Would you do it?
 

We have been doing a lot of thinking recently after this happened outside our house (click highlighted writing to see picture). We were awoken at 1.30 in the morning to see the car on fire. You can see my car and our house in close proximity behind the burnt out car. The fire brigade took a while to attend, as they had to stop and put out another car that had been set alight at the other end of the road. The car hadn’t been stolen; some idiots just thought it would be a good laugh to set our neighbour’s car alight and also hope that two other cars parked either side would catch fire. In fact one did, our other neighbour’s BMW, sustaining damage to the front end of the car.



In light of this incident and others that have happened in the vicinity, we are not sure that Woking is a good place to bring up our children. I would go as far as to say we are even thinking of leaving the country all together. The whole country seems to be sinking into anarchy, with gangs of youths vandalising everything they see and generally being an anti-social annoyance. The police seem unable or unwilling to do anything about them and the government just seem to ignore them. Another thing that makes me want to leave is that due to the inflation in the English housing market, William and Benjamin stand very little chance of buying their own house here. Also issues with high taxes and an incompetent government.



One of the ideas my wife and I have discussed is emigrating to Canada or Australia. Whilst Australia is warmer, it is a long way away. In my investigations on the internet it would seem that Canada has a lot of things going for it and it is close enough to make a quick dash back to the UK if needed.



I am hoping that my Canadian uncle will be willing to sponsor us. I have done an online immigration questionnaire and gained 79 points against the 67 needed to qualify, assuming that I have a relative sponsoring me. I am aware that the whole immigration process takes quite some time (18 months approx). I am thinking of approaching Cable TV companies for work and Rogers will be one of them. I am hoping that my experience in the British Digital TV revolution will help there. My only concerns are that I don't have a degree, only some very poor CSE's. I have 20+years work experience and I was an endentured apprentice, and these seemed to count on the online questionaire. My wife is a very experienced and qualified childminder, what are the childcare oportunities in Canada?



In your opinion, would emigrating be a good idea, or would we just be exchanging one set of ills for another? I have heard that certain areas of Canada have employment problems and also that immigrants have experienced difficulties in finding work. Due to the inflation in the English housing market, we would be able to realise £100,000 - £150,000 ($247,341 - $371,058 Canadian) profit from the sale of our house. Having looked on some Canadian real estate websites, these funds would go a long way to purchasing a decent house, which would alleviate some of the pressure from the employment issue.


If you were me, at my stage in life (I am 38, married with 2 children), would you drag your family to a completely new country?

Regards,
JimLin :)

P.S. I have just qualified as a SCUBA diver. Is there any diving to be had in Canada?

P. P. S. I am intending to go to the Emigrate 2004 show week after next.

Re: Would you do it?
 

Hi

Short answer is I would do it.

But then most people on this site are applying for (or have got) Canadian PR so we are no doubt biased :)

There are challenges and its not going to be automatically perfect, but then I really believe the opportunities are there.

Good luck
Dave

Re: Would you do it?
 

Sorry to hear your story, that sucks. I always thought Woking was a sleepy little place....

Short answer, 38 isnt too old, but take time to look at everything involved and the impact it will / could have on your family.

Canada is a great place, but doesnt suit everyone, so do a lot of homework about the different areas available, and the job situation. Same is true in Oz, I read a lot about the shitty attitude of bornm and bred australians, and that does not seem to be so true in canada.

Check out the cic website carefully (www.cic.gc.ca), family sponsored immigration is an odd one, of the top of my head I dont think an uncle can sponsor you, but I could be wrong. Lack of degree may hurt your chances at skilled worker too, but check out the privincial nomination programs, could be your best bet.

There are plenty of people running daycares here, seems to be a bit of a boom industry, but the pay is not great. As far as I know no special certification etc is necessary to work in that field. This is something you should really look into if coming to canada, many industries want to see canadian experience and certificates, but most immigrants from the UK seem to do OK in the end.

There is some good diving in the great lakes, but not in the winter:) Then again if you are really keen the Caribean is not so far away.

Hope this helps some...

Iain

Jim Lin,

Sorry to hear about your situation, and see what happened to your car.

When I started reading your story, I thought that you might already be in Canada and were thinking of moving back to Britain because something bad had happened to your car and you were outraged. Then I clicked on your link, and saw the car. I knew right way that you were still in Britain.

I was born and raised in Canada Jim, and I have never seen or heard of a car being set alight deliberately in Canada. Perhaps it has occurred, but it would be very rare indeed. Having your tires slashed? Yes, that happens too often, but not set alight. To a Canadian, that puts a whole knew meaning on the term "vandalism".

I would move, if I were you based on what you have said. But check out you employment prospects very carefully. Don't assume that your qualifications or experience will mean a lot to Canadian employers. I'm not saying that they won't, just don't make any assumptions. Pay a visit to Canada, and look around. E-mail Rogers and the others, find out what they think.

Good Luck!

I'm a scuba diver too. The west coast of Canada is very good - but the water is rather cold.

Tobermory, on the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in southern Ontario has a lot of sunken ships, and is promoted as a good dive site.

http://parkscanada.pch.gc.ca/amnc-nm...ve/index_e.asp

Of course, Canada only has about 2 million lakes (more than any other country) - but for diving they aren't especially all that great.

The Bahamas are awesome (and so is Grand Cayman) - the water is warm and incredibly clear. If you lived in southern Ontario, The Bahamas really would not be all that far away by air.

Re: Would you do it?
 

Hi JimLin

I hope its okay because my wife and are both 37 - 38 yrs young and have two kids Primary school age, we've just arrived "off the Boat" in Toronto last Sept.
waiting for PR from April 03 so it may be some time before we hear anything from London.
Here on Temp work visa 1 year for wife , me and kids study visa on her work visa.
Reason for move, two-fold

1. from N.Ireland and dont like where the whole political thing is going (or ever went for that matter), was here 12 yrs ago for vacation and loved the lifestyle / weather / Facilities / and freedom to live your life even wear whatever you like (try walking through certain areas of N.I. wearing certain Football tops etc.) probably much the same in England too much stress!
:scared:

2.as I have no Degree (as you might figure by my use of grammer and poor spelling), and figureing that most immigrants degrees didn't hold much sway here. Hoped that it would level the playing field as far as job hunting goes. in my case it worked (luck 'o' the Irish i Guess). .:D

Served apprenticeship (Television Repair) , after my apprenticeship Tons of experience working for different companies (different fields of electrical electronic engineering Technian level) but was never happy with low wage rates and working conditions in N.I. (at best £18k ) and for that you needed to be on call 24hr. (by the way I read in some past posts people griping about the poor holiday entitlement in Canada. when you were in the UK service sector you were lucky to get two weeks per year and even then it was a cryin' match when you took them)

My wife a fully qualified nurse of 14+ years was ward manager but we choose to devote time to Kids instead of Career.
she choose an E grade post (it meant better shifts and not carrying the damn beep for the hospital nightshift) and went to approx £15k. (part time, if full time would have been £20k)
with two kids and a mortgage we were killing ourselves to make ends meet.

I dont want my kids to grow up with the same hedaches we had and hopefully there will be job prospects for them too. degree or none if my kids are smart enough to go on with education, good if not, good(so long as they are not slacking), as long as they turn out content and healthy individuals able to support thier own families my wife and I would be chuffed to bits.
Here in Ontario there is continual assesment for children, no eleven plus style exams that im aware of.

<Im going to have a wee fit here>
.:lecture:
Quite a few people in the british Isles (UK AND Ireland) are up their own @$$es with career elitests, who look down thier noses at ordinary workers and whats worse tax them out of existence(maybe Im compleley out of my mind but its the impression I get that if you dont have a third level education and not pushing for position of CEO of NASA or its equivalent you are almost a social pariah) and I am amazed to watch some parents sending thier children to tutors and pushing the child for success in an eleven plus examination the child needs to have a childhood and not feel pressured (i must add at this point that we dont let the kids run around mad either, there is a happy medium), my god no wonder the suicide rates are so high for teenagers in the UK, we made a choice to devote our lives to our family and found it hard, some people couldn't comprehend that we made a choice of kids over career
"but what about the money? it'll be hard to bring up a family with himself just a tv repairman." :mad:
well it may well be hard here in Canada also, but at least there is a bit of weather and good amenities to help things a bit.
<Deap breath>
My wee rant sorry it has nothing to do with your problem but my mind was kinda going that way Apologies. (interesting topic though, maybe somone should start a thread)

anyway where was I?.. oh yes We made the move with similar circumstances to yours and for me so far it has paid off. the lifestyle here is very agreeable, the people are VERY nice the weather is something else. My wife gets decent money Circa $60K
as for me I am on circa $50K all for doing the same work in a more relaxed environment than in N.I., we are earning more than in NI and spending less and after paying rent here and all our bills along with the mortgage repayments on the house in Ireland we can survive better than we could have in NI. I have found that Canadian employers seem to value experience above all else. and if you can get in the door at all with a company within the sector of your choosing at a lower level then work your a$$ off wou WILL get recognition and this WILL lead to better things.
well........ I hope so anyway!

I hope this has given you some food for thought
(if nothing else it has given my poor wee fingers a workout)
best of luck with whatever decision you arrive at
Kieran

Re: Would you do it?
 

Don't waste another minute. Send in your PR applications. Nothing to lose except a few hundred quid by doing that. By the time you get a result you'll have had time to think it through and do some thorough research.

Re: Would you do it?
 

For just having moved to Canada, you appear to be making very good wages. Regarding what you said about getting in at a lower level, then working your a$$ off to get recognition, will happen - as long as the boss has any brains.

I used to be an employer in Canada, and I have to say I like your attitude, and to us, that's very important.

You've only been in Ontario since Sept. You don't know that much about the weather yet. Just wait for the heat and humidity of July and August.

Re: Would you do it?
 

We did it, about the same age as you (at the time). Oddly enough the catalyst was being offered a job in Woking ... Vancouver seemed a much better option :D

Plenty of diving here in Vancouver :D

All the best


Clare

Hi Jimlin Sorry to see what happened to the car outside your house very surprised that that Woking though worked there quite a lot several years ago and always fault it was a nice small friendly town, just shows you never really know what a place is like until you live there for a while your self.

Me the wife and two boys (11 & 13) sent are application for skilled worker class in January 04 but are still waiting for are AOR, we live in a sleepy little village between Lambourne and Marlborough with very little crime. Although we used to live in Reading and that was extremely bad, but after visiting Vancouver and Victoria last year am as keen as ever to emigrate I am 39 and am not worried about my age if we don’t do it can see my self sitting down and thinking of what ifs in 20 years time.

Apparently and I don’t dive at the moment the waters around Vancouver Island are some of the best in the World for diving. I would recommend that you take one or more trips to Canada to make sure it is for you before you apply but we all fault it was a lovely place and are going again this April

On the work front this seems the biggest problem with most jobs paying less than in the UK and fewer jobs about also qualifications and experience aren’t usually recognised. I am a self employed Gas Service Engineer in the UK and could follow this in Canada if I take a Trade exam in Canada but after 23 years in same job and a bad back I will look to start a business of some sorts. We are rather fortunate mainly because of house prices and owning my own business to be able to go to Canada but a house and a business with out a mortgage. We are also of to the Show at Sandown on the Friday we went last year and found it very useful.
;)

Hi Jimlin,
Go for it, that's what I say! The employment situation might not be as good as the UK. But surely everything else more that makes up for it? Canada especially is a wonderful place for kids!

One thing I would advise, don't bother employing a lawyer. Fill in the forms yourself and save £2500!

seamonsta.

Hi Jimlin, as Davexpat says, you will probably get a biased opinion here.
I turned 40 last October, around the time that i sent our application to London. We have been nominated by Manitoba, and got our passport request on Saturday,.
All i can say is do as much research as you can, i`ve probably spent about two years looking at everything Canadian, and try to get a balanced view of things, look at the `returning to the UK` forum, go through the `Immigration` forum to see the problems people have, and try to actually visit Canada if you have never been . If you decide it`s for you, go for it, i would hate to look back in a few years time and think `what if`. Good luck with whatever you decide.................billy

Thanks for the stunning amount of replies. It has given me even more food for thought.

Am I right in my assumption that the £100,000 - £150,000 will buy a reasonable house?

I will read up on the sponsering aspect, of course they didn't go into much detail on the original questionaire.

Regards,
JimLin :)

Re: Would you do it?
 

this same thing happened just around the corner from me the other night so dont think it doesnt hapen over here because it does. theres crime all over no matter what country you are in and we would be very naive to say it doesnt. dont let that put you off though!!!!

as for the diving. ive only just taken it up after years of talking about it in the uk. there are so many different places to dive in canada so you'll love it!!

Jim, the short answer is yes regarding the housing. However, housing prices vary considerably across Canada. Vancouver's prices are the highest, Toronto has the second highest prices. In general, prices drop the further you get from the major urban centers.

Do some research at:

http://www.mls.ca/map.aspx