MartinandClaire

So my husband and I arrived in Calgary mid Jan and we had a hotel booked for two weeks. We spent that time registering for healthcare, driving license, looking for place to rent etc...!

We have found a lovely apartment near Renfrew. Our landlady let us move in a few days early as we were leaving the hotel just before the beginning of the month.

My hubbie has started his job in driver training and is loving it! I'm volunteering until my college course starts in Sept.

We have had a great welcome to Canada from all the locals, everyone wants to help us settle in. We really do appreciate how great our life will become here.

I'm trying to think of some negatives....

Buying a second hand car is crazy money. We bought a 2002 Subaru Outback for approx £3k and that was after haggling!! I'm pretty sure you could get this car for less than half the price in the UK.
Maybe (if you have the cash) look to buy brand new, you can get some good deals.

Groceries are more expensive here (cheese!) but we have found cheaper shops...Canadian Superstore, Target and No Frills.

I'm finding it hard to find a family doctor, keep looking I guess!

That's it not even the -20 weather can put us off and to see the snowy mountains in the distance everyday is awesome! If you love the sunshine Alberta is for you, I think we have only had 2 days without the sun and that's because it was snowing!

Here's to many years of happiness in Canada

Zhanna

Sounds like a great beginning! Hopefully, your positives will always outweigh negatives - you seem to be positive people, and it's half the battle won Best wishes for the future!

MartinandClaire

Hi Zhanna!
Yes positives most definitely outweigh the negatives. We worked so hard to get here, we really appreciate everyday!

I can see your application for PR took approximately 3yrs, what a wait! Where in Canada are you now living? How's your first 6 months been? Mostly good I hope!

Zhanna

Hi MartinandClaire,
Yes, the wait was quite an experience, testing our resolve. We are actually still in the UK. We landed in August in Toronto and returned to finalise things at home. Husband has been applying for jobs remotely and unsuccessfully, so he's going to resign and go to Toronto at the beginning of summer and try from there. Our daughter and I will hopefully join him by the beginning of the school year.
I've immigrated once already - nearly 20 years ago to the UK - and I believe that positive attitude and doing it not for economic reasons, but for the sake of experience, enjoying everything life throws at you simply because it's new, it's a challenge, helped me navigate through a much tougher UK immigration process (in my case, and at the time anyway). We are trying to have the same attitude now, but it's more difficult not to take economic factors into account when a child is involved. Otherwise, we would have stayed in Canada when we landed :-)
So I'll have to come back to your question about our first few months in a year or so
I hope you carry on the way you started, best of luck to you both!!

MartinandClaire

Hi Zhanna!
Just think how much this experience is building you as people. I was not aware that the UK had a tough immigration process. We worked very hard to get into Canada. First off my hubbies job was taken off the FSW list, then I decided to study (for career change) but we were rejected twice and then the embassy went on strike!! At the time I had been working for one of the worlds largest banks for 7yrs but they decided to reject me because of this?! Made no sense but hey ho 3rd time lucky and were here!!
I'm sorry to hear that your hubbie hasn't been able to find a job. I came across one of your other posts this morning saying he is looking for an IT job. Have you set your heart on Toronto? Did you know that Alberta, especially Calgary, has plenty of job opportunities. I was talking to a British expat who works for TransAlta in IT, he said if qualified there are plenty of jobs around. Of course it helps if you already have that Canadian address when applying for jobs.

Good luck to your family :-)

Zhanna

Your immigration journey sounds exceptionally hard! Not to give up after TWO rejections - I take my hat off for you guys! It's great to know that faith and perseverance can win! I'll also send you a private message just now

joinerboy

welcome to Calgary and all the best for the future

haggis88

Surely "lovely" and "Renfrew" in the same sentence creates an oxymoron?

Sounds like things are going well for you, all the best for the next steps!

neilcumming

I laugh everytime I drive through Aidrie AB!

neilcumming

Good luck to you and your husband.I came over to Canada as a truck driver and it is challenging.

Airbear38

We have lived in Calgary for over thirty years, brought up our children here and have always enjoyed living here. I hope you enjoy your experience as much.

99problems

Airdrie is on industrial side but not completely unattractive. House prices are rising fast - I drive through it every day. I think we'd all live somewhere like Cochrane given the choice but more expensive and not all things are possibel.

Asakara81

Hi all

Looking to move to canada in the next few months with my son and wife took a job in prince rupert, can anyone point me in the right direction to a forum were I might be able to find some info out about the cost of living up there please, it would be much appreciated if anyone new something.



ASA

haggis88

He's laughing because Airdrie and Renfrew's namesake towns in Scotland are shiteholes

neilcumming

Lol,Airdrie must the worst town in Scotland but the one in AB looks a nice place.