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OK, gotta ask: what firm is "WSP"? I'm familiar with Ellis-Don (they built the Skydome in Toronto), and PCL (aka Pitts, that built the new Calgary Courthouse), but "WSP"? Who are they?
You should love your country. It's your home, after all.
I had relatives in the wars: a great-uncle who was in WWI, as part of the C.E.F., and a cousin who was an RCAF pilot in WWII, who didn't make it home. His last letter home (received after the news of his death reached his family in Canada) is now a family heirloom, and it has never been opened. I now own it, and I will pass it on, with instructions to never open it. My uncle fought in the Battle of the Atlantic, on a Canadian corvette, and has the medals to show it.
Sadly, and much more recently, a friend of mine lost his leg in a Canadian Forces training exercise. He survived, but it's been a long way back, a lot of surgery, a lot of physiotherapy, a lot of everything from his friends and family. He just deals--his car has been adjusted so he can drive it with his left foot, and his bike has only one working pedal, but he loves to ride his bike.
My Dad lost both his legs below the knee in WWII. He was 23 years old. Walked on artificial legs for the next 55 years. When I was a little girl, I thought men didn't have feet when they grew up because my brother had feet but my father didn't.
WSP is out of Montreal, I think. I mostly know of them through their transportation and infrastructure sector, but they are very diversified and have their hands in projects all over the world. I mostly know them for engineering design work. In NYC, they are a huge corporation, but when I was staying in rural Ontario, I was surprised to spot the WSP logo in front of a tiny office converted from a house in the small town to which we drove to buy groceries. Turns out that's the model for WSP in a lot of the rural Canadian areas--small architectural and engineering offices working on local projects for roads and utilities.
American here that loves your country. Sorry, know you get a lot of those and other immigrants that probably drive up your prices. Live in TX and have seen the same happen to my state.
I promise we will be a wonderful, positive addition to your country and city though if we move.
I’ve been looking to get out of TX for a while and LOVE the natural beauty of the BC region. I know, everyone does.
We are looking for a community, in N America, that meets the following criteria ($ is in USD)::
-Upper middle class
-beautiful views hills/mountains AND waterfront homes
-walkable with preferably a small town atmosphere walk to library, coffee shops, etc
-moderate temps (70-80s)
-Don’t have an office job, business owner about to sell and investor so can “work” from anywhere. May dabble in commercial development if I want.
-budget max $6MN, comfortably under $4MN. We will buy on the water ideally.
-Young kids. Public or private school is fine
-great eateries nearby
-SAFE and secure
What are some good options to consider?
Thank you!
South Oak Bay and Gonzales in Victoria is closest to your criteria. It is solidly upper middle class, has plenty of waterfront homes, has excellent restaurants (highest per capita in Canada?) and extremely safe. Also fine for kids. $6MN USD will be plenty to buy practically anything in the area and many waterfront properties can be had under $4MN USD. There always is a pretty good selection right on the water.
Only criteria that it doesn't meet - walkability isn't huge but very cycle friendly. The streets are beautiful but it would be hard to get to more than one destination entirely on foot. As well, there is nowhere that is 70s-80s in Canada. Oak Bay area is one of the warmest parts of Victoria year round and in the winter months it will go as low as 40 and in the summer rarely above 80. Spring and Fall would range 50-70. You won't get a better climate than this in the country. Once you leave here (and Vancouver) you will start getting winter temperatures in the 20s or even low teens, and once you leave the province you better get used to the negatives...in Fahrenheit.
Your only other consideration would be West Point Grey or Kitsilano in Vancouver, or Ambleside/Dundarave in West Vancouver, but you would probably need closer to your top line budget for waterfront properties (Conversion would be 7.5M CAD) and that would be a stretch - West Vancouver would be a bit cheaper, but tougher to commute out of with a constantly snarled bridge. The walkability depending on neighborhood may be improved compared to Victoria, the winter temperatures would be a bit cooler and less sunshine overall throughout the year, but on the flip side you get a much larger cosmopolitan metropolitan area with its schools, restaurants and amenities vs. a mid size city in Victoria.
Question for Mightyqueen and Ruth and any others who care to answer: If Americans think they can just up-stakes and move to Canada on a whim, do they feel the same way about moving to the UK or Australia or Ireland? That is, there will be no immigration procedures, no vetting, no paperwork, just show up at the border, saying, "I'd like to live here," and getting the response, "Well, come on in!"
I'll answer your question and admit to my initial naivete: back in the day when I was caught up in my wanderlust to move to the UK, I very naively applied for a job there (I work in a subset of a larger field where it's hard to find suitable candidates without training them on the job so I figured there was a valid reason to think I could get a job there). I got a reply from the recruiting firm I applied to! And of course the first question he asked was if I had a right to work in the UK and of course I stupidly replied, I need a right to work in the UK? And of course he very kindly replied that I did. Hence, my long and painful road of research and discovery that yes, I couldn't just apply to a job in a foreign country and would soon be eating fresh fish and chips out of newspaper in no time. So by the time I decided to smoke the Canada pipe dream (far more recently), I was far better educated though I must say, trying for the UK is way way way worse than Canada, especially since Brexit: unlike Canada which seems to at least consider a non-sponsored job into the points system for the express entry application, for the UK you can only be offered a job by an employer who is willing to sponsor you, no exceptions, ifs ands or buts about it.
Getting back to the topic of OP's question, I have to agree with the poster who said if those balmy temperature requirements are a must, he's far better off trying for Australia. Though I have to ask for the ones who suggested West Vancouver, isn't it a really high-end upper class area to live? I only thought this because a couple of celebrities I follow on social media, actors/directors with tons of money and their pictures of their property (mansions), one of which is waterfront and surrounded by what looks like woods, mountains, etc. looks super expensive and I'm pretty sure they live in West Vancouver though I could be wrong.
^This post jogged an old memory. When I was 20 and working in New York City, a coworker and his wife who was a travel agent took a three-week trip to Australia. Now this was before Crocodile Dundee or Men At Work or the other pop-culture items that began to put Australia into the mind of Americans.
When he came back with his stories and photos, I got it in my head that I might move there. I wrote to the Australian embassy in NYC and asked for information about moving to Australia.
Two months later I received a letter saying, "We have carefully reviewed the information you provided, and we regret to inform you that you are not eligible to immigrate to Australia."
I didn't provide them with any information, but perhaps they somehow determined that Australia didn't need another secretary.
Leave it to a Canadian (presumably) to be unhelpful with a smile.
I’m sorry, the secrets out and you guys have to share now. LOL.
No dice on which areas would be suitable? Maybe someone else? Forrest…
Canada is cold. I didn't think that was a state secret! You won't get year-round temperatures anywhere in Canada that meet the required criterion for temperature range.
Far northern New Zealand -- think Auckland and north of it -- and parts of Australia might deliver what you're looking for. Alternatively, America has plenty of warm places. Wouldn't the greater San Diego area, the greater Los Angeles area, the greater San Francisco area, or some places in Hawaii offer what you're looking for?
Getting back to the topic of OP's question, I have to agree with the poster who said if those balmy temperature requirements are a must, he's far better off trying for Australia. Though I have to ask for the ones who suggested West Vancouver, isn't it a really high-end upper class area to live? I only thought this because a couple of celebrities I follow on social media, actors/directors with tons of money and their pictures of their property (mansions), one of which is waterfront and surrounded by what looks like woods, mountains, etc. looks super expensive and I'm pretty sure they live in West Vancouver though I could be wrong.
West Vancouver indeed can be very high-end luxury - 20-30M luxury mansions with some very over the top decor and amenities - indoor and outdoor pools, boat launches, sculptures, theatres etc. . But West Vancouver also has a sizeable selection of smaller, more "modest luxury" type properties by the water can could be 1/10th the price of those. Large variance. By default a property in west Vancouver isn't necessarily in the 10M+ tier of expense.
Fully agree if it's year round warm weather you are after Canada is the wrong country no matter what city you select.
Fully agree if it's year round warm weather you are after Canada is the wrong country no matter what city you select.
On that note, here's an idea for OP, instead of Canada, consider the Cayman Islands Global Citizen Concierge program where they're inviting well-to-do remote workers to live there for up to two years: https://www.grandcaymanvillas.net/gl...hoC6LIQAvD_BwE
It doesn't look like permanent residency - though maybe they'll take applications for permanent residents at some point - but otherwise the climate is just right, the beaches look gorgeous and from the looks of it, if you're accepted, you can go live there in luxury without having to worry about the pesky immigration issues that would come up if trying for Canada. Wish I could apply, I'd kill to live near a beautiful white sandy beach with clear blue water, but there's that little 6-figure salary requirement which lets me out.
Wait, I don't remember that. Is that true? I'm going to have to check that out!
I can't tell you how many times since I've been in this relationship that American friends have asked me if I'm moving to Canada and then just look puzzled when I say, "You can't just decide to move to Canada."
I've posted this before, but in May of 2018, on my tenth trip up here, I was asked at the border to speak to Immigration. The woman asked me a lot of questions, and once satisfied that I wasn't try to sneak into the country and not return home, told me that since the 2016 election, 8000 Americans were applying to move here every month.
Property ownership alone won't do it. Remember that during the year+ border closure, all those American property owners couldn't even get to their Canadian properties to check them out. And, as has been pointed out, foreigners cannot buy property here for the next two years anyway.
As has been advised, OP should consult an immigration lawyer with his specifics.
I'm just wondering--would employers in Canada be able to assist a potential employee to get a work permit to move? I was tooling around on some websites yesterday and saw a job that I'm 100% qualified for (I'm a telecommunications engineer), so I was debating it, but I wasn't sure if Canadian employers can aid with that, or if the individual should apply for a work permit on their own first.
I'm just wondering--would employers in Canada be able to assist a potential employee to get a work permit to move? I was tooling around on some websites yesterday and saw a job that I'm 100% qualified for (I'm a telecommunications engineer), so I was debating it, but I wasn't sure if Canadian employers can aid with that, or if the individual should apply for a work permit on their own first.
Yes and no. Employers will assist insofar as they can, which basically means engaging an lawyer to liaise with the Canadian Government. That lawyer (either in-house counsel or a private immigration lawyer) will ask the government for a Labour Market Opinion (often called simply, an "LMO"), which will advise whether a Canadian can fill the job or not. If one can, foreigners won't be considered.
Reasonableness is important, and the government takes everything into account reasonably. If a company in, say, Yellowknife NWT needs telecom engineers, and there are plenty in Toronto, then the LMO might say that there are none reasonably close to Yellowknife, and give you the green light. But if a Toronto company needs the same, and there are plenty of such qualified Canadians in Toronto, then you'll be out of luck.
Those are the basics, though. You'll also want to check the NAFTA treaty, as there are some professions that fall outside those basic rules, and that can pretty much up and move as they please, provided that they inform the destination government and get the necessary paperwork in order (which is often simply a "forms and fees" process). Physicians are one example, but I don't know about telecom engineers. Anyway, it would be worth a look.
There's no harm in looking further into that job, and finding out more. They may say, "Nope, we don't want you," or they might say, "Wow, you're just who we've been looking for." If their response is the latter, then we'll move to the next step, which involves government. But if the worst they can say is "no" at this point, then you've saved yourself a lot of time and trouble looking into a work permit.
I'm just wondering--would employers in Canada be able to assist a potential employee to get a work permit to move? I was tooling around on some websites yesterday and saw a job that I'm 100% qualified for (I'm a telecommunications engineer), so I was debating it, but I wasn't sure if Canadian employers can aid with that, or if the individual should apply for a work permit on their own first.
Each province has its own association of P.Engs.
The link below is for Ontario, which may be of some interest to you.
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You won't get year-round temperatures anywhere in Canada that meet the required criterion for temperature range.
