Decision dilemma!

[stumags]

Hi all! Just joined the site, and looking for some opinions & advice please.
After applying for our skilled worker visas almost four years ago, my wife and I are finally about to put our house on the market in preparation for our move to Canada with our three children.
Now we are experiencing the dreaded 'cold feet syndrome'!
As with many people on the forum, we have a lovely home (on the outskirts of Glasgow), good jobs, fairly close relationship with our families and a couple of nice cars.
What we really feel we can't live with, is the growing amount of litter & graffiti around our streets, the amount of delinquents loitering around everywhere, and the general lack of respect from the majority people in our society, not to mention the increasingly growing cost of living in this country.
We crave for safer, cleaner streets and a society where people respect one another, but also worry about being able to achieve at least a similar standard of living after we make the move.

Please share your thoughts.

[Lorry]

Hi Stumags,

Where in Canada are you heading?

We too left a nice home, 2 cars, friends and family. That is tough but we couldn't live in the UK any longer!

I suffered cold feet too before our move to Nova Scotia last July, but when you land, all your doubts drift away

We now live in a safe, clean area, where ours kids can play out and we can walk around without feeling threatened. It's lovely!

The forums help alot, speaking to people who have done the move, or are doing it, really helps.

Good luck

[deppfan64]

Hi


This whole immigration process is hard. I left a lovely house which we had spent 5 solid years renovating/extending ..we lived in it completely finished for 1 month before we put it on the market. We practically gave it away as we were on a deadline to get out here. I still think about my house....
Having said that, I don't think I could go back to living in the UK......i was homesick for months but we took the plunge for a reason and I can now see it was the best thing.
I think you also have to become a bit selfish in some ways and think about your own family and kids. We both left elderly parents behind who are not in good health, but we just had to go. The UK had nothing to offer us, other than our nice house and our new car on the drive way.

Lorry is right, we live in a safe clean environment.......
Don't get me wrong canada has its downfalls, but nothing in comparison to the UK.
Why don't you come over on a visit, if you haven't before and see how it feels.

Mal

[stumags]

Hello Lorry & Mal!

Thanks for your comments. They really are appreciated.

We visited relatives in Edmonton, AB three years ago, and to be honest it didn't really impress us too much. We hired an RV and travelled from Calgary up to Jasper through the rockies, which was breathtaking.
Nova Scotia sounds like a wonderful place to live and raise a family, but my occupation as a train driver will have a huge influence on where we could settle. The problem is, that the railroad companies won't consider hiring me until I actually arrive in Canada, and even then they will only consider my application if I live within a 2 hour radius of the hiring location.
As well as Calgary, we have recently started considering the GTA, as a possible location, but have to admit that we don't know a great deal about which would be the best neighbourhoods to raise our family.
The estate agent is coming to photograph our house tomorrow, and we're 'so worried'! (being polite)

Stuart

[peter25]

Hi Stuart...
We have all been there in some form. It was me who was the one that at the very last minute couldn't leave Prestwick!! I know... Prestwick of all places!!! Like you, we were sick of the wee neds congregating on street corners that made you very nervous of walking passed, sick of seeing yobbos on a Saturday night pewking in the street, sorry to be so graphic... but you know where I am coming from, the rotten Scottish weather, the astronomical price of housing etc!!! I promise you that once you get the horrible tearful goodbyes out of the way (just go with the flow with that one) and if you are anything like me, bawled my eyes out till we were near Greenland area, once you get here and you have the webcam set up and you have the hassle of getting a car and a home out of the way and you can start living the dream you both have wanted for yourselves and your family, you will appreciate what is here and what you left behind!!! I went home in February and found that time did not stand still for me to come back visiting, friends and colleagues find it great to see you again, but they move on with their lives, and so must you. I honestly couldn't wait to jump back on that plane to come back over to Ontario. Love it here!!! Love it, Love it, Love it!!
So be brave, a big deep breath and take a new step acros the Atlantic to a new and hopefully better life. Homesickness can get you down some days, I remember I sat on the kitchen floor once and howled and howled wondering what on earth we had done, but perseverence is the key and slowly you find a life here and meet many new friends and start to appreciate what a wonderful place this is. Sorry am starting to gibber on a bit now, shall go to my bed as its getting late.
Don't worry, you wouldn't be human if you didn't feel like this...
You will be fine !!!
Gael

[stumags]

Thanks so much for your encouraging message, Gael.

Stuart & Margaret

[CanadianMom]

My friend just got hired on with CN Rail in the last year. Mid life change. They live in a town called Tottenham and have been there for years. They really like it. Check it out on the map. Good luck, and take a deep breath. An adventure awaits you! Oh, and he was a real nervous nelly and found any change hard-and he loves his new job.

[stumags]

Cheers! I'll check it out, CanadianMom.

Deep breaths

[gazanjuls]

[quote removed by Site Admin - Dave]
hi we are in the same boat we have been waiting 25 month and now have to get all doc in order befor nov .we are worrrid about giving up the standed of living and the good jobs .because we have checked and there seems to be no jobs in canada for my wife she is a primary schoo lteacher and if she give up her job here she will not get it back!we want to leave for the very same reasons its hard.

[carolinedraper]

Check out job bank Canada.

It is unusual not to see an elemtary school jobs. Most come from agencies that advertise on behalf of the govening bodies.

It is best to decide what area you want live in and then write directly to the District School Board explaining the situation.

We all get nervous. We also left a nice house which was built in the late 1500s and land, 2 cars (both brand new Audi and BMW), and older parents. But we had to be selfish and do it for our children, to give them the chance that we once had. When we grew the UK was a great place, still had pride in itself etc but things have changed and not all for the better.

To look after our children the kindest thing to do was to emigrate. As parents you want to give your children the best that you can, this was our way of doing it.

[Buddyboy]

Having experienced life on both sides of the pond, I can understand the frustrations of life in Britain, the attraction of a place like Canada, and the fears associated with risking everything you have to step into the relative unknown. We emigrants have all been there.

One thing that struck me a long time ago about life here in Canada is that it has just about all of the problems that exist in the U.K., with exceptions. We have crime, health care issues, youth issues, education problems, I could go on. However, I have noticed that the whistle gets blown very loudly at a far earlier time here. The public, the media, everyone gets up in arms when a problem starts to manifest itself. I'm not sure specifically why, but that seems to do the trick, likely because of a greater sense of community here. Problems do get addressed, at the very least to the point that they do not worsen. In the U.K. it seems that problems simply fester, or are ignored, or the people ignore them as long as they can because they are not affected directly. By the time they are affected directly, it's too late.

There's no doubt you give up a lot to emigrate. Your personal values will determine if the price is worth paying. For most, it is, and then some.

[Jeffnanne]

Best of luck with it all. My wife had a great job in teaching. Very well paid. I am a partner in a thriving company in London. We had a great house we really loved.

Yep! We have given it all up! So many people say we are stupid. But we want to step back, and get our lives back. Hopefully we will find that in Ontario.

[stumags]

After receiving our visas in Jan 08, the whole prospect of emigrating changed dramatically for us. Due to the state of the world economy, we couldn't sell our house and also Canadian employers were telling us to wait until we landed in Canada before applying for jobs. Sod that! Too much of a risk with 3 kids in tow.
We decided it would be financial suicide to quit our lives here and just hope for the best, so we're staying put.
It was a sad day when our visas expired, but we made the right choice. I believe if the Canadian High Commission had issued our visas within the 18month timescale quoted at the time of applying, we'd probably be living there right now. If they'd quoted 42 months at the time we definately wouldn't have applied.
We used 'Four Corners Immigration', who were absolutely hopeless to be honest. They didn't do anything for us that we couldn't have done without their assistance. Our advice would be to save a few grand by avoiding these immigration consultants and go it alone.
Now we are focusing more on our lives here, and have learned to stop over anylising the things which were annoying us so much in the past.
Good luck to all of you guys who are fortunate enough to have the opportunity of a new life in Canada.

[mprezza700]

Hi Stumgas,

Hopefully you still check this forum or get an email notification.
It may be luck that you didn't come here. Many people love it, many people hate it. Same with the UK. I say, switch the city you live in in the UK and you shall be fine. Canada is just a big change. It's a different mentality to European, and with time, you would notice (I mean years in) that there are certain things Canada can't give you and you miss them.

It has been a while since your decision, so let me know how its been and whether you've changed your perception of the UK.

Mprezza