Emigrating to Canada (BC?) – how easy/difficult can it be?

Now that the little monkey is approaching his first year, we’re starting to look at the options for moving abroad. France and Italy are possibles, but then so is BC all of a sudden.

Friends of ours are planning already because the husband is in the police and apparently getting a transfer over there is pretty straightforward.

So what’s involved and what makes it easier/harder? Anyone done it?

Have so far read that the job market isn’t necessarily great and that you should be prepared to work odd-jobs if things fall through. But I guess that can be the case anywhere.

Have also heard their education system is good. Any experiences? This is probably one of our main criteria because I just don’t trust our system over here.

And do they suffer any repercussions of any fallout happening across the border?

Cheers

Immigrating to Canada test.

i just done the test and am pleased to say that i am eligable! minimum score of 67 and i got just that! think the GF’s score would be even higher. mine would have been, too, if i had pre-arranged employment which can’t be that hard seeing as i’m a chippy.

i just done the test

You get in with grammar like that? I’d be asking more questions about educational standards, spacemonkey! 🙂

LOL at Ned.

Not the most logical or intuitive site that’s for sure.

yup… done, did, donedid…. all the same.

yeah, you get 15 points just for navigating your way through it.

Possibly silly question, but have you been there yet? We looked into it. Changed our mind when we went there on holiday. Lovely to visit, but we couldn’t see ourselves living in Vancouver – apart from North Vancouver, but it felt like a lot of effort to move somewhere that we didn’t get a real feel for.

If you want to emigrate as a skilled worker, and don’t have a job offer, then it’s harder than it used to be as they changed the criteria last year.

You need to demonstrate that you have experience in one of the eligible occupations:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-who-instructions.asp

They have also capped skilled workers visa’s at 20,000 per year, and 1000 per eligible occupation.

Damn, just wrote a lengthy reply and then the storm cut everything off.

thebunk, no we haven’t been there yet, but it’s on our holiday shortlist. Friends who’ve spent time there (inc one who lived there for years) all seemed to dig it; people, cost and standard of living, environment/outdoors, property, and general vibe etc. Naturally that doesn’t mean we’d feel the same, so yes we’d have to spend some time there first. We’re just speculating at the mo.

CH, I’d prefer to get a job offer in place – I guess that’s the tricky part.

I emigrated to Vancouver 8 years ago, and have been here ever since.
I did the skilled worker program through the london office while still in the UK. I used an immigration lawyer in canada to help the process along, at that time it took 14 months (now quite a bit longer I hear) and cost several thousand pounds.
No-one would look at me for jobs until I had my PR, and was actually here. Even then it took a few months as many companies seem hung up on Canadian experience (or even BC experience!). If you have specialist skills it can be easier, it all depends on what you do.
Vancouver is a fantastic place in terms of quality of life (biking, skiing etc), but I believe has now made it into the top 5 most expensive places to live in terms of housing. Average house price in Vancouver is now about $750,000. Right now the market is super hot and there are bidding wars with places selling well over asking price.
Prices drop quite quickly as you move out of the city, but then you lose all the city amenities.
Outside the Lower Mainland there are only a handful of towns I would consider living in, and getting work is the issue as there is virtually zero industry unless you are in forestry or mining.
School system seems on a par with the UK. I have friends who teach here, it seems OK but I’m not sure it is much better. There is a very high percentage of ESL students in many schools (less outside the city).I know there is a shortage of preschool/daycare though, and that is expensive.

So it really depends on your job – I’m a mechanical engineer and though the market is smaller here I have done fine finding work, and love living here. At some point I am going to want something bigger than my 700 square foot apartment though, and may leave the city due to that.

Paul

http://youtu.be/YH-XxiNKBfo
http://youtu.be/MgESb-N9vmY
http://youtu.be/Ykd6f5hz4F0
http://youtu.be/wyddh-fl-k8

I made a series of films about my move over to alberta and back.

It was a great experience, I love being back in the UK, despite being heavily into biking and boarding I’m hard pushed to ever want to return to Canada again

obviously everyone else loves the place 😀

Plum

Currently living in Calgary, Alberta so here are some observations. As said before – getting a job offer before you come over is very difficult but does make things easier. Anecdotially have heard that just applying for a Permanent residency without any sort of Canada “pull” can take 5 years. I’m here on a skilled work permit and have applied for residency sponsored by the company (I work in oil and gas), even then the residency application will take about a year.

In my view (in Alberta) here are some pros and cons.

Pros: The obvious lifestyle of mountain biking; climbing and winter sports.
Lots of space; nice housing (in Calgary)

Cons: Health service – Not had to use this a lot but when I have it isn’t anywhere near as good as the NHS.
Cost of living is high
In Alberta it is hard to understate the brutality of a winter that begins in October and this year ended in May. (First and last snow fall) with sustained periods of -25C. If you have a young one then keep in mind that a rule of thumb quoted here is -15C until 15 (i.e if it is below -15C and you child is under 15 then keep them closely supervised) we had entire weeks where -15 would have been considered balmy.

But then again -15 in Calgary isn’t like -15 in the UK as its sooooo dry – I would regularly see guys on my construction site outside and working at -20

I only really took notice when it was -25 or below

thats proper cold that is, it makes your jeans freeze at -35 😀

Indeed – As an adult -15C isn’t such an issue and is a lot “warmer” than an English -15C. My comment was more around small children and colder temperatures as the OP has a 1 year old. I don’t have children but help Nordic ski clubs out teaching juniors and we had a lot of events cancelled this last winter due to it being below the cut-offs.

Agree though that a couple of days at -30C really changes your perspective on what cold is.

Been in Vancouver for 3.5 years, I transferred to a sister company on a temp work permit which was very straight forward and took about a month, had that extended for two years back in January and just going through the permanent residency process now which i’m applying for under Canadian experience class, should take about 10 months. I just had to take an English test to prove i can speak, read, write and listen in English despite being from the UK!

I love it here, however my ex-fiancee who came over with me didn’t settle and moved home after a couple of years, I couldn’t go back to the UK though. It def takes a lot of effort to settle somewhere where you’re starting from scratch, biking is great for making new friends though.

Thanks guys. A few bits of realism there to add food for thought – which is what I was looking for.

My profession is pretty niche but can be broadened, although I’ve ‘created’ my role from previous experiences because this is what I want to focus on for now. So that may hinder me. I respect their approach for being what appears to be more hardline to people ‘moving in’, so it might be a case of contacting Canadian companies to see if they have any work. Might be able to get some contract stuff to begin with. Who knows?

Outdoor life certainly is one of the pluses. But if average house prices and the cost of living are as high as they sound then it may not be such a realistic option.

Maybe I’m going through a phase of being pissed off at the Gov for taking such a big chunk of my earnings while doing seemingly little to make this rock a more socially adept place to live and work. Either way, I can’t help but feel this place is going down the shitter for another generation or so.