Emigrating to Canada?

Question

I would like to hear from any Brits that have moved to Canada? I have been to Canada a few times, travelled around and fell head over heals in love with this country, my partner who is in the Army was posted there and has also been a few times. He has a trade so we hope to get our visa through that route, that is not the issue though, I was just wondering if you missed any thing about England (like the high taxes etc lol) was it hard being away from family and friends, or was it the best decision you have ever made?

We hope to move to the outskirts of Calgary as I think this would be the best place for me to find work I do PA/Admin and my partner is a mechanical/electrical engineer.

Thanks in advance x

Answer 1

I am French and I think of going to Canada in September-October.

I think of making the test of immigration to live in this country.

To my opinion, it will be the best thing that I would have made.

To discuss with the family, there is MSN, the telephone and the mail.

I do not know Calgary, but I know that it is a beautiful city.

As for me, I shall go to Saint-Jérôme, QC.

City and tourism : http://www.calgary.ca/portal/server.pt?

http://www.tourismcalgary.com/

Answer 2

I am Canadian, so I can't help you with most of your question.  Having said that, please reconsider moving to Calgary.  It is a fabulous city and yes, there is a lot of work there, but, you will have a difficult time finding ANY kind of housing.  Unless you already know someone living in or near Calgary that can help you (or let you stay with them until something opens up) even apartments (flats) are difficult to come by and there is no cap on the price of rentals.  I would hate to see you put in all this effort to come to this country, only to be disappointed that you cannot even find a place to live because the housing market is so tight.  Hope you research, research, research first!

Answer 3

I've lived here my whole life, so I don't have first hand experience, but my mom came here in '74 so I figured I'd help out as best as I can :)

Quickly about the taxes: it's really not higher, especially since they've just been lowered quite a bit. Something my Mom STILL misses to this day is built-in taxes--all prices on our items don't yet include the tax, so you have to add it in yourself, so you can't just do simple addition to find out how much your item will cost; this is further confused because some items have provincial tax only, some national only, and some bith.

What does she really miss: FOOD!

To her, it was certainly the best decision she made. She wasn't particularly close to her family though...

She moved to Toronto, so that's different too. YOU should be able to find a job just about anywhere, though perhaps the best-paying ones would be in Toronto.

Answer 4

I am Canadian but our best friend moved from Britain to Canada four years ago and has never looked back.  It was a little hard getting used to as she too settled in Alberta and it does get quite cold there in the winter -35c. but on the lighter side Calgary does get Chinook winds which is a wind blowing in from the much milder west coast which will elevate the temperature from well below freezing to + 5 or 6 in a matter of a couple of hours.

As for missing friends back in England, not a big deal as there are always seat sales on Air Canada or British Airways with a round trip costing $300-500 so not a big deal.

Even though I am not fond of Alberta, Calgary is a quickly growing city with plenty of room for employment and advancement.  I wish you all the best am may I be the first to welcome you to Canada and your new life.