rachelgatward

Hello

Starting our search to move to Canada from the UK.

Family of four with two young children.

Jobs: Police & Finance

Looking for a good family location. Toronto (Suburb)seems to be a good option.

Have looked at the following places:
​​​​Oakville
Scarborough
Milton
Vaughan

We currently live c35, kilometres outside of London in the UK and would like something similar in Canada.

We will rent to start with.

Any advice would be greatfully received.

Thanks in advance

Rachel

Hurlabrick

First and most importantly, have you already sorted your Canadian permanent residence visas?

rachelgatward

Thanks for the reply.

Not yet so fully appreciate it is not a guarantee however, both of our job roles are on the skilled list which should help. We are over 30 so would be applying for PR status.

christmasoompa

Hi, welcome to BE.

I agree with Hurlabrick - visa first. No point in worrying about where to live in Toronto if it turns out that you need a job offer to get a visa and the only place you can find a sponsoring employer is Manitoba!

I’m assuming that by the ‘skilled list’ you mean the NOC list? That’s literally tens of thousands of jobs so doesn’t mean much I’m afraid! You need to check you’d be eligible to apply as a Federal Skilled Worker (scoring 67 or more on this test and meeting the criteria - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...d-workers.html)

Assuming you do score 67 or more then that’s great, but it’s only the first step. All applicants are put in to a pool and then those scoring he highest are selected and invited to apply for PR. So next step is to check your CRS score - https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigr...d/crs-tool.asp

Say you’ve had your IELTS, and assume max scores for English for now as native speakers. It’s only to give you an idea of your score. Vocational or professional qualifications don’t count for points purposes, only academic ones. Take it for both of you to see who scores highest.

If you’re scoring above approx 460 as a rough guide then you’re all good and could get PR and move anywhere in Canada (and your husband can work as a police officer, which he couldn’t if you moved on another type of visa i.e. work permit). If you’re borderline then get cracking, as you’ll lose points with every birthday.

HTH, good luck.

rachelgatward

Hello

Thank you very much for replying. Really helpful.

Seems we score over 600 points and the cut of this year was in the 400's so fingers crossed we would stand a fairly good chance depending on demand I guess.

Thanks alot Rach

christmasoompa

Are you sure about that? That's a crazily high score so I'd definitely double check it!

Shard

Soooo that's the scoring tool !! Just tried it (notional answers) and we scraped by on 420 (luckily I already have a citizenship!). It's crazy that people from English/French speaking countries have to submit an official language test score.

christmasoompa

We probably wouldn't score enough either, despite hubby having hugely in demand skills and a masters. We're just too old!

I disagree on the English results personally, you'd be surprised how many people are British citizens living in the UK and yet barely speak a word of English.

rachelgatward

Ah yes I did it wrong.

We would score around 420 which actually wouldn't be enough based on the last three rounds.

However we may be lucky because of our skill set and a province may select on that basis... Fingers crossed.

christmasoompa

OK, that sounds like a more realistic score! But yes, sadly not enough, it's only gone below that once in several years iirc.

Your husband's occupation is unfortunately of no use to you, as he would need to be a PR to get a job as a police officer. So if you do need sponsorship/provincial nomination, then it'll be down to you and your job. So going back to your original question, I personally wouldn't spend time researching areas around Toronto to live, as you may find you end up in a completely different province.

If you've not found it already, then check out the Job Hunting section of the Wiki and plan a job hunting trip. And just on the off chance, how old are you both and do either of you have Irish citizenship (or a route to it i.e. Irish grandparent?). Does your company have any offices in Canada by any chance?

rachelgatward

Thanks so much for replying.

Yes it looks to be that way.

Both 33

Best chance (like you say) is to hope that I get provincial sponsorship.

I have found plenty of suited roles to apply for but I imagine without a visa, it would be tricky to be accepted.

No Irish unfortunately :-(

Thanks so much

christmasoompa

Would you look at other provinces or is Ontario the only option? It will certainly be trickier, but if you have skills needed then it's absolutely possible. Just have a read of the Job Hunting section of the Wiki to understand how to go about finding a job in Canada.

Best of luck.

Shard

Yup, it's the age thing.

I hadn't thought of that, actually. But I would imagine that British/Australian/French etc high school (equivalent) qualifications could suffice.

shelley748

What do you do in finance?

rachelgatward

Finance Manager

Covering all aspects from transactional finance to budgets/forecasting/performance.