Hello Pam

I was just checking up on any news on the forum & I noticed your post.

I thought I would offer any help I can give you regarding your move to Kelowna & coping with the stress involved in such a task !!

Myself, Wife and our 19 month old son moved here on the 1st Jan 09 from Gloucesrshire, UK. We started our emigration journey about 4 years ago after we visited Vancouver island on holiday & loved it.....so much so we decided to research emigration. We attended the usual immigration seminars in London & collect as much information as possible. My wife had some reservations about leaving family & friends, which is totally understandable. Before we decided to make the leap & commit ourselves, my wife has always had an interest in New Zealand, so in January last year we holidayed on New Zealands south island & travelled across the island getting info.....all I can say is that after the first couple of days we knew straight away that New Zealand was not for us.
Based on this recent trip we decided that Canada would not be beaten !!

In June 08 I contacted Shadi Norman at Tri-continental Global services in Vancouver regarding employment, within 3 days I had a phone interview with a Company in Kelowna & I had a solid job offer.
It took about 6 months to get everything sorted....like the job offer paperwork, house sale & organising Visa's. in order to speed up the process Shadi organised work permits for us both so we could enter Canada & start work while they processed our Permanent Residency Visa's. We have our Medicals in a couple of weeks.

Since the 1st of Jan we have now started work .....purchased a minivan & moved into a rental house in the Glenmore region of Kelowna.
I won't give you any false impression......it's a lot of hard work & stress is an unfortunate part of the process.....but Kelowna is a beautiful place & the people are amazingly friendly & nothing is too much hasstle.

We came here without knowing anybody so I know what a lifeline it can be just to have someone who has already made the move to the area you want. If you have any questions, need any advice or just want a english point of contact then please feel free to contact me & I'll try to help :- tpprotheroe@gmail.com

Regards
Tim