I'm trying to weigh up the money we are going to need to emigrate. We'll be going down the skilled worker route, so know that we need $20000 CAD as our proof of funds.

What other costs did you incur during the process?

Would love to hear other people's views

Thanks, Laura.

The major things to consider:

Buying/selling costs of property.
Flights.
Shipping pets.
Container (furniture/possessions) shipment.
Replacement of some electrical items.
Purchase of new vehicles.
Overhead of living while looking for a job.

All of the above plus:
Health insurance until your provincial coverage kicks in
Don't forget to add GST and PST to prices when you're trying to work out how much cash you'll need, it adds up to quite a bit more
Don't necessarily avoid buying some furniture through second hand sources eg kijiji, we found Canadians upgrade more than in the UK and we got some great furniture that way
Property taxes and internet/cable bundles were more expensive than we though they'd be.
Car insurance, shop around, we didn't the first two years as we were 'too busy' and now we realise we paid way too much.
Enough for a bottle of fizzy wine to celebrate your arrival!

I suppose it may have cost us a thousand pounds. Whatever the cheapest ticket cost times two. Initial accomodation was paid for by the employer in Canada, everything else was a cost that would have had to have be borne in the UK.

Came over in 2006,myself and wife,two sons ,german shepherd,and a 20 foot container.flights for the family cost $2300,flights for the dog $4200,all our worldly goods packed and unpacked door to door $10,000.
I suggested to the family that a shotgun cartridge would save us a huge amount on the dog,I'll think twice next time !!
As a previous poster said,you'll have to budget for replacing electrical goods etc,maybe hotels and hire car on arrival.
Plan carefully,be realistic,and best of luck.

Visa costs (or pr application fee) you need to look this up
Medicals about £200 per person if i recall
shipping - shipped by air(didnt have much stuff!) £1.1k
flights - singles are a lot more expensive than returns
hotel accommodation until rental property found $100 per night
Car rental$800 per month
drivers licence $60
up front rent, to secure house$7200 (landlord only wanted to do a 12 month let, so rather than be tied agreed to pay 6 months upfront).
Furniture - more than i care to remember on poor quality, frumpy stuff
daily groceries - about the same as uk
Support myself and family whilst income builds - loadsamoney

I'd say to have no worries with money for the first 6 months you probably should have at least $50k CAD available to you - remember that credit may not be available to you immediately

Couple of extra things, Cars, we couldnt get credit or finance for car purchase, so we paid cash, research car costs prior to comming add the Tax and licensing fees, insurance fees, registration fees, it all adds up to a substantial cost. Another thing that we totally missed was college fees, our daughters both go to college and the fees are high, even more so if you dont have PR as you are classed as an international student (an excuse to rack the cost substantially) So if you have kids in college do your homework first. For kids in school there will be the annual school suplies to take into consideration, some schools can be rediculous in their requirements.

If I remember correctly cost of getting to Canada for us a family of 5 including immigration fees, health checks, flights, furniture 20 ft ISO door to door. and 2 months house rental cost about $20,000.
When we got here with the house purchase and 2 cars plus all of the other costs we went through the rest of our life savings very quickly.

Budget before hand come prepared for the unexpected, be frugal where possible in the first year, usually by year 1.5 you have identified all of the major costs.

We came in 1963 and fortunately had a job to start on arrival. All moving costs were paid by the firm and in those days of no credit cards we were also fortunate to get a line of credit from the local BOM because of my potential salary plus the 1500 pounds that we brought over.

Bought a car ($650) and furnished our townhouse in year 1 and bought a bungalow the second year ($17,000).

No provincial health insurance then either, but the company insurance was available from day one. I retired from that company in 1992.

So simple compared with those of you arriving in recent years. Had we had to face that I don't think we would have immigrated.

Not completely true - residency in the form of a work permit means that you pay local rather than international student fees. PR has no relevancy in that instance. Note that some work permits will prevent or restrict you from taking training and education.

You should be aware that fee structures for higher education differ according to whether you're a local resident, and living in the same province that you're studying in, or a Canadian resident from a different province (more expensive), or an international student (no Canadian residency status = most expensive).

I am with you there Keith.
I was 24 when I arrived in January of 1978 with all of $300 as a landed immigrant with pre-arranged employment. Wife and 2-year old daughter followed in May of 1978, by that time I had a car and was was renting a 2-bedroom apartment and had saved enough to pay their airfare.

We all (wife and 2 kids) came at the same time by ship (Cunard Carmania from Southampton). No jet lag, they move the clocks back each night. It was early July so we had great weather and all enjoyed the on board entertainment and food. My son was 6 and daughter 2.

My Son is applying to UBC at the moment and we have confirmed with admissions that until we are landed immigrants (with PR) on a TWP our Son will be classed as an international student and pay international fees accordingly.

Why would be on a TWP if you had PR

I agree with Snort, the college I worked at in NS would have charged me International rates (i.e. double) when I had a work permit, but normal rates when I got PR

It cost us @ $ 10000 CAN for a family of 3. This is in addition to our proof of funds.