spacemonkey

Hi there everyone.

A little information about myself. I am 33 and have been driving EU since i passed my test (i was lucky and blagged a job back then) I stopped driving in the EU and returned the UK tramping work and then progressed into the office finally ending up as a transport manager (CPC) where i was made redundant over a year ago.

After searching and searching for a work it has come to the point where i have re-kindled an interest in moving to Canada. I pulled out of the idea a good few years ago when the likes of Big Freight where interviewing in the UK for their PnP. It seems that things have settled down a lot now, those who did not make it have come back and those who stuck it out are now happily down the line of their new life.

I live with my partner and our 2 year old daughter with one on the way (aug2013) My partner is a full time manager for a retail company which has a presence in Canada and is known for allowing international company transfers, she works within the management sector. Therefore she has the potential of employment but its not 100%

We are both serious about the potential of us moving over but for it to become a reality we would have to go all in. We could not finance one of us moving over to "test the water" for a few months it would have to be a full blown move over. Our finances are stretched due to my loss of employment but we do have available equity in our home to fund a potential move. If i was to be offered a truck driving role we would have to release the equity in the house to fund the move.

So my questions are.

1) being completely realistic how much funding is required to start over their i.e. renting a home 3bed.
2) how much does the company (in general) assist with this process? is it a requirement of the pnp lmo for them to assist (not financial)
3) from landing to earning what is the realistic timing.
4) how much is childcare in Canada?
5) how much would i personally need to survive otr'ing until paycheck number one came in.

I understand that these are to some extent very general and province specific. To give an idea i am potentially looking at either Westcan, Timeline and or bison - or any other suggestion that comes along.

So please bombard me with your knowledge .

neilg14

Hello, you will probably get many different answers on here, different costs, timelines etc.
To start with Airline tickets.
If you're bringing furniture GBP 3000- 4000 for a container.
It was almost 6 weeks to my first paycheck.
A 3 b/room rental in my area (south of Calgary) is about $1400-$1800 a month + same for deposit.
Deposits for elec & gas.
TV, Telephone, Internet.
You'll need a car from day one especially with a family, insurance, registration etc.
Daycare here is $800, per month, per child.
Your question has been asked many times on British Expats and the answer is usually, if coming here with a family you need GBP 20,000 - 25,000 to cover everything.

spacemonkey

Hi Neil

Thank you for your reply.

We are not planning on bringing any furniture over so in essence we would arrive with what we have on our backs. I have looked at some of the rentals and have worked out that they are falling within the $1200-$1600 mark.

We are not looking at anything lavish to start us off with. As for a car i am hearing mixed reviews to the price some postings and advice are saying you can get a decent car around the $1000-2000 mark. I have no idea about the registration and insurance requirements and have not found a price out to be honest.

I have seen one posting on here or another site about a single man moving over being suggested to have $4000 in his pocket to see him through his first month, £25000 is more along the lines of $37-38000

Sats72

Hi Spacemonkey, there's a big difference in a single guy making a move to a family. A single guy could potentially live in his truck for a while, hence no need for rent and other utilities.

I'll give you my example, I came over last June and started work from the off (I had a US CDL). The first 3 months I was by myself and managed to save $6000. Now with my wife & children here (we brought all our stuff from the UK too) we've spent approx $20,000 from our savings and counting.

Saying all that, we believe we've made the right move for ourselves. Better life and surroundings from where we came, but it's not cheap out here.

spacemonkey

Some serious thinking is need here then as our complete equity in the home (which would be our funds ) stands at £25k

We where hoping on a budget of about £10-15k as we would both feel more comfortable with a parachute fund should things go all Pete Tong. I suspect its cheaper to import a container to Canada than it is to re-purchase everything all over again.

Is there a large risk factor when bringing over your family before your company has "assisted" in your PR application?

jamesmc

yup big risk.... you might not like Canada!
not receive PR (skeletons in wardrobe).
company might not like you!
all in alll its a risk but lifes a risk!
pick your province !!! & pick your province wisely.
pick a company job that you know what to do!!! and are prepared to do for 2yrs
no point picking flats when all you have done is van.,you would just make yourself unhappy.
decide whether your family would be happier in a city,town or in the country when you are gone,
imo think 6wks between landing and testing etc and a wage if it all goes smoothly.
remember certain provinces have better attitudes to TWP to PR than others
you might be easier to do your IELTS english exam in UK before leaving rather than in Canada when you are away working.also this way you are all PNP/pr ready.
jimmy

spacemonkey

Thank you for the advise Jimmy

In terms of type of work i have more or less i think got that nailed on. My flat/heavy/oversized experience is not alot so i would not be seeking for work within that market or at least that would not be my most preferred sector.

I am in the process of entertaining questions from Bison and H+R at the moment, i have sent details off to other companies but their responses are shall we say slow. Me and my partner have narrowed down our preferred loacations to Winnipeg and Calgary, these are locations we hope should suite our new start well. This bodes well for my partners potential xfer.

From what i can gather AB is probably the worse of the two options when applying for PR.

Sats72

Hi SM, if you are coming over on a lmo to drive a truck, you realise your wife can't work until you get nominated for pr. This usually takes about 9 months after you land (providing you apply after 6 months and live in Manitoba). Now if your wife is the main applicant and comes over as a skilled worker, then you both can work from the off as far as I'm aware.

This is from a Manitoba perspective, I don't know about the other provinces.

Smudger75

If you get a LMO with a Alberta company your wife will get an open work permit the same time you get your permit!

mickfly

I'm fed up of constantly writing this in replies, does no one try searching for info first?

Smudger75

Obviously not, maybe you should put it in bold text then underline it!!!

christmasoompa

Thats not realistic for a family, and I've no idea how a single person managed that either - just car insurance alone for one car is usually in the region of $2k or so!

This thread may be useful reading - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=735341

HTH, good luck.

dave_lol66

I have a F150, a Buick Rendezvous, a Polaris Sportsman 850, boat and 2 trailers insured for less than that

grant r

But is your insurance not cheaper because you are not a newbie to canada? Wouldn't it be dearer for a newbie until he had built up some history or no claims discount?

dave_lol66

Nope, It's gone down every year since arrival