Hello,

Firstly, thanks to all those that responded to my recent request for help re the job offer my partner recieved and financial queries.

We have now had the salary confirmed and a start date mentioned for the 7th January, not the best time to move into Canada but can't be helped.....some have said we will sink or swim amd we aim to swim....lol.

The move is a company one so the cost of transporting all our goods will be covered and arranged via the complany, but, we need to organise flights for our two dogs. We understand Canada, toronto, has no quarantine we just need pet passports, can anyone suggest a who best to send them through, has anyone used air canada or BA.

We have been trying to get a rough idea of car insurance, mortgage etc. Been lucky with Car insurance throught ING but have been shocked with mortgages, any suggestions...... I know a problem is we have no credit history in Canada but would it help bringing a credit reference with us. my partners company have offered to write reference letters for us as she has a contract for 3 or 5 Yrs, our aim is to gain permanent residence, is this likely. we both have jobs and company health insurance will that help us .....

sorry its such a long question but we have such a short time to sort things and are both so excited about our new challenge.

Can anyone give us any idea of costs of eletrical items as i know we cant bring ours and any ideas where we can buy transformers for our rarely used items such as sewing machines etc.... I am planning on bringing my small TV and playstation would it work over there just to play games on......

sign off for now,
but know i will be asking more questions so watch this space.....

thanks in advance....

alison.

The only electrical items we brought over with us were all computer related, ie- the pc, printer, monitor, scanner, etc.

Your TV will not work so I wouldn't even bother wasting time shipping it, small TV's are very cheap over here to buy when you arrive.

Your UK PAL games will only play on your UK comsole so bear that in mind if you think you will be buying games in Canada cos they will not work unless it's chipped.

Most airlines take pets, we arranged ours thorugh Air Transat but then unfortunately our dog died 3 weeks before we were due to leave so can't comment on how the service was.

If your tv is a flat screen LCD it should work just fine, we brought are portable and Video/printers/computer/gamecube and all work ok. Best to buy adapters before you come much cheaper in Uk, i had to buy 2 and they where $16 each here Air-Transit stop flying over the winter mths, if you ring Zoom they will help you out, we enquired last year and found them really helpful on the phone. Good Luck

Hi, Alison, glad to see that you will make it to Canada sooner than later. We've been here for 2 months now. We used PetAir to get Archie over (the dog) and he lands this afternoon.

If he didn't fly by 31st Oct I would have had to collect him from Calgary cos they do not transport animals within Canada after that date. Air Transat also stop transporting after that time but Archie is coming with Air Canada.

A friend has brought her kids paystation and all their games and videos and it doesn't work on the new Canadian tele. Her hair drier and staighteners also do not heat up enough to use. you can buy inverters anywhere, Mal had his from Walmart. Our friend paid $260 for a 30inch tele in the Real Canadian Superstore. There are plenty of places you can browes around the Future store is ok for electricals, I found the TV's in the Brick were good priced for the big LCD's, browes their website before coming over.

Take Care

Lorna

Hi Alison,

With regard to transporting your pets, would you be flying out of Manchester?
If so I can highly recommend Skymaster with whom we arranged for our cat fly out with. Although he followed 2 weeks after our arrival in Toronto I had set everything in place and my parents took him along on departure day and everything went smoothly. This was Jan 2006 and so I presume they are still operating, if I have incorrectly presumed your departure airport forgive me and for those who it may be of assistance PM me and I will forward contact details (sorry but do not know forum's protocal as to supplying companies details etc!)
Have lots of fun in your prepartion for your new life here and well done with the job offer etc.!

Not if one is flying to Toronto (as the OP appears to be)

Sorry if my post was not clear. I had an email from Air Transat who assured me they will not fly dogs after 31st Oct from Britain to Canada

Electrical goods:
www.futureshop.ca

General "stuff"
www.sears.ca

Cheap household and auto stuff, tools etc
www.canadiantire.ca

remember to add 14% to the price you see.

UK credit history might not impress anyone, what you need for a mortgage on a work permit is probably a broker specialising in that area, and/or a large (30+%) downpayment.

Transformers Im sure have been recomended by others...cant be too many threads in the Canada area with transformers in the title?


Good luck with the move. I arrived in Feb, the temp was -28C. After that everything else is a breeze

Hi Alison,

I am a mortgage broker in Calgary that specializes in new immigrant mortgages. If you can get your UK Credit bureau from either www.equifax.co.uk or from experian that would be very helpful. The lenders will look at that to replace Canadian credit. You may be able to qualify with as little as 5% down.

I hope that helps!

Tammy Laframboise

Thankyou

Hi

Check out Airpets who are based at Heathrow.
They use mainly BA for transporting pets and I can thoroughly recommend them as we had our cats arrived 2 weeks ago and they were just fine and the whole process was a pleasure. Of course I worried the whole time - needlessly.

BTW pets only need a rabies jab before comming to Canada - the Pet Passport is only needed if you intend taking pets back to the UK. Canada is signed up to the Pet Passport Scheme, so you could always sort out passports if and when you need to return to the UK (about 6 months before departure).

Good advice to bring your Equifax credit report - RBC Bank, HSBC were pleased to see it, and we went with TD Canada Trust who sorted Credit Cards with unsecured $5000 limits, overdrafts and a 90% mortgage based on our Equifax reports and doing an International search.

So it is worth getting and only cost £13 - done online and printed.
The scoring is a bit different to the Canadian Equifax, but they were happy to read them and use them none the less.

My partner and I are loving Toronto.
Have been here just over 2 weeks now - feel free to ask away if you want to know more please feel free to PM.

Rob

Glad you're enjoying it Rob

Thanks for your reply, sorry to hear you lost your dog just before you left UK.
Hope your enjoying your Canada.

Thanks for your reply.
Have looked at the web site for Sears and brick trying to get some idea of costs re replacing items. We have been very shocked at prices for cookers and hobs, can you suggest anywhere to look....rough price we have seen for a standard built in oven was 2,000cad......seems so expensive...

We were thinking of bringing over our small tv as we thought we would be able to use it for our playstation and to play our fav videos on.....is our idea wrong.....

alison.

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. No we are plannng to fly from Heathrow, its closer for us.Alison