Buddy

Hi all,

Firstly, apologies if I am posting this thread in the wrong place.

My husband and I have been in the PR queue for Canada for the last 3 years. Now we look to be in the final stages. Me? Well, I am getting increasingly nervous about moving to Canada. My husband is a Sr. Developer Manager in IT and I am a SAHM (used to be a Commercial Contracts Manager). We have a 1-year old son.

We have recently returned from Ottawa last week. Very nice. Although, I don't believe that there are many employment opportunities.

We have been renting for the last few years and continue to save and could do so as we don't have to go over right away. But, I do get the feeling in some respects that life is harder in Canada than in the UK. But, I loved how friendly everyone is and how relaxed we all were!

Anyones opinions greatfully received!

K

sans

Hi life isn't so laid back when your busting your gut to earn enough money to get you through the week.....And deal with all the red tape and closed doors.
You may get a better idea of why people return, if you read some of the old posts of people that are or have returned......

snowshoveller

^^^^ good answer!

stepnek

We survive on a low income because of not having to worry about a mortgage here. It would be so much tougher if we didn't own the house. I've lived my whole life not achieving the kind of income that I would like to have but it was easier when I lived in England because there were so many more companies after your cash. To me there's a lack of competition here that means that relative to a Canadian income life is much more expensive.

sans

Totally agree Stepnek We had hoped for the no morgage life in Canada....and might of achieved it had we of not had to wait 4 yrs to get through Immigration
In that 4 yrs everything that could of gone wrong money wise for us, went wrong Its so hard to get off that gravy train once your on it.

I think you have to be very lucky, to land on your feet in Canada, those of us that are not so lucky, have to be prepared to start from scratch and thats fine if your young enough to be able to deal with it.

Knowing what we know now....we would of never even contemplated going ( but thats us).

ann m

I'm not sure that life is more expensive for us, exactly - but I don't know how we would have managed if we hadn't come here and bought the house outright We seem to be able to offer the kids more here (at a cost) but we can 'afford' that ..... we are on one income and muddle by OK. Never be rich, but not poor either! I say it many times, but I would not come to this country to be struggling or skint .... I'm not sure the natural beauty can quite make up for it .

Canada does have a lot to offer many people - it's possibly one of those "try it and see if it fits" countries. Just don't do it on a shoe-string

dunroving

One thing I have learned from this here-and-there experience is to ask the difficult questions. Ask your prospective co-workers how they like working there, ask about expectations for overtime, get on the Canada board and ask whether you could get by on one income, etc.

Job-wise, I've been on both sides (interviewer, interviewee), many times. It amazes me just how much both sides (but especially the employer) completely bullshits, romanticizes, overplays the benefits of working in such a wonderful place. "Come on in, the water's lovely!" That's the UK, at least, a quick 30 minutes face-to-face time during which you get asked all the questions, with maybe time for one or two of your questions, ooh look, the next interviewee is due, sorry we have to move on.

Such a dumb move - you get the person you want and, being smart, they realise within a few days they've been screwed. We have lost 13 people in the past two years, only 4 were replaced.

In the US on the other hand, interview process takes a couple of days - teaching presentation, research presentation, meet the Personnel Committee, meet the Search Committee, meet the Department Chair, meet the Dean, and go out to breakfast lunch and dinner with whoever. At the end of all that, everyone knows exactly what they are letting themselves in for if they say Yes.

hudd

Stepnek

Our mortgage monthly payments in Alberta increased by 50% compared to that we had in Suffolk. I noticed moving back to the UK there is much more competition for your services. Recently I purchased my wife an ex demo Skoda Scout and found the insurance companies were keen to beat their competitors. End up paying £230 full comp, with European travel & roadside assistant, legal, homestart. I would have paid at least $1200-$1500 in Ontario.
In respect to the original post life in Canada was not much different from living in the UK. All our bills were higher than we currently have in the UK. Canada is colder/hotter, houses are bigger and you drive future. Cars are not generally fuel efficient( I manage 68 mpg on my 30 mile drive home tonight, where as may car in Canada did 30 mpg and it was 45 miles each way to work). Those people who I met who had good jobs to go to or those I helped to move to Canada seemed to settle down well in Canada.
In my experience leaving a quite senior position and well paid job at 31 found it hard for the first few years trying to support a young family on the same salary as a university.

I read a few year ago the UK lead IT salaries in the Western world. I am not sure if this is so with the current UK exchange rate. With respect to IT jobs Kanata (Ottawa area) DOT com industry took a real hit in early 2000's. I not sure how much has recovered since then since moving back to the UK 3 years ago.

I do recommend that you have $30-$40K ($15K -£20K) available to cover settlement costs and money to support you to find work(money you can afford to spent). Then you need funds to buy cars and house once you are settled.


hudd

hudd

dunroving

I have three interviews for my current role at departmental manager level and last interview with Plant Manager. I also had a whole day completing a leadership assessment in which I had to work with other candidates completing exercises, prepare and give presentations. I also had the breakfast/dinner, completed examination papers with prospective employers recently in the UK.
Some companies are getting smarter and I have actively taken part in in a lot more dynamic recruitment processes.

hudd

Bevm

Buddy, you don't say why you want to come to Canada. I think that's part of the question. For example, if you said you wanted to come in order to live more cheaply, it's clear that isn't a given, especially in somewhere like Ottawa. There are places in Canada where someone can live very cheaply, but few of them have IT management positions nearby. That's just a silly example.

We've been here for 33 years. We're going home in August to see what it's like living on the other side. We have enough leisure and money to do this without risking disaster.

Canada is really a collection of very different places, so where you move to is important. We lived in Ottawa for 12 years. It's a lovely city with many great facilities. The climate is the pits. It's extremely cold in winter. (The coldest capital in the world unless you count Ulan Bator.) It's very hot and muggy in the summer. There are mosquitoes.

Victoria has a sort of British climate except it's hotter, drier and sunnier in the summer. It's lovely. It's a long way from Europe, if that matters.

And so it goes.

The fact that it's English speaking etc etc shouldn't blind you to the fact that it's a foreign country. Sometimes moving to a foreign country is wonderful. Sometimes it doesn't work.

Bev

Buddy

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I appreciate that I am asking a bit of a lazy question which has been covered once before.

Why Canada? Well, at the time of applying, we were 25 and 28 without a child and felt that the standard of living and work opportunities would be better. We had visited before and loved the atmosphere and way of life. That said, my husband has a very good job here in the UK. We are based in East Berkshire.

Reading posts over the last couple of years and shopping for myself, I can appreciate that cost-wise, Canada is on a par with the UK.

TBH I am having second thoughts. Part of me wants to continue saving for the next 3-years and buy a house in the UK (if they haven't shot up in price again). Tbh, I dont relish the idea of the stress of an international move - we've had a lot of things going on over the last 5 years, which have been very stressful. I am not one to shy away from a challange (moved 37 times myself). That said I don't want to pass up an opportunity. I have heard many times "well, you can always come back!"

The key is whether hubby can get a job before coming over. Its on the approved list at the moment, so I am hoping it will be the case. Would make things a lot easier and reduce the risk.

Thanks for reading!

stepnek

For me I just don't know if it's as straight forward as that. When we moved here I knew that for me things would never be the same again and I've found that to be true. Five years on and there are some things about Canada that I really like and would miss if we went back but on the other hand I don't ever imagine not missing the things I left back in England.

I find it a real tough place to be in right now and tend to push a lot of the debate out of my mind because as I've mentioned before in a different post that I'm not sure I ever see us coming to a decision.

Buddy

I agree completly - its very easy for those to say that when they are not the ones doing it. Plus, as you said, you get used to the other aspects of a different culture. Its a tough one. Maybe if it was 10-years ago it would be a no-brainer for various reasons. I wish you luck with your decision. Out of interest if you did return to the UK, would it be back to the same place? A fleeting thought of mine was just to move to another area of the UK (we are in East Berkshire).

dewdrop

I'm actually leaving Canada and moving to Uk...WE live 3hours away from Ottawa..I wouldn't think Canada is MORE relaxed..unless its a little hick town. cities tend to be alot busier and more hussle and bussle.

There is extreme temps in ONtario in the winter months. have you visited in the winter?

for us, its been a stressful year...with Hubbys work..(car industry) 25yrs having worked, now nothing!

good luck I say try it...or you'll always have it in your head and wonder...but, always think you may want to move back at one point? missing family aspects/heritage. etc etc. as you say you have a one year that won't know his grandparents/relatives. Only from past experience of what i went thru as a child expat being brought to canada and taken away from IT all.

sans

My advise would be If your going to give it ago, leave as much as possible in the UK....Try it for a yr living on Canadian wages, if it doesn't work out then you haven't lost so much and will have something to return to.

You can always transfer any assets later if it was the right move......