I wanted to post and say that we've decided to call it a day with regards to trying to emigrate to Canada. It's been an interesting journey over the past 3 1/2 years, with many ups and downs

We were going to give ourselves until the end of June, but Mr Banshee broke his right arm (writing arm) last week, and we are both feeling a bit fed up right now as I've been poorly too.

Hubby has been applying for as many as 4 jobs a day online and has not had a single e-mail. We even tried widening our net from Nova Scotia to other provinces but no luck. He has also called people in the past re. potential jobs, then they dry up.

I really feel that we are not meant to go, we've had so many things put in our way, each time we've gone across one barrier another one has appeared. Even when Mr Banshee went for his TEF in London, to try and get those last 2 points to reach the passmark for our SW application, it was on the day of the tube bombings in July 2005 and he missed one bomb by 15 mins! He could hear the bus bomb going off in the next street when he was sitting his TEF

Both of us are very drained, and I think we're wasting our time now. Our son will be leaving school in a few weeks and has got a place at a local college, our daughter will be going into Y10 in September. They are both bright kids and I don't want to uproot them at this stage in their education.

Obviously we're very disappointed, but it's not the end of the world. We will take another path in life. This is Canada's loss, not ours. We are all hard working, law abiding and decent.

If it hasn't happened after 3 1/2 years, I don't think it's going to now is it? We even had a contact inside immigration who spoke to companies on behalf of my husband! They were scared off by the length of time WP's took It wasn't meant to happen was it.

However, I no longer see my in-laws They didn't agree with our plans. You certainly find out who your true family and friends are.

I'd like to thank all of you on this forum who have offered support (as well as banter and laughter) to us in the past, especially Yoong who pm'd me. The rest of you, you know who you are.

We don't have any set plans at the moment, just to both get better then think about our future.

Thank you and good luck!

Oh Crafty

Am so upset for you guys

Lots of love and I karma for you - what else can I say.

Gaynor
x

I'm sorry to hear that you have come to this decision.
Whatever route you take in this life, if you take it with as much determination as you have taken this one, will reap great rewards for you and your family.
I wish you all the very best of luck in whatever you do, but it would be a great shame if you didn't keep in touch with all the people who you have come to know on this site! (So keep coming on and posting, if it doesn't hurt too much.)

Kenny

I've been looking through your posts and feel very sad that you've decided to quit. We decided 4 years go and have waited almost 3 years for the visas, I am unhappy with some things about this move which my family just brush away, with me being a negative ba$tard (it's like Narnia without the nasty stuff!).
It's your call and I wish you all the luck in the future.

Best of luck CB hun.

Take care and best of luck Crafty, whatever you do.

I'll miss your humour though!

I was sad to read your post but it has to be your decision!

You have to think of your family first.

Nowt more to say really - except that I wish you and your family all the best for the future and most of all Good Health.

Take care.

Steve, we have ate, slept and breathed Canada for the past 3.5 years and put so much energy into it, and for what? It's like an anti-climax. There's only so much of yourself you can give if you don't get anything back. It really wears you down after a while and the last year has been the toughest for us.

A month ago I wrote to the people running the job fair on careerbeacon.com with regards to foreign workers, but not surprisingly I didn't get a reply from them.

I'm not happy about quitting but there's only so much we can do and there's more to life than 'Canada'. Life is what you make it. I well up when I really think about it. We could see ourselves living there, and we would've made it work because it's where we wanted to be. The worst thing is we've let our kids down. They so wanted to go (even now). Hubby and I feel really bad about that.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and one piece of advice I would give newbies out there is not to believe everything you are told by 'experts'. I cringe at our naivety when I think about the first emigration show we went to at Sandown and how we believed that 'visa officer' when she said we definitely had enough points, even after Mr Banshee argued that he'd failed his A Levels at school. She said that was fine

If we had our time again we would've done things differently that's for sure, but were where we are now. I would advise those who have just applied to fly out to Canada and get a job offer rather than wait until you draw your pension!

I would like to keep in touch and will pop back from time to time to say hi. Thanks for your kind words everyone

I wish you & your family all the very best Crafty.

You will be missed here

Take care,

Arris x

All best wishes to you, and yours Crafty.

Hi crafty,

Sorry to hear that you have decided to throw in the towell, I do understand though, If you think getting here was hard, being here and being an immigrant is even harder.
I think you are making the right decision for you and your family, good luck in the future.

This is so sad. Is there no way we, or a British immigrants society, can register complaints about these awful timelines for prospective immigrants? We are short of workers and professionals all over Canada what is going on?

You take care Craftybanshee- you are right about your children though, that is a difficult age now to make them move. Hope your life moves on to the best thing for you and remember, you won't have to put up with a too cold winter and too hot summer whilst living in Canada.
Good luck.

I was going to break down your paragraphs and answer in isolation. No need, you've made your decision.

If it were my decision alone I would say NO!! I like England too much. Our kids have an eye on 'America' and the branding it has on young minds. So I'm going with that and the youthfulness (is that a word anywhere!) that I have left, so, here I go...

Think again.

And I'll miss your posts about your imaginary beaver pal

Imaginary!?