Applied for Permy Residency after Feb 2008?

As you can see from my application timeline (right hand side of the main canada.myfi.org page) I applied before the rules changed and they introduced the 'occupations list' rules (see the list of occupations here) - the idea was to reduce the timescales for getting federal skilled workers residency by focusing on the skills that Canada needs. They've not released the Oct to Sept figures yet for how long it takes to process applications received after Feb 2008 yet as they need a whole year of processed data - currently the website at the CIC says:

Skilled Worker applications received after February 26, 2008 (Federal)

October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009

Current processing times for Federal Skilled Worker applications received after February 26, 2008 will be available with the next update, in January/February 2010. This will mark 12 months of processing upon which the processing times can be calculated.

It'll be interesting to see what the timescales look like when its released, and more importantly if the reduced processing window target has been achieved.   Whilst this doesn't effect me (I'm already here!) I know of a few friends and people who have applied and are waiting to hear back from London - fingers crossed for them!

You may also want to take a look over at http://cicfsw2009.blogspot.com/ - this site belongs to someone who posted a comment on my blog posting "Bagels and Coffee" - they've got more useful info on their pages for the new process :-)

Pondering Calgary?

If you're one of those folk pondering a move to Calgary (which includes myself I will admit) you may be pleased to hear that there is a new website on line targeted with you in mind.

The Calgary Economic Development organisation has launched a new site aimed at educating and attracting people to Calgary - the website covers all aspects from Job info, Taxation, Culture, Arts, Infrastructure, Lifestyle, Community maps and so on. According to the peice in the Calgary Herald (link here) it was supported by the CED, Alberta Employment & Immigration and the business community in the city. You can find more information about Calgary at http://liveincalgary.com.

It was also recently reported that Calgary overtook Ottawa in the 'largest metropolitan area' list for cities in Canada. The top five list now stands at Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa. Theres a news article on it at the Vancouver Sun (link here).

EIU Global Liveability Report 2010

This years Global Liveability Report is out and once again Canada has the top city in the report as well as 2 others in the top 10. The reports press release page is available at the following address:

http://www.eiu.com/site_info.asp?info_name=The_Global_Liveability_Report_Press_Release

In summary Canada has the following cities in its list:

• 1 - Vancouver
• 4 - Toronto
• 5 - Calgary

Australia tops the list for number of cities in the list:

• 3 - Melbourne
• 7 - Sydney
• 8 - Perth & Adelaide (equal 8th)

Scoring is based on the Stability, Healthcare, Culture & Environment, Education and Infrastructure of each of the cities.

[edited to remove a silly geographical mistake :-)]

Coffee and Bagels..

Its week one of my residency here in Canada and here I sit looking out at the Rockies with a coffee next to me and a bagel in my tummy :-)

I've not done a huge amount I must admit - I've had some telephone calls with folk and I've applied for jobs that come up in Calgary or Vancouver, applied (& received) my Social ID Number that will allow me to work, sorted out a cell phone number, given my address to the CIC so they can post me my residency card, been snowboarding up on the hill and so on..

The one thing I must admit that has taken me by surprise so far is the efficiency of how easy it was to get a SIN. I turned up to the Service Canada office, sat in the reception area for no more than 2 or 3 minutes, was called to the desk, gave them some information and 5 minutes later I had my ID number on paper with the card to follow within 10 working days. And all of this on a monday morning too. That was refreshingly easy to do!

However, where there is pleasure there is always pain.

Cellphones in Canada. My goodness how we are really spoilt in the UK when it comes to the like of O2, Orange, Voda etc. I think I'll post a separate entry on this later in the week when I've done some more research but to summarise it briefly:

"Dear $TELCO,

Please, for the love of all things holy, vastly improve your tariffs & data plans...

Thanks very much,

Love and Hugs,

Colin."

Welcome to Canada..

I'm happy to say that on Saturday the 6th of February at approximately 1pm MST I was welcomed to Canada as a new permanent resident by the folks at the Canadian Border Services Agency :-)

My trip from the UK took me to Calgary using Canadian Affairs and having landed at the airport a little early I worked my way through the desks at Immigration (where you sign the Confirmation of Permanent Residency and answer some questions) and Customs (where you give them a list of things being imported now and at a later date) to be welcomed by friends waiting for me to turn up.

It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride over the last 6 months .. running around canceling things at the house, working out what is coming with me and packing things to follow, sending things to the recycling centers & emptying the house, giving up on trying to pack a suitcase to 30kg and leaving stuff behind, printing and confirming bank balance statements (and arranging currency to take out initially) and so on. I gave myself 2 weeks after leaving work until I flew and it wasn't really enough - when its your turn to do all of this, give yourself at least a month if you want a much easier life!

It's also been a bit emotional for obvious reasons - you always know that the decision to emigrate isn't taken lightly but you know its the right thing to do for the right reasons.. but you have to be prepared to say goodbye to people and if you have to say goodbye to a lot of people it can get a bit overwhelming. I don't think you'd be human if you didn't get last minute butterflies and nerves either!

But here I am looking out at the Rockies whilst I'm sat in the kitchen at Jason & Cathys house .. next week I've got a phone interview to do, I need to get my Social ID Number sorted, I'll have people to meet & sights to see, I will get some insurance so I can go play on the snow .. it'll be fun, that i can be sure of :-)

98th post and its 2010

So it's finally here .. 2010 has arrived and I'm getting ready to head out to Canada to take up my permanent residency :-)

It's taken a lot of time to get to this point but I can honestly say that the excitement of knowing in about 5 weeks time I'll be in BC playing in the snowy mountains (before I settle down to the 'getting a job & working' thing) is really both nerve-wracking and an amazing feeling :-)

I do have some things left to do before I fly in Feb but this mostly involves form filling, packing, emptying the house etc. I've recently resigned from my current job in the UK - my line manager (and his manager + the rest of the team) were all aware of what I've been planning on doing and they've been really supportive throughout the whole process.

I've also started to send my CV/Resume out to various places and people, as well as applying for specific jobs I've found on the various different career websites that you can use. Whilst I've always said I'm pretty free about where I start off in Canada and given the state of the economy it makes sense (if you have a choice) you go where the work is but for the moment I'm concentrating on the western side of the country (but you never know - if the right job comes along!).

Someone once told me that when you come to think about what part of Canada is right for you, don't think about it as one big country but think of it as lots of little bits .. BC versus Alberta versus Ontario versus Nunavut and so on.. they've all got their plus and minus points and depending if you like the outdoors, open spaces, snow or rain, cold or warm etc somewhere will be right for you :-)

Its been a while..

I guess this was bound to happen - no real posts to the blog during the lull between getting my visa and actually moving out to Canada.. so, as its been a little while, here is a bit of an update of where I am:

• My house is on the market and I'm looking at the rental situation as an alternative in case it doesn't sell. I'm giving it some time as I don't have to worry about it just yet (and the money would be nice) but knowing what the alternatives are is always a good thing.

• I've pretty much decided on the date when I'm going to be heading over to Canada now - it'll be during the first week of Feb 2010 :-) That gives me about 3-4 months at the time of posting to get all the loose ends tied off - shipping sorted out, bank accounts opened, direct debits cancelled, flight bookings, internation driving license arranged, rental of the house sorted etc!

• I've started to look into the processes for paying NI to the government whilst I'm out of the country to ensure my state pension is available to me when I get old(er) and grey(er) :-)
  

Also, in the meantime I've been doing some reading on various websites and I've been given a fair bit of advice from friends .. here is a small list of things I've learn't and/or been reminded of recently that may come in handy to others:

• I've been told that it doesn't matter if your paperwork said "Toronto" as first destination and you opt to land at say Calgary or Vancouver - this is fairly obvious when you think about it but it was very useful to know having been told it
  

• You have 180 days to inform the CIC after landing and starting your residency of your address so they can arrange delivery and postage of your residency card - after that, they can charge you to get a new one (circa 50 CAD I believe)
  

• You have to get a verified international shipping company to pack your belongings that are destined to follow you into Canada - this way not only is packed securely but you also get a manifest & inventory you can present to the Canadian Customs when you first land
  

• The excellent Relocation2BC website has lots of helpful hints, tips and todo lists for you to digest about things to consider when moving to Canada (and not just BC) - the checklist they offer can be found at http://www.relocation2bc.com/checklist.htm
  

And finally .. Canada has been blessed (?) with the power of Google Streetview. Online photographs & maps of the streets and places we've all come to love - no doubt this will be very helpful when the time comes to research somewhere to work, live and play :-) Two places spring to mind instantly and I'm sure there will be more to come..

Vancouver: Granville Island Market - http://tinyurl.com/y9qa4ux
Toronto: Fresh Start Coffee Shop (corner or Bay & Elm) - http://tinyurl.com/yex5v6n