[Closed] Anyone here emigrated to Canada?

nothing to see here

ok, thanks..

i can't really help, but spent a little time in Canadia 8 years ago when i was 29,  with a look to moving over there. The age limit for a 1 year working visa was 30  (2 if austrailian!)  and after 30 it became harder to get  a job basically. I think they introduced some sort of system for  weighting to canadians for jobs. can't rememember...

Anyhow, the cost of living and lack of holiday shocked me a little, so i moved to sweden instead. Either way, i'm sure you cn make it happen if you want. Good luck!

Cheers, and fairplay for the switch to Sweden. I think im just a bit too lazy to pick up a new language at my age..

I suppose I picked up Canadian quite quickly though, eh.

It's going to be tricky...
As you can't get a working holiday visa you are probably looking to your wife to get a sponsored position...however afaik there'd be some certification to meet as UK teacher quals aren't recognised directly.whixh doesn't make her immediately employable. You won't be able to work until you can line up a visa which could take quite some time.
It might be that a student work visa is the only way where she goes into a course to re-cert as a Canadian teacher and you are able to apply for a spousal open work visa.
You will then be dependent on her working full-time for at least a year before being able to apply as an experienced Canadian in order get residency.
West coast cost of living is high, especially vancouver/victoria.
Under 30 is much easier.

Yes.  By the way bear back isn't it early for you? I'm on a red eye from YYC and you are an hour earlier.... Anyway.  As per above I think you might struggle with age etc. It's based on a points system and Google should help with finding that.  I think it's called something like express entry.

I was under 30 (just) and came on a company sponsored visa which I then converted to permanent residence and then to citizenship (dual nationality). It's a long process (5+ years) and lots of paper work.

The requirements for entry change frequently. Some periods are harder than others.

On your application, stating that you’d live anywhere in Canada, or in an area that needs people, may help than stating that you want to live in the areas with a high population. There was a question about this when we applied

I was 43 when I got my residency approved. My wife, the main applicant, was 33. We’d already had working visas as she’d been working there as an expat.

A friend of mine and his wife also got residency in their 40’s. They both have post-graduate degrees. For him, having been to catering college at 16 was more beneficial than being a teacher.

The best thing to do is to start the process. The Canadian immigration website has a test that will tell you if you have enough points to get in. You then need to start the lengthy process

From my experience, Canada isn’t a cheap place to live. Vancouver is incredibly expensive. The last time I looked (last summer) a 2 bed apartment in Burnaby was $600,000.  Some parts of Canada have housing shortages making rent very expensive. You could easily spend half your wages on rent

I hope that doesn’t come across as negative, I would encourage you to apply, or at least investigate the application requirements and to look into other part of the country, or even BC as places to live. I like living here and dong miss the UK.

i live in Yukon Territory. It isn’t as odd as you may imagine but the winter is long.

I'm 44 and did it last year.

There are 2 ways:

1) Apply for permanent residency from the UK: A friend of mine and his family did this years ago. I believe he was in his 50s. You will need an immigration lawyer to help you: Those who have tried to do it without have instantly regretted it and wished they'd used a lawyer from the beginning.

2) Get a company to give you a job and sponsor your work permit/permanent residency application. My employer hired a specialist immigration law firm to handle everything. In the end we went down the route of the British Columbia Provincial Nomination Programme, which mean that you go through a pre-application process and once you are approved, you get invited to submit your application for Permanent Residency. Whilst your PR is being processed you are eligible for a work permit to work in Canada. This circumvents the Labor Market assessment programme, which can be awkward.

If you go down the route of a work permit (and not the BC PNP), your employer will have to prove to the authorities they have tried to fill the role from within Canada and can't find the necessary skillset. A friend did it this way and was initially rejected. All it took was a slight alteration of the job description wording. It's things like this that show the importance to have a properly qualified immigration lawyer on the case.

In my case, from the job interview to landing on Canadian soil took about 8 months. My PR application has now been in for 8 months, but the advised waiting time was 19 months, at the time of application. However, the times appear to be a worst case as they told me it would take 3 months to process my work permit and it only took 2 weeks.

Good luck. I can recommend it.

The best thing to do is to start the process. The Canadian immigration website has a test that will tell you if you have enough points to get in. You then need to start the lengthy process

TBH I wouldn't bother with this test: At that age, and without a job offer, it will, almost certainly, fail you, and you'll get discouraged and may not proceed further. IMO the best way after 30 is to get a company to sponsor you.

Amazing feedback - thanks so much for your contributions.

Wide sweeping question..If Vancouver region is so expensive, where else should I consider looking?

For reference, im a wannabe hipster - live near and socialise in Brighton and East London, and have friends in hip parts of Berlin.. We'd be looking for a similar bohemian type area (Portland Oregon was also on our radar for a while).

I suppose that direct flights from UK would be ideal, as we have elderly relatives that would visit. Plus, i'm not enthralled with the idea of areas like Calgary, which i'm lead to believe are primarily industrial.
Long hot mosquito free summers would be a big bonus!

I really liked Montreal for the short time I was there, but ideally i'd prefer somewhere with a bit more undulating terrain.

Just live outside of Vancouver: there are plenty of towns surrounding the city that are cheaper to live in than Vancouver. I live in a place called Coquitlam, which about 40 mins from downtown. Theres also Pitt Meadows, Maple ridge etc.

If you like the lower cost of living, the avoid BC. Having said that, there is a lot of Canada to seriously consider. So many people think Vancouver, but the Townships south of Montreal are still fairly Anglo, and you basically live in Montreal’s playground. Then there are the Maritime provinces. Nova Scotia is AMAZING, and Halifax is less flaky/new Age-y than Vancouver.

I can’t suggest strongly enough that, if Canada interests you, then look beyond the BC thing, and you’ll do a lot better.

I mean, you might not think somewhere over the Great Lakes, but the first time you see a great timber wolf trotting down the road after emerging from the forest, or a moose walking along the lakeshore, you’re not going to be thinking, “I wish I was in BC”.

“IMO the best way after 30 is to get a company to sponsor you.”

I don’t want to turn this into a debate and I agree with you. However you’d need to have skills that are in reasonably short supply for that to work.

From what the op says about their careers, a job offer while overseas and no right to work may not materialise. Many jobs require that the applicant to have a permit before applying.

IMO the best way after 30 is to get a company to sponsor you

Herein lies the challenge. I doubt a school district will offer a job as his wife can't legally teach until Canadian equivalency is done..and teachers are unionized so that would complicate things further.
And unless jack of all trades has a killer CV with significant experience to make him a stand out to a Canadian employer then that'll be tricky too.
(Not belittling jack of all trades as a job..that's exactly what I am too!)
Anything relating to designing and building homes and ticketed trades like Plumbers/sparky's etc are still in demand but don't underestimate the cost to the employer in dealing with visa requirements for non residents.

Portland Oregon.. yes please. Stunning environment aside, Decent $1 beers in a bar is amazing and worth moving there for 😉

Yep, moved to Toronto 8 years ago. The wife got an internal transfer at her work, and I applied for a job in my industry. I had to take a step down to get it, and it helped that I work in a reasonably specialised (office) job, but it worked. We got PR fairly quickly, at which point you're free to work wherever will hire you.

I was driving back from a meeting this morning; it's -4 outside, there's snow down, and not a cloud in the sky, and I was thinking "yeah, this is pretty good". If you can get the visa, I'd really recommend it.

It is entirely possible to teach without getting her credentials accredited if she is willing to look at private schools. They are nothing like British private schools which, parasite-like, suck the life out of the state system.

In other words, a person could work at a Canadian private school without feeling the need for absolution at the end of each day.

I emigrated to Vancouver 12 years ago aged 43. I don't have a degree or any specialist qualifications or job skills. I didn't use an immigration lawyer. I got a reasonably well paid job in Downtown Vancouver and live in my own home about 25 minutes cycle commute away within a six weeks of arriving.
So, it can (could) be done BUT I am fantastically lucky to have a Registered Nurse as my partner and she was recruited from the UK by the local health authority, so I got an open work permit thrown in for free as part of her employment contract.
Even though she had over 15 years UK nursing experience behind her, she had to take the local qualifications to continue to work.
We've since gone thru the Permanent Residence and Citizenship process and both of us hold UK and Canadian passports.
Others are not so fortunate enough and as others have said, the cost of accommodation is eye-watering (both absolutely and compared to local salaries).

I have no idea how the school systems work here as we don't have kids but generally it seems that the supply outstrips demand so your wife's job may not be the key which opens the door for you like mine was, but it may be worth investigating as SaxonRider says.

(For funkiness/hipster vibe consider Nelson, BC. Some excellent mountain biking and several craft breweries in town, though quite a long way from direct flights back to the UK)

Just to counter what SaxonRider says, I chose Vancouver (and more specifically, the North Shore) because of the mountain biking and the climate. We tend to live in a little bubble in SW BC but generally the climate is similar to the UK.Check summer temperature / humidity levels as well as the winter weather for any locales you are considering, if you tolerances are low like mine!

Don't underestimate how long winter-like weather hangs around in some places as well but also consider moving to some of the less hospitable places were recruitment is problematic and/or your skills are needed as a way of getting your foot in the door.

I hang out with a lot of Canadians in the UK, they all say the UK is better for a single person, but Canada is better if you have a family.
I don't think I could deal with the winters, but the people are really nice.

I hang out with a lot of Canadians in the UK, they all say the UK is better for a single person, but Canada is better if you have a family.

That's a load of rubbish, for a start.

Of course, there are plenty of places to live in Canada: The country is beautiful left to right. I chose Vancouver because I've been coming here for 12 years mountain biking: I love the scenery, the trail networks, the fact I see bald eagles in the car park of my local mall walking to work in the mornings, the lakes, the rivers, the mountains, the outdoorsy lifestyle etc.; plus, it helps 2 of my best friends moved here years ago.

Is it expensive around Vancouver? Yes, but no more than living in central London, I would say. There are plenty of cheaper places to live, the further away from Vancouver you get, but it's the same in England and proximity to London.

The only place I would probably stay away from is Toronto, but that's me.

Regarding immigration lawyers: Of course, you don't have to get one, but it is so much easier with one.

Canadian (dual citizen) here who, like other responders, lives in Metro Vancouver.

Good news for your partner. There is a shortage of teachers here in B.C. and many school districts are actively hiring. The bad news, as others have mentioned, are qualifications. The British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) are very protective about their profession and she'll have to train in order to achieve her qualifications. It's not a straight-forward endevour.

For someone who is a "jack-of-all-trades", B.C. could be good for you. In the north, there are plenty of jobs in natural resources and the construction industry is always seeking skilled workers (do you have any ticketed skills?).

If you are seeking a "hipster" lifestyle in an affordable community, you might want to look at Kamloops (Thompson region) or perhaps Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Someone else has mentioned Nelson. Unless you have a great deal of money, I'd rule that out. Housing in Nelson is in short supply and is expensive.

This provincial government website might be of help: https://www.welcomebc.ca/Start-Your-Life-in-B-C

Before making any decision, I would strongly advise you to take a vacation in B.C. and see if you think it's all it's cracked up to be.

I'm in the opposite situation to you. I'm actually thinking about moving back to Britain within the next 18 months.

I suppose that direct flights from UK would be ideal, as we have elderly relatives that would visit.

I know someone who emigrated to Sweden on a similar reasoning - 12 months later Ryanair stopped the direct flight between the two local airports and what was a 4h door to door trip became more than double that and cost 6x as much. When one of his parents became ill he spent a fortune and most of his annual leave flying back every month; and had protracted disputes with his sister about “not doing his share”.