Moving to Canada

iguana

Has anybody on here moved to Canada? My husband and I have been toying with the idea for a little while. It's dependant on the growth of the film industry there, but if it looks viable for my husband's work then we are quite tempted.

It's possibly a reaction to living in what's considered to be a "big house for London" and still feeling like we're in a sardine can, but not as much as we do on the tube to work each day.:rolleyes: But the change in lifestyle is appealing, along with the wide open spaces.

I know the acceptance rate for visa applications is high, but I've heard that's because the application process is so long a lot of people give up. We'd probably be looking at Toronto or Vancouver. We're thinking of renting out our house here, while we'd rent when we got there, at first at least. We'd be bringing our two dogs with us, but I believe it's easier to rent with pets there than it is here.

g-punkteffekt

hi. I went through the immigration process while being married to a canadian, it was very complicated, costly, and takes forever, but I managed to be granted permanent residency in the end. Permanent Res is what you would be applying for. It's not easy for someone who isn't being sponsored by a family member or spouse, it's a long process, I think it takes nearly 2 years before you know if can move there or not, and unless you are highly skilled it's not likely that you will be accepted. It's worth a go anyway, but you'd want to get the ball rolling now as it takes so long. You have to get blood tests, police reports from any country you've lived in for more than 6 months, all kinds of stuff, and that's before you can even apply.
Vancouver is a nice city, rent would be a lot cheaper than London and the quality of life much better. They call Vancouver "Hollywood North" because of the movie industry so maybe that's where you should go, I don't know what it's like in Toronto for film making.

iguana

Thanks for that. We've decided to start the application process. As it will take the best part of two years to go through we can decide whether to go or not then. The film industry isn't at it's best in Canada at the moment, apparently it was badly hit by the Sars crisis. But if it is worth the move in a couple of years it will be an option if we star on the visas now.

motormatic

iguana wrote:

The film industry isn't at it's best in Canada at the moment, apparently it was badly hit by the Sars crisis. But if it is worth the move in a couple of years it will be an option if we star on the visas now.

It's true that the film industry isn't at its best right now. We recovered from SARS ok but now are dealing with the Ontario government's unwillingness to beat out other provinces tax credits, among other things. I previously worked in film, and my roommate still does. We live in Toronto. There is NO, I repeat NO, work right now. ACTRA is about to go on strike (supposedly) and that is bad news for everyone working here in film, and television. However, the strike isn't a for sure thing, and I would almost guarantee that it will have blown over within the two year timeframe you're talking about. Toronto's a pretty good place to live.

greenteaicedtea

Yeah, I hear bad things too about the film industry in Toronto lately.

In downtown Toronto, houses are super-expensive, and it's not really wide-open spaces - condos are going up along the waterfront. Renting can be tricky with pets here too. The outlying suburbs of Toronto might be a better bet for both space and price.

There are certain times of the year that airlines won't fly with animals in the cargo area, due to the temperature going very low. I would do your research about flying with animals, in case there are more hidden issues with that.

Also, you have to prove you have enough money to support yourself for six months before they'll let you immigrate, so try to accumulate some savings in the meantime.