Emigrating Abroad

I married a gal who had emigrated to Canada with her family when she was 13 and she moved back to England when she was 24.


We met up and got married and then she wanted to move back to Canada. This was a constant subject for discussion. I had been to Canada previously (proposed by the side of Niagara Falls all romantic like....), but didn’t like the country. I’m a rural guy, so the roads were too straight and boring, distances too far, uninspiring scenery, too Americanized etc. I had my football, cricket, horse racing, rallying and didn’t want to give it all up.


It stayed like this for a few years, when suddenly I thought Canada must be a better place to bring up a child than the way the UK was going, so I mentioned about emigrating. I only mentioned it in passing, but you’d think I’d announced it from the rooftops!! In no time at all preparations were being made to make the change at express speed.


We took advantage of some cheap flights £100 each and our son was free. We were also taking four dogs, so I gathered information regarding those. Not sure how I managed it all without Internet!! We had to go to London to the Canadian High Commission, my wife to one office and myself, because she was sponsoring me, to another. All sorted there, police check completed when back home and bit by bit everything was going well.


One day the wife came home and said she’d been talking to somebody about a sponsorship for people emigrating. There had been an ad in the local newspaper with a London phone number.


I phoned the number and had an interesting chat with a lawyer.


We lived in a little market town in the Herefordshire/Worcestershire/Shropshire border area and his great, great, great grandfather once owned much of the land in the area where we lived. He also had property in the Kingston On Thames area, along with somewhere around Norfolk.


This landowner realized that the future for a lot of the people in the locality lay with this new industrial revolution that was emerging and he left a substantial amount of money in his will to help people move the 40 or so miles to take advantage of it.


This money was then forgotten and found in the 50’s. By then, using it to move people 40 miles didn’t make sense, so it was changed to help people moving abroad.


It was then forgotten again and ‘found’ in the mid-90’s. Hence the newspaper ads. The stipulation was that you had to live within 3 miles of the three residences that this gentleman had.


From my discussion with the lawyer, I was asked to make a written application stating the where’s, why’s and projected expenses etc. This was done and duly accepted with a total pound value allocated, but they wouldn’t pay anything towards the four dogs..........and I tried, believe me. Any expenses already paid out were reimbursed and moving forward, they would pay for everything else direct.


We gave away/sold pretty much everything, but did have a container with about 20 boxes of personal/essential stuff to ship over. The cost for this would exceed our allowance, so I asked him if he wanted to pay it and I’d pay back the balance, or if he wanted me to pay it and him pay me the balance. It was approximately £250 over allowance, but he kindly said that he would cover it.


So, thanks to a wealthy and considerate gentleman who died many years ago and I never met, we moved to Canada for free. The only cost to us was the transport of four dogs, which didn’t amount to much. The cost of four transportation crates, again not much by today’s rates and a $46 vet check at the other end for him to simply sign the paperwork.




There’s an amusing addition to this, especially in todays world.


My wife and son flew in on the same day as me, but on a later flight. Besides bringing the four dogs with me, I also brought over my shotgun. I had to hand it over separately at Birmingham Airport and was told that I would have a process to complete at the other end. The gun had to be in a case, locked and a large ‘FIREARM’ sticker attached to the case. I was also assured that at the other end, I would have help with my dogs and baggage. While walking towards the baggage pick up area I could hear a dog howling and recognized it as Spotty. When I got to them, the four cages had been dumped near the carousels and kids were poking their fingers in trying to pet them. These were awesome dogs (lab x border collie), but they had just been on a long flight and were in strange surroundings and the last thing I wanted was a possible incident.


So, I had my dogs, now I needed my one bag and then try and sort out the vet and shotgun. I went to the carousel to pick up my bag and low and behold, snaking its way around along with all the flights luggage, complete with a big bright Firearm sticker, was my bloody shotgun......geez!!!!!


I managed to get everything together, dogs, baggage and shotgun.........now for some help. I must have been in dreamland. Sure there was help, the two guys watched me the whole time and when I asked for help with a trolley or something to transport the dogs, I got a shrug of the shoulders and a can’t help you. They did tell me where to find the vet though. Luggage trolleys were a dollar each and I only had English money because I didn’t expect to need any Canadian. So, I dragged one cage at a time, along with my bag and shotgun each time to the vet area and waited. He didn’t even examine the dogs and then asked for $46. I started to write out a cheque from my Canadian account, but he wouldn’t accept it, only cash. I was escorted out to one of the exchanges to get dollars and came back and paid him. I also had money for four trolleys and I then took one dog at a time out to my brother in law who was waiting for me in arrivals. We loaded the ‘kids’ into the truck and then headed out of town towards home. Once we were out of town, we let them loose in a field so they could uncross their legs and run around. Poor buggers must have been absolutely bursting!!


They are all now buried out in the garden, the eldest making it to 17 years old.


Not once have I regretted the move and could never go back to living in England.


  • Embrace the country you move to. Don’t be an Englishman in Canada....or whatever country you decide on.


  • Give yourself time, it’s not a speedy process once you start.


  • I was a permanent resident for 17 years and then applied for citizenship. With hindsight I should have made that application years before.


  • Another piece of advice would be to not rush into buying a house, just rent for a while to get accustomed to it all and I suppose, to decide if you really want to stay. Even with Canada being an English speaking country, in many ways it’s very different to the UK.


You can’t go through life wishing you had done something. If you really want to do it, then do it, your gut feeling will tell. What’s the worst that can happen if it doesn’t work out?
 
I'd only consider somewhere I'd automatically fit in, and those countries are just as far down the shitter as England so I might as well ride it out with my family. Ain't life grand. If I could click my fingers and become a natural resident of another country, or if anyone's taking notes for my next life - Japanese if you please; they seem like good people, all pulling in the same direction.
 
Slipper One said:
I married a gal who had emigrated to Canada with her family when she was 13 and she moved back to England when she was 24.


We met up and got married and then she wanted to move back to Canada. This was a constant subject for discussion. I had been to Canada previously (proposed by the side of Niagara Falls all romantic like....), but didn’t like the country. I’m a rural guy, so the roads were too straight and boring, distances too far, uninspiring scenery, too Americanized etc. I had my football, cricket, horse racing, rallying and didn’t want to give it all up.


It stayed like this for a few years, when suddenly I thought Canada must be a better place to bring up a child than the way the UK was going, so I mentioned about emigrating. I only mentioned it in passing, but you’d think I’d announced it from the rooftops!! In no time at all preparations were being made to make the change at express speed.


We took advantage of some cheap flights £100 each and our son was free. We were also taking four dogs, so I gathered information regarding those. Not sure how I managed it all without Internet!! We had to go to London to the Canadian High Commission, my wife to one office and myself, because she was sponsoring me, to another. All sorted there, police check completed when back home and bit by bit everything was going well.


One day the wife came home and said she’d been talking to somebody about a sponsorship for people emigrating. There had been an ad in the local newspaper with a London phone number.


I phoned the number and had an interesting chat with a lawyer.


We lived in a little market town in the Herefordshire/Worcestershire/Shropshire border area and his great, great, great grandfather once owned much of the land in the area where we lived. He also had property in the Kingston On Thames area, along with somewhere around Norfolk.


This landowner realized that the future for a lot of the people in the locality lay with this new industrial revolution that was emerging and he left a substantial amount of money in his will to help people move the 40 or so miles to take advantage of it.


This money was then forgotten and found in the 50’s. By then, using it to move people 40 miles didn’t make sense, so it was changed to help people moving abroad.


It was then forgotten again and ‘found’ in the mid-90’s. Hence the newspaper ads. The stipulation was that you had to live within 3 miles of the three residences that this gentleman had.


From my discussion with the lawyer, I was asked to make a written application stating the where’s, why’s and projected expenses etc. This was done and duly accepted with a total pound value allocated, but they wouldn’t pay anything towards the four dogs..........and I tried, believe me. Any expenses already paid out were reimbursed and moving forward, they would pay for everything else direct.


We gave away/sold pretty much everything, but did have a container with about 20 boxes of personal/essential stuff to ship over. The cost for this would exceed our allowance, so I asked him if he wanted to pay it and I’d pay back the balance, or if he wanted me to pay it and him pay me the balance. It was approximately £250 over allowance, but he kindly said that he would cover it.


So, thanks to a wealthy and considerate gentleman who died many years ago and I never met, we moved to Canada for free. The only cost to us was the transport of four dogs, which didn’t amount to much. The cost of four transportation crates, again not much by today’s rates and a $46 vet check at the other end for him to simply sign the paperwork.




There’s an amusing addition to this, especially in todays world.


My wife and son flew in on the same day as me, but on a later flight. Besides bringing the four dogs with me, I also brought over my shotgun. I had to hand it over separately at Birmingham Airport and was told that I would have a process to complete at the other end. The gun had to be in a case, locked and a large ‘FIREARM’ sticker attached to the case. I was also assured that at the other end, I would have help with my dogs and baggage. While walking towards the baggage pick up area I could hear a dog howling and recognized it as Spotty. When I got to them, the four cages had been dumped near the carousels and kids were poking their fingers in trying to pet them. These were awesome dogs (lab x border collie), but they had just been on a long flight and were in strange surroundings and the last thing I wanted was a possible incident.


So, I had my dogs, now I needed my one bag and then try and sort out the vet and shotgun. I went to the carousel to pick up my bag and low and behold, snaking its way around along with all the flights luggage, complete with a big bright Firearm sticker, was my bloody shotgun......geez!!!!!


I managed to get everything together, dogs, baggage and shotgun.........now for some help. I must have been in dreamland. Sure there was help, the two guys watched me the whole time and when I asked for help with a trolley or something to transport the dogs, I got a shrug of the shoulders and a can’t help you. They did tell me where to find the vet though. Luggage trolleys were a dollar each and I only had English money because I didn’t expect to need any Canadian. So, I dragged one cage at a time, along with my bag and shotgun each time to the vet area and waited. He didn’t even examine the dogs and then asked for $46. I started to write out a cheque from my Canadian account, but he wouldn’t accept it, only cash. I was escorted out to one of the exchanges to get dollars and came back and paid him. I also had money for four trolleys and I then took one dog at a time out to my brother in law who was waiting for me in arrivals. We loaded the ‘kids’ into the truck and then headed out of town towards home. Once we were out of town, we let them loose in a field so they could uncross their legs and run around. Poor buggers must have been absolutely bursting!!


They are all now buried out in the garden, the eldest making it to 17 years old.


Not once have I regretted the move and could never go back to living in England.


  • Embrace the country you move to. Don’t be an Englishman in Canada....or whatever country you decide on.


  • Give yourself time, it’s not a speedy process once you start.


  • I was a permanent resident for 17 years and then applied for citizenship. With hindsight I should have made that application years before.


  • Another piece of advice would be to not rush into buying a house, just rent for a while to get accustomed to it all and I suppose, to decide if you really want to stay. Even with Canada being an English speaking country, in many ways it’s very different to the UK.


You can’t go through life wishing you had done something. If you really want to do it, then do it, your gut feeling will tell. What’s the worst that can happen if it doesn’t work out?
Click to expand...
Love stories like this
 
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