magenta sky

Hello everyone,
My partner and I are seriously looking into things and are hoping to move to N.S later this year.We currently live in rural West Wales U.K,very quiet and peaceful,but the cost of living is astronomical.
We are very keen to buy a place in N.S with some land and get involved with producing as much of our own food as poss,gathering wild foods,going off-grid and getting into fishing etc.And (without wanting to sound naive) we wonder if this kind of life-style is still sustainable in Nova Scotia and if many people still live this way?Most people round here are completely dependant on supermarkets and buying in for just about everything.
We already have an available income of around $22,000 p.a which we hope will be enough for taxes,bills,buying in,insurances etc.and will be our way of contributing to the local economy wherever we eventually end up putting down roots and living.
We would love to hear from any folk out there who are either already doing this or planning it for the future.For us at least this is something we have thought and dreamt about for a long time.We work hard and do possess the relevant skills for living this way....harsh winters included!Now seems like a good time with the way the things are going.
Also....and we are sure this is a well worn topic.... we understand that people moving in from outside Nova Scotia can buy real estate and live there providing they go out of the country every six months?
Any response to this posting will be gratefully received.
Best wishes to everyone and thanks.

Silverdragon102

I think it could be done, I am hoping to do my own veg garden this year and I know one of my neighbours has a small holding and sells at local farmers markets (husband though still works but believe that is his choice) I see lots of locals with veggie gardens so appears to be popular

Tuppence

So you don't have a visa???

MB-Realtor

If you stayed for 6 months immigration would normally expect you to leave for a substantial time (months) before you returned. You would not be allowed to stay six months, pop out of the Country for a day or two, and then come back for another 6 months.

Auld Yin

You cannot just pop in and out of Canada and live the way you describe, albeit a very attractive proposition. You can come as a visitor and stay up to 6 months. An extension can be obtained in most circumstances but it wouldn't be allowed on an indefinite basis.
It appears you have not done anything regarding emi/immigration. Do either of you have any skills such as those on the LIST of38 that would allow you easier/earlier entry (12 months)?
You state as having an income of $22k p/a. Do you have any financial/fixed assets such as cash in hand, a UK property to sell etc? $22k p/a is under Canada's poverty line and would not provide you with much here unless you can own property outright.
How do you live at present? Work, farm or what?

christmasoompa

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I would suggest that you do a search of the forum and look at some previous threads about the cost of living. It's generally said to be the same as in the UK (or even more expensive), so I'm not sure what you'd actually achieve. Property is cheaper but utilities, food, etc, all seem to be very expensive from what people have said. $22k is a very small amount for two people to live on, but if you give people more of an idea of your circumstances (i.e. do you need a car, how much cash would you have to buy a house with, any pets you'd need to feed, etc, etc) then hopefully people will be able to tell you if that's remotely realistic.

Plus of course, the winters would severely restrict your self-sufficiency plan as you'd have no choice but to buy veg then! At least in the UK you can still have some winter veg, but we're not under several feet of snow. My veggie patch and fruit crop provide us with food all year round, as do our chickens, but I don't know if that would happen in most of Canada because of the severity of the winters. So you'd have to be prepared for that and factor it in to your plan.

And as pp's have said, if you have no visa, this is all a moot point anyway! Unless you have a visa you won't be moving there, so do make sure you have that sorted first if you don't already.

Best of luck.

christmasoompa

P.S. Just in case you don't already have a visa, this is a good place to start your reading.............http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Quick_...an_Immigration

dbd33

Chickens will produce year round, we get a dozen eggs or more even on the worst days (from 50 or so hens). I don't think that Canada's a very good place to attempt self-sufficiency though, there just isn't the climate.

There is poster who lives in rural NS on next to nothing, I expect a search on "rural poverty" or "eating my own excrement" would get you to the relevant threads.

Tangram

Apparently, the North Sh........ oh I can't be bothered.

MB-Realtor

You Bad

dbd33

"Excrement" brought up this one:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ight=excrement

Tangram

I'm ashamed it was me.

dbd33

I think you should be proud, it's a line that'll live forever.

chumley

and Im the one who was talked about

still living on $1000 and happliy so been here a year next week on visitor status


living as Op describes is very dooable and I knw at least half dozen families from the Uk Europe and south africa doing the exact same thing ie coming as visitors and staying and getting PR

we are at the PR finishing line eg had meds
if you have enough enough cash to set up eg buy a home with no mortgage buy a car and furniture etc etc then $22000 is plenty its far more than wehave spent and we live well

we have no kids but do have 2 hideously exepensive dogs !!

expolore NS community ideitified you sould ideal applicants and could easily establish your connections to the community once here as your income would be fine whilst you go through the PR process

huge luck dont let the doomsday lot put you off it can be done we have almost done it and plenty of folk do

MB-Realtor

How have you been able to stay a year with visitor status?