Moving to Canada query

[johnboy]

I'm a Brit that moved over here 12 years ago and i've had 2 good mates move to Aus and another to NZ, best advice i can offer is think about why your doing it.

All 3 have moved back to the UK, but to be honest their goals and expectations were totally unrealistic.
They were expecting some sort of paradise where everything was better and they were very quickly disappointed.

The 2 in Aus said that many of locals were not interested in getting to know poms and although meant in jest they got very tired of the pom jokes and being poked fun at.
They also said they felt there was absolutely no culture over there apart from going out and getting drunk.


Being here for 12 years i've also seen many many ex-pats come and go and i recon i can tell the ones that aren't going to last very quickly now within a few mins.

I think if you go over with the mindset that it's going to be a experience and an adventure you'll stand a better chance.
You should also expect just as many problems as you experience in the UK, they'll just be different problems.

People tend to emigrate and have a honeymoon period of a few months, this is mainly because their outlook has changed for this period.
They tend to be more open and don't look for problems, after a few months though their personality tends to stray back into how they were before they left.
So they end up being the same person but in a different location.

If that person is moaner then they'll just become a moaner with a different view.

So don't expect to move thinking that it will give you more energy or it will jump start you to do things you don't currently do.

A lot of that is pretty true....

The number of UK folk that shift over here without ever having been here before is quite amazing.... Likewise the number that pull the pin within the first 2 years is also quite high...

Folks go back for lots of reasons. But fundamentally you need to know what you're getting into before you shift anywhere Canada, Aussie, NZ.

You also need to adjust and accept the culture you are in... a lot of expat Brits here in Nz I know struggle with that, constantly comparing stuff back to the Uk really does you no good in the long term...

 

[spandit]

What have they got in Canada that we dont?

Tim Hortons
Mountain Equipment Co-op
Candied salmon
Arcteryx outlet store
...

 

[Jaymzflood]

I just laughed so loud my misses woke up !

Anyway, I want to go, to experience Canada.
The way I live my life in Canada will be different to here (if i chose to go)
for example, im a fisherman, an online gamer, a camping enthusiast.... in the UK, im miserable because I can only do those things once a month.

In Canada with no misses..... you get my drift

Im 23, im still young, I dont want to be stuck here forever. Even if I come back, at-least I can say I gave it a go rather than sitting her on my **** miserable for the next 12 months.

I dont expect my life to change, but it will have that little bit more freedom to be the active person that I am.

 

[marcelxl]

I just laughed so loud my misses woke up !

Anyway, I want to go, to experience Canada.
The way I live my life in Canada will be different to here (if i chose to go)
for example, im a fisherman, an online gamer, a camping enthusiast.... in the UK, im miserable because I can only do those things once a month.

In Canada with no misses..... you get my drift

Im 23, im still young, I dont want to be stuck here forever. Even if I come back, at-least I can say I gave it a go rather than sitting her on my **** miserable for the next 12 months.

I dont expect my life to change, but it will have that little bit more freedom to be the active person that I am.

Just 23? get on it man!

YOu've a whole load of time to get back on it, go with your eyes open and see what happens......even try the WOOFER(?) thing (working on farms for food and lodging) our mate has a farm in BC, he does this and his charges live like kings between the work!

I'd like to add about our mindset......

I am now nervous, excited but nervous....

The rose tinted glasses were off sometime ago knowing lots of Canadians and seeing where we want to live from the inside. We have compared prices whilst walking around the supermarket and got concerned and addressed how our life & diet will have to change, seen what the booze costs, likewise property, healthcare and everything else....... I know no ex-pats

I know when I get a job I will only get 10days a year holiday, but I have offers of work already with an official job offer that is very well paid with a guy who could not be more supportive, but the hours are good and the economy whilst not what it was is ticking over quite nicely. That is very appealing, I am hating my work here when I get it being self (un)employed in the building industry, over there I have options for work whilst here I just about get by self employed and I have been trying to get employed for over a year and the wages being paid now I would be better off just working 2 days a week for the same!

Our friends leave their doors not just unlocked but the back door is open "just in case the dog needs the bathroom" My wife Polices Bradford central, the City with a hole in it, a city that I have grown to hate, everything it had going for it is long gone and it is now lost to the "disproportionate amount of the underclasses" (not my words BTW-a line on a report i read that just rang true) after every shift I hear stories that make my blood boil. I bet there are other places as bad too. So swapping a BD postcode for BC is a no-brainer! But I do not like my Wife having to deal with the kind of people she has to and she "cannot wait to be away from so many horrible people!"

Yesterday morning it took me 35mins to get 2 miles (I need a van full of tools so walking/cycling is out) just because when there is ice it seems the entire population lose their senses. A couple of years ago I took a couple of R/H turns and the satnav said "in 564 km turn right" and several hours and one timezone later we did. No traffic, no delays, nothing! straight to Banff with Bears, wolves, Deer, Elk, Eagles and Ospreys all seen en route. Don't get them in Bingley!!

I hope to live amongst some of the best trout fishing in the world, my local put and take ressies are a nice place to spend a day but we have literally hundreds of beautiful lakes around Kamloops and world class fishing. I would like to hunt and do it with my bow and I would like the option of solitude and silence.

The Beer is expensive and pretty nasty and the nicer booze is silly money, I will need to learn how to deal with that!!

 

[Jaymzflood]

and thats all in Oz isit?

 

[AndyJDickson]

A friend of mine and her husband moved to nova scotia about 5 years back. They have loved it and are now residents. Ill enquire to them to see how they did it. but can you not use the 3 month holiday visa then plan a short holiday over the border and then come back in and get ur visa re stamped? i did it while i was in america twice. took a long wekeend in mexico and got it stamped on the way back in and did me for another 90 days

 

[Tengu]

No Canada doesnt appeal to me at all.

Id rather go somewhere there is life and interest.

Surinam (Did I spell that.) sounds fastinating.

lots of wild country, culturaly diverse (probably the most diverse in the New world) and lots to explore...or just chill out.

there are many rivers so much canoeing possibilities, also much hammocks.

Additionaly they drive on the correct side of the road.

It sounds a fastinating place; yet seems to be off the tourist map.

 

[Bucephalas]

and thats all in Oz isit?

All my family buggered off to Perth and they can stay there too!

We've had serveral neighbours who are/were French Canadian and within 8 years they (5 families) all went back. Some of them still e-mail the wife now several years later asking for food parcels to be sent over.
I think there's a black market on Calpol sachets over there!

I think Canada is one of the few places left on this planet where you could walk across land that no man had EVER walked before (I sound like Jean Luc Picard), but I couldn't be doing with those bears.
I find life hard enough camping and staying married at the same time; damned if I could add "survive bear attacks" to the list!

 

[Jaymzflood]

Lol Rich, you love it mate

Sending the police checks off tommorrow, wait 10 days for that to come back, then I can send off for the Visa (if im allowed it) will take 8-10 weeks. If a drastic career change comes up in the meantime, I will stay.

 

[bojit]

Lol Rich, you love it mate

Sending the police checks off tommorrow, wait 10 days for that to come back, then I can send off for the Visa (if im allowed it) will take 8-10 weeks. If a drastic career change comes up in the meantime, I will stay.

Go for it mate , if all else fails you can come back to the UK but if it does come to that at least you can say you went and gave it a try . We were seriously thinking about moving to Calgary 12 years ago but called it off due to family illness . I am still left wondering what our life would be like now if we had gone .

Craig......

 

[Jaymzflood]

The visa im applying for allows me to only stay there for a year anyway, so atleast its a year well spent. If i like it there, I can always apply to stay longer surely.

 

[Bucephalas]

Lol Rich, you love it mate

Sending the police checks off tommorrow, wait 10 days for that to come back, then I can send off for the Visa (if im allowed it) will take 8-10 weeks. If a drastic career change comes up in the meantime, I will stay.

Good for you mate. I would be gone in a flash If it wasn't for the wife.
Live the dream bud, live the dream!

 

[Jaymzflood]

Well whats the frigging odds of that!!!!!

I basically want to go to Canada because this country has nothing going for me. Its hard to get a job because of the recession and a career path is just hard to find these days.

But as im going through the motions of this Canada visa, I just get a phone call... basically saying..

'Hello James, we are interested in having you come and work for Hornbill on a contract in Bedfordshire for £600 a week on a 8 week contract'

(Horbill are an electrical company based in Swansea, they want me as a sparkys mate)

OH YES PLEASE!!!

Couldnt have come at a better time. Possible job opportunity after it if I shine?? Perfect way to save for Canada lol

Ill know tomorrow whether Ive got it or not.


p.s Im an atheist, but if there anyone ANYWHERE that wants to give me a bit of a break right now...then please give me this job!!!!

 

[Opal]

Well whats the frigging odds of that!!!!!

I basically want to go to Canada because this country has nothing going for me. Its hard to get a job because of the recession and a career path is just hard to find these days.

But as im going through the motions of this Canada visa, I just get a phone call... basically saying..

'Hello James, we are interested in having you come and work for Hornbill on a contract in Bedfordshire for £600 a week on a 8 week contract'

(Horbill are an electrical company based in Swansea, they want me as a sparkys mate)

OH YES PLEASE!!!

Couldnt have come at a better time. Possible job opportunity after it if I shine?? Perfect way to save for Canada lol

Ill know tomorrow whether Ive got it or not.


p.s Im an atheist, but if there anyone ANYWHERE that wants to give me a bit of a break right now...then please give me this job!!!!

Ahhh, you've blew it, Jay, bit late for asking God to help yer, us Roman Catholics don't deny him so we're getting all the favours.

 

[Jaymzflood]

Well if he answers you, tell him to chuck a favor my way

 

[Bucephalas]

Well done James, nice to hear someone hetting some good luck.

Every day I thank GOD he made me an athiest!

 

[santaman2000]

+1 on being aware of cultural difference. I might take it a bit farther though. Canada is a large country with several distinct cultures. The culture in one part of Canada might not fit for you while the culture in another part might be a perfect fit. You mentioned B.C. Vancouver has probably some of the best urban culture to be found anywhere (certainly it is at least as good as to be found anywhere) And the B.C. wild country is as full of outdoor recreation as you could hope to ever find.

The plains of central Canada offers a rural culture with vast farmlands and Eastern Canada gets more urban (and obviously more French) while the far North is still another culture and actually a quite different natural environment.

Perhaps one of the advantages of immigrating is (or would be) the ability to experience ALL these cultures without ever crossing a national border?

 

[Tengu]

Good luck, Jay

 

[Jaymzflood]

Got my fingers toes and ears crossed for this call. Trying to be patient but its kiilling me !!!

 

[marcelxl]

Got my fingers toes and ears crossed for this call. Trying to be patient but its kiilling me !!!

Try being the process for P.R. for 2 years!!

That is just a head****!