Originally Posted by oceanMDX

Sorry to hear of your situation. Canada has to reform its immigration policies and greatly speed up the process. Needing 12 weeks to process the new paperwork is pretty poor performance IMO.

Originally Posted by Cape Blue

Oh, and by the way, when you say: ".. being a white male from the south of Britain. I just don't register as existing on the PC scale" it makes you sound a loser and a bit of a dick, so I'd avoid those sorts of comments if I were you.

Originally Posted by Cape Blue

What are you thoughts on the rest of living in BC? I appreciate that if work is a disaster then it can colour the rest of the experience but what was the rest of it like in comparison to the UK which you don't appear too keen on.

Originally Posted by Grah

G what brough you to look at canada?

What has ruined the whole of Canada and everyone in it?

1 experience.

In my case I was working for a company payday came and No pay for this 2 week period just a "oh by the way the company's bankrupted and you need to work for free so we can sell it". So I took the furniture, the computer, the contents of the Drink Machine, phoned all the clients told them and left.

I didn't blame the whole of Canada and I didn't scream and curse everyone, only those who allowed the problem to happen. 6 weeks later I got another fulltime job.

If you really prepared for the Work permit experince you must have looked at a what if "it all goes south" scenario?

Can you fly back to England and come back if another company is willing to do the 12 weeks?

Is there anywhere else you can get work?
US, Online from a UK Company..

I understand the PC comment and the feeling of life's problems due to not having an income. Having been unemployed several times.
I try to turn the spare time into fun (very cheap ) times for the kids. Beans on toast are staple in our house especially for the 3 years at uni with 3 then 4 kids.

So now you've got your rage out get up enjoy the freetime and keep looking.

Originally Posted by g_is_for_canada

Thanks for your points. I did make a contingency. When I bought my house I could have just about paid cash but then have nothing to fall back on, so I mortgaged a good chunk of it and stuck the money in a high interest account in Britain. In reality I have enough to survive probably several years.

And yes, there's so much productive you can do with your time. I bought a few tools and started making furniture / furnishings. I've even started building a full scale cockpit of an airliner in my basement (don't ask).

Regarding budget, we have a plan to reduce our expenditure although it's still coming in at near $4k per month! I have a UK company which I guess I could work through, although would this be legal? It's a grey area.

I don't think it's viable to come back if I return to Britain. Perhaps on a PR but what's the waiting time for those at present?

Without wishing to sound negative, and having recently spoken to HRSDC in BC, I'm being told that there's approximately 12 weeks lag after being offered a position before you could have a work permit. 99% employers won't go for this. The other challenge is that if another single person is in the running for the position, even if I am the best person for the job, I will lose to that other person at HRSDC's insistence. It's impossible to land a job within a 6 week period now. It's now 12 weeks as a minimum and that makes it impossible in my eyes. I wish I could see a way around this and apologize for sharing this reality and ruining a few dreams, but I don't want anyone to go through the grueling interview process I went through, to then be offered a position and have it withdrawn a few days later as if it wasn't a big deal.

The biggest irony is that the person who recruited me for the position to which I refer, was the same person who recruited me at my previous company. In other words, he knew how long the process takes because we've gone through it before.

My final concern is regarding salary. I used to be under the impression that while Canadian salaries were almost half UK salaries in my line of work, cost of living is much lower and consequently you could enjoy a greater standard of living. The reality in my experience is so different. Cost of living in BC is higher overall. I'm now living more frugally and with far fewer benefits (and I'm not talking state benefits) than in Britain, and my disposable income has plummeted.

For anyone thinking of BC, here is my opinion as to what you might find the costs are, compared with Britain.

Higher than Britain: Food, Insurance, TV/Internet service, Consumer Electronics, Taxes on house purchase, Clothes, Health Care, Schooling, Baby things, Credit Cards & Bank Accounts, Household appliances, Child Care, Air Travel, Tax on car purchase, Mobile phones and services

Lower than Britain: Eating out, Petrol (Gas), Public Transport, Bananas, Annual membership to tourist attractions, Community Centre activities, Some private schooling, Car maintenance and parts, Alcohol, Furniture, Extended warranties on electronics, No separate road tax, No MOT cost, No TV License cost, Limo/Cabs, Organic Food, Garden equipment, Timber, Tools, Few toll roads, Parking, No speed cameras, no penalty points impact to car insurance costs

Perhaps the above should be a separate discussion but feel free to add to or dispute it

Originally Posted by g_is_for_canada

Friends,

We have been here almost a year now. I must say that I am surprised at how ill prepared we were, even with advice off this forum, for life here in BC. We planned our emigration 7 years ago, so hardly a impulse decision. However I am so disullusioned with experience in BC that I felt little motivation to return to this forum until now.

Amongst a catalog of other failures, my employer dumped me in March, about a week after I bought a house. Because I was on a work permit, I have found it near impossible to land a suitable replacement. I finally got a job offer after 2 months of interviews with approximately 30 people (1 company - no kidding!), presentation, design test etc.

About an hour after my job offer the employer found out that it now seems to take 12 weeks to raise a work permit and told me that they couldn't proceed. 12 weeks means that it is illegal for a company to employ foreigners in real terms. Who the f*** is going to wait that long, other than someone paying well below market rate? They also insist that no Canadian is vaguely suitable. When is that ever going to happen? Racial prejudism, and nothing less!

It occurs to me that it is now impossible to get meaningful employment because employers are forced to discriminate in favour of Canadians. If only Britain did the same! I am now faced with struggling to find reasons to stay.

My previous employer (B***t R***s) who dumped me with minimal notice, acted like absolute shits. Please heed my caution before getting involved with them. I feel it is my duty to warn anyone about ever getting involved with this time bomb. By the way, if anyone from BR reads this and they want to sue me, then I'd welcome the opportunity to see you f*** rot in hell, you spineless ****s.

I am very disappointed with the preparation I received from this forum. Perhaps people are biased but more likely people who feel negative towards Canada are not freely able to voice their opinion here. I've frequently defended the right to free speech on this forum, but with little support from others.

BC/Canada has many faults and costs which you won't ever find out about on this forum. I'm sure many of you who are contented here act conscientiously and voice your opinions, but I've noticed anyone who dares to compare or anyone with negative feelings towards the country or their province, is silenced by the outraged majority.

Chances are I'm probably going to have to return to that pig-sty Britain, with a corupt government whose only benefactors are dole cheats and criminals. I'm very bitter about how I've been discriminated against in this country and now think of Canada is somewhat inferior in many ways, being 10 years behind the rest of the modern world, and being the only country that America feels it can laught AT. Returning to Britain will be the prospect of further discrimination, being a white male from the south of Britain. I just don't register as existing on the PC scale.

I will provide more detail at another point when it isn't 2.30am, but wanted to share my thoughts with you. I will of course receive the inevitable "if you don't like it, f*** off" response from some. However, for those who take this approach, know that a family's life has been ruined as a result of the way we have been treated in BC, and I see it as a moral obligation to share with others, so f**** off yourself, if that's what you think.


Speak again soon



Text edited - ray1968 ..anyone who wants to know who the company is can PM poster (we don't want libel action against BE..

Originally Posted by jandro

As a Canadian I take absolutely no offense on your remarks as I agree with them. In the year and a half I've been here since my return from the UK I've only had one six month job that wasn't that great-actually no it was worse than that. I walked out on one days notice. I fooled myself into thinking that because I had a nice office view of mountains and ocean that the job wasn't that bad. If my second half didn't have a decent job to support us then I would have been back to the UK ages ago. I'm still flipping back and forth about going back. I've gone through all the stages of anger, disbelief, bitterness.

You're experience with 2 months of interviews doesn't surprise me. I imagine many come here on a trip, look at the mountains, beaches, ocean and think "I'd fancy living here" without realising Vancouver is a very ordinary city like any other but with a luke warm economy, high prices, weak labour laws, social deprivation etc. I would say though that you will discover the negative aspects of BC if you carefully research this forum. I've gained a lot of consolation from reading other posters negative experiences of Canada and it's made me temper my own pride in this country.