what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi....sorry if this is a long one, but really need advise please:(

My husband and I are in our early 30's and live in South East London and we hate it...the crime rate for our area is horrendous, unemployment high. In fact compared to Canada's crime rate figures the whole of the UK is bad so wouldn't want to move anywhere else here.

I have family in Vancouver who would sponser us, my husband has family in Montreal and in Ottawa ON who would sponser us, my husband has a friend in Toronto who has offered him work.

I work from home making Novelty cakes, my husband is a machine minder for a lithographic printing firm, he has over 10years experience.

We have three children a girl of 13, two boys aged 10 and 4, they all have special needs our daughter has ADHD, our middle son has ADHD, AUTISM, NON-VERBAL TOURETTES, OCD AND AN ANXIETY DISORDER, our youngest is showings signs of ADHD. I have done lots of research and there is a lot of help and support in Canada for the children especially in schools, we haven't had a lot of support here.

We have no loans, no debts and no mortgage, we rent our home.

We dont have loads of friends to leave behind and our close friends would visit us.
I lost my dear mum to cancer four years ago and haven't had a dad for years :( I have siblilngs that are not very close to me and have their own families now. We are both very close to my husbands parents, who are very supportive of us wanting to start a new life in Canada and have not been negative about anything :D

We are used to starting again as we lost all our belongings in a house fire five years ago!

Sorry if you are getting bored now, this is our plan that we would like advise on:

Go to stay with husbands' family for a two week holiday in may 2010.
Fall in love with the place,Husband look for work (take cv and references with him just in case), children and I visit places and check out schools, realtors for renting property etc , come home sell all our belongings and go back to stay with his family until H gets a job here?!??:fingerscrossed: (if no job for him in ottawa move to Toronto and take job with his friend) Stay here on a TWP and apply for a PR. We have savings so could stay here for a year without H working.

Can the children enrol in schools if we are here on a TWP?

Is this possible or are we insane?!?:eek:

Many thanks in advance for any advise you can give xxx

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi Sam. Jeez you guys have been through the mill! I really hope you can get some good advice on here. I would suggest that you let people know what kind of relatives you and your husband have in Canada. Parent? Sibling? Distant Cousin? This is all relevant for sponsorship. Also, has your OH been offered a job that qualifies for LMO? Has LMO already been granted for that position?

Have you looked at the CIC website? A mine of useful info...

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp

There are so many things to consider Sam. Have a look though the website and post some more questions on this site.

Best of luck to you :fingerscrossed:

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi
I can't answer your questions....but sending you some really big hugs. I think someone else will come along to offer advice re your children and the health issues you are facing. My concern is that you may be medically inadmissable due to over burdening the health system, but I do not know enough about it to be able to advise you.
Once you get over the hurdle of medical stuff, the rest of the plan sounds good to me. If you are there on a TWP the children would be able to be enrolled in school. As for the work situation, whoever your husband gets a job offer from will have to prove that they were unable to get a Canadian or permanent Resident to do that job, which some employers either cannot do or find it too much hassle. As for the friend and the job offer...the same would apply to him I suspect. These are only my thoughts and opinion, so take from them what you think is useful to you.
Good luck with whatever you do.
lol
Stef

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi Brummie, thanks for your reply :)

The relatives are great aunts and cousins. We did go on this website and did the points system and we scored enough points.

Not really sure what other questions to ask, we have spoken to H relatives and his friend who emmigrated in 2002 and they have given us lots of advise already.

We have seen other people on here do it the same sort of way and then others who do it all this side and have to wait up to three years in order for them to be able to go, can anyone advise both ways :blink:

thanks again xxx

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi lins and Stef McLachlan

Thank you for your hugs xxx

I am not sure who to speak to regarding the children's medical bits, I hope this is not the case but can completely understand what you are saying :fingerscrossed:


Thankyou for your advise :) xx

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Sam if you are talking 'points' I would think you're going through the skilled workers route. Please give us some more info. Also the kids health concerns might be an issue. We need more info hun to help you. PM me if you don't want to publicly advise.

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi Brummie, going to PM you x

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi Sam, and welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure what figures you're looking at, Canada has less minor crime but more murders per capita than the UK! There are plenty of crime free areas of the UK if that's all you're after, and it would certainly be a lot easier.

The family that you have mentioned (great aunt and cousins) cannot sponsor you I'm afraid. Also, your husband's friend will only be of any use to you if he can get a LMO - which means that he'll have to prove that he's advertised the job across Canada and been unable to find a Canadian willing, or able, to do the job. Only then can he employ a foreigner I'm afraid.

This may going to be a major stumbling block for you as I'm sure you're aware. I don't know how the above will impact on you passing the medical, if any of you are going to cost Canada $5k a year or more in medical costs then that person would fail the medical. Unfortunately, that $5k a year does include any extra help in schools etc, which it sounds as though your children may need.

Have you been to Canada before? The reccie trip is a great idea, have a read of the Job Hunting section of the Wiki (on blue bar at top of page) for more info on how to go about finding that all important job in Canada.

I also wouldn't bother checking out schools etc, just yet. You may find it takes your husband a year to find a job, and when he gets one it could be in a completely different province to the one you'd thought of! You'll need to be flexible if you want to get to Canada via a job offer, and certainly don't limit yourself to a school district only. If he can look Canada wide then that would be better to give himself as much chance as possible.

I personally wouldn't recommend you 'up sticks' and move there with kids. Bear in mind you'll only be admitted in to Canada for up to 6 months (could be less) on a visitor visa, and the LMO can take 6 months alone. Never mind adding on time to find a job in the current economic climate, etc. So would you really be prepared to come back to the UK after 6 months if you've settled there with kids? If you were young, free and single then I'd say go for it, but not with kids as I just don't think it's fair to them. Plus of course, they wouldn't be able to attend school whilst you're there on a visitor visa, and none of you would be eligible for any healthcare.

Hope that the above helps a bit, shout with any questions.

Good luck. :)

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

The rules changed in Feb 2008 and the new estimated timeline for PR is 6-12 months rather than 3 years :thumbup::thumbup:

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi there, your story is very moving, so I really hope things work out for you.

I used to live in Lewisham, perhaps not too far from you. I now live in Toronto and am hopefully going to stay here permanently if my residency comes through.

Canada is generally quite safe, but the big cities have problems just like anywhere else. In my first month in TO I witnessed a gun fight through my condo window. I never saw anything like that in South East London! But incidents like that are fortunately extremely rare.

What I really like about Canada, above all else, is the sense of optimism that seems to permeate everything. I'm not saying the UK is the opposite, but it does seem to be a little depressed at the moment, and I don't see things getting much better.

Good luck with everything!

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Good luck with your application and you should certainly try. You seem unhappy in London so Vancouver may be perfect for you.

Your childrens' medical needs can only be assessed by a professional at a much later stage so there's no point in second-guessing.

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi Sam and Gary

You sound very similar to us, my husband is in print too and we are in Sout East London! Croydon!!!!

We have the whole family thing and you can get points for that. But they can't sponser you unless you are an under 18 orphan!

We've tried everything. We spent 4 weeks out there nearly 4 years ago and my husband got offered a job but trying to get a work permit was a nightmare.

We applied before the new system came in and it has taken us 2 1/2 years of waiting before we have been requested to provide further docs.

I really really do hope you guys go for it, land of opertunity, it definately is!

Hugs to to you all,

Westie

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi Thank you for all your replies, we have taken note of a lot of your advise, some things we hadn't even thought of, but I guess everyone can find that...

We are still going to go for it :thumbup: at the end of the day if it doesn't work out we come back to pretty much the same life we left behind. Like I said we don't own our home and are not leaving high paid jobs.

If it does then :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

thanks again am sure I will be asking more questions along the way :lol:

xxxxxx

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Hi there - I can't offer much in the way of advice but I've read your post and I really hope you get to move to Canada. It sounds like you could really do with a fresh start.

I hope the medical issues don't go against you. They're all treatable with drugs and unlikely to require an operation, so I can't see how that would be a burden to the Canadian government. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. Good luck.

Re: what are our chances, really need this...
 

Have you spoken to an emmigration consultant - we did originally just to get the ball rolling (4 corners I think they were called), then we did it on our own (as we couldn't afford them), but they may be able to answer your medical questions

good luck