englishrose1

I moved here on the 16th June 2011, after being made redundant in the UK. I took the biggest gamble of my life to pursue a long time childhood dream of moving to Canada. My thinking for moving here was I had always wanted to move somewhere else in the world. I never wanted to grow old regretting not moving to another place in the world.

I have been here now just over 6 months. In that time I have been through a amazing journey emotionally. I arrived and due to bad research and planning to a hovel of a rooming house. I just about managed to stay the night, in some house that needed to be condemned. I then moved to a guesthouse downtown for couple of weeks on College Street. From day 1 I was on the job trail and accessed a centre providing support in resume writing. I took the class and then started firing out my resume. After 18 days I secured a job with a private property management firm, and then I was kindly taken in by my best friends uncle from England. Who has been here over 20 years and has a tremendous network of contacts.

This is not to say that I did not have to network myself because I did. I have spent the last six months attending various events in order to network. For us Brits a very tiring experience as we are not used to this. It was certainly tiring for me.

After securing employment within about 2 months of working there, I started to feel that I had made the biggest mistake of my life in moving here, as the job was not as described and I found myself working 24-7 in a job which I didn't like, and knew I could provide sugguestions to improve the way business was conducted, but canadian culture advises newcomers against this in the first 12 months of starting a job. So I refrained.

I made a deal with myself if I could not get a job in my field social/affordable housing by Xmas I was going home.

I applied for a municipal job and was advised I came second despite lack of canadian experience. I then applied for a job as a VP of Housing for a affordable housing provider, who values the experience a UK housing professional can bring to the sector.

This was a real turning point in my rollercoaster journey. As I was able to look for a place of my own. which I moved in last week. I started my new job on January 3rd, 2012.

I had a ticket booked for December 23rd to go home, I decided to stay here in Toronto for Xmas and whilst I was homesick. I now know this was a right decision as when I do go home, I will be going home just for a vacation and not because things are not secure here.

Adjusting to life here can be difficult but I am supporting a couple of British Expats small business who provide us with our creature comforts from home. Like Yorkshire Pudding Mix, biscuits and the like.

I am getting used to the diverse range of food products available and trying new culinary delights. Who would have thought steak and eggs would become a sunday breakfast meal in replace of a traditional fry up.

Over the xmas period I took my first trips outside the Toronto and nearby surburbs.

The point I want to share with others is, moving to Canada is not for the faint hearted and does test your sanity and resolve. It is not a easy move and there will be things along the way that will make you want to go home. This forum is the font of all knowledge to Brits already here and Brits seeking to come here. Each journey for each individual on this forum is going to be different. However I just wanted to share a vision of hope to others on this forum.

Alberta_Rose

Well done for not giving up. Not everybody comes over here and immediately settle into their dream-life, and I know some on here tell you you should listen to your feelings and not stay if you are miserable, but many people who feel like giving up in their first year do actually find what they were looking for, sometimes quite suddenly.

I often feel that folk who come over but leave their options open to go back if they don't like it are setting themselves up to fail and will miss out on what might have been.

I normally don't even bother saying this any more however, as by the time people post that they are going home, all they usually want is affirmation, not argument!

Oink

Did you come on your own or did you come with a husband and/or children? And, how old are you? These variables might make a big difference to people wanting inspiration when thinking about emigrating to Canada.

englishrose1

I came here on my own, not having close family or friends here.

Oink

What would you say were the main factors to have a successful experience in Canada? I've heard Skype can an invaluable resource for people to keep in touch with all the loved ones that are left behind after they've embarked on their journey.

englishrose1

In response to your question I think seeing the networking process as a full time job in itself. Being willing to go attend whatever you are invited to by whom ever you meet. Even if you go there and there is no tangible outcome. I realise not every one can do this and had I come here with children I know literally spending the whole summer visiting various is not a possibility.

***Creating the right resume***

I also think that at some of the centres for newcomers the information given is very generic at some. Some places are better than others, and have more contacts with major employers. I know of one newcomers centre in the East that has a high success rate for placing newcomers in jobs due the types of people they have on their boards.

I think coming here at the start of summer really helped as people take advantage of the warm weather and they are out in drove. In winter everyone stays home. So I can see that moving here in the winter will be a more difficult experience for some people.

Finally here it is a case of try, try again. I remember speaking to someone in my sector who I was introduced to, telling me that I would not be considered by their organisation, as UK professionals are much more advanced in business thinking and efficency, and most canadian organisation are not at the point yet where they want to be maverick enough to change unless they are forced to do it. Almost a element of it aint broke dont fix it. What that taught me is do I really want to work for that kind of organisation, probably not as that told me innovation is not part of the corporate culture.

Mhut

Hi English Rose,

Thanks for sharing your experience and wishing you the best of 2012

Mhut

tobyjug

The point I want to share with others is, moving to Canada is not for the faint hearted and does test your sanity and resolve. It is not a easy move and there will be things along the way that will make you want to go home. This forum is the font of all knowledge to Brits already here and Brits seeking to come here. Each journey for each individual on this forum is going to be different. However I just wanted to share a vision of hope to others on this forum.[/QUOTE]


cant agree more, we did 8 months of web searching before we moved over, mostly on this site, thankfully the job offer was a long one (truck driver) and have been here 6 years now and loving it.......

Poppy71

Hi English Rose

Really good to read about your experience, thank you for sharing

We're poised to make the big move out to Mississauga in May this year so I'm very keen to know as much about the area as possible. Like you, it has been a lifelong dream to move out to Canada. We have no friends or close family there either and so we will also be doing our best to start networking when we arrive.

Couple of questions:

Did you use any new immigrant organizations? If so, any you would recommend?

What made you settle in Mississauga in the end? Was it just a case of being close to work or did you decide on it after exploring different areas?

Ailsa n Dave

Hi English Rose, great post, very inspiring for a realist like myself!! Best of luck with your life as a Canadian!

Tangram

Made redundant and single. I don't see how this could be classed as "the biggest gamble of my life". Please add some detail.

Mad Jockette

English Rose, a very realistic post to read. Glad you got a job that suits you.
Posts like yours are always subjective, but can be an inspiration to those who feel nothing is going their way

I have a couple of friends who also came here on their own, unlike you, but with jobs to go to and they couldn't adjust to not having family and close friends at hand or the 'canadian way'. So they went back to the UK within 6 months of each other. They have since been for visits, but that is all they want.

I hope you continue to enjoy your adventure and new life

Juliet C

"The point I want to share with others is, moving to Canada is not for the faint hearted and does test your sanity and resolve. It is not a easy move and there will be things along the way that will make you want to go home. This forum is the font of all knowledge to Brits already here and Brits seeking to come here. Each journey for each individual on this forum is going to be different. However I just wanted to share a vision of hope to others on this forum"

I totally agree, we moved here in June also and its been much harder than I expected and I consider myself pretty resilient, I know in my gut its the right decision though so we just have to plow through the bad bits.....

Good luck and well done

l.proct

What a great outcome. My family and I are looking forward to moving to Vancouver Island in the near future. I feel for us, its our jobs that may get in the way. I am a primary school teacher and my husband works in demolition. We are just fed up of living in the 'rat race' of London and just want to live our lives- not work for a decent one 24/7!

Picklepopps

Our Move to Calgary

It’s a huge decision and one that will take a lot of patience and time, not to mention cash as well.

We decided to move to Calgary in 2008 and got in contact with Brazolot Migration to advise us. Not cheap, but does help you avoid the pit falls and dead ends. Their advice is good and we have had a relatively trouble free run so far.

We (2 kids aged 5&3 then) decided to have a holiday in April 2009 and it was one of the best holidays ever. We hired an RV and drove all over the Rockies, then spent a week in Calgary visiting areas, looking at show homes and even spoke to a few industries about working in Calgary.

We applied for perm residence (as advised) in March 2010 hoping to have this in place before we left, originally anticipating a spring 2011 move. We are still waiting for our medicals. Our PR is based on my skilled worker application as a welder. This covers anything to do with Lasers - my speciality.
This is where it got messy as the expectations for our application timeline grew and grew. We may now be waiting for our PR until 2013 as we applied before June 2010. Anyone who applied after is being fast-tracked (we have been told).

This wasn't going to stop us

My wife is a midwife and has had to undertake a bridging program to become a midwife in Alberta (at great expense including 3 months of unpaid work) even though she delivered more babies and has more experience than most midwifes she has had to shadow. This allowed us to come and live in Calgary under her Student permit. I had to apply for an Open work permit and our kids applied for student permits as well. At extra cost!

We sold our house luckily to the first person for what we wanted and decided on a date to come to Calgary. I had interviews lined up which helped and it was up to me to secure the job.

we landed on Sep 17 with a visitor record (legally you can stay for 6 months - but immigration will ask you lots of questions - why are you here, where you are staying, kids schooling, proof of funds to stay etc.).

After a successful interview I (with my new work) had to apply for an LMO labour market opinion, in order to get a new work permit. This took until Feb 2012 to come through and was expecting to put my feet up until then. Luckily for us the student and open work permits we applied for in the UK arrived end of Nov 2011 and enabled me to start work earlier than expected, kids could go to school and my wife could get her 3 month practicum completed, which ends this week. Hooray!

This Friday we will travel down to the US border (around the flag) to activate our new 2 year work permit. Hopefully our PR will arrive in that time. The LMO states I have to work for the company on the permit which has isn’t bad.

In 6 months of arriving we haven’t seen rain, its often sunny, very dry and Canadians are generally very friendly people until they get behind the wheel of their truck or SUV, then they become complete morons

We have a beautiful house 3 times the size of what we had in the UK and the kids love it. The Rockies provide the ultimate backdrop and you’re only an hour and a bit away from Banff.

Calgary is very family orientated and there is always something going on. It’s a lot more multicultural than the UK – we live next door to Russians and Chinese!

Crime rates are low and Canadians are honest hard working people.

My advice is to get the ball rolling on your application now and come out for a holiday ASAP. If you decide it’s not for you then cancel the application, but beware you won’t want to leave!