LisaG23

Hi everyone, I am a UK citizen my parents moved us to Canada when I was a baby. I recently got my uk passport and have been thinking of relocating back. I have two kids Canadian born, and our family pets, I don’t want to leave the animals here. I have been working in supportive housing for 6 years and know I’ll be able to get a job right away with my experience. When I say supportive housing I mean working with people who have addiction and mental health issues, my question is how hard would it be for me to find work with my experience and housing? I currently live in Vancouver bc and it’s so expensive here I’m barely making it as a single parent. I think moving back would benefit my kids and myself. How much would it cost to move over? How easy is it to find work and housing? And would my kids need some sort of visa to go to school? They are both 7 I’m a uk citizen and so are my parents and grandparents so my kids are first generation Canadian. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated on everything and anything! Thank you

SanDiegogirl

Understanding that you were born in the UK and your children born in Canada then your children are British by descent and you should be able to just get them their UK passports. So no visa for them, and if and when you return they would be immediately eligible for schooling.

How much to move back? Bit of how long is a piece of string. Air fares of course, shipping of any furniture, temporary accommodation if you have no friends/relatives to stay with, money to tied you over if you don't get a job immediately. A few thousand pound at least.
Personally, I would not depend on getting a job straight away - hence the money to tied you over.
Are you a qualified social worker or other professional? If so, you should research into whether that field or qualifications are in demand.
You will not get Government housing - you will need to find your own housing.

SanDiegogirl

.... and forgot to say that moving pets costs a few thousand these days.

Pulaski

Children living in the UK are required to attend school (or be in an equivalent learning envionment), regardless of whether they are even living in the country legally, so no, you won't have any problem registering your children for schooling, bearing in mind that popular schools may be full and the local education authority is only required to make a school place available, it doesn't have to be nearby/ convenient.

That said, as you were born in the UK your children are British citizens (by descent) anyway, but applying for passports for them will ease any possible administrative issues you might experience, such as registering them with the NHS as they were born outside the UK.
​​​​​ And the same again for the pets - moving animals across the Atlantic is not cheap! [ETA: I just saw SDG's post script]

The biggest potential stumbling block to a move back to the UK could be your children's father. I don't expect you to describe your personal circumstances, but if your children's father is alive he can likely object to his children being removed from the country where he/ they live. In extreme cases this has proved to be a stumbling block even when the father is in prison for the very long term.