Kadett, your situation is similar to ours.

Life is far less than perfect for us - paritially due to lack of gainful employment for me, but also because there is nothing special about Calgary (despite what the locals would have you believe). The subject of moving back to England comes up every other day.

I've tried to fit in here for over three years, but my wife has become more English than I have become Canadian. It does seem the natural choice to move back, but of course since the Canadian dollar is worth next to nothing, it's going to take a long time saving up (and making even more compromises in the mean time).

I dunno - I try to remain optimistic about everything, but I'm trying to figure out how long I have to bang my head against a brick wall before giving up?

Simon, if you now have a Canadian passport, does that not allow you to move to America, maybe someone will correct me on this, but if this is the position, I would possibly consider moving to somewhere in the States?

In some professions (not all by a long way) a canadian citizen is elligable for a T1N US visa under NAFTA rules, which you basically get at the border, kind of like a work permit. As I understand it you need to get it renewed annually at the border, at the discression of the immigration officer. Doesnt entitle you to long term US residency though, and I am sure it comes with all the hassles being on a work permit has in Canada (eg no credit rating) Plus if you catch the officer on a bad day, or they change the list of applicable occupations then you have no right to go back into the states. Seems to be a bit of a precarious option to me.

Iain

I don't think its quite so clear cut for a Canadian Citizen to move south of the border. Its a moot point anyway, since I am a 'mere' permanent resident.

Immigrating to Canada has proved how bad an immigration process can be, and I'm not sure I could stomach immigrating to another country right now - especially when there are plenty of perfectly good countries in Europe I could live and work without having the additional bother... England being one of them!

Simon sorry to hear your're having a tought time too mate. Likewise my eventual return to the UK will be long term, especially since my wife isn't an EU citizen so I'd have to sort the immigration for her.

As for Sukhi's idea about moving to the US, basically its not really the case, it can be just as hard for Canadians to move south as any other nationality. Canadian citizens are bound by the same visa and green card rules. Indeed one friend of mine who worked in IT did get sponsored to go down there, but staying there is another matter. He's having a merry time with the INS. For my part I wouldn't want the hassle of a move south of the border unless I was offered a dream job with full visa support.