Harrison Family

My hubby, me and our two year old daughter are looking into moving to canada. At the moment he only works days and is home every night so the thought of him working away for days at a time is a bit daunting ! We have lived abroad for several years already so are used to starting out somewhere new with no family but really wanted some opinions from people who are in the same situation. Are there any other mums out there who can let me know how they feel while their OHs are away working??

We are looking at Alberta but any suggestions or comments would be very welcome!

Prairie Pete

The way I looked at it was its the price you have to pay for getting out here. Doing long haul was great for the experience but being away from the family (my girl was 18 months at the time) really hurt. After you get your PR there is work you can get which will give you more home time and better quality of life. You just have to ask yourself are you willing to pay the price?

With hindsight I/we wish we had made our home in Alberta (Calgary). Better location for Rockies, weather not as harsh as here (but more snow) a proper airport,stampede,Olympic park,zoo,tower..e.tc.

Peter...living in Saskatoon..a city in the middle of nowhere.






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Harrison Family

Thanks for your message - its nice to hear things from people who are actually experiencing it first hand. How long have you been over there?

steph_h

Hi my name is Steph, My husband is also a HGV Driver and we have two girls 2 + 4, we are looking into moving to Canada also, not 100% sure on location yet. We have decided that Long Haul is not an option, why go abroad to tramp out when he can do that at home where I have my family around. There are City Jobs I believe where they are home alot more or short haul jobs which are what we are looking into at the min. Are you using a relocation agent or sorting the forms yourself. Maybe we should buddy up, move at the same time and live in the same neighbourhood, make life easier, ha ha

Prairie Pete

Moved out here (as a family) April 2005. I did not want to do long haul but unfortunatley as far as I am aware there is no skill shortage for local drivers. Think about it ... there is not actually a shortage of people who have a class 1 licence over here but there is a shortage of drivers who are willing to do long haul. I am not aware of any trucking companies that are part of the PNP so you may have a problem if you are not willing to do long haul until you get your PR. Once you have PR you can come off long haul and enjoy life. Its the price you have to pay, its not easy but I did it and have no regrets. Took me 18 months to get PR, did all the paper work myself DON`T go with a agent you can do it yourself and save money. Advice to anyone thinking of coming over here, visit the place first, at the worst you will hate it so look upon it has a bad holiday. On the other hand you might just feel this place is right for you and can`t wait to get back.

Prairie Pete..

chris kim

hi steph, we live in northwich cheshire & are moving to edmonton, i am also hgv driver petrol , going on 4 on 4 off which means you can only be away 3 nights, they can only take tfw on long haul, i think this is the shortest long haul there is

chris & kim... let us know if you want to meet up, we have lots of info

chris kim

hi pete you on here as much as me..... old fitness woman is fast asleep, took her out on the bike tonight , got our knee down shes knackered now

chris

Prairie Pete

Hi Chris

What does "got our knee down mean" ? Anyhow I am off to play soccer hopefully it will have cooled off by now (the weather). Very hot over here just now, temp in the mid 30....Phewww...

Prairie Pete.......

Harrison Family

We've been looking at the different ways of coming over and can only do it via PNP which means we have to do long haul to get the visa. Still if we 100% decide Canada is for us then as pete says , its the price we will have to pay for getting there. We've been trying to find something like the 4 on 4 off as that would be a good compromise but I can imagine that those jobs aren't around for long!!

Steph - we are still going through the pros and cons at the moment but will probably do the move ourselves and not bother with an agent, as far as I can see as long as we are prepared to do the paperwork we will be able to do it all ourselves and save the extra money for when we get there. Let us know how your plans go - especially how you are narrowing down where to move to, so many different places and they all seem to offer so many different things. We just want somewhere not too busy - lived in London for a few years but have recently been in Spain for 5 years and can't imagine going back to anywhere too busy again after that, but also need enough to keep the little one occupied!! Not asking too much!!

chris kim

on the bike, we have a 1400 suzuki which we like to give some stick..
hence.. get your knee down
chris.. how did the match go

steph_h

Hi, thanks for your reply, meeting up at some point sounds great. Let us know when your free and we can meet you.
Steph & Dave

chris kim

hi steph, dont know how to give you my email / phone no without showing it to everyone. will have to sort it

chris.............

Lorna_D

Hi, I am a truckers wife living near Regina Saskatchewan with a OH who is long haul with Yanke. We have been here a year and absolutely love our little area of Saskatchewan.

http://www.immigration.gov.sk.ca/Def...7-70a7366de4c4

this is the info about the SINP

dinger24

Hi
I am looking into this and very serious about taking up long haul for a couple of years then looking for something closer to home and the OH. I just dont know who to work for and where, there is so many options but not enough information on the nitty gritty side of these companys. I have been a driver with the Army for over 10yrs and have HGV 1(C+E). I can get more quals for resettlement and would be interested if anyone knows if there is a Canadian company that will do courses for Brit Army resettlement. I actually lack driving experience as the largest truck I drive will be a Bedord 4T

Lorna_D

http://www.yanke.ca/yanke.cfm?page=Careers

Try this company I think you have had to drive LGV for the past 5 years. This is who we were supported by, my husband has had no problems with them as employers and we love Saskatchewan. Give them a try.