Hi,
Only just joined the forum and have been reading some of the messages which have been helpful and not so helpful wih our impending move to Canada, our application was received in Aug 2005 and having read some of you messages, see that some of you have had yur visa through within 2 years.
My husband, daughter of 16 and myself all decided it was the right decision for us following visiting of family 2-3 yrs ago, but I am feeling a little apprehensive at the thought of leaving all my friends and family, my hubbie is 50 and I am 44, and hope to continue my nursing career when we eventually land. The whole idea of us moving to Canada was for a better life and to spend more time together as a family but following some of the messages re holiday entitlement and wages compared to England I am no so sure.
Is there anyone out there who can help me regain my enthusiasm. we are looking to move to Barrie or Collingwod in Ontario, does anyone have any positive comment for me.
Thanks
Sally, Paul & Steph:scared:

Well, you have to know it is not plain sailing .... and obviously not for everyone.

But just to balance your worries, we are not regretting a second that we decided to make the move. I was 43, and OH 53 when we decided to go for it in 2003.... I wish we'd done it a lot sooner, but it fitted in OK with our boys ages to come now anyway. It took 18 months from application to visa as skilled worker then .... it is a LOT longer now by that route. I was principal applicant as a physio, and hubby was "accompanying spouse".

I don't know what your hubby does, but you could probably get in quickest if you come in under a provincial nominee programme, or temporary work permit, as a nurse.
Bear in mind you will have to pass competency exams here, which is a pain in the behind at our time of life!

Anyway, we are loving it here ..... life is fun again! The boys were 12 and 17 when we applied. The younger (now 15) is enjoying senior high, and his big brother is in his first year at University of Calgary. We have spent far more on a house than we ever envisaged, but truthfully we need not have been so extravagant!
The cost of living is equitable when you weigh everything up.... but Calgary is getting expensive by anybody's standards!

Hospital pay here is about the same as I got in the UK in the NHS. (You need to be able to provide evidence of actual hours worked to get on an equitable pay scale here). My hubby is in retail, and that is not particularly high pay at all. We are not well off finacially by many Canadian standards, and we don't have as much time together as I'd like, again mostly cos of hubby working in retail management, but all in all we are really enjoying being here!

Hi there, we also applied for PR in August 2005 and are of the same age as yourselves and have 2 kids (one almost 16 and the other 12). We were told by CHC that we should not expect to hear from them for at least 36 months (check your CHC letter) so there is a bit of breathing time for you.

Fed up of waiting, my husband managed to get a job in Nova Scotia so we have sold up and are ready to move in 9 days time on a Work Permit!

Plenty of Canadians get by on their holiday entitlement so thats not going to bother us (many people on here get nearer the UK entitlement and can accrue extra leave instead of being paid overtime). My husband worked offshore for 17 years until 2 weeks ago, and although he had 3 weeks at home out of every 5, he always seemed to be working on our birthdays etc and missed a lot of Christmas and New Year family time with us - not pleasant I can tell you! So he may not have lots of holiday entitlement in Canada but he will be home every night and at all the special times.

We have been to Barrie area. We really liked it and would easily have moved there ourselves if a job had come up. There are some people on here just moved to Barrie too (can't remember their name, sorry).

Christmas has probably made you feel nostaglic, but wait until 1/2 through January you'll be dreaming of Canada again

Barrie is about an hour south of me.and a nice city although growing much too fast for it's own good. It has become a bedroom community for Torontonians who brave the commute to work every day.
Collingwood is a beautiful area and not as hectic as Barrie. My area is in what is called the Muskokas. A number of small towns with lake access and beautiful country. Shania Twain has a place on a lake not far from me, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel had a place in the Bracebridge area, and many more quite famous folks have chosen this general area for their second homes. Of course, that popularity with the wealthy has served to make waterfront property out of reach for 99% of us.
This a beautiful area with a great deal of outdoor appeal. As for nurses...there is, as I understand it, a shortage of them and the pay can often be quite good in comparison to other jobs here. A co-workers wife was working as a nurse in an old age home, almost $60k per year, and recently took a job as a surgical nurse for over $75k. Not sure if that is the norm, but she is sure doing fine.

check this out: http://www.medhunters.com/nursing-jo...io-canada.html


Quality of life here is what you make of it. If you can handle small town life, many areas of Ontario offer a unique form of life and pleasure. Of course that comes with severe cold and serious snow in the winter. But, you can;t have everything.
By the way...Orillia is quite nice too...15 minutes north of Barrie and not as hectic.

Thanks for that, we have also been looking at Bracebridge & Huntsville area, although we are looking for a little acreage with our
home we dont want to be to isolated for our 16yr old daughter.
Thanks again for reply
Sally

Well, I'm in Huntsville, so if you need anything in that respect, just ask.

If you live on rural roads...you will be isolating your daughter. It could be possible to have some acreage without extreme isolation. Just be prepared to do a lot of shuttling your daughter around. The nice thing about this place is that you can live without isolation and still be within spitting distance of the great outdoors. Gravenhurst is nice as well.
One other good thing is full 4 lane divided highway to get you south when you feel the need. Much of the more northern areas are strictly 2 laners.

Oh, and if you love the outdoors...Algonquin Park is just down the raod. Awesome. http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/

Thanks again, would you have the name of any local hospitals or health centres in that area that I may be able to contact?
Many Thanks

I'll get together a brief list and post it for you with addresses, phone numbers and email/website if available. Give me until tomorrow.

Thanks for your help its very good of you

Do unto others I always say. My pleasure. Perhaps someday I'll need you advice and help.

check out these as well. they are from the site I posted, complete with job descriptions and a way to apply.

http://www.medhunters.com/nursing-jo...io-canada.html

http://www.medhunters.com/nursing-jo...io-canada.html

http://www.medhunters.com/nursing-jo...io-canada.html

http://www.medhunters.com/nursing-jo...io-canada.html

http://www.medhunters.com/job/11568.html

http://www.medhunters.com/nursing-jo...io-canada.html

these are by no means the only jobs available, and I will get that other information to you tomorrow.

hi, wortleys!
you were asking for some positive advice, well here it is, from somebody who emigrated to canada, landed a great job within 8 weeks, jacked everything in, then emigrated back to the uk, all in the space of 1 year!
i wont bore you with the details, but most peeps on the main canadian forum have heard the lot!
what i will say is this -- do not even think about comparing the uk with another country, as i did. the uk is the uk and another country is just that, another country. you cannot get all you have in the uk in canada - there are no corner shops, hardly any mild winters (depending where you land) and the life is different.
but bearing in mind your ages, if you do not do it now, you will never do it, and we are not spring chickens exactly are we?
i made a very, very big mistake when i came back to the uk, but that was due to family, lets say, politics! i still have time to go back and am seriously considering doing so.
family probs aside, whatever i was missing about the uk when i was in canada failed to materialise when i actually got back, and it was back to the same old doldrums again!
they say hindsight is a handy thing, and now having been there and back, i can say that leaving the uk should not make you wonder for 1 second--just thank whoever is up there for granting you your immigration and get out of here asap!
happy new year!

Thanks for the e mail, sorry Canada did not work out for you, and you have restored my enthusiasm in immigration. Are you considering returning? and whilst you were there were you happy??
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU

We used to live in Surrey/Middlesex by the M25 for work and family reasons, and we have always loved the outdoors. After several years wondering how to escape the rat race and overcrowding, we decided to apply to move to Canada and waited for 2 1/2 years until we were approved.

We have lived in a small town outside Halifax in N.S. for over two years. I have been thinking of returning to the UK after the recent birth of our daughter, as I feel family is too far and I want our daughter to grow with and know her relatives. We are also realising that we really miss some friends in Britain, M&S, decent newspapers, decent TV (is it just this last Fall? it's been terrible here in N.S.), availability of decent food (it exists, but it is rare and usually outrageously expensive), holidays, clothes that will last, towels that will dry, and clingfilm that will cling, amongst other things. It's funny how attached you can become to some every day items. I also miss other relatives I have in various European countries which I never see anymore as we only visit Europe (well, the UK) once a year.

We have also found it hard to make good friends here, we know many people and everybody is very very very nice, but true friends as opposed to acquaintances have been difficult to come by. All my neighbours are very nice and chatty when I see them outside, but after 2 1/2 years I still have not been invited to anyone's house, and no neighbours I have invited to ours have ever paid us a visit apart from the people next door. I also feel that the population outside the big cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver) is relatively elderly, which is not a problem as such but makes it difficult to meet people of similar age and interests.

I have a started a thread on the main group about our experience.

Do you have any data to support this claim?