look at the Wiki, there is an article there about getting into the country quickly (I'm sorry but I have no idea how to post links!).

Best of luck making your decision and getting over there quickly if you decide to go for it.

Hi and welcome to BE its fantastic
lots of help and friends on here all like minded going or there already,
It is about 5 years now as others have said and could get longer, if you don't mind me asking what do you do is it a skill thats in demand ?
check out the Wiki at the top lots of info on there takes a while but so worth it. there are lots of ways in quicker, we are going with job this year all being well and our PR should be fast tracked so lots of options there

any idea where you are heading, a visit is a good idea if you haven't already done that.

wish you all the best of luck
sue

There is a Community Identified Stream in Nova Scotia that is a lot quicker. You can send me a message if you like as I have posted a lot about it before.

Well emmigrating is a big decision - more so with kids in tow.

I'd suggest getting a hold of 'Canada News'. It's an emigration newspaper (Outbound publishers I think). It gives you loads of great tips and stories from ex-pats and others. Helpful guides to the point system.

Work out where you want to go.
Have money in your account to rely on once you land here (with OR without a job).

For Jobs - -hottest growth area is Calgary Alberta, beautiful place too!

It'll take months. Took me 18 months from sending off application to gettting my visa in my hand (permanent visa) - excluding the months of research and letter writing (and years of dreaming.)

Still here? ...get crackin'

Hi there from chaz in reading . I'm 43 and hope to be out in Vancouver anytime from April onwards . We desided back in April after going to the immigration show in London that a move away from the Uk would be a good idea as we didn't see much of a future for our young daughers 5 & 2 in England. I found a web site www.jobsearch-in-canada.com they are an immigration & employment consultant . I posted my CV ( resume ) to them and about a week later I got a call from Shadi Norman . She was great done all the paper work and was the cheapest by a mile £2500 though note that was only her fees a one of payment of $500 to file the appication She found me a job with one of the local electrical contractors so application was accepted by immigration within 6 weeks of applying. We will be going out on the 9th of April to find the right area to live and find schools for the girls by all accounts all levels of schooling is much better than the UK. Shadi is working on are PR ( pending on side of your family fees very for 4 of us it amounted to £1200 )and this will be in place by the time we go in April . Just completed our medicals last week though i thought it was a bit of a rip off £600 for the 4 of us . Anyway hope i haven't bored you are the others but the bottom line is get yourself a immigration & employment this way you will have help with filling out the paper work and you could be out within 6 to 9 months good luck chaz

i there we useing same person can you tell me we put my job offer in how long will it take for them to say the magic yes hope you can help me cheers cooldad

Good luck i am amased at the speed it has all happened would you mind saying what visas you have, did you have to sit any tests for elecs,

all the best on your future

cheers sue

Hi Sue
When we arrive in April we should have our PR in place so what i can gether we will have to leave canada and re enter this i believe is called landed and our PR visa will be stamped into passports. As for Elecs test i will have to get a BC licence known as red seal regards chaz

The other option is to just apply for jobs yourself and save a lot of money. Cannot believe that people charge £2500 for something like that, it seems an awful lot to me! We've found it all very easy and don't really see why you'd need to pay anyone to help you - your potential employer will do most of the paperwork anyway. And according to the CIC website, something like 80% of applications are processed within a month and 30% within a week! So it's fairly speedy anyway. Sorry, just shocked by such a huge amount, particularly as they seem to be making a profit on everything else a well (£600 for medicals?!?).

hi we paid the same ammount so how long will we have to wait dont say 6 weeks not ready yet got told 6 months. as house to sell

It depends on your skills i think, what do you do and what visa you are going on

sue