Jane Barlow

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd introduce myself, I've finally plucked up the courage to sign up, having been a passive observer for many months now!

We (me, my husband, my 7 month old son and 5 year old daughter) are hoping to move to the Calgary area as soon as our visas come through. We've just got the final bits of paperwork together and hope to send off the FSW application in the next few days.

A[It will e good to share what will probably an extremely long wait with some like-minded individuals! Any comments/advice on Alberta gratefully received! We think we like the sound of Cochrane, and are coming over in May for a recce.

Thanks and good luck to everyone!

DeadVim

Hello, welcome to BE

I have no idea what Calgary is like (searches memory ... Olympics?) but I once worked with a Canadian who raved about Edmonton ... But he was certifiably bonkers ...

In any case, good luck and enjoy your stay on BE

Sue

Hi Jane,

So pleased that you have registered, hope we are not too scary

Looks like you are finding your way around ok, but if you get stuck on anything please don't' hesitate to give me a shout. You can message me via the Private Message system by clicking on my username, or you can post in our Site Feedback forum anytime.

Welcome, welcome and I hope you enjoy being part of our community.

Jerseygirl

Hi and welcome to BE.

I'm sure you'll enjoy being part of our Canada forums. We have a great supportive group of expats...many of them live in the Calgary area...so I'm sure they will help answer any questions you may have. Good luck.

Rosemary

Hello and a big welcome to BE.

Excellent information can be found in the BE Wiki, not forgetting the Living and Moving Abroad forum that will help you, another set of great help is the permanent threads at the TOP of each forum, they are very pertinent to that particular forum and makes sensible reading.

Moderators deal with any problems that arise such as inappropriate posts, spammers etc, you will find their names at the bottom right hand side of each forum's index in bold font.

Please contact me if I can give you any further help.

Rosemary

dreadsoc

Hi Jane

Welcome to BE from me too.
I see you have already found the Canada forum, which is definitely the right place to find all the help and support from others who have moved there or are like you in the process of moving, so you're in very good company.

All the very best with your move and have a fab time on your up and coming recce

Dread - x

TheThornes

Hi again Jane. Hope you received me emails OK and, like I said, if you have any more specific questions, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Regards.

Jane Barlow

hi Carolyn,

I certainly did and have just replied Thanks for such a fantastically informative email. SOrry it's taken me a couple of days, its half term here so have been away for a couple of days!

shunter1977s-Mrs

Hello Jane,

I have also just joined although my husband joined a few weeks ago. Where will you be coming from?

We have just started the FSW application but are hoping to come on a temporary work visa whilst we wait for those to complete.

We to are looking at Alberta mainly because my husband's trade is in high demand there and from my point of view because the Rockies are there :-) lol. Its now looking like we will be aiming for the Red Deer area due to a recent job offer.

We have a 7 yr old son and 6 yr old daughter and it is reassuring that someone is making roughly the same leap as us.

Jane Barlow

Hi there,

We live in Chelmsford, Essex. What trade is your husband in?
Whereabouts are you? We have finally got all our documents together, just need the photos and then we can send it off. Has your FSW application already been sent? To be honest I hadn't thought about trying to apply for temporary worker permit.

I don't know much about Red Deer but have been receiving tons of very helpful information about Cochrane which is where we hope to go. Have you been out there yet? We're going in May.

All the best!

jane

shunter1977s-Mrs

Hi ya,

We're in a village just north of Norwich. Steve's a Heavy Equipment Mechanic.

We have cheated a little and employed an immigration agent to process the application for us, very expensive cheat but seemed a lot easier at the time. It's not gone in yet as we're waiting on the crazy English exam as the earliest date Steve could get is march 10th :-(

To start with we were just gonna take our time and wait on the visa's which in some respects would be the safest option. However, Steve had emailed his CV out to companies just for feedback on his qualifications and luckily has had some offers but obviously they don't want to wait for a year or more.

I think Red Deer is about 1.5hrs from Calgary but we're looking at small towns around that area such as Lacombe, Pinocca and Sylvan Lake which all look lovely. I don't think its likely that we'll get there to visit before we move as everything is tied up in the house :-(

Good luck

Sarah

Jane Barlow

Hi Sarah,

I know, the IELTS test is ridiculous - where's he taking it? My husband had to go to Cambridge to do it. The results come through exactly 2 weeks later though. Mark is an industrial electrician so probably not too dissimilar to yours. Did Steve respond to specific job offers or did he just send out CV's? We met an immigration consultant at an expo in London but it just seemed so expensive and we would obviously still have to collect all the info ourselves so we wondered what exactly he did for the money, besides when we delved a little deeper, this particular company had a chequered past so am quite relieved. Is the temporary work visa application easier and much quicker?

It must be quite reassuring that he's already received job offers. That's the big worry for me going out there with nothing as I worry that Canadians might not want to recruit foreigners!

Keep me posted with your progress and good luck!

Jane

shunter1977s-Mrs

Hello again,

Steve's taking his in Norwich which is handy. Steve just changed the layout of his CV to match a Canadian resume (found examples on the net) then searched for relevant companies and emailed them, not necessarily asking for work but telling them our situation and asking what they thought of his qualifications and experience.

He's been very lucky and it helps that they need heavy mechanics, he emailed one place on Friday last week and they phoned Monday night to set up an interview via Skype for last night.

In hind sight maybe we could have easily done the forms ourselves and it would have meant having the money free to come and visit but it's done now and they have been excellent so far.

I'm certainly no expert and others will probably have more accurate information. I believe that a company has to have advertised a job for 2 weeks and not found anyone, then they can do a Labour Market Opinion for the job (takes about 12 weeks sometimes more) and if that comes back OK they can offer the job to a foreign worker.

You then can apply for a Temporary Work Visa (no idea how long this takes) for that specific job and company. This in our case will run alongside the FSW application so with a bit of luck we'll already be there and working when we receive residency.

Of course on the other hand we could fail the medicals and having up rooted everything and everyone be unceremoniously sent home! We're willing to take the risk and hope it works out.

I think it's good to get some feelers out there, although I did at first think Steve was crazy by randomly emailing strangers, you never know what contacts you might make.

Take care

Sarah

Jane Barlow

Thanks Sarah, same to you and keep me posted on your progress!!

dreadsoc

Hi Sarah

I have just noticed that you are a new poster so I just wanted to say welcome to BE and all the best with your plans.

Dread - x