# Canadian move



## TomJonesDad (Jun 21, 2010)

Hi all,

My name is Andy and I am a long time reader but first time posting.
I currently live in the UK as I have done all my life. I am married with 3 children and work in the IT industry.

We have just posted our application to CIC - most important letter I've ever sent!
I have been researching for around 18 months during which time I have been to a number of Emigration shows and spent a fair bit of time persuading my wife to the merits of Canada over the UK (a no brainer really which she now realises). 
Our aim is to move to Toronto, on my application I stated Burlington but that's not set in stone. We plan a recce at some point but wanted to wait for some positive responses from CIC before committing to a costly trip. What sort of time can I expect before being passed to the London office or indeed just receiving some sort of response? It's not that clear from the CIC website.

I do also have a number of concerns:

The imending change to the classification list which may mean my skilled worker route (0213 Computer and IT manager) may be removed. Having applied before the change will I be ok or do they backdate a number of months?

The challenge of moving to another country without a job or income which scares the hell out of me. We will have funds from a house sale of around 100K sterling but nevertheless, having never been out of work in my career (25 years) it's pretty daunting. I'm realistic in that I'm prepared to take any job to get me back on the employment ladder and work my way up again - not afraid to get my hands dirty either!

We will be moving as a family of 3, myself, wife and daughter (who is 1). My other 2 sons (12 & 13) live with my ex wife although I have included them on my application but indicated they are not emigrating with us. I have read some posts where this can be problematic. I understand they still have to have medicals which is ok, but any other potential issues?

Although this is an exciting time, it's also one filled with what ifs. This forum has been an invaluable source of information and has answered so many of my questions but any other advice regarding our current position would be gratefully received.


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

TomJonesDad said:


> Hi all,
> 
> My name is Andy and I am a long time reader but first time posting.
> I currently live in the UK as I have done all my life. I am married with 3 children and work in the IT industry.
> ...


You mentioned a recce and that's certainly important before you finally decide. Do you have some contact(s) in Burlington? I ask because there are many other good areas in the GTA. I would also recommend that you consider renting for the first year until you're sure Canada is for you, because it's definitely different from the UK in oh so many ways. Good luck and please keep us up to date on your progress.


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## TomJonesDad (Jun 21, 2010)

Auld Yin said:


> You mentioned a recce and that's certainly important before you finally decide. Do you have some contact(s) in Burlington? I ask because there are many other good areas in the GTA. I would also recommend that you consider renting for the first year until you're sure Canada is for you, because it's definitely different from the UK in oh so many ways. Good luck and please keep us up to date on your progress.


Many thanks for the positive comments 

We don't have any contacts in Canada so Burlington came out as a combination of being affordable and rating fairly highly in the "Canada best places to live" surveys over the last few years but as I said, is not set in stone. The recce will help in terms of looking at alternatives (any suggestions welcome) but I don't think we will book that until we get at least some positive feedback regarding our application.

Thanks for the advice on renting, we were pretty much looking at that route anyway and hoping once I/we are in employment and have built up a credit rating we can look at buying somewhere as we would need a mortgage.

Anyway, like everyone else it's a bit of a waiting game for the moment with hopefully a positive outcome.


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

TomJonesDad said:


> Many thanks for the positive comments
> 
> We don't have any contacts in Canada so Burlington came out as a combination of being affordable and rating fairly highly in the "Canada best places to live" surveys over the last few years but as I said, is not set in stone. The recce will help in terms of looking at alternatives (any suggestions welcome) but I don't think we will book that until we get at least some positive feedback regarding our application.
> 
> ...


There are lots of good living areas around the GTA and I recommend, if possible, trying to find one close to a worksite. Toronto is a very spread out city so selecting the wrong residence area could result in a long, difficult commute.
If you need assistance with your recce feel free to PM me or post on here.


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