Seabird

Forum members,

I planned to move to Canada back in 2004, but the job which was on offer with Defence needed me to be Canadian.

Now ten years later my life and career has moved on and I have a partner and run an Environmental team in Brisbane but the market is dire and people are being laid off constantly, worsened by the current Government.

I love Australia, but am the sort of person that finds great things in everything!

I am struggling finding good though in the sheer cost of travel and distance from my children and ageing parents in the UK. My daughter also wishes to join us, but it is much harder for her to move to Australia than Canada too.

If she does want to join me here I am going to have to try to find $30,000 for her to do a degree even though she has her AAAC Diploma and is highly employable with solid work history going back fifteen years.

A bit of me has always held out for the dream of coming to Canada, and the regret that I didn't go with the massive gut feeling I had when I planned for Oz that Canada was a much better compromise of a new life, better quality of existence but accessibility to family in the UK.

There SEEM to be more jobs in my area for equivalent sized cities, and there are certainly more comprehensive guidelines and Regulation that have sparked the industry. I do however gather that both countries are currently led by those that are dismantling environmental legislation, and wonder if anyone on here has any experience of both countries in terms of the markets.

So whats the point of this post? I am wondering if people on here have moved to Canada from Australia from England (or the other way round), how they have found the transition, and whether they have found in reality that they actually feel any closer to family or indeed see them more in Canada than in Australia. I know that holidays can be shorter there and this may well impact on the overall picture.

Sorry about the vague post, and no there is no way I want to head back to the UK at this time. This is my starting point and I promise to become more coherent with time and focus!

Thanks folks.

AlliF

Hi Seabird,
We did this last year - also due to the worsening job market and lay-offs in Australia. Hubby is a civil engineer - specialising in Flood prevention -and we came over on an Intra-company transfer. Just applying for PR now after a year.
We were in Melbourne for 7 years and are now in Winnipeg.
He has definitely found that where he was scraping around for work in Aus he has plenty here.
You don't say where in Canada you are thinking of moving too? Its a vast place so I imagine the markets are going to vary by province. And the travel time, while its pretty much guaranteed to be less than Aus to the UK can vary depending on which side of the country you are on.
We had relatives out for Christmas, she wouldn't have been able to make it to Australia. We haven't been back to the UK yet, but are planning on doing it soon (and it's certainly more appealing than the awful Aus to UK trek).
The holidays here are pretty dire - plus the week of Long service leave hubby had accrued was just wiped out. But better that than being laid off.

Overall I would say the transition was pretty easy for us - but it would depend on what route visa wise you are taking and what logistics you have to cope with before upping sticks. we had already sold our house for other reasons and our little one is not in school yet so we pretty much picked up our suitcases and got on the plane for a new adventure.

Seabird

Wow thanks Scotdownunder! Incredible coincidence - my specialisation is indoor air quality and I sit on both NABERS and Green Star technical advisory panels as "the mould person" and of course carry out other indoor air quality work too! The industry seems to be operated quite differently there, with more involvement with Engineers and Architects rather than being left to Restoration contractors many of whom fudge their findings to feather their nest in a heavily unregulated area in the absence of any independent supervision or testing.

My group here also covers contaminated land and Occupational Hygiene (not necessarily asbestos though). I have carried out two large flood jobs as the Occ Hygiene team this year - one in Bundaberg after the flood (managed the restoration of the shopping mall) and more recently the wing of a Hospital on Caloundra on the Sunny Coast.

I guess that where we go is open to suggestion, though the other person behind the proposed move is my youngest daughter here in Oz who is attempting to break into the Games industry. She has been employed recently by Riot who is Australia's leading studio on a Consultancy basis for character update artwork, and also has an animation project on the go for a smaller studio but there is little in Brisbane (one employer is from Sydney and the other from the States) whilst Canada is the third in the world behind Japan and and the US in her field.

As I am now 54 I would need to work for a year first to get PR, and she would need something to show that she is working in her field, so would likely need a year to organise things. By then I'll be 55! My partner and stepchildren here all have much better opportunities there too if they chose to come. One is completing their degree in film and the other specialises in sustainable design - the passive house system which your hubbie may know is very significant in Canada.

Anyway, keep me posted. Happy for any information you have on how your hubbie went about applying for the job - did he do this before you left?

Definitely up for the adventure for sure! Given that we need to work for a year anyway to get PR, can't see what we have to lose really.

Thanks again.

christmasoompa

Just checking, but how old is your daughter and how old are your stepchildren? Are they definitely young enough to be dependents on your visa?

Why do you think you need to work for a year before being able to apply for PR? Assuming you're talking about Canada, that's not correct. Which visa route are you planning on applying under?

Seabird

Thanks Christmasoompa. No daughter in Oz is too old and complex. May need professional input on her situation and what we should do there for the best. I am 54 and when I filled in the online questionnaire from CIC it gave me the proverbial stay where you are message unless I had Canadian work experience.

Thoughts welcomed.

christmasoompa

Ah, I see. So you'd need to be prepared to leave your daughter behind, or vice versa, depending on who gets a job offer/visa first! The other would just have to follow when they can. Bear in mind it might be quite a bit trickier for your daughter to get a job offer and LMIA if she's young and without much experience, it may be tough for her to find an employer willing to wait months for her, go through all the paperwork, and pay $1000 if she doesn't have specialist skills. Perhaps an IEC visa would be a good option to get her over for a couple of years at least?

Good that your stepchildren are under 19 though, do make sure you get the process started for their biological fathers permission to remove them from Oz ASAP, if he's alive. That can take a while, particularly if you end up needing a court order.

Ignore the Come to Canada wizard results, it's not working at the moment! You're better off figuring out your visa eligibility yourself. Sounds like you'll need a job offer/LMIA and them go over on a Temp Work Permit, but do check all the options out.

Good luck with it.

Seabird

Thanks again,

Couple of great points. My daughter here is going to be the first person to organise, as she has not worked in Australia due to mental health problems. This does mean she may be still considered a dependent but this needs exploring with the medical people at this end as I have avoided putting her on any sort of disability system. My partner's children are all over 19 but not all of them would come. The youngest is due to graduate in a year and would, the eldest is established here, the second is a teacher and would find it hard either way, and the other one is a qualified interior designer with no market to work in. She is doing volunteer work in design and working in a shoe shop at the moment!

More than likely my partner would not want to come with us, and that would be the biggest challenge to work through. Being torn between struggles with work, complexities of access to children and grandchildren in the UK, and those I care for here is the current battle and one only we can work out. For now I want to consider my options so that I know what I am presenting to them all before I do. Part of that is understanding the visa options and getting a feel from others what the advantages and pitfalls have been in this move.

christmasoompa

Sounds like you've got a very difficult decision to make then. It's unlikely that any of the children would be able to accompany you on your visa (unless you support your daughter financially because of her mental health issues?), so they'd each need to qualify for a visa in their own right which could be tricky.

I wish you the best of luck with it.

AlliF

Can't help on the job application front I'm afraid as we were lucky enough to come over on the intra-company transfer and get a TWP that way, so it was just within the same company. He just had to show that his specific skills were necessary/highly specialised i.e. no locals could do it.
Now we are here we are applying for PR via the Provincial nomination route. Got the nomination but still getting the paperwork together for the actual PR application itself.
Good luck with working out how to proceed. Worth trying to get away from the mess Abbott is making for sure!

Seabird

Thanks again,

Yes a hard one but will work it out. Family in UK also have needs that are critical with ageing Dad who I need to be able to get to in emergency within a sensible timeframe. The other driver is my UK daughter who has escaped a 10 year violent relationship from a man who remains a threat. The safest and best answer for her and her two boys is to be somewhere he can't be thanks to his criminal record which is building nicely at the moment. She has outstanding work records and skills and the highest mark out of 200 people for her AAT Diploma. A young lady with the greatest strength and tenacity I. have yet met who would do anywhere proud socially and economically. Son is now in a major signed professional band and will be over there regularly touring he's next in Canada in April. Would be able to get to his gig.vi went to every gig he ever did in England and haven't seen him play for 8 years. Would be wonderful for both of us.

Yes I do keep my daughter and she has never been independent. She gets small art commission jobs though and has finally had a call from Australia's leading Games company head hunting her to provide artwork for League if Legends the worlds biggest online game. Work is from home and US studio has also employed her for some animation. Not enough to make her independent but a start. For now I can show easily that I have always kept her due to her condition.

The market is in Canada to change this but not here. Art and music happen for her at a very high level and became that is what she did when her condition stopped school happening. The industry there is huge and I know that if she could even get some work experience in a studio she'd start to move on as they finally have her very stable. She above all else has masses of online friends all of whom live in the broad North America. One of her four closest friends and all his buddies who she knows and Skypes with are in Seattle so Vancouver would work well on weekends. In short she is really keen to try for a couple of years.

So over to finding out which visas there are and sorting through house renos, and putting opportunity to my new family.

Thanks again will keep people posted with a complex case that may help others in its intricacies.

Mikeypm

Would your daughter qualify for the IEC, that maybe an option and if you could find a company that would be willing to go through a TWP for you then that would be half the battle so to speak.

Seabird

Thanks Mike

Not too sure will check. Would be good to have a positive way of moving her forward. Trying to get up to speed with all the three letter acronyms at the moment. Have handle on IEC Will search up TWP!

Despite not working she has a great cv of non-paid or very short term low-paid achievements in the Music and Art front. For instance she was the final solo act at the Proms in Adelaide singing Rule Britannia! in front of 2000 people, getting large vocal scholarships awarded by the Governor of south australia. Heaps of weddings, baptisms and funerals! She was also Artistic Director, story-writer and composer for the soundtrack of an amazing movie trailer where she managed a team of 20 people and tight timelines and budget and has even had a work commissioned for her by a leading Australian composer. It's all there for success, but personal self-confidence as a result of her difficulties and lack of jobs means she gets demoralized more quickly than someone without them. Once the opportunity and backing is there she flies with it. Typical example is that Riot Games in Sydney called her last week to see if she wants to do some voluntary work updating characters for them for the worlds biggest online game League of a Legends. Again great c.v. stuff but still financially dependent on Mum at 22 with ongoing depression issues.

I guess if someone is prepared to give her a go it would help her dream to be put somewhere where there is some demand for those skills. Looks like Toronto and Vancouver are game central in the world and have great music opportunities too compounded by close proximity to the States. It's her dream to spend a night at the New York Met Opera! Wondering if this lot would get her an employer over there or whether she'd still be seen as never having worked for an employer in a regular job as is her current practical obstacle.

Just need to work through it all. She's dead keen to go as she has stacks of online mates in the US and Canada through online gaming who she Skypes with sometimes daily. One of her four best friends is in Seattle so Vancouver would work well for her at whilst flatlining there is a vibrant Games hub there still with two biggest companies and a heap of independents.

Anyway will keep people posted! Thanks again really appreciate your time taken in responding and above all, reading and taking interest.

Mikeypm

EA games is in Burnaby and Microsoft are in Downtown Vancouver, if she likes social Media there is Hootsuite. I'd suggest she look at applying for the IEC around Dec/Jan time and in the meantime try reaching out to the likes of EA etc.