[Closed] Canada - emigrating. Advice needed and feedback

My Colleague Iwona is from Oakdale in Canada and she says the following about actually living there:-

It does get VERY COLD (minus 40) and VERY HOT (in the plus 40s), the heat is easy to cope with, but the cold will take you by surprise when you can't go anywhere due to heavy snow when you're used to British "2 inches and the country is at a standstill" type snow.

There is no drinking culture, ski resorts are atypical of Canada, people do not go out to the pub after work or of an evening and it is not unusual for there to be no pub in a town, a local eatery may sell booze to go with your meal, but that's it. If you like going for a nice meal of an evening it's great, if you like going to a local every night and staggering home a bit merry- you will feel lost.

It is very quiet, people keep themselves to themselves and are very reserved and polite- v low crime, but outgoing behaviour is lost on strangers, so if you are an extrovert, you may find yourself feeling a little estranged. On the plus side there is no brash know it all attitude to rub your British sensibilites up the wrong way and people do genuinely care for their neighbours even if they don't live in their pockets.

Re' actually moving she did it the other way round so I can't help there. Good luck though.

You'd better check out the Canadian Embassy web site for all their rules and regs. It's a bit more difficult than getting into the UK.

[url= http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/missions/unitedkingdom-royaumeuni/visas/menu-eng.asp ]CLICKY[/url]

They have a points system (your degree will help), and the website I've linked has an on line questionnaire that will help see if you are eligible. You need 67 points at the moment to get in.

I tried the test myself and got 72 points but that was making a couple of major assumptions, ie my gf would want to come with me.

Hope this helps.

P.S. I've personally not noticed that they don't like a drink and there have always been off licenses in the towns. It's just not the drink culture of the UK. It does get VERY cold in winter, but that doesn't mean the whole country grinds to a halt. They are used to the cold and the snow and I've never noticed it having a huge impact (apart from when it was -47 and the TV was telling you not to spend too much time outside cos of the risk of frostbite).

They also have dangerous wildlife and you will probably be allowed to own a gun for your protection. Bear and big cats are about during the summer and Moose (and some of the big cats) during the winter.

As you are probably aware, it is a HUGE country with a comparatively small population. I've met some Canadians in Banff who came for the skiing like me who have driven for 2 days to get to a good ski resort. It didn't take me that long from Manchester.

I have two friends that have gone. Its not very easy as stated above but neither of them regret it. One has only been there a few month but the other a good few years now.

Wifey is from Scuzzbury (Sudbury), Ontario.

She's been in Scotland for 17yrs now and would never move back. You don't have to shovel rain.

I have done it recently. can't wait to get back to the UK - for all its faults the UK is a better place to be.

I'll put it like this. Canada is a lovely country if you can avoid the Canadians.

Plum

I was just going to say "ask Plum" as I'd gathered he wasn't happy there!

I have done it recently. can't wait to get back to the UK - for all its faults the UK is a better place to be.

I'll put it like this. Canada is a lovely country if you can avoid the Canadians.

Sorry but that's not much help, it's like saying you've been to the UK and the British are aweful.

Where were you? Never had any problems with the people from Alberta and British Columbia. I imagine the Quebec side might be a bit funny cos were not very good at languages are we???

it's like saying you've been to the UK and the British are aweful.

we [b]are[/b], but you like us anyway :o)

Woo-hoo, 74 points! Although that might depend on what their definition of "proficient" is with French

Well, actually its like saying I've worked in construction in Calgary and to a man I find Canadians dull, stupid and above all smug, oh and homophobic and rascist. This is top to bottom from the trades to the uber billionaire bosses.

I'd been here loads of times on holiday and thought I had a good grasp on the people in Alberta and BC.

THis is my view, feel free to ignore it as you wish.

Plum

I should point out that the way to get into the country is to find a job, Last year that was very easy to do in Alberta particularly. With the global downturn it is no longer so.

The doors have all but closed. I have this information directly from an immigration official I drink with occasionally.

The word from the government is no one allowed in unless they have more money than sense or some uber technical scientist type.

Good luck with whatwever you choose to do

Plum

wow, thanks to all, certinaly some conflicting feedback, but all is appreciated! Maybe I'm just on a sort of rebound but I just love the idea of all that land and no other bugger!
Although I do rather enjoy a night out (pubs) and extremes of temp ruin me! So that's not good, although I was always aware of those 'problems'.

I atually found the Canadians I met (sister's boyf and family etc.) charming and open minded.

Thanks again guys

I was personally looking to go to Vancouver.

I do a bit of skiing and diving and mountain biking and thought the place would be ideal. I was looking for a real break away after my wife died.

If it hadn't been for ageing parents I'd probably be there now.

I've heard plenty about the doors being 'closed'right now....I'm waiting on the downturn to end them my International Transfer should get the green light .....Vancouver here I come! 🙂

If you're going for the right reasons, go for it mate.

I was just reitterating what my Canadian workmate thought you might not be aware of. Mavisto is right, re temperature the country is fine and just keeps going regardless, you just need to make sure that you are.

Likwise the booze factor, if you're happy to have a drink at home with friends it's fine, they just tend not to pile out of the house to a central point like we do with the pub.

You do need to be aware that outside of the large cities, there is a certain nieve provinciality and lack of cultural awareness which can manifest itself in homophobia, racism and stigmatising regarding things like drug use. If you've ever visited or lived in rural UK communities though you won't be too surprised.

I atually found the Canadians I met (sister's boyf and family etc.) charming and open minded.

Yep I was of the same opinion up until I worked with them. I meet/talk to in the region of 20 new people every day with my job. I know 2 that are helpful - 1 is from Nova Scotia and the other from Essex

Plum

I have relatives who live near Toronto(born in Canada), One of them keeps asking me "when am I going to emigrate", as I have sought after skills. I haven't the heart to tell him never, as I spoke to his daughter when she was in the UK few weeks ago and she would rather be living on this side of the pond.

I live in Vancouver and have to say its pretty awesome, currently suffering through a heatwave as temps are up into the 30's and humidity is making it more like 40.

I haven't found any problems with the people here especially given that half the place is populated by immigrants. If anything they love our accents. You will be taken aback by the friendliness of shop/restaurant staff compared to the service you get in the UK. I think in small towns there will be some sort of redneck mentality but i think you get something similar in the uk whether that be neds or chavs. Personally I'm glad i haven't heard or seen that kind of human for a while.

It is true that there isn't a huge pub culture here but there are pubs and people do go out for a drink but not to get hammered (well apart from the odd redneck), personally the pub culture and go out to get hammered attitude of everyone where i lived in the UK was pissing me off so don't miss it.

I can't say much about the east, I don't think I could stand the extreme cold and heat like they get there, its bad enough here this week trying to get to sleep when its still 30 degrees. I won't be moving back!

As for the job, I got a transfer from the company i worked with in the UK which made things easier, just do it, you can always go back and for every plumber i think there are a 100 who would never go back to the UK.

+1 for what rs says.

I moved to Vancouver from Lancashire 2½ years ago. No way on earth would I consider moving back. (Having said that, I very much doubt I would want to live anywhere else than coastal BC - the interior/East Coast areas are just too extreme weather-wise)

As pointed out above, it's gonna be a whole lot harder trying to emmigrate now than it was last year, but even then the processing time was 4+ years for permanent residency. The work permit route (though not ideal) may be your best bet if you can find a Canadian company that (1) needs your skills and (2) can't recruit locally. Canada's economy has not suffered as much as elsewhere and there is still strong demand for jobs in some sectors.

Any experts on here? Those online sites all seem a little too slick and over-enthusiastic for my tastes, basically i trust them like I trust estate agents!!

I presume your referring to emigration consultants? Not sure I'd bother with them, you don't get any preferential treatment and you still have to gather the masses of paperwork your-self. There are plenty of resources (google british ex-pats) to help you through the process yourself.

We did all our own paper-work to get a work permit which we then converted into permanent residency after we'd been here a year or so...

for every plumber i think there are a 100 who would never go back to the UK.

That could of course be true.

Plum

I'd say if thats what you fancy doing then go for it. Better do something you regret than not and all that.
However one thing you might want to consider as you embark on it is that as you get older and things change you might feel that you want to be nearer family etc etc. That can throw a mighty spanner in the works (and i am speaking from current experience). Thing i have discovered is you can't fight it go with the flow. I strongly believe that if you make the best of any opportunity you won;t be disappointed.

If you go and don't like it you can always come back.

If you don't go you'll be wondering if you made the right choice for the rest of your life.

plumber - Member

I have done it recently. can't wait to get back to the UK - for all its faults the UK is a better place to be.

I'll put it like this. Canada is a lovely country if you can avoid the Canadians.

Jesus. That is uh, just bullsh*t really. I spent time in BC and Alberta and I met one, that's right one unpleasant canadian. And he was an indian driving a bus. The people are unbelievably warm and friendly unlike say, the UK for example. I found the drinking culture in Alberta to be exactly the same as the uk and Ireland, only better because there were more things to do while drinking and there was less drink related aggro in my experience.

Amazing place, amazing people, I'd love to emigrate. Wife won't have it though.

It does get VERY COLD (minus 40) and VERY HOT (in the plus 40s), the heat is easy to cope with, but the cold will take you by surprise when you can't go anywhere due to heavy snow when you're used to British "2 inches and the country is at a standstill" type snow.

There is no drinking culture, ski resorts are atypical of Canada, people do not go out to the pub after work or of an evening and it is not unusual for there to be no pub in a town, a local eatery may sell booze to go with your meal, but that's it. If you like going for a nice meal of an evening it's great, if you like going to a local every night and staggering home a bit merry- you will feel lost.

It is very quiet, people keep themselves to themselves and are very reserved and polite- v low crime, but outgoing behaviour is lost on strangers, so if you are an extrovert, you may find yourself feeling a little estranged. On the plus side there is no brash know it all attitude to rub your British sensibilites up the wrong way and people do genuinely care for their neighbours even if they don't live in their pockets.

You could save yourself a lot of time, money, hassle and move to Sweden, as that is what the above pretty much describes!

The people are unbelievably warm and friendly

I used to believe that too for about a week.

You'll remind me of course how long you lived here

Thanks

Plum

I'm in Canmore, Alberta, right now on holiday, and while it's lovely right now I think I'd struggle to live here.

The weather at the mo is ver "british" - peeing it down one minute & then the sun comes out & it's 26deg, then it clouds over again - but I suppose that's to be expected here in the mountains

As said above everybody in the shops & cafes are [i]really[/i] friendly. It's not cheap - but maybe that's because of the weakness of the pound; petrol is 87-94cents a litre ($1.70ish to the pound) so that's a pleasant surprise - a tankful of gas coming to less than £25.

But the four seasons - Summer, Nearly Winter, Winter and Still Winter might take some getting used to.

My sister emigrated to Edmonton in '82, came back to the UK about 6 years later; within a year she was back in Alberta, and is still here now. In fact she's getting married on Saturday & we're off to the wedding - which is why I'm in Canada in the first place.

moved to Calgary in march,understand what plumber is saying as I work in manual trade and the people are a bit less cosmopolitan to say the least,not very well travelled and not very open to anything different ,a few of us moved over{still ongoing}and the single guy is struggling the most as he's finding it hard to meet friends etc,
all that said I absolutely love the place and do not regret it for a second,people{no matter how close minded}will do all sorts to help you out and genuinely do seem to care about your well being,life is a lot better here for me and the family,plenty of pub culture,lots more to do,better weather,an hour from the mountains,NO WAY AM I COMING BACK TO THE UK
Alberta and Ontario may as well be different countries though as its so vast and undoubtedly different,get a job is your only way in,look on jobsbank.ca for jobs looking for foreign workers

Just took the test thingy and scored a 79. Cool.

Given that we have plans forming about moving over there, that's nice to know. I just need to work my French up from moderate to awesome now...

The place sounds a lot like Wales from this thread.

Quatre vingt points 🙂

Suspect it's not as easy as that, or I'd be off to Vancouver smartish. To the OP, just do it, you can always come back. I can't speak for the other provinces, but I've been to BC and have friends there and have found the vast majority of Canadians to be friendly, if slightly more reserved than Americans, and many went well out of their way to be helpful.

[b]markgraylish - Member[/b]
As pointed out above, it's gonna be a whole lot harder trying to emmigrate now than it was last year, but even then the processing time was 4+ years for permanent residency.

@ [b]markgraylish[/b]: is the 4 year wait [i]after[/i] you've submitted the complete application with all the paperwork? any estimate of how long it takes after that?

also, how long to complete the process once you've had the medicals?

thanks very much!

is the 4 year wait after you've submitted the complete application with all the paperwork?

Each year, the Canadian government defines the number of new immigrants it will let into the country. It was something like 260,000 people per year. However, a lot more than that apply. Obviously, some get rejected or change their minds but the waiting list was getting longer and longer as we were waiting for our permanent residency to be approved.

When we first submitted the application, it was 3½ years but I'm pretty sure it's extended a lot since then. And yes, this was AFTER you've submitted you complete application

(I think they may have changed this since we did it - IIRC, you now submit a partial application, get some sort of pre-approval then wait 'til you're near the front of the queue then submit the 'full' application.IIRC, once you've been called for your medical, then thats the final hurdle and the visa takes another couple of months then you have up to 12 months to move to Canada...)

We got fed up of waiting for PR so got a work permit first then converted to PR after we got here. This saved a HUUUUGGGGEEEE amount of time

For anyone thinking of doing this, don't under-estimate how long it takes to gather the evidence to support your application. Getting things like degrees and work records verified and criminal record checks done seems to take ages.

(Oh, and Plum must have struck unlucky because my experience of Canadians is the direct opposite of his. And lads, apparently there is a severe shortage of eligible males in Vancouver so the odds are stacked heavily in your favour. And, boy, does the choice look good!)

thanks very much!

Lived in Calgary for 3 years loved the country loved the people but the winters got me down big time

oh and the beers sh1te

Just to re-iterate what MarkG said above (Hi Mark!), if you spend some time browsing through the British Expat Forum you will find most people are currently waiting between 4-6 yrs for PR approval from the UK. Once you've submitted everything it goes into a black hole from which you hear nothing for several years.

If you <30 (maybe 31?) then look at BUNAC for getting a 1yr open work visa. Numbers are limited each year but the entry requirements are easy. Otherwise, do your best to find an employer willing to sponsor you and then get a Temporary Work Permit (TWP), valid for anything up to 3 yrs. This is dependent upon government approval for recruiting from outside of Canada and has also got tougher in the last year. If you get in on a TWP, you have a very good chance of applying for PR through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), which basically allows you to short-cut the PR process and get it within a year. Job done.

And if you don't have the skills, then look at your wife/partner. If one of you gets the visa, their partner can come & work on an open work permit. Thanks to my wife (nurse), thats' why I'm now in Vancouver and loving it.

I've decided to take a road trip to Vancouver on the back of this thread. Hopefully it will appeal more than Calgary.

Plum

In my experience there's a huge difference between Vancouver and the rest of Canada. Hope it works out for you Plum. We thought about emigrating to BC and figured if it all went well we could both end up with decent jobs and a nice house in the hills. Then we realised that's what we have already, here in Wales. Still love BC though, but we accept that for us it's a place to visit rather than to live. That said, if I was 25, single, and got the chance I'd be off like a shot.

It was a close decision between Canada and NZ for me. New Zealand won, but maybe an option for you. Loads of cheap sections on the south Island.

I don't know why plum but I find I get on{have more of a laugh} with all the immigrants and lads from BC

may meet you on that road trip Plum. Calgary tonight & tomorrow night; Kamloops Sunday night; Vancouver for 3 nights, then Lake Louise Thursday night, ready for a short trip back to Calgary Airport & back to sunny England

see you out there buddy, soon as i'v got my degree its goodbye U.K!
all the canadians i have met are superb people, so polite and friendly

Vancouver was ACE. I could (and WOULD) live there given the chance.
Calgary was a bit dull. Mountains were unbelievable.

quatre-vingt-neuf points 🙂

Just to chuck my two penneth in. I worked out there over (Canmore and Calgary) the summers in 96 and 97 for 4 months a piece and I found the people in my sector (outdoor leadership) to be some of the most open, friendly and liberal people I've ever met. I've seriously considered emigrating in the past (I'm a Canadian by birth so I hold a passport but had only been resident for a year or so before coming to the UK). I'd looked into Nova Scotia, Ontario and Alberta/BC. Cost of living will be higher in Ontario and especially Toronto. I can see how some people in other sectors like the building trades or agriculture might be less liberal but can you honestly say the Brits are any different?

PS How was Canmore John? I used to Love the Drake Inn!

There are some interesting and conflicting views (as expected)

My experience of Canada is of visiting friends near Toronto (mostly very flat) and visiting Ottawa (very cold!).

I have to say that of the countries I've visited, Canada is the one in which I felt most 'at home'(-much more so than the places I've visited in the USA) and the people easy to get along with with a sense of humour similar to the UK. There were a fair few off licences and pubs/bars in Ontario and people seemed to use them, although less of a 'British drink [i]culture[/i]' certainly wouldn't be a problem to me. Strip joints appeared very popular too!

Certainly in that area, every other person seemed to have Scottish, English or Welsh grand-parents.

Plumber, is it really surprising that there are racist & homophobic views in the construction industry? I've never noticed the UK to be particularly progressive in that area either...

Canada is a massive place and probably can't be summarised in a few paragraphs.

Canmore was lovely for the 5 nights we were there. Weather was changeable but what do you expect at that elevation?

The Drake is still there, although we didn't try it. Lots of new build hotels/apartments going up just off the Bow Valley Trail. Saw an elk walk across the hotel car park - that was the biggest bit of wildlife we saw.

Banff was lovely too, as was Lake Louise, but you know that, eh?

5 nights in Canmore, 2 in Calgary for a wedding, 1 in Kamloops (hot - 39decC), 3 in Vancouver & a long drive back to Lake Louise, making the final hop to Calgary airport for the trip home a nice short one. In hindsight I would've booked the return flight from Vancouver, but I did get to see a lot of a VERY big country on the way back. Loved it. Shame I didn't get to do any cycling. Maybe next trip* 🙂

* Sister lives in Peace River, AB. We will be visiting again. Did I mention I liked Vancouver?

I lived on the Northshore in Vancouver for a year on the BUNAC visa a few years back. Had an amazing time exploring/sking/biking for a year. BC is beautiful but Vancouver is the only place I would consider living. Calgary was pretty uninspiring. Oh, I might live in the Kootenays though...

We came back as my wife decided she wanted a career change and did a masters back her in the UK. I sometimes regret it, but am better off here and still got 25 days skiing this year, and about 3 weeks biking(alps)....so its not all bad.