Some tips for moving from Canada (with animals)
Jun 29th 2015, 2:42 pm
#1
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 481
Some tips for moving from Canada (with animals)
So we just moved back to Worcester (new area for us, as from Kent) with a cat and a dog and four kids and I thought I would pass along some tips which might be helpful if you are thinking about moving back.
Open an HSBC bank account (premier if possible) as this made the transition a lot easier as we were able to open up UK accounts before we came back.
We moved all our money with Halo financial and had no problems whatsoever.
As for the animals, this was probably the biggest stress, my tip would definitely be to travel on a Thu or Fri, we did a Tuesday and headed to CFIA office on a Friday with botched paperwork, meaning we had to wait till Monday to get fixed (have five days (120 hrs) from tapeworm treatment till travel) as CFIA is closed on weekends. Would be better IMO if you can make use of the full five days. As for the actual travelling our animals are absolutely no worse for wear and have suffered no adverse effects whatsoever.
Schools are a bit of a pain as we have had to take whatever is available really so all the good schools were full up. There is no way we could have timed this to our advantage though so I tell myself they will do fine wherever as we are quite involved parents.
HTH, feel free to ask any more questions.
After ten years of living in Ontario, I am sooooooooooo happy to be home, the dog is delighted to be off leash running and I am in love with all the footpaths everywhere, the pedestrian is catered to so much more over here. Kids are really happy and everyone seems so friendly and we love the food!! Ate out at a carvery yesterday for £28 for all six of us with drinks!!
Open an HSBC bank account (premier if possible) as this made the transition a lot easier as we were able to open up UK accounts before we came back.
We moved all our money with Halo financial and had no problems whatsoever.
As for the animals, this was probably the biggest stress, my tip would definitely be to travel on a Thu or Fri, we did a Tuesday and headed to CFIA office on a Friday with botched paperwork, meaning we had to wait till Monday to get fixed (have five days (120 hrs) from tapeworm treatment till travel) as CFIA is closed on weekends. Would be better IMO if you can make use of the full five days. As for the actual travelling our animals are absolutely no worse for wear and have suffered no adverse effects whatsoever.
Schools are a bit of a pain as we have had to take whatever is available really so all the good schools were full up. There is no way we could have timed this to our advantage though so I tell myself they will do fine wherever as we are quite involved parents.
HTH, feel free to ask any more questions.
After ten years of living in Ontario, I am sooooooooooo happy to be home, the dog is delighted to be off leash running and I am in love with all the footpaths everywhere, the pedestrian is catered to so much more over here. Kids are really happy and everyone seems so friendly and we love the food!! Ate out at a carvery yesterday for £28 for all six of us with drinks!!
Jun 29th 2015, 3:59 pm
#2
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,009
Re: Some tips for moving from Canada (with animals)
Can money not be transferred between HSBC accounts (ie. from your Canadian account with them directly into your UK account)? Or did Halo offer you a better exchange rate?
I had always assumed (never actually looked into it though) that one of the benefits of opening an HSBC account, besides having a UK bank account upon landing, was that one could transfer funds between HSBC accounts almost as easily as one could transfer funds between say a chequing and a savings account.
Jul 10th 2015, 7:26 am
#3
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 481
Re: Some tips for moving from Canada (with animals)
Halo offered a much better exchange which worked out to a significant difference for us, well worth getting the extra.
Jul 12th 2015, 11:41 pm
#4
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland UK again!
Posts: 1,085
Re: Some tips for moving from Canada (with animals)
Were you moving from a Premier HSBC account?
Jul 14th 2015, 4:34 pm
#5
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 294
Re: Some tips for moving from Canada (with animals)
It's all done with a click using HSBC Global Banking and if you are Premier you get really good rates if the amount is over approx £60K, with a buy/sell spread of about 0.6% and no transaction fees
Aug 12th 2015, 4:10 pm
#6
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2003
Location: Christina Lake. BC
Posts: 674
Re: Some tips for moving from Canada (with animals)
So we just moved back to Worcester (new area for us, as from Kent) with a cat and a dog and four kids and I thought I would pass along some tips which might be helpful if you are thinking about moving back.
Open an HSBC bank account (premier if possible) as this made the transition a lot easier as we were able to open up UK accounts before we came back.
We moved all our money with Halo financial and had no problems whatsoever.
As for the animals, this was probably the biggest stress, my tip would definitely be to travel on a Thu or Fri, we did a Tuesday and headed to CFIA office on a Friday with botched paperwork, meaning we had to wait till Monday to get fixed (have five days (120 hrs) from tapeworm treatment till travel) as CFIA is closed on weekends. Would be better IMO if you can make use of the full five days. As for the actual travelling our animals are absolutely no worse for wear and have suffered no adverse effects whatsoever.
Schools are a bit of a pain as we have had to take whatever is available really so all the good schools were full up. There is no way we could have timed this to our advantage though so I tell myself they will do fine wherever as we are quite involved parents.
HTH, feel free to ask any more questions.
After ten years of living in Ontario, I am sooooooooooo happy to be home, the dog is delighted to be off leash running and I am in love with all the footpaths everywhere, the pedestrian is catered to so much more over here. Kids are really happy and everyone seems so friendly and we love the food!! Ate out at a carvery yesterday for £28 for all six of us with drinks!!
Open an HSBC bank account (premier if possible) as this made the transition a lot easier as we were able to open up UK accounts before we came back.
We moved all our money with Halo financial and had no problems whatsoever.
As for the animals, this was probably the biggest stress, my tip would definitely be to travel on a Thu or Fri, we did a Tuesday and headed to CFIA office on a Friday with botched paperwork, meaning we had to wait till Monday to get fixed (have five days (120 hrs) from tapeworm treatment till travel) as CFIA is closed on weekends. Would be better IMO if you can make use of the full five days. As for the actual travelling our animals are absolutely no worse for wear and have suffered no adverse effects whatsoever.
Schools are a bit of a pain as we have had to take whatever is available really so all the good schools were full up. There is no way we could have timed this to our advantage though so I tell myself they will do fine wherever as we are quite involved parents.
HTH, feel free to ask any more questions.
After ten years of living in Ontario, I am sooooooooooo happy to be home, the dog is delighted to be off leash running and I am in love with all the footpaths everywhere, the pedestrian is catered to so much more over here. Kids are really happy and everyone seems so friendly and we love the food!! Ate out at a carvery yesterday for £28 for all six of us with drinks!!
Just wanted to get a bit more info from you on exporting your dog were doing the same in five weeks and theirs a lot of conflicting information out there, what was wrong with your paperwork?
