asaleth

Hi !

For the past 2 years I have been searching for a great place to live in. First of all, i should move in 2 years from now, this year I should pass my IT Master's degree and for the next one I'm thinking about working for a year to get some experience, tt's a kinda short time but I already have some experience as far as my Master's degree is a sandwich course (if I remember correctly it's the correct way to call a course in which you go both at school and at work).

At first I was thinking about moving to Auckland in New Zealand since this place looks amazing for me :
- great climate (not too hot in summer)
- great environment (beautiful landscapes)

but the more I was considering Canada, the more I was attracted, the climate looks great (I don't worry about cold winter, I just worry about dry and hot summer as it gives me nosebleeds).
I have searched some jobs and unless I didn't search the correct way in New Zealand there are a lot more opportunities in Canada (sounds obvious as Canada is way bigger than New Zealand) and landscapes there looks lovely as well.

I kinda selected 4 cities in Canada which looks great for me :
- Vancouver
- Ottawa
- Calgary
- Toronto
I'm not a close-minded person and I didn't have a look at every single city so if you know some other cities that are great or even better than the ones I chose I would be glad to have some feedback !

At work I am working as a software engineer using technologies such as Java/JEE, Spring, .NET and front-end frameworks such as Angular and Backbone.

What are your thoughts about the cities I have chosen ? Which one(s) would be the better/best for me ? It would be great to have both positive and negative comments about those cities !

Thanks for reading and sorry for the possible mistakes I did, my english is not perfect yet !

Former Lancastrian

What salary in Canadian dollars would you expect to be earning as 2 of the cities are deemed to be expensive (Vancouver & Toronto) compared to the others?

For job prospects most would put Toronto 1st out of the 4 listed.
For affordability of day to day living and expenses then a lot would put Calgary 1st.
For climate then Vancouver would be 1st.
Beautiful landscapes Vancouver then Calgary.

asaleth

It is pretty hard to say what salary I can expect, I searched some job offers in Vancouver (probably the city I like the most for landscapes) and the salaries were around 60000-110000+ per year depending on experience and knowledge.

As I don't have a huge experience yet I think it is reasonable to say that $60000-70000 would be a good beginning, but again I have really no clue ! If surveys in Canada are as reliable as in France then it would be absolutely inaccurate.

The cost of living in Vancouver seems to be close (maybe a little bit cheaper) compared to Paris and $70000 would be a great starting salary in Paris so I guess it's comfortable enough in Vancouver, but well, it is pretty hard to compare two cities this way

Former Lancastrian

I earn $70,000 annual salary in Canada though Im a citizen. There is no way I would move to Toronto or Vancouver on that wage with the hope of owning a home as a new Immigrant to Canada unless you are content on renting for a very long time. Scenery doesn't pay the bills.

asaleth

Well I'm fine with renting, but probably not for a "very long time" indeed.
Is this this kind of survey reliable ?

What range of salary do you consider as comfortable to live in cities such as Vancouver and Toronto ?

beckiwoo

Around $600,000,000 per year .

That question is relative - some of us (like me) manage fine on just over $40K per year in Vancouver but others will say they need $200K a year in order to survive. it depends on your lifestyle - how often you want to eat out, holiday, ski, budget for groceries, car, renting/buying a place etc

asaleth

Haha ! I guess you can get some nice houses all around Canada and even more with that

I see what you mean, it's kinda the same in every country I guess.
It's not truely reallistic but let's say :
- I would like a 550-650 ft² home (which is kinda vague depending on the place it would be situated (on ?))
- I usually go out with friends once a week drinking 2 or 3 cocktails/beers/glass of wine and we very rarely go to restaurant, we never go clubbing
- I enjoy buying some nice clothes but I'm pretty reasonable (let's say at most a shirt and a pair of jeans per month)
- I like to deposit some money every month in order to have some nice holidays
- I take care of what I eat and usually buy high quality food

Obviously it's a small overview of what my life currently looks like and depending on the mood/seasons I can spend some money on a few stuff such as : open-air events, buying some hobbies stuff (guitar/amp/computer/archery/astronomy accessories).

Pulaski

Even for very modest accommodation in Vancouver, if you're on C$70k you could easily end up spending 50% of your after-tax income on rent.

Snowy560

On what basis will you be moving to Canada?

You have to work out if it's even possible for you to get status to live and work, either temporarily or permanently. If you're British and 30 or under, there are opportunities to come and work for two years. If you're Irish, even better (35 or under).

asaleth

I was wondering about that, what is the after-tax income for a $70000 salary ?
I heard it was about 70% of your total income but I'm not absolutely sure about that

Well unless I feel uncomfortable there (I don't think it might happen even though it's still a possibility) I wish to permanently live in Canada. I'm currently a 24 year old french student living in the south of France and on september 2017 I will most likely pass my IT Master's degree. I guess the best opportunities for french people are in the eastern part of Canada though I'm pretty much more excited about the western part.
I'm lucid enough to understand that it makes sense for employers to prioritize citizens before immigrants at least to prevent communication troubles or even homesickness.

Snowy560

If you're 24 and French you can research International Experience Canada (IEC) as a start although there are other possibilities for French speakers as well.

You can have a look at this:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/francophone.asp

S

asaleth

Yes there is a nice french website which deals with that, I was thinking about a Working Holiday Visa at first. I think it would be a good idea to get an appointment at embassy as soon as possible to know more about that

Snowy560

It's an online process.

Find out about it here:

International Experience Canada – travel and work in Canada

Pulaski

I don't believe the Canadian embassy holds marketing seminars.

Hurlabrick

Check this out for tax rates by province:

2016 Personal tax calculator - EY - Canada - EY - Canada