baldcat

Hi guys,

I've been a long time lurker, finally plucked the courage to make an account and ask something I'm unsure on

Me and my partner currently live with our parents in the UK, we are both 27. We have been saving up for a 'deposit' on a house of some kind. We have around 5-8% of a typical deposit in the South East of UK.

I have been toying with the idea of ditching the UK altogether and heading to Canada (also considered Austria and Scandinavian countries) but all of the posts I have seen so far have either been retirement or at very least selling a UK house to move abroad.

The question I have is, is it possible to just up-root ourselves and move to Canada without having the back up of a property in the UK to sell? Maybe it would be better if we got our foot on the ladder here first, then sold the house in 5 years time?

Any advice will be much appreciated, thank you in advance!


Edit: Just some more info, my partner is a barber/hairdresser of 7 years and I am a Senior Hire Controller of 11 years.

Baldcat

JamesM

Yes it is possible to just uproot yourself as you only need a few thousand dollars.

You'd need to figure out which immigration route to take though if you are eligible for any.

For that you need to look at the Citizenship Immigration Canada website.

As you are both quite young you'll likely have the option of some short term visa's to check the place out.

baldcat

Thank you for your swift response, I was having a gander on the Immigration website.

We qualify for a couple of Working Holiday type VISAs, I just get concerned I'll end up back in the UK after a year with no job and back with my parents at 30 - maybe that's a part of my British cynicism. We won't know unless we try our best I guess!

Aviator

For the IEC, one applies and hope to get invited. For you both to be able to work would likley need both of you applying and getting invited. You apply and go into the pool, hoping to get an invite.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ons-apply.html

It is a two year temp permit. At the end of it, you have to return home. You could also apply for PR while in Canada, it that gets approved, you can stay.

Will you end up back in the UK? No way to know. If you do, at least you had a great experience and learned something along the way. If you don't a new life awaits in Canada. It is a dilema every immigrant faces. If you try, who know what may happen, if you don't try, the outcome is a certainty/

Look at the Wiki section of this site.

Pulaski

But if you're already 27 and wait "5 years" then the WHV option will be off the table and it will become harder to try to make the move. Unless you are working towards some specific qualification, or a certain experience threshold, say "two years", there is rarely any benefit to waiting before trying to emigrate.

Snowy560

IEC is the "no brainer" route to go at your age. If you are successful in getting a Work Permit through IEC, like Canada, get the right sort of jobs/work experience in the 2 years you are here, there may be an option to apply to become Permanent Residents. Skilled Canadian Work Experience can only enhance your chances. That's what's called being realistic.

Hurlabrick

What a strange collection of countries you might want to move to!

My first thought is that from your list, Canada would be the hardest to 'guarantee' permanent residence, whereas, Sweden, Finland, Denmark or Austria, as they are all (currently!) EU countries would be as easy for you as wandering across and saying 'hi, i'm here!'.

I suggest you would have to want to move to Canada really badly for the hassle to make it worth your effort and the risk that perhaps at the end of 2 years on a IEC you may or may not qualify for PR if you do decide to stay.

Not trying to put you off, but if all things are equal, I would go for an EU country IMHO!

DandNHill

I suppose there is the language barrier to consider with the other EU countries.
(Growing up in France my Mum felt quite isolated because she didn’t speak French.
If my father had taken us the US which was his other option she would no doubt have had a better life. )

baldcat

Thanks everyone for your responses. It's given us hope for sure.

I'm glad no one has said it would be impossible without the money that selling a house would secure us. We don't have any ties in that respect so maybe it serves us better than I thought.

The only other thing really dragging me down at present is my family's response to our possible plans. I'm getting very negative responses such as

'there's no place like home'

'you'll be back in 5 years with no job'

'The grass isn't always greener'

'You don't have enough time to do this' (as both his and my parents plan to move away to other parts of Essex by the end of this year)

Did you guys get this response? How did you cope with it? Are there some truths in this?

My sister actually said most expats miss home and just can't afford to come back now... -_-

Pulaski

It is impossible to make generalizations that apply to you. Some people love their new home, others hate it and soon move back. In between there is very possible shade of grey - some return to the UK when they start a family, others when their children leave home and some return to the UK when they retire.

Some return to the UK every time they have a holiday, others go years between visits back to the UK.

It is impossible to predict how you might react if you emigrate, and in some ways the nightmare scenario for a couple is that one of you absolutely loves living in your new home country, and the other hates it and can't wait to leave!

There is a "Moving Back to the UK" section on BE, devoted to the many people who return home to the UK at some point in their life. But bear in mind that, IMO, BE's members are skewed towards those who retain links to the UK and suffer from some degree of homesickness, and therefore return home sooner or later. In other words there is an iceberg of people who are perfectly happy in their new home and don't feel the need to hang out on an expat forum.

Hurlabrick

Yes

Didn't ask people what they thought of our plans or if they told us anyway, we ignored it!

Yes. Canada isn't universally better or worse, it is different. Whether you like the differences or not is a personal thing, no one can answer for you.

....and she knows this as a fact precisely how?

Partially discharged

Wow...your parents and parents-in-laws plans for an inter-county move is supposed to eat into the time for your cross-continent move?

Hurlabrick

Check out the 'Canniversary' section of this forum for a selection of expats who are generally very happy with their decision to move.

baldcat

Sounds ridiculous I know. But yes, as they are moving somewhat far away from our current places of work, they are wanting us to find somewhere local to live before they abandon ship..

I get the feeling they think our heads are in the clouds.

suzeandmatt

Not 100% similar situation but not that far for us. My husband & I moved here in January 2017- I was 28 when we moved, he was 29. We technically would have qualified age wise for an IEC had we applied but fortunately my husband had a post-doctorate offer so I automatically got an OWP and he got a TWP.
But- where the similarities lie is we moved with barely any money (Literally £2000.)- (doing a PhD for 5 years isn’t a way to earn or save money that’s for sure- so we didn’t have any!) We don’t have any house in the Uk. We have no financial ties there any more and nothing to “go back to”. If we do go back we’ll be starting again from scratch.
Fortunately we discovered we absolutely love it here. For us, our lives are a lot more like we hoped they would be, and we are applying for PR this year. Neither of us have any intention of moving back to the UK. And if we do have to go back at some point for whatever reason because it all goes wrong here, granted we can actually afford to save money here so it’ll be a slightly better situation but- yeah, we’ll probably end up having to stay with parents-in-law until we find our feet. But hey- who cares. At least we’ll have tried and known whether it’s for us or not.
My family weren’t particularly supportive of the matter. But they’ve only ever lived in the same place their whole lives and wouldn’t think twice about stomping on your dreams- so in the end we just never spoke to them about it. My husband’s family on the other hand were a lot more supportive about the whole thing and were excited for us and told us to just go for it- In my husband’s area of research- doors were closing all the time in the UK and they knew the opportunities weren’t there.

So yes- you can do it for little to no £, and without a house or whatever to back you up in the UK. (Though yes it’s easier with more £ and plenty people will tell you it’s impossible otherwise but it really isn’t!) And you can find the grass is greener and you can enjoy it and not be home sick- we’re living proof, as will many other people be! :-)
- whether that’s the case for you- you won’t know unless you try.

So do whatever you want to do- don’t let your family stop you.

If you need work permit or whatever info then then people on here are super helpful. :-)
Good luck!!