suzeandmatt

Hi all,
I'm new to this forum and looking for advice. Will briefly explain our situation:
Myself and husband (both late 20's) currently live in the Uk- my husband has just finished his PhD and a few months ago was offered a post-doctorate position in Calgary. We've always loved the idea of Canada- but neither of us have ever been.
We have no children, we don't own property (we've always rented). His PhD Viva was the other day and he was told he'd passed with flying colours basically- so after contacting the university to let them know, they've obviously asked for the proof of the PhD, then said they will start sorting the visa from their end. They seem to think he'll be able to start working for them at some point in October. Now I'm not sure if that's a little too optimistic in terms of how long visas take to go through so we're keeping an open mind.

We've been browsing the web looking for as much information as possible. I can't seem to find anything that really clearly explains how things like income tax/purchase tax etc works or even how it's calculated so info on that would be more than helpful.

We've been looking at the areas we may be interested in living in, and have taken some advice from people. From what we understand and have seen, a lot of rental properties rent include utilities. Are there any other monthly costs you can think of that we'd need to pay?
- we don't plan on bringing much at all from the UK. We're going to put some of our things in storage here until we are much more settled and can get them shipped over but that's not a priority. We will literally be starting from scratch there and taking the bare minimum with us.

His salary will be pretty decent there, and we've been told as we're married once we're there I can apply for a work visa through his visa essentially (this bit of information was explained on the university website).

Health insurance is included through his employer. Do I need to bare anything else in mind?

Sorry for all the questions- as you can imagine we have a million and are very slowly finding some things out online. I'm also silently browsing this forum a fair bit so thank you for that! :-)
We don't have any connections in Alberta- apart from his soon to be colleagues at the university- so will be totally on our own to start with (not that this puts us off). But I thought it made sense to join this forum to get some good advice!

Is there anything else you think we need to bare in mind?

Thank you for taking the time to read. :-)

Former Lancastrian

I won't comment on what the employer is doing at their end but this link explains a little on those offered post doctorate employment

Post-doctoral fellows holding a Ph.D. or its equivalent

Foreign nationals in this category may be appointed to a time-limited position granting a stipend or a salary to compensate for periods of teaching, advanced study and/or research. It is work designed to obtain the highest expertise possible in a particular discipline, and candidates are chosen on the basis of academic excellence.

The applicant must have completed, or be expecting to complete shortly, their doctorate and be working in a field related to that in which they earned, or are earning, their Ph.D.

Post-doctoral fellows can either be the direct recipients of an award or be offered a time-limited position to undertake research on behalf of or as part of a team of researchers. Universities vary in their methods and criteria used in assessing candidates and offering post-doctoral fellowships. Officers should assess the written offer from a responsible academic official (professor or higher), which will state the amount of remuneration and the location, nature and expected duration of the term of employment.
International Mobility Program: Public policy, competitiveness and economy

As a spouse you can also be issued an open work permit as the spouse of a skilled worker. Your work permit would cost $155 for the work permit and $100 processing fee.

If both UK citizens holding UK passports providing you have the correct paperwork and the employer has paid the $230 compliance fee and issued him a letter of employment and contract you could get the work permits on entering Canada rather than going through a visa office. Thats why I won't comment on what the employer is doing.

As for Calgary there has been a significant downturn in the economy due to the Oil & Gas situation.

This is just an example of what is being reported on the rental market in Calgary
Calgary Rental Prices Drop As Vacancy Rate Skyrockets
Calgary housing vacancy rate spikes to height not seen in 12 years amid economic turmoil | Financial Post

viajero

I would consider this a benefit. Housing and rents are very affordable after years of inflated prices.

Whatever other difficulties you may encounter moving to Calgary, finding a nice place to live for good value won't be one of them.

suzeandmatt

Ah that's interesting thanks! I hadn't seen that page before!
They haven't yet gone into the visa process. Basically they were advertising for a post-doctorate researcher back in December which was basically exactly what my husband was doing as his PhD. But his PhD wasn't ending until well- now! So he went through the whole interview process and was offered the position but it was dependent on him passing his PhD. So really- until his Viva they didn't bother going into anything because it might have been a waste of time!
But it's a sort of slightly seperate research team in the university who he's been going through so far- so I guess they won't necessarily know the ins and outs of the process. They basically said they would be forwarding it all on to the HR department.
Sounds interesting though if we can do the work permit rather than go through the visa office- maybe this is why they think it can be as soon as October?

Thanks for your reply! That's really helpful.

suzeandmatt

I have been looking on some of the rental websites and a lot seem to be offering sort of, incentives so to speak. We definitely don't have that where we live. I've been trying to get a bit of an idea as to rental costs and they're fairly similar to where we currently live- except in Calgary we'll be earning more money than we do here (given that he was doing a PhD of which the funding for ended 2 years ago!) haha so I think going off the things I've been reading that we will be financially better off.

Former Lancastrian

Just wait till you check out auto insurance quotes if you will be using a vehicle then tell me if better off

suzeandmatt

Haha yeah, I've been pre-warned that it costs a fortune so have factored that in. But trust me- my husband earned £4000 last year- so we'll definitely still be better off!! Haha

Photoplex

Not sure if you're using the site already, but www.rentfaster.ca is pretty much the de facto rental site for Calgary.

As for areas, NW (and possibly SW) if he's at the UofC. Avoid the NE.

suzeandmatt

That's great thanks- I have been looking on that website a fair bit- and we're just focussing on NW to be honest- just for convenience to start with really. At least I'm in the right area thanks!! :-)

wonderwoman

Bring your claims experience letters from your current UK insurance providers, being rated as a 16yo new driver sucks lol and def shop around

suzeandmatt

Ah fair point! I will definitely do that then! Thank you! :-)

Siouxie

Category:Consumer Topics-Canada : British Expat Wiki
Category:Moving Logistics-Canada : British Expat Wiki

suzeandmatt

Thank you! Been having a read of all these wikis...I think I've read them all now. Well, the relevant ones that is- no point in wasting my time on the ones for babies etc.

I think for us, it's going to make more sense to just take the basic essentials and have a couple of things shipped over once we actually have somewhere to live (though recently applied with the universities accommodation so might have somewhere to live sorted before we get there which would be nice). Then as it's a post-doc position for all we know at the moment, it might just be a 2 year stint then back to the UK- so I don't think we'll ship all of our artwork over (it's a lot!!) until we actually know we'll be somewhere for longer or are actually going to settle somewhere- otherwise it will cost a fortune to send over, then back again. Hmmm...it's a bit of a minefield thinking of all these things! I need a personalised checklist! haha

Novocastrian

Yes. Universities hire foreign post-docs all the time. The HR department will know exactly what to do.

suzeandmatt

Yeah they seem to be pretty good actually! Even the university website itself has a lot of information for international postdoctorates so that's good to see! It's making me feel a little less anxious about the whole thing.
And now also on the waiting list for university helpful which would be helpful- although still unfurnished and not particularly cheap- but the area they're all in looks nice enough.