Diane Rowe

If you were inTorontoI would meet you for coffee

vh3

After 25 years in Canada we are in the process of selling up and hope to go back to the UK this fall or next spring at the latest. We are in Kelowna therefore happy to meet up for a coffee to discuss how things are going.

Tosh101

That would be nice , are you considering moving ‘home’? It’s a bid decision and no where as easy as moving to Canada all those years ago .

vh3

Yes, we are going "home" and will probably end up back in Scotland although we may rent in Norfolk for a year first as it seems easier to find a rented property in that area. I know when we came we just up sticks and left and now nothing but paperwork, COVID testing and everything in between. I do know however that is we want to retire back home. We have no regrets but it is now time. Bottom line, we want real roots again and we both feel we have that elsewhere.

Tosh101

I’ll check out Norfolk re-rentals ,we think we’ll probably rent for a few months too . We’ve just started looking in to the process, looks like lots of paperwork involved . My husband is gung-ho,I’m not so sure ,our kids ,grandkids and great grandson are all in B.C. I’d rather rent for 6 months then make the decision. Sounds cowardly doesn’t it ? Please let me know how you get on with the whole process ,as we won’t be doing anything till next spring.

Diane Rowe

I am hoping to move to Buxton. I decided to commit to 6 months first. I will look for somewhere to rent in Buxton or Leek. Probably be there just before Christmas so hopefully there will be places available for 6 months.
Selling my house in Toronto.

Tosh101

My husband wants the Peak District National Park ,it’s his favourite place . I have a sister in Ashbourne.
Very expensive place to buy anything nice though.

Diane Rowe

Buxton is expensive and the prices are going up. My brother is in Leek which is cheaper. I am just looking for 2 bedrooms.

LuxetVeritas

Wow!!! Goodness- I moved a decade ago and am nowhere near 75 and I'm finding the process daunting (especially the covid-related stuff). May I ask why you're moving back after such a long stay in Canada?

Walmsc

Hi we are moving in 4 weeks, what other paperwork is there apart from the TOR? I saw getoutofbritainquick mention a CRA form, what else have I missed?
many thanks
Claire

Walmsc

Hi
How is it going are you home yet? Interested to see how it's working out. We are on Vancouver Island and leaving September.

duchessofc

I have found this thread really helpful as I'm in a very similar position myself. I'm also mid-30s and have been in Vancouver for 9 years. I recently broke up with the Canadian man I thought I was going to marry and it has made me seriously reassess whether I have a future here. For me, the biggest factors are the high cost of living (especially housing), the geographic isolation, and the transient population which has made it difficult to build long-lasting connections and find roots. I've always had a dormant yearning for home and as I get older I miss my family back in the UK all the more.

I'm still emotionally raw after the breakup so I've decided to give it another year here, which also gives me the opportunity to apply for Canadian citizenship. If I still feel the same way as I do now next year, I'll know moving back is the right decision.

It would be great to hear how your move is going LuxetVeritas!

JamesM

That was a very good summary of life in Toronto. I've been here 11.5 years and have shared these experiences.

I have coped a bit better with the winters by embracing some snowsports but Toronto is a crap place to work. It's an employers market with low salaries and at-will firing. The management styles are archaic and you really do make few friends in the workplace.

One thing not mentioned is the increased vacation time in the UK as well. It's sucky being an expat with 15 days when you know you need at least 5 to pop home to Blighty.

JamesM

Make the leap.

Comfort zone and fear of the unknown are stopping you living.

getoutofbritainquick

No we were brave and did it ourselves. We got a lot of information from this group which has been exceptional both moving to and from Canada.

We are now in our new old house in Looe with amazing views over the harbor and sea.
it has been a struggle with the COVID process where we had to self isolate for 10 days. The NHS test and Trace was a joke so we’re the COVID test providers. We were contacted twice a day for the first 5 days then never heard another word from them. We ordered 3 sets of COVID test kits, only 1 day 2 turned up no get our of jail day early 5 and 3 day 8 kits. It was a complete farce.
Fast forward to now we have been gone from Canada about 5 weeks. I contacted our shipping company yesterday to find out when our container would arrive. We were told 5 weeks. To our horror they told us our container was still in Vancouver and was scheduled to leave at the end of August due to the back log. We were furious with them, this was the first we had heard of this problem and we are now living in a house sleeping on 2 air beds and using 2 of our very kind neighbors garden chairs!

The other major issue we found was with credit ratings. My wife and I both have HSBC Premier accounts in both Canada and the UK but the UK side won’t let us have a credit card despite having an account with them for around 15 years.
we thought this was ridiculous because we have a substantial amount of funds in our account. I called telephone banking to ask why and was told to re-apply in around 6 months! There is no access to Premier banking in a bank so everything has to be done by telephone banking.
I put in a formal complaint to HSBC 3 weeks ago but have still not had a reply from them yet. It is almost impossible to speak with anyone in person in a UK bank and everything is now via on line banking. It’s a complete joke.
We also tried to get a cell phone contract which was also denied. The only thing we were allowed to have was 1 pay monthly SIM card. My wife was denied a SIM card outright.

Getting a Broadband and cable contracts are also almost impossible as all the major companies use credit checks.

However, we have managed to get utilities without question but these are also credit checked.

So I can pay cash for a new car and a house but cannot have a credit card. I am very disappointed with HSBC and are considering taking my business away from them.

It a great start but we are glad to be here and the people in Cornwall have been fabulous.