Dave n Ailsa

Hello everyone.

It's Dave n Ailsa ..... again, lol.

Our last post, almost three years to the day ago, saw us giving up the idea of moving to Canada.

Well here we are again. The thought has never left us and there is another slim possibility on the horizon. Ailsa may be in line for a job transfer through her work, so I have some questions needing answered, which will help a lot when it comes to the crunch....

We are:

David - 42
Ailsa 30 something ;-)
Kyle - 11
Ross - 9
Destination: Burlington, Ontario (hopefully)

Ailsa has been with the same Global engineering company for 20 years and holds a managerial position. It would be through this route we would hope to gain entry to Canada.

I have an online automotive art shop that I would be looking to expand over time. . I would not innitially take this into consideration with regards to regular income calculations.

So on to the questions... (I understand that any answers given will be rough estimates, but they will be HUGELY appreciated)

Home owning/renting costs:

We would like a three bedroom home, with a garage. Commuting up to half an hour by car is acceptable.

On looking at house prices, the average price in this area seems to be 300K to 400K. What sort of household income do you think would be needed to afford this living? Basically, how much will my poor wife need to earn, lol?

We would be looking at a 15 year mortgage if possible.

How soon:

If Ailsa was to be offered a transfer, how quickly would we be allowed to move over? I'm guessing that she would probably have to "commute" for a few months, but that's expensive for the company, so it would be in their interest to get us over asap. But then it's not up to her company, it's down to Canadian authorities.

Income tax:

I've looked it up, but I just don't get it, sorry, lol. Federal tax, and provincial tax? Do you pay both? what's the deal :-)


Obviously I have a million more questions, but I think that's enough for now.

All help and advice greatly accepted.

Dave.

mandymoochops

Can somebody please shoot me before I answer this question

Dave n Ailsa

LOL, sorry, I know it's a bit vague and expecting miracles, but if you are sitting at a job interview and the subject of pay comes up, you really need to know if you're going to be living in a mansion or a cardboard box

dbd33

You pay both sets of taxes. The end result is about the same as taxes in the UK. I'd guess the typical household income in Burlington to be around $100,000.

Novocastrian

Bang.

You're welcome.

Dave n Ailsa

Awesome, I love short and to the point answers :-)

Ok, I'll go get the calculator out now.

dbd33

Household income from the last census is available on the statscan website though I'm not about to wade through it. One note of caution, Toronto is not half an hour's commute from Burlington by car, Brampton would be.

Dave n Ailsa

Thanks again.

Ok, I did a quick check on average salaries in her field. Seems to start around $80,000, and go all the way up to offensive amounts. But lets stick with the base wage for now.

Tax on that, both Fed and Prov would come to around $21000.

Next I have to work out pensions, health insurance etc.

I'll have a wee look at one of these online mortgage calculators and see how big this cardboard box is going to be

Jingsamichty

What's her discipline? I'll be able to let you know actual salary ranges for various levels within that discipline for a couple of global engineering companies.

sharkus

From what you have said it sounds as though your wife will be coming over as an intra-company transferee (relocating from UK office to Canadian office). If that is the case then that is exactly how I came to be in Canada, albeit on my own as I was single at the time, but other members of our team that came over were married/engaged/common-law and were granted spousal open work permits, so I would guess that you would thus be able to get one and then work in whatever field you want (barring healthcare, education and some jobs that require security clearance)

As for how long before you can actually do it. Our company employed an immigration lawyer over here who detailed what the company did, listed a few clients, detailed who I was and my role within the company.

I also had a letter of employment from the company detailing my current position, what position I would be filling in Canada, how long for (initially stated as three years) and I think my salary.

I also had a copy of my CV.

I don't think it too long for the immigration lawyer to sort out the paperwork, perhaps a couple of weeks. As for the actual work permit, as it's an intra-company transfer you can apply at POE (Port/Point of Entry), so for me that was Pearson Airport. So I had hopped on a plane from Heathrow in the morning, arrived at Pearson, said to the passport officer that I wished to apply for a work permit, they sent me to the immigration department, and I saw an official there, explained what I wanted, handed over the paperwork, answered a few questions, handed over $120 (via credit card) and in about 45 minutes I was out the door with a work permit valid for a year.

I renewed that permit yearly until 2008 when I applied for Permanent Residence and obtained that in July 2009, and thus I don't require work permits any longer.


We currently live in Oakville, but close to the Burlington border. Driving into downtown Toronto during rush hour will take anywhere from 45 to 70 mins on the QEW and Gardiner.

A better solution, and one my wife, and I as of tomorrow, take is the GO train. The trip from home to Bronte Go is about 5 mins and the journey into Union Station is anywhere from 30 - 45 mins, depends on wether you get an express train or not. Unlike the UK, parking is free at the station, which is very handy, and the trains aren't too busy, certainly nothing like getting into London from the South East.

We've a 3 bedroom row/townhouse, it's the middle unit in the block of five, in a nice quiet neighbourhood. It has a large deck, small bit of garden and backs onto woodland. The driveway is big enough to fit two cars and it has a single car garage too. It also has a fully finished basement. We purchased it in 2008 for $346,000.

When it comes to mortgages, have a chat to various banks and brokers (I'd recommend Tom Hogg, no, I'm not on commission ). You're not looking for a really long term which is good, well, I think that's good, so that should help. Obviously being new residents will count against you.

If you've any other questions, ask away

Dave n Ailsa

Hmmm, I'm going to have to guess at this for now, since she's asleep at the moment, lol. (2.32am here)

She works at <snip>, formerly <snip>, which have recently taken over some US and Canadian Pump companies. (Big pumps for water refineries/oil rigs etc.

She has been heavily envolved with the integration of new order processing systems, SAP rings a bell and some other "stuff", lol, sorry, I'm an artist

Her work are also sponsoring her to complete an MBA at Strathclyde Uni, which she has about a year left of.

That is probably all irrelavent to your original question, so I'll ask her in the morning.

Dave n Ailsa

WOW!, how incredibly candid of you, thanks.

The good news for us, is if this all goes ahead, her work-place is actually in Burlington, so no commute to Toronto is required.

We have about 8 years left on our current mortgage, and Ailsa is determined not to get another 25 years of payments to face again. We would rather be frugal for a while and retire early

Thanks to all so far, I'm off to do some more investigating.

Dave.

Siouxie

I know it doesn't have the best reputation (for some at least), but Hamilton is adjacent to Burlington and travelling between the two is about 15-30 minutes (depending on where exactly you are living/working).

Whilst there are areas of Hamilton that I wouldn't live in, there are others that are really quite lovely. We are the City of Waterfalls, have the Royal Botanical Gardens, good restaurants and lots of green space.

Have a look at Hamilton.... http://www.tourismhamilton.com/

House prices vary from $86,000 (don't even think about it) to over $400,000 but you can get a decent 4 bedroom house for around the $220 -260,000 in a reasonable area. If you are going to look at MLS you want the West side of town (towards Dundas) or anywhere on the "mountain" (that's a hill to you and I, but they call it a mountain here, lol). It's actually the Escarpment, and there are some great areas there, with good schools and transportation.

Examples: http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetail...ertyId=8895572

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetail...ertyId=9096248

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetail...ertyId=8873976

I have lived in Hamilton (on the mountain) for 8 years - we have a 4 bedroom detached house with large garden on a quiet street with schools 5 minutes up the road, similar houses in the area are $220,000.

As to wages, there is a tool on a government website that will (with a bit of imputting of details) give you an idea of wages http://www.workingincanada.gc.ca/con...cid=1&lang=eng

Alberta_Rose

Sorry, that struck me as being very funny for some reason!

john5655

try this tax calculator (ignore all the complicated bits - just input basic details and expected income)

it'll give a summary at the end including your contributions to the state pension plan (CPP) and employment insurance (EI)

http://www.taxtips.ca/calculators/taxcalculator.htm