Iheartcalvin

Hello everyone,

My husband is from Edmonton and has been living here for past 7 years. We are visiting Canada next year on holiday visiting family in Edmonton then doing a road trip to jasper Banff and Victoria finishing off in Vancouver. I grew up in Australia until I was 12 and find it similar to north America in a lot of aspects the larger housing and more space being one of them. I am keen to find out more about moving to Canada, and advice on where would be best to live and more affordable. I do fancy BC because it's close to the ocean and weather more similar to what I am used to however from what I have heard and read it is very expensive and also the tax being higher. I work in travel in product management and sales and hubby is a guitar teacher and musician. Would we be able to find jobs and also afford to have a comfortable life? Ideally we would like a house having lived in flats for so long and have a dog so would like a garden for him and also to enjoy bbqs in the summer. Housing here is getting so expensive and you can't swing a cat in them! Any input would be gratefully appreciated.thanks

scilly

I know nothing about the job situation pertinent to your particular cases. Although I do know may musicians, and they all seem to work 2 or more "gigs" to make money.

If your husband is Canadian born, then he is able to return to Canada, and you would enter under the spousal category, assuming that you are married or have been living common law for at least 1 year.

However, it is now very expensive to buy a house in BC, especially on the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley and on Vancouver Island. Even the Okanagan is getting more expensive. You possibly should be thinking in terms of whether you can earn a household income of at least $70,000 after tax, for a couple.

Iheartcalvin

Thanks for your reply. Yes we are married and he is canadian born. I'm wondering if Edmonton might be a better option, BC isn't that far away in grand scheme of things for vacations etc. Is the salaries and housing better in Edmonton for tourism and travel roles and also music tuition and gigging? Over in UK wedding bands are popular and he plays in a wedding band here which is a good little earner next to his teaching, not sure if the same trend is popular in Canada?

scilly

Alberta's economy is down, largely due to the oil crisis. I like Edmonton, it's a university a town, as is Calgary.

People do indeed have music at weddings here ...... I wouldn't know though whether a band or DJ is more common. But your husband would have to start up a band, or find one that he could join before he could get the gigs. It is relatively common here to hire music students from the local university ....... many of them form small bands, and get many gigs. My daughter had a morning wedding with a luncheon, and we hired a trio from the music department to play ....... daughter found them by asking around!

My husband knows a lot of musicians, and many of them earn extra money by teaching ........ even while they are students.

glendem4

The average house price in Edmonton, Alberta is around $378k. At the current exchange rate of £1=$1.635 that equates to approximately £231K.
Alberta – Housing Market Stats

According to Hoopla the average house price in Glasgow, Scotland is £182K
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/glasgow/

That's a big step up in price to think about!

Gary_Trinder

We did the Calgary, Banff, Jasper, Sun Peaks, Victoria, Vancouver road trip in 2007 and loved the people and the landscape. We loved it so much we decided to move to Canada. The following year we travelled from Toronto through to Quebec and did everything in between. Then went home and weighed up the summer and winter temperatures. In 2010 we moved here (Lower mainland, B.C.) and we've gone from being cash rich, lifestyle poor to cash poor, lifestyle rich. We bought at house at the end of the West Coast Express (railway line into Vancouver) as this was a far away from Vancouver house prices as we could get but close enough to commute. I'd say forget about the days when the exchange rate was 2.5 and you could move here and be financially better off. Come if you want a better / richer lifestyle and aren't too worried about being taxed and paying more for pretty much everything (cell phones, cars, insurance, food, beer). The people you will meet (expats, Canadians, immigrants from other lands) will make you glad you came.