TimmyTheCat

Hello distinguished folk of Britishexpats.com,

My name is Tim, I am 25 years young, originally from Manchester, currently living in NZ on a working holiday visa, and I have just recently (2 days ago ) sent off my application for Canadian residency to the cic. I applied on the basis of a Common Law relationship with my Canadian girlfriend and we intended on moving some place in Vancouver...

Having previously lived in Whistler for about 1.5 years, we have decided to make the move to Van in hope of higher pay, more opportunity and job prospects etc, while still maintaing some closeness to the mountains/great outdoors. As such I have a couple questions for you knowledgeable/attractive/generous people...

1. Where in Vancouver is the best place to start out? I am currently working as a baker... this pays very averagely and so money will be sparse and we will need some where cheap to start out. However, Id rather not live in East Hastings, perhaps a place with easy access to transport and the surrounding mountains to snowboard & somewhere with a bit of vibrancy/culture. (too much to ask?)

2. Where is the Money/Jobs/Booming Industries? As I said previous, I am currently working as a baker in New Zealand, its not bad, however having lived in Canada previously I am aware of the low wages for jobs like this... I have a degree in International Business, if that helps?... What is a good way to make money/live comfortably in them there parts?

Thank you in advance & hellooooo

jandro

Probably. I don't know too well the livability or vibrancy of all the neighborhoods in Vancouver but you should be prepared to make sacrifices.

Maybe you could look at Project Management or Business Analysts positions.

Lychee

East Hastings is a very long street in Vancouver - most of it is perfectly fine if not banal. Hell, some parts of Hastings (such as around Nanaimo) are rather vibrant and cultural, if you're interested in cheaper places to live, I wouldn't rule that area out. Where you don't want to live is the Downtown Eastside, which is effectively the few short city blocks around Hastings and Main. You wouldn't accidentally move there unless you were seeking homeless shelters, so I seriously wouldn't worry about this too much.

Vibrant areas? Commercial Drive, Mount Pleasant, Riley Park, Gastown, the West End, Hastings Sunrise. I'd look into Commercial Drive. Cheap + more culture/vibrant than the more affluent parts of the city. East Van is typically more cultural, vibrant, artsy, and cheaper to live than the west side of Vancouver. The west side looks better on paper but is less interesting, culturally.

scrubbedexpat091

You can probably find something in East Vancouver (not downtown east side) the rents tend to be a bit lower, but your still near transit and the sky train.

I lived at E Pender off E Hastings with some other street connecting them, and people gave weird looks, but they are both really long streets and both are decent for almost the entire thing, save for 2-3 blocks through downtown.

South Vancouver is also on the cheaper side.

Wages in Vancouver vary, all depends on what occupation you end up in, for service industry jobs, wages in Whistler tend to be higher, but then housing is an issue there.

If you want to live in Vancouver/Lower Mainland sacrifices have to be made unless your 6 figure income.

I find Vancouver pretty boring overall, so I can't say any part is what I would call vibrant, some busier then others, but still fairly boring place.

ExKiwilass

hootsuite is doing well and residential construction, but if you don't have experience you may find both of those hard to get into. apart from that i'm not aware of any booming industries in vancouver.

JonboyE

If you are looking for a career type job using your degree this will most likely be downtown. Wherever you go you should keep in mind the commute to downtown - how long and how easy it will be.

I suggest the West End as a place to start. Rentals for apartments are relatively modest, you are never far from a walk to the beach, and you are a reasonable walking distance to downtown.

The main economic driver in Vancouver is transportation. It is the largest port in Canada, the second largest on the Pacific coast of North America (after Los Angeles / Long Beach). It ships resources from Canada and northern USA to Asia, and imports Asian goods. It is not exactly booming at the moment because of the recent decline in sales of natural resources but it will continue to be a strong industry.

With your degree you are well placed to get into this business but, without experience, expect to start at the bottom.

ExKiwilass

excellent advice from JBE again. JBE wins BE.

TimmyTheCat

awesome, thanks for the advice all, so whats do you think is a reasonable budget for rent? call it a studio apt sized... rough around the edges kinda deal

TimmyTheCat

just scanning through craigslist as we speak

withabix

You see the cheap ones. They're not real.

scrubbedexpat091

If its cheap and not a room, its likely fake as said. I'd expect to pay nothing under 800 in most regions for an apartment and up from there if you want a decent place, but on the lower end of rent there is a lot of competition so if you like a place apply right away, and really make sure the landlord gets a good impression of you, its a landlords market on the lower end of rent and they can be and are picky.

Novocastrian

I see you're getting some advice on places to live or not to live in Vancouver, but perhaps first you should tell the BE lovely people about the details of your common law application? First things first and all that.

A minimum of well documented proof of living in a conjugal relationship for 12 consecutive months etc.

TimmyTheCat

Application is all sent off.... its all in the hands of the CIC gods now, we have been living together for about 1.5years now, so we have rental agreements in our name for the duration of this period and also joint bank accounts in NZ and Canada spanning a year, along with a long documented friendship, about 4 years. She's met my folks, I have met hers, got some good references from family, phone conversations dating back a couple years and flight tickets together going all over the world...... Im hoping the process will be nice and smooth, we won't be booking the flights back to Canada till I have been approved or denied

TimmyTheCat

haha yeah
Modern Studio in Downtown lol .....

and

Gastown Bright 2 bedroom Apt ... lol

Should I send them my bank account and sort code details

TimmyTheCat

1 Picked up 16:10 on 05/12/14
2 Left New Zealand 08:51 on 06/12/14
3 Held for clearance 08:23 on 12/12/14
4 Arrived overseas 08:23 on 12/12/14
5 Departed from overseas mail centre 08:36 on 12/12/14

sooo close