British Columbia Group (Vancouver)

[fariza]

What a sweet welcome, thank you heatspine and shaon. I was just reading Saki's sad post about leaving Forum and you cheered me up.
I must admit I am a bit of a sheep, in sheep's clothing here. I am Canadian and was born in Vancouver, so I am admittedly biased about the place! After high school graduation, I worked for 5 years at the University of BC in hospital administration. From there I went back to school to get my RN and did bedside nursing for 13 years in Vancouver. Back to Uni to get my BSN and then worked as a Public Health Nurse for 15 years in North Vancouver until my recent retirement.
We have neighbours who emigrated from distant countries and it has been fun talking with them about their experiences and helping them settle into the community. My Mother was a war bride who emigrated from England, so but for a twist of fate, I would not have grown up here. That's me in a nutshell.

Ohhh great. We are so fortunate to get a local born expert to guide us best way possible... Thanks Pippin and Looking forward to your further post on Vancouver...

 

[heatspine]

What a sweet welcome, thank you heatspine and shaon. I was just reading Saki's sad post about leaving Forum and you cheered me up.
I must admit I am a bit of a sheep, in sheep's clothing here. I am Canadian and was born in Vancouver, so I am admittedly biased about the place! After high school graduation, I worked for 5 years at the University of BC in hospital administration. From there I went back to school to get my RN and did bedside nursing for 13 years in Vancouver. Back to Uni to get my BSN and then worked as a Public Health Nurse for 15 years in North Vancouver until my recent retirement.
We have neighbours who emigrated from distant countries and it has been fun talking with them about their experiences and helping them settle into the community. My Mother was a war bride who emigrated from England, so but for a twist of fate, I would not have grown up here. That's me in a nutshell.

Oh, you're very much welcome here Pippin. I read Saki's post as well. I don't know why he left though. Anyway, people like you are the bright spots for this forum. So, you're a true blooded Vancouver folk. What would be your kind advise for people like us who plan to go there? Are we in for a tough adjustment? What area in Vancouver do you recommend for new comers like us? Thank you so much.

 

[Pippin]

It is my understanding that Saki already has the visa and needs to focus on settlement, so that makes me feel better about announcement. (Not that it is any of my business, but, you know....)
In 15 minuts time we will be participating in the Earthquake drill which I think is being held Province wide. Stop, Cover, Hold. Because BC is on the "Ring of Fire" earthquake zone and it has been years since we had a "big one", they are trying to get everyone prepared. We are to get under a table or some solid structure like that and hold on. Count 20 seconds for the average length of the trembling and a further 60 seconds to allow for aftershocks.
Now..back to business....not knowing the places most of you will come from it is hard to estimate how challenging it will be to adjust. The west coast is definitely more laid back than Ontario (or so I am told). I think housing prices are high and we wonder how our children will ever buy a house in Vancouver, but 30+ years ago, OUR parents were shocked at what WE paid for a little starter house, too. That 35 year old, 1,600 sq ft house (800 each on two levels) we bought for $127,000 and had a mortgage at 14.75% (interest rates were SO HIGH then) which took my entire full time nursing salary to pay. We sold it in 1986 for $119,000, but saw that house on the market for $750,000 a few years ago. Yes, we sold at a loss, but the house we bought was much newer, larger, closer to our children's school and only cost $161,000 then.....Nearly 10AM...must go find a cozy table to hug. Fire some questions my way and I will do what I can to paint you a picture.

 

[heatspine]

How about business? Is it hard setting one up there? Say a food retail outlet or a restaurant or maybe even a convenience store?

 

[Tegnus]

Hi!

I would suggest you to read this:
http://www.livingin-canada.com/cost-of-living-in-canada.html

That confirms that I have been heard - if you plan to land in major cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary etc. - cost of living will be about the same and most of us does...

Job market is other question - and as far as I have read for IT workers, like me, job market is smaller in Vancouver than Toronto.

Still I'm planing to land in B.C., because I love beautiful nature of B.C. and that is place where I would love to live!

There will be hard times, I believe, while I settle and get job I want, because I don't have Canadian education & experience, but everything depends on me, and I'm ready to fight for my place!

 

[heatspine]

Cheers to you tegnus for sharing such a good site. I'll find time to read this.

 

[fariza]

Hi!

I would suggest you to read this:
http://www.livingin-canada.com/cost-of-living-in-canada.html

That confirms that I have been heard - if you plan to land in major cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary etc. - cost of living will be about the same and most of us does...

Job market is other question - and as far as I have read for IT workers, like me, job market is smaller in Vancouver than Toronto.

Still I'm planing to land in B.C., because I love beautiful nature of B.C. and that is place where I would love to live!

There will be hard times, I believe, while I settle and get job I want, because I don't have Canadian education & experience, but everything depends on me, and I'm ready to fight for my place!

Thats the spirit Tegnus.!!!. Appreciate and wish you all the very best....to find your settlement plan at BC with success

 

[Pippin]

Business Start Up.....purely from a layman's perspective...as retail space can be expensive, I guess it all depends on what type of business you wish to begin. Some people start small, in their homes, and graduate to larger premises when their business is established. There are many franchises like Tim Horton's (coffee shops) that can be bought. You would have to do your homework to make sure the location wasn't saturated with other coffee establishments, but they are popular. There are many similar examples for fast foods, courier services, etc.

The earthquake drill yesterday was carried out in many homes, schools and work places. They are thinking of making it an annual "event". When deciding where to move in the Lower Mainland, you might consider potential natural hazards in the equation. Areas like Richmond that are located on an alluvial flood plain could liquify in an earthquake. Also be aware of areas prone to flooding or slides, so watch for homes near rivers, under cliffs and banks or areas where development is occuring above. We have seen heavy rains create slides after tree removal. You can go to the local government centres and get information on any property you are considering. We did this when we were house hunting and thought we had found our "dream home". Lovely lot, pretty garden sloping gently down to a ravine and river below, 5 bedrooms, priced well within our budget, it was wonderful.....or so we thought. A trip to the Municipal Hall with the address and we were told that the present owner was well known to them. He made frequent complaint letters about the rodents and wild life coming up from the ravine and garbage dump located far enough away that it wasn't visible or noticeable with the wind blowing in the direction it was the day we toured the house. We decided to keep looking.

Google Earth and Street View has made such a difference in the real estate business. If you are looking at a rental property before you arrive in Canada, you can probably find it on Google Earth and get a feel for the neighbourhood before making your decision.

 

[heatspine]

Again, good post pippin. A little deviation ... Have you been to the other provinces? If you did, what can you say about it?

 

[shaon31]

Business Start Up.....purely from a layman's perspective...as retail space can be expensive, I guess it all depends on what type of business you wish to begin. Some people start small, in their homes, and graduate to larger premises when their business is established. There are many franchises like Tim Horton's (coffee shops) that can be bought. You would have to do your homework to make sure the location wasn't saturated with other coffee establishments, but they are popular. There are many similar examples for fast foods, courier services, etc.

The earthquake drill yesterday was carried out in many homes, schools and work places. They are thinking of making it an annual "event". When deciding where to move in the Lower Mainland, you might consider potential natural hazards in the equation. Areas like Richmond that are located on an alluvial flood plain could liquify in an earthquake. Also be aware of areas prone to flooding or slides, so watch for homes near rivers, under cliffs and banks or areas where development is occuring above. We have seen heavy rains create slides after tree removal. You can go to the local government centres and get information on any property you are considering. We did this when we were house hunting and thought we had found our "dream home". Lovely lot, pretty garden sloping gently down to a ravine and river below, 5 bedrooms, priced well within our budget, it was wonderful.....or so we thought. A trip to the Municipal Hall with the address and we were told that the present owner was well known to them. He made frequent complaint letters about the rodents and wild life coming up from the ravine and garbage dump located far enough away that it wasn't visible or noticeable with the wind blowing in the direction it was the day we toured the house. We decided to keep looking.

Google Earth and Street View has made such a difference in the real estate business. If you are looking at a rental property before you arrive in Canada, you can probably find it on Google Earth and get a feel for the neighbourhood before making your decision.

Hi pipin

the post is very much informative ! keep it up.

 

[Pippin]

I've always lived in Vancouver, but did spend three weeks in Quebec visiting a friend many years ago. End of September - glorious fall colours. Something to put on your Bucket List (things you want to do before you die/run out of money/get tied up with job and children, etc). Also visited family in southern Manitoba when I was a child. I still remember those scorching summers and -40F winters, crisp and clear. Very flat country and I read a quip someone made that you can see the neighbour's runaway dog two days later! So sorry my knowledge of the rest of Canada is limited. The interesting thing about BC is diversity of terrain (and people!). No matter where you go in the world, you think - hey, this looks like the Rockies, or the Okanagan or Kamloops, or Vancouver. There is such diversity here!

For those thinking of the Lower Mainland (that is the area around and including Vancouver) I have included a link for th local newspapers. You might enjoy seeing what is in our headlines, job ads, etc. On Fridays, they include the Real Estate section so you can get an idea of house and apartment prices. http://www.garvick.com/vancouver/media.htm
Saturday was wet in Vancouver, but it is SNOWING on the mountains again!!! They promise some sunshine on Sunday!
Hope you are all having a great weekend....

 

[queencougar]

I am new to this thread, so Hello everyone!
My husband went over to Vancouver in June after lots of research and telephoning prospective employers. He had one interview lined up and then made appointments to see other employers while he was there and also did quite a lot of 'cold calling' on possible employers (they are fine with that in Canada, but they would not be in the UK!)
His interview was successful, so the company applied for the LMO which was granted,he worked his notice at and then left on the 22nd August, so quite a whirlwind between a visit and then the shock of being offered a job ! All our dreams seemed to have started to come true amazingly quickly. So B.C has got jobs - you just need to be persistent and search them out, they will not jump out at you!
He has been working there on TWP ever since as our FSW Cat2 goes through the system. We just received our positive eligibility review last week from CIO, so all seems well.
I stayed at home to make sure he had something to return to if the process did not go well or my husband did not like his new job or he felt after living there that Canada was not for us. Also for economic reasons - the exchange rate was terrible £ to $CAD so selling our house would have yielded a poor return and I could not have worked in my profession (teacher) until I am Permanent Resident, so all in all, it seemed a much better choice for him to go and me to stay until everything was sorted out officially.
This has worked very well indeed (our loneliness at being apart aside!).
Now my husband has been working there for several months and he is now sure that we are making the right choice. His job is going well, he has a nice little flat and is managing to save some money. Against what we were told, salaries are not bad; in fact my husband is earning significantly more than he was in the UK! He is building up a Canadian credit rating, which is very important as nearly all places like you to use a credit card and it is hard to get one at the start. If you need car insurance, a mortgage or to borrow money in any way, a good Canadian credit rating gets you a much better rate of interest, I believe. He is learning all about the things that everyday life in B.C entails and finding all the differences from the UK. He is also scouting out areas and houses and looking at furniture and generally costing things so that we can make good decisions about what to ship and what to sell before we go. The cost of living is not as high as we were told to expect - it all comes down to knowing where to shop and finding all the little places that you already know in your own country but need to search for in a strange country. For instance, after sleeping on an inflatable bed for the last 4 months, my husband has just this weekend taken delivery of a new solid hardwood bed and mattress which was a very reasonable price. It was worth waiting and looking around until he found somewhere with good quality at good prices because all the obvious places like Sears were terribly expensive.
Although the separation is difficult, I would recommend this way of doing things to anyone. It removes al the worries people have about landing in a strange country. It is also beneficial financially, as I have explained. It is easier to organise as it gives you time to get to know how things work and gives you more time to choose where to live, knowledge of house prices and transport etc.
Cat 1 is getting more restrictive and a trip over to secure a job, after appropriate planning, is well worth the expense if you are prepared to really go for it when you get there! Cat 2 is much more straightforward and you don't have to worry about caps being reached or fitting the NOC code.
I believed in my husband and he put everything into his job search and it has yielded fruit. They say God helps those who help themselves and it has been true for us. Fortune favours the brave!
So if anyone reading this has been told it is not possible, it is. It isn't easy, but it is possible and worth going for, in our experience.
Sorry for such a long first post!

 

[Tegnus]

queencougar great story - thanks for sharing.

I'm interested what is your husbands occupation?

 

[fariza]

Great inspiring real life sharing queencougar... I do agree better planning, strong determination with realistic patience all pays off .... When are you planning to join with ur hubby? Good luck and all the very best for your life at BC... Your sharing positively let us to rethink about BC and its opportunities....

 

[Pippin]

Queencougar: It is interesting to read your journey to Canada so far and I hope the second half will go as smoothly. Coming from England is a huge advantage not requiring a TRV in order to come to look for jobs. I think this is one of the major obstacles for many who wish to emigrate. In order to get a TRV one must convince CIO that they will return to their home country and that they have strong ties....sometimes it is impossible to get that point across, especially for single, young people who are likely to take the risk of moving to a new country given the opportunity.
I am looking forward to a get together when you get settled!