Real Life Experiences - On the Journey to Canada

Read comments from people who visited the most recent Opportunities Canada Expos

Suzanne Marsh and Ross McKenzie
Attending the Opportunities Canada Expo 08 is just the start of an adventure for Suzanne Marsh and Ross McKenzie. Currently living in Clapham Junction, the lure of life in Canada is sweet with its mountains and beautiful coastline for this fun-loving, outdoorsy couple who are looking for something different to the life they currently have in Britain.

Suzanne and Ross, engineers by trade, are looking to secure jobs in Canada, and are happy to live near Canada's mountains or coast. Both in their 20s, they do not have children and are looking forward to starting a new life in a new country.

The expo has been an excellent starting point for them and they found the seminars to be full of useful information. It has given them many things to think about. "The Opportunities Canada Expo was definitely a good first step for someone thinking about emigrating abroad," says Suzanne.
 
 
The Smith Family
Chris and Kerrie Smith attended the expo without their two girls (aged nine and eleven).  They currently live in Didcot, Oxfordshire, and are looking to move to Canada for the quality of life and to give their two girls more opportunities than they will have if they stay in Britain. Ideally, they are looking for a better balance in their life and they feel that Canada can give them this.

The Smith family are six months into the immigration process with their papers having been submitted in January 2008. Chris is a firefighter, which is on their immigration application, and he also owns his own building business in the UK.

Their ideal settling locations in Canada are Alberta or Nova Scotia, and in July Chris and Kerrie will be flying out to do a fact-finding trip to gather more information about life in Canada. Kerri is looking forward to finding out the more day-to-day information, such as how much a weekly shop costs and what are the schools like in the areas that they are considering settling in.

They were pleased with the seminars at the Opportunities Canada Expo and these have helped them prepare questions to ask when they make their visit in July.

Chris's brother and his wife were also attending the same expo with a view to move to Canada too. Kerri said, "I would recommend an expo such as this to anyone thinking about moving to Canada".
 

Suzanne & Thomas May
The May family travelled from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, to attend the Opportunities Canada Expo 08 at Olympia in June. Thomas is an engineer and Suzanne is a teacher assistant. Their two daughters Beth (14) and Ellie (11) also attended the expo.

Moving to Canada has been a dream for all the family and they are currently two years into the immigration process, with their papers having been submitted in 2006.  They don't mind where they settle and Thomas is quite realistic that it will be where the jobs are. The two girls are both very keen on the idea of snowboarding and are putting "friendly pressure" on Mum and Dad to think about moving near to the mountains!

As a family, they are looking to Canada to offer them a different quality of life to that which they have in the UK. It's all about finding a good balance and having different opportunities available.

The expo for them has been a means to speed up their application, with Thomas looking for a possible job interview. Their advice to anyone thinking of emigrating to Canada was to ‘manage expectations and to look at your skill set and to be realistic as to whether you would be offered a job’.

They were positive that they didn't have too long to wait before their application was looked at and that a new life in Canada was just around the corner.
 

The Butler Family
Eddie and Denise Butler attended the Opportunities Canada Expo 08 on a fact-finding mission. Based in Surrey with their two children aged 15 and 12 they said that they were ultimately looking for a change of life and scenery, as they felt that ‘Canada had more to offer and on a larger scale’.  If they could choose, the family would ideally pick somewhere in Nova Scotia to live.

Driving instructor Eddie, and Denise, in direct marketing, were both hoping to find jobs in Canada and at this stage had not made a decision as to which was going to be the lead occupation on the immigration form.

The expo provided them with more specialised and specific information regarding the jobs and skills that Canadian Immigration are looking for.

Aside from attending the expo they had also found the internet, www.workingin-canada.com to be a useful tool when sourcing information about life in Canada.
 

Anna Balandynowicz
Anna Balandynowicz, her partner Zbigniew Tokarski and daughter Anna (14 months old), are no strangers to moving country. Originally from Poland, they are currently based in County Carlow, Ireland. Whilst Ireland is a nice place to bring up a child, Anna and her partner are looking for that 'great' place in which to do it. They also want to find a country where they are happy to live out the remainder of their days.

When asked where they would like to settle, Anna replied, "either in Ontario, British Columbia, or Alberta as I hear the tax is low." Not a bad answer from someone who is an accountant!

Anna and her family are at the earliest stage of looking into emigrating to Canada and Anna is keen on research.  She has also used the internet widely to source information in addition to attending the Opportunities Canada Expo 08.
 

Arlene & Everald
A close friend of Arlene and Everald recommended that they think about moving to Canada because of the opportunities that are available there.  With this in mind they are planning to go on a research trip to Canada for themselves and the Opportunities Canada Expo has been the starting point for them.

Arelene has experience in the education sector and Everald is in production. The expo highlighted to them the opportunity that they have to be sponsored by a friend currently living in Canada and this has given them 'food for thought'.

Ideally they would like to be based in the south – Ontario as a preference – but as with most people attending the expo they were realistic enough to agree that they would be happy to move to where the jobs are.

They found the expo to be a useful source of information, especially the advice from the Canadian Immigration stand and they would recommend others looking to emigrate to attend an expo to obtain advice and guidance.
 

Lydia Raggett and Matt Hack
Lydia and Matt attended the Opportunities Canada Expo 08 with Lydia's parents to find out more information about a move to Canada and to ascertain whether or not it would be the right move for them. Lydia, a manager with the London Underground, and Matt, a train driver, travelled from Wallington in Surrey to attend the expo.

Like many people wishing to emigrate they are ideally looking for a better quality of life and British Columbia was seeming to be a favourite place to settle, should they decide that to move country was the right way forward for them.

Lydia and Matt found the seminars to be interesting and gleaned much information from them, especially the Calgary seminar. Whilst they hadn't received any job interviews, they were both positive that attending an expo was a good first step when thinking about moving country.
 

Mark
Mark, aged 38, currently works for the UK government. Prior to working for the government Mark was part of the British Army and now is looking for more opportunities and challenges in Canada.

An outdoor lifestyle is important to Mark and as a single man he is looking to live life to the maximum, and pursue skiing and many other outdoor activities. Mark is happy to settle anywhere in Canada and is well aware that location is very much dependent on where the job opportunities are.

At the beginning of his emigration process Mark attended the Opportunities Canada Expo to find out more information and to receive advice about moving to Canada. He found the exhibitors friendly and knowledgeable and said, "I would recommend anyone else looking to move abroad to attend an expo, as this will help give a flavour of, and valuable information about, the move they are hoping to do".
 
 
Erica and Colin Stewart
Erica and Colin attended the Opportunities Canada Expo at Olympia Two in London to find out if they had the necessary skill set required by Canada Immigration. Colin (39) currently works as an electrician and Erica (36) is a civil servant.

The visit was to obtain facts and information that they could take back with them and absorb. Coming from a busy area of London they were keen, as a family,  to find a more positive balance in their lives and to embrace the outdoor lifestyle that Canada offers. Their children, two teenagers and an eight-year-old boy, were excited about the lifestyle change and were fully behind their parents' idea to move abroad.

Although happy to settle anywhere in Canada, if they had a choice it would be somewhere in the south such as British Columbia. However, they are prepared to go wherever the job takes them.
 

Tania Horsfall
Tania Horsfall is single and in her 20s and looking for new opportunities and a different challenge with a move to Canada. With experience in the hospitality industry, Tania is looking for a similar job in Canada and does not mind where she lives. “I'll just go wherever the job takes me,” she says. Fluent in several languages including French, she said she might veer more towards a French-speaking area of Canada such as Quebec.  

The Opportunities Canada Expo has been a great starting point for Tania to speak with Canadian Immigration and to source valuable and much-needed information. Tania was very happy with the expo, saying, "Whilst I have not secured an interview here I am pleased with the advice available and have found the seminars to be useful. I would recommend an expo like this for others, as it really is a good starting point when you're thinking of moving country.”