lufc87

Hello to everyone on this website
Im looking for advice and information with regards to moving to Ontario. I turn 21 on 23rd Feb and I am looking into the possibility of leaving everything behind and coming over in the next month following my 21st. I am an Instrument Techncian who served a 4 year apprenticeship which included college and University courses and following this and have spent 1 year working on a chemical plant. I am now at the age where I want to plan the next 5 years of my life and I do not believe that living in the UK is my best option. I pay 31% tax on my earnings and looking at the sort of houses in the UK within my price range is depressing viewing. I am a Canadian Citizen who gained citizenship through a family member. I have visited the country before and have researched and thought things through many hours beforehand. I have a few questions and would appreciate your feedback!

* Red Seal Examination - Can a Red Seal exam be taken shortly after arrival if I come over? Is there a waiting list or designated dates for the Red Seal Exam?

*Renting property - Does it differ much to the UK standard? Are leases usually 6-12 months?Are character references required? Is it the norm to agree 1 months notice between landlord and tenant? Do you normally pay 2 months advance + Bond?

* Car Insurance - How do Ontario or Canada in general view No Claims Bonuses earned in the UK? Are policies extortionate like in the UK?Finally can Insurance be sorted over the phone and you can be on the road in hours?

*Flying - What is the maximum amount of money allowed to be taken over on a plane? This is with regards to being questioned by officials at the airport

*Banking - If I open up a HSBC account in the UK which I can use in Canada, Are money transfer quick and simple? I have been told HSBC charge £100 for opening up this type of account, have any on this site opened up an account in the UK, for use in Canada for cheaper? Or with a better bank?

* Electoral Roll - How quickly would I be able to get on the Electoral Roll and how do I go about doing it?

*Apartments in Toronto - Do they hold their value or are there better areas to live and to invest your money?

I hope that is not too much to ask its much appreciated.

Biiiiink

Electoral roll - same as you, citizen never previously on the electoral roll, I called Elections Canada, they sent me a form, and I filled it in and mailed it back. Simple. Their tel: 1-800-463-6868

Flying - take as much money as you want, there is no limit. You're obliged to declare anything over 10,000k CAD in cash/cheque. If you're transferring it electronically, your bank will declare it automatically for you.

Andthen

Hi,

You're in an interestingly similar position to me... I'm 22, a Canadian citizen (obtained by way of birth right), and I'm moving to Toronto! (Admittedly, I've applied to the police and know nothing about your job!!) & to top it off, I probably live near you, given your screen name...!

I'll answer what I can mind..

Renting property - Does it differ much to the UK standard? Are leases usually 6-12 months?Are character references required? Is it the norm to agree 1 months notice between landlord and tenant? Do you normally pay 2 months advance + Bond?

Most places ask for a 6 - 12 month lease, although there are plenty who will rent month to month, but I find that they are more expensive. References are a personal preference, as they are here in England. Some do some don't.

I'm not sure about notice, I believe it's one month, outside of the lease term. Someone else will be able to clear that up for sure.

It's usual practice to take "first and last" I.E. first and last months rent up front. I've never seen anyone asking for a security deposit too.. I think there's some kind of law about what they can request upfront, I've seen a reference on the CIC website for immigrants, but it doesn't come to mind right now.



Car Insurance - How do Ontario or Canada in general view No Claims Bonuses earned in the UK? Are policies extortionate like in the UK?Finally can Insurance be sorted over the phone and you can be on the road in hours?



Are you sitting down? Good. Car insurance cost a fortune. I pay £650ish in the UK right now, the lowest quote I got in Canada was $3500. They pay a lot more in general than we do in the UK. Insurance can be sorted out over the phone or online, if the company has a web site. But I haven't found any sites that compare to the likes of www.confused.com, there is one, the name escapes me, but it isn't that good. If you think it's extortionate here, wait till you land. Again, I don't know how soon you can be driving. Someone will clear that up.

Also - in Ontario, if you've held a full UK license for more than two years, you can do a straight swap to an Ontario G Class license, no tests, just a $75 fee. You also need to look at the cost of cars, again, they are much more than in the UK. If you buy second hand, make sure you don't get ripped off, and don't forget - they don't have road tax, but you have to get a sticker for your plates. And your plates go with you, not the vehicle, so if you sell it, you take them off and keep them for your next car.



Flying - What is the maximum amount of money allowed to be taken over on a plane? This is with regards to being questioned by officials at the airport

$10,000. Although I wouldn't like to carry that much in cash.

This also applies to cheques (checks), bankers drafts, money orders etc... And you can't take $10k in each, it's $10k total.

Banks over here can sort you out with an account over there before you go for a fee, or you can contact banks over there and some will let you do it before you go.

Try RBC and CIBC. I believe they both offer the facility. Plus it's safer to just transfer the bulk of your cash and take a couple of hundred with you.



Banking - If I open up a HSBC account in the UK which I can use in Canada, Are money transfer quick and simple? I have been told HSBC charge £100 for opening up this type of account, have any on this site opened up an account in the UK, for use in Canada for cheaper? Or with a better bank?


As in my last post, I wouldn't personally do it that way, it's a rip off. I opened a CIBC account in Toronto whilst I was there in summer. No fee's etc. It's up to you - it's a matter of convenience, but like I said above, you can open a limited deposit only (no withdrawal allowed until you land and visit in person) account with a Canadian bank.



Electoral Roll - How quickly would I be able to get on the Electoral Roll and how do I go about doing it?



Not a god-damned clue. Someone else will be able to fill you in on this bit. (Me too hopefully)




Apartments in Toronto - Do they hold their value or are there better areas to live and to invest your money?


Toronto is a very big place. Where abouts are you looking at?

Apartments in downtown Toronto are extortionately expensive. If you can afford one, you've got more money than sense.. Personally, I'd rent.

Don't forget, if you buy an appt, on top of your regular bills, you'd most likely have "condo fees" to pay, which cover maintainance etc.. A lot of rentals also include all of your bills, and some even include cable and internet etc.. So renting is often a better idea, at least at first.

Also, Canadian banks don't offer 5 x your salary or more like the banks in the UK do. The norm is a max of 3 x your annual salary, and you're expected to put a much bigger deposit down than in the UK too.

In terms of areas, I'm sure me & DBD will suggest the beach, it's my favourite area. Others will disagree.

Feel free to drop me a message if you want any more info.

Andy

Rob4BC

May I point you in the direction of the WIKI and suggest that you make use of the search function. There is so much info contained in so many posts covering many of the questions you ask (and some you don't know to ask) that it is unlikely that all that info will be repeated in your post.

You have come to right place and you have a great adventure ahead of you.
I wish you much luck.

Rob.

wizzard

You can actually bring in more than $10,000 in cash/negotiable etc. The ruls is that if you have more than $10,000 you have to declare it to customs. It is an anti-money laundering thing. However as someone else said, that's a lot to carry around. Much better to open a bank account and transfer it electronically.

I moved to Toronto (well just north but now live in Toronto) when I was 23, just short of 6 years ago. My wife is Canadian and already lived here so I didn't have to worry about renting etc. as she already had an apartment but apart from a few boxes/suitcase and about $500 I pretty much started form scratch here as far as getting a job and aquiring things and so forth. I think it is probably an advantage to move at an earlier point as you have less preconceptions to weight against, especially if you are moving at a turning point. I moved not long after finishing university so it was tranistionary anyway, starting a new part of life no matter where I would have moved, in the UK or not. It makes the change a little easier as you don't have a lot of the common 'complaints' people have about comparing previous working life, or benefits, pensions, investments, selling houses and bringin Children and all that stuff. You are pretty much starting off from scracth and building a life and it is easier to fit in with the Canadian way of life as you have less preconceptions, as stated earlier.
Having said that, in Toronto the immigration level is so high that 'fitting in' is almost irrelevant as most people you meet have a different culture they are trying to meld with existing Canadian culture. I think at my work, last time we checked, there were people from around 47 different countries. Much different than moving to a smaller town or somewhere away from an urban metro centre like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal etc. that attract immigrants in greater numbers.
The disadvantages in starting out here is that you have little previous experience in order to enter the workplace or find oppertunities and so you find yourself competing with other young local people who have the same lack of experience but have local educations and networks of friends etc. that give them an advantage. Having a degree from University of Toronto or being able to call your friend who works at x place or where you did your work placement etc. just makes some things easier. However the flip side is you are pretty much starting from entry level anyway so you have less issues with taking a lower level job and working your way up, it is easier than someone moving here with say 15 eyars of experience and having to 'start all over again' working their way up.
I haven't had oppertunity to buy a car yet so can't comment on insurance, just that it is expensive and I doubt my 2 year no claims from the UK will have much impact, I am sure I will have more luck from ahving home insurance for x years with no claims and waiting until I am over 30 to lower my risk. However living in Toronto for several years a ar would be an expensive and uneccesary luxury. I still want one but it is hard to spend that much money when you can ride your bike to work downtown in 25 minutes etc.
We bought a house recently, buy when renting we found the standard lease term was 1 year. We moved out after 2 years so not sure how good they are with breaking leases etc.

Drew

Zap0ne

I guess that the limit is the gross weight carrying capacity of the plane.....Ha ha!

lufc87

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post and the effort you guys have put in to describe things to me I really appreciate it. I would reply personally but cant for now due to restrictions with me being a new member

club_biscuit

in ontario, I believe tenants have to give 60 days notice of their intention to move out. breaking a lease is, of course, a breech of contract. whether the landlord acts on it is another story and probably depends in part on the specifics of your lease. you can probably expect to lose your last month's rent deposit, in any case.

it's been a renter's market here and rents have stabilized and even dropped a bit in the last few years due to low interest rates. That said, new condos still command decent rent and with the low interest rates you may be able to buy a place for close to what your rent is....but the down payment and your lack of knowledge of location may push you a bit more toward renting for the first 6 mos at least until you get your bearings and have an income.

1yr leases are standard. you may be able to get 6 mos lease without too much trouble. less than that is really uncommon unless you look specifically at short-term rentals (expensive). hope that helps - feel free to get in touch with any other questions.

YYZlover

You may not have a limit for taking in to Canada but as far as I know there is now a limit for what you can take OUT of Europe which is €10k. Anything above €10k can only be transported out of Europe with permission. This to prevent money laundring.

windward

RE: Banking

A few people have had great results from the main banks - CIBC, TD etc. But the standard offering for those looking for fee-free banking remains President's Choice I think.

Standard terms on a lot of other banks' current/chequing accounts have you paying a monthly fee to have it open if you don't have a minimum balance.

Biiiiink

I've never heard that, do you have a link?

Edit: Just noticed you said Euros so you don't mean UK anyway

JAJ

The word you are looking for is declaration not "permission".
Big difference.

scottymallo

So are you a leeds fan or Luton!
have you actually looked at gaining a job before you quit your tiffy job in the UK?

I am a production tech myself with 8 years exp including HNC ect! Done chemical plant and now offshore UK commuting to Canada 2/3 rota. With 3 years oil and gas experience! I have struggled to get a sniff in with any chemical plant or oil and gas company in Canada. I work for a world major and have even struggled getting internal transfer due to the remote locations. So not trying to put you off but they are very keen on Canadian experience suppose it may help if you are already a citizen! Good luck with the Job search! Let me know how you get on!

Andthen

So hurry up and get your post count up, we want more details... lol

lufc87

Im a Leeds United fan
I have looked at gaining a job over there before leaving my current role and I am pretty confident that once I take my Red Seal examination I will get a job over there, even if I have to take a paycut or be classed as a 4th year Apprentice its a sacrifice I would be willing to take. Many of the responses I have had from Canadian employers has been positive. I have sent CV's through advertisements on Workopolis, JobBank, Monsters etc to get a feedback on how they would view my qualifications and experience. The only negative aspects which the employers have mentioned is the fact I am currently in the UK and that it will be weeks before I will be in Canada. The companies seem keen to interview me and a few have kept in touch to see how the move is progressing. I would be willing to go with a Contracting firm to begin with just to get a foot in the door and then apply for company positions in Ontario. I have found myself like you have that Chemical and Oil and Gas companies in Canada do tend to ignore or reject your application very quickly for company positions. How do you find the commuting from Canada to work offshore UK? I take it you have a straight flight to Glasgow and then travel to Aberdeen?