Me and my Missus are now seriously thinking of moving to Alberta from the North of England when our young 'un is old enough. On paper Calgary looks the business but I am also considering Edmonton and Winnipeg in Manitoba. Where's the best place to set up a home and what are house prices like in the aforementioned - I have a fair amount of equity if I sell my home in the UK and I'd like to do without a mortgage if I emigrate. Also what are wages like in Canada? What would you expect to take home after tax. Can anyone share their experiences?

Finally I have a HND and a BA(Hons) - would that get me 22 points under the new system since BTEC claim a HND is equivalent to a pass degree standard. Would that be good enough to count as "two or more university degrees at the bachelor's level"?

Cheers in advance,

Jock

Housing in Manitoba and Saskatchewan is very affordable. You can find a decent house with 200m2 for 40k CAD, but you will also face weak economy and cold winters. Besides, some say that people in Winnipeg are cold (like their winters) and integration is not easy.

    > Me and my Missus are now seriously thinking of moving to Alberta from the North of
    > England when our young 'un is old enough. On paper Calgary looks the business but I
    > am also considering Edmonton and Winnipeg in Manitoba. Where's the best place to
    > set up a home and what are house prices like in the aforementioned - I have a fair
    > amount of equity if I sell my home in the UK and I'd like to do without a mortgage
    > if I emigrate. Also what are wages like in Canada? What would you expect to take
    > home after tax. Can anyone share their experiences?

To be honest i think the best way for you to decide is to take a vacation tehre and
go looka round the various places and get a feel for them. most places can look good
on paper but you need to get a feel for the place in real life if your gonna take
such a big step. Calgary is becoming a very popular place for brits to emmigrate to,
if you read the yahoo group called britaintocanadaimmigration , then you will see a
majority of the new applicants are headed for calgary where as vancouver BC used to
be the main spot. I think the attraction of Calgary is its not quite as over
saturated as toronto or vancouver, the job market is still growing, housing is
cheaper, taxes are cheaper etc. however if you are looking at calgary and more so
winnipeg or edmonton make sure you visit in winter as well, hehe, certainly a lot
more snow up there in winter than down in southern ontario where i am headed and
theres hardly any snow in vancouver as a rule. Calgary and around tehre always seem
to go down well with families as well as far as schools and good environment for kids
goes. jobs may be easier to find there too as something silly like 80% of immigrants
head to Toronto/Vancouver/Montreal so although the job market is smaller, there is
less competition. best bet is to take a trip there though and see how you like it,
but be warned you will most likley not want to leave , hehe.

    > Finally I have a HND and a BA(Hons) - would that get me 22 points under the new
    > system since BTEC claim a HND is equivalent to a pass degree standard. Would
    > that be good enough to count as "two or more university degrees at the
    > bachelor's level"?
not entirely sure about that. is the HND completely seperate to the degree or did you
get the degree by carrying on with the HND to a further level? if the HND is issued
by a university then you may be able to count it as a pass degree, if its issued by a
non university college then you should be able to class it as a non university
diploma. If its a 3 year HND then you actually get more points for that 3 year non
university diploma than you do for a 3 year bachelors degree. However im not sure how
you would find out which class the HND is classed in, because certainly when i
graduated last month there were people graduating with HND's in the same groups as us
graduating with bachelors degrees. when counting yoru points id count it as 20 first
though, as thats the lowest you are going to get and then see if you get 75 anyway
then it wont matter, but if you are a point or two short then it will be wroth
looking into more i think. try joining that yahoo group (britaintocanadaimmigration)
if you fancy talking to more brits at various stages of immigrating to Canada.

Drew

Sumatra wrote:
    > Housing in Manitoba and Saskatchewan is very affordable. You can find a decent
    > house with 200m2 for 40k CAD, but you will also face weak economy and cold
    > winters. Besides, some say that people in Winnipeg are cold (like their winters)
    > and integration is not easy.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Not only that, but Winnipeg has probably one of the highest mosquito populations in
Canada they say!

clagary weather is vague... there was snow in may, and hailstorms in august... the day after the hailstorm the temprature rose to 31 degrees...

people are very nice tho..

I'm a Brit (cor blimey guvnor) and my family and I are off to Alberta
- Calgary or Edmonton not sure, depends where the first opportunity come up. Both
places are great as have already been out and done the ground work and seen them
for myself. Calgary inparticular is very attractive.

bighead <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > clagary weather is vague... there was snow in may, and hailstorms in august... the
    > day after the hailstorm the temprature rose to 31 degrees...
    > people are very nice tho..
    > Originally posted by The Wizzard:
    > > however if you are looking at calgary and more so winnipeg or edmonton make sure
    > > you visit in winter as well, hehe, certainly a lot more snow up there in winter
    > > than down in southern ontario where i am headed and theres hardly any snow in
    > > vancouver as a rule.

Being a visible minority/refugee,having no skills and having no knowledge of French
or English has to be worth at least 100 points "Jason Tomlins" <[email protected]>
wrote in message news:60-
[email protected]...
    > I'm a Brit (cor blimey guvnor) and my family and I are off to Alberta
    > - Calgary or Edmonton not sure, depends where the first opportunity come up. Both
    > places are great as have already been out and done the ground work and seen them
    > for myself. Calgary inparticular is very attractive.
    > bighead <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > > clagary weather is vague... there was snow in may, and hailstorms in august...
    > > the day after the hailstorm the temprature rose to 31 degrees...
    > >
    > > people are very nice tho..
    > >
    > > Originally posted by The Wizzard:
    > > > however if you are looking at calgary and more so winnipeg or edmonton make
    > > > sure you visit in winter as well, hehe, certainly a lot more snow up there in
    > > > winter than down in southern ontario where i am headed and theres hardly any
    > > > snow in vancouver as a rule.