Hi Guys,

After months of difficult decisions and waiting we have finally arrived in Toronto, and since this forum was so helpful in answering my questions I wanted to give something back.

Shipping
We deiced to go with Pickfords being part of the Allied group to ship our stuff, they came in on the Monday and packed everything which was then export wrapped to protect during the trip, this was loaded onto the container on the Wednesday, which then headed upto Liverpool for shipping. It left the UK on 31st July and we have been told that it is on schedule to reach Toronto on the 14th August (belive it when I see it).

Pickfords gave us an inventory of what is packed in each box to hand to customs on arrival.

Landing Process
So we came in from Heathrow with BA which was a good flight as we got upgraded! :-) we also have 8 suitcase with us to carry our essential items (got charges excess baggage approx 60 quid per bag). Landed in Toronto Pearson on Friday 25th, we had with us our papers (intra company transfer) and our inventory of goods (from Pickfords).

When we landed we move as quickly as possible from the plane to the immigration desks to avoid any queues, which was a good tactic as things soon got busy. At the first desk we presented our immigration landing card (which is given to you on the plane to complete and asks for why you are coming to canada), we told the officer that we were here for a work permit and he stamped our card and directed us to the immigration office. Here we were pretty lucky as there was no queue when we arrived but within 20 minutes it was pretty manic (so make sure you got there quick from the plane!). Explained to the immigration officer why we were there and they issued me with a 3 year work permit and my common law partner a 3 year permit which allowed her to work anywhere.

This took about 20 minutes to complete and pay $300 for the permits.

We then picked up all our luggage (struggling with 8 cases is no fun let me tell you! :-() and then onto the customs desk. Here we waited about 5 minutes and then got waved over to a desk where the customs officer completed all the paperwork needed for our goods to follow, I gave them the list from pickfords (no accompany goods list asked for) a few photocopies and stamps later (15 minutes) we were outside in a cab on our way to the downtown marriott for our first few nights.

Everybody was really professional and friendly, this is something I was really worried about but was a breeze.

Settling In

Even though we found our apartment on a recon visit a few months back ( brand new right in the middle on downtown and is fantastic, with a view to die for!! :-) )we could not move in for a few days so we stayed at the Marriott next to the Eaton Centre, this is a great hotel really recommend it, much better than the Sheraton were we stayed last time.

Spent the weekend getting over the jet lag and the stress of moving house.

On the Monday we went to the service Canada office at City Hall and got our SIN numbers and I also opened a bank account with BMO who gave me a $5000 credit card straight away without a deposit (so it can be done you just have to fight your corner!!).

As most people will tell you the mobile phone companies here are a complete rip off, but as we both had unlocked handsets from the UK we went with FIDO (rogers network) as they are the only network compatible with the phones we have in the UK.

The next few days were several trips to Ikea and other furniture shops to get some essentials that we did not ship like a new bed and a TV for our apartment, and moved into our apartment.

Apartment and Utils

To rent the apartment we had to give the 1st months rent and last months rent, but no security deposit was asked for apart from $200 for the keys.

i have to give the agency managing the apartment 10 post dated cheques to cover the rent, No Direct Debit here for some reason....... Utilities I had to setup with Hydro (electric) no problem and no deposit required and Cable with Rogers.

Getting cable installed was the only little problem that I had, Initially i decided to call over the phone but this resulted in hitting a call centre and the guy I spoke to was completely useless, I explained that I had just arrived in Canada and what I needed, after spending over an hour on the phone he said that they could only give me a basic service until I had built up my credit profile. Since this guy did not have a clue I went into a Rogers store and explained the situation and the guy went no problem we do this all the time! after about 30 minutes he had created my account given me everything I wanted (phone,internet and cable TV) and I was on my way. No deposit needed. So if you get problems go in store to negotiate as it will help. :-)

One word of warning I did not quite belive it until I saw with my own eyes, TV over here is really crap (seriously poor) it is really hard to find anything decent to watch. Makes you really appreciate how good Sky are! (never thought I would say that!!! )

Next step is to sort out some house insurance and try and get a car.


Initial Thoughts

Well things are good, Toronto is a great city there is so much to do here and every weekend seems to hold some sort of different festival or event. People have on the whole been really friendly and I have been impressed with what I have seen so far.

Moving from London to Toronto I don;t see that things are that much cheaper here (with a couple of exceptions like petrol) but food and your day to day stuff are pretty much the same price.

Missing friends and family but I am sure we have made the right choice nd the excitement of being someplace new is putting that to the back of the mind, but looking to start building that social network again (any advice on social clubs, football, rugby etc would be great! :-) ) At the end of the day if it all goes wrong and we really miss the UK after a year of being here then we will just head back, knowing that we gave it a try rather than dealing with "What If's".

Hope this is some help? Thanks to the forum for all the great help and advice!!!!!!

Cheers,

P

Useful post, thanks for sharing. glad everything has worked out well for you and welcome to Canada.

Excellent post and interesting read. You do have a distinct advantage over us having secured work / transfer before you landed. I think that is something that does determine whether you make it here or fail.

You obviously arrived in the summer months where there are all these festivals and everyone is out enjoying the sun, etc.

I agree with you on the prices - we always thought it would be cheaper here, but we are actually finding food more expensive than in London and only few things to be cheaper - such as petrol (which we do not need) and mortgages/houses (which we do not have).

I forgot to quote that part of your post - but you are right, it's probably a good thing to move here and try it rather than dealing with the "what if's?" We now have been here 3 months and are seeing the merits of London and on a whole do not think that either place is better than the other... . Just different.

I am glad you are enjoying yourself - and best of luck with everything else to come.

Great post. We are moving on a Intra Company transfer and fly out on the 20th to Toronto. Some goods tips.

Hope it all continue's to be good.

What a great post!! Extremely useful for us as we are flying out to Toronto next Monday (18 August) I am looking forward to it but dreading it a bit too, but I suppose that's only natural....

I have already researched things like cable and internet access (vitally important to me) and I was planning to go to the store to set it all up, I am glad you confirmed it worked for you that way :-)

We are going on an intra company transfer too, so it was good to read it was easy....Fingers crossed it will go that way for us too :-) We have a flat but no bank account or credit card (canadian that is), so once again, very useful to know they might cave in if you fight your corner!

thank you for posting this!

regards,

Mrs B.

Hey Mrs B! Can't you get the BBC website for IPlayer and maybe the channel 4 and 5 players? I do know what you mean about the TV though when I seen it in Chicago I almost wanted to kick the TV.

I kid you not, the number one complaint of Americans in Toronto is that they miss the quality of TV they're used to.

most of the channels I find are full of US based programmes.

Yes but they cut them for local adverts and announcements.

Ah! s that's what confuses them and think they are Canadian programmes

Handy little points there Thanx Im on my way 2 Toronto in 2weeks, Country kid frm North Wales on his way 2 a big city lol, well nurvous!! but excited at the same time!! Hope all goes well!!

I think our exeperience was pretty similar. Don't be surprised when the stuff lands at Toronto ours was actually early....

Welcome to Tronno. It's a great place and lots to explore and enjoy.
We've been here 10 months on a Inter-Co Transfer, from London, and are enjoying it all.

Rob

more Toronto landers here, a week on Sat (23rd). Thanks for the info, especially re immigration at the airport, and setting up cable etc.
cheers!