masiosare

Hello

I'm a little bit surprised of finding the stories of canadian experience, qualifications, etc, What I can say is that it depends on the experience of each person. I'm currently working in Montreal (travelling ocassionally to Toronto for work), I got scared of this thing that qualifications are not recognized, canadian experience and all that stuff, so I went to a immigration help center in Toronto (close to Dundas Square) they told me that it shouldn't be any problem for me to get any other job, as I've already got accepted by a Canadian company, and that if I get certified in accounting it would be good, but it is not essential to get a job, however a certification in accounting boosts your salary expectations...

I'm currently waiting for my Canadian residence, probably will take 2 months or 3 I don't know, I'm currently on a work permit but this is only a temporary job, I'm working with a multinational company in my field, I did't get re-certified or whatever, I just work and that's it, my degree is from a developing country by the way

As of cost of living, what can I say, I'm earning around 50K canadian per year, (which would be around 25K pounds or a little bit less), I'm paying about $700 dollars per month for rent for a big place with a pool downstairs, and a beautiful view to the city, in downtown (rent includes utilities, and I feel it is expensive) spend about $20 per month on internet, $35 per month on cell phone and those are all my bills, probably about $100 on food per month, $65 on tube transportation and that's it, I believe life is very good here!

However as my job is temporary, I'm considering moving to London (I have a visa to work there), actually I even did a research trip, however I found it very expensive and very crowded...

So I went to some recruiting agencies in London, I showed them my resume and asked, what are my perspectives? how much can I earn?

What most of them said, is that first of all I don't have UK EXPERIENCE!!!!! (I thought this would only be in Canada first of all) they said that initially I have to take temporary positions for like 3 months or stuff like that and then maybe I would be able to secure a permanent position, but highly unlikely in the beggining, they told me that I can expect to earn between 20K - 30K pounds probably... Which is a lot of money still, but it is similar to whatever you can earn in canada, as due to my visa requirements I have to earn at least 24K pounds in order to be renewed in the UK, so I only consider moving to London as that's where salaries are higher

Cost of living in London, so far what I've seen (please correct me if I'm wrong)

Cell phone $35 pounds per month
Rent about $1100 pounds per month (including utilities council tax and everything) for a small place far from downtown
Tube $100 pounds per month
Food $100 pounds per month probably, this is just an estimate
Internet $30 pounds per month????? not sure about this one

So even though everything is twice the cost of Canada or so, I think you can still have a good life in the UK, but I'm a little bit concerned seeing that so many people want to leave that country and I don't know why!???! (in Canada or the U.S. I don't know any canadian who wants to emigrate from Canada to another place)

Why do people leave the UK? What's wrong with that country? Would you advice me to move there just like that and start from scratch?

Any advice?

YYZlover

Well, you are kind of confused with your £ and $ sign there.

So if you do mean £ let me change the cost in to canadian perspective and I'll use the currency converter widget on my Mac:

Cell phone £35 = $81
Rent: £1100 = $2543
Tube: £100 = $231
Food: £100 = $231
Internet: £30 = $69

Now, a couple of comments.

If you can get a contract as a foreigner, good luck. If not you need to go on a PAYGO and suddenly your cellphone cost may trippel.

Rent in London i EXPENSIVE! I have no idea where you get £1100 from. A room in a shared house can be £600 - £800. An apartment would be more than £1100, add estate agent fees and deposits. AND it would not include all utilities such as council tax, gas, water, electricity.

Tube prices just went up quite a lot.

Food - I'd say probably a bit more than what you expect. I shop at Tesco and I am single I guess I spend about £150 and I don't shop expensive stuff.

Internet - there is cheaper but they are most likely capped on bandwidth allowances per month.

I'm in a shared house and I am NOT in London. I rent a small single bedroom that is furnished. There are another 3 people living in the house. Each room is priced according to size.

Rent: £200 = $462
Electricty: £10 = $23 (my 25% of the cost)
Gas: £13 = $30 (my 25% of the cost)
Council tax: £24 = $55 (my 25% of the cost)
------------------------
Total monthly: £277 = $640

I'm $60 below you. No huge place. Not in my own place and no access to a pool included.

Add the next:
Phone: £50 = $115 (blackberry)
Food: £150 = $346
Buspass: £45 = $104 (no tube in the town I live in)
Internet: £6 = $16 (my 25% of the cost)
------------------------
Total: £245 = $581

My total monthly:
£522 = $1221

That is for a ROOM in a shared house.

Your total spend for your own apartment is £398 = $920. Your living costs are less than mine. You have a downtown apartment in a North America's 6th biggest city. I'm in a little town with about 100k people (that is including all the villages around it) in a room smaller than my horses stable and I pay MORE than you. This house is a 3 bedroom house with a sitiing room and a diningroom. However, the sittingroom has been converted to a bedroom so the 4 of us share the diningroom as a livingroom. We share kitchen and bathroom and we have access to a garden and we are 10 minutes walk from the entertainment and shops in the city. A membership in a gym will set me back a further £40/$92 of which would be included in the rent when living in a condo where there is a a communal gym, sauna, pool etc.

Do you still think UK looks that good?

:-)

celine_uk

he most likely lives in a tiny apartment in a bad area for $700 mate, $700 in Toronto isnt going to get you much at all really unless you want to live in a really run down area or very tiny apartment.... as far as cost of living i would say toronto is more expensive or the same compared to the UK....... Food is lot more expensive in canada for sure

and converting from pounds to $$$ doesn't work really, you live in canada your going to be paid a Canadian salary.

Alberta_Rose

I can't see why you would want to move from your situation to London, UK. (At first I thought you were talking about London, Ontario!)

London is one of the most expensive cities to live in the world now. A salary of 20-30k GBP would in my opinion be hard to cope with in London. Maybe you could exist on that, but you wouldn't have much left over for enjoying life.

Other parts of the UK are not quite so expensive, but it sounds to me like you have a pretty good deal where you are already

Although ppl gripe about the Canadian experience thing here, as far as I have seen, it is exactly the same in the UK, certainly in the health professions.

YYZlover

I don't know.

Bachelor condo with a den, unfurnished, all utilities included, gym, pool, sauna, roof top terrace, 24hr door man. Icon building on wellington: $950

Sublet near Cabbagetown, 1 bedroom, fully furnished, all utilities, $870

1 bedroom and den, mariner plaza, 3rd floor, west facing balcony, 24hr doorman, 30,000 sqft gym. $1300 and negotiable as it had been available for a while.

Same as above on mariner, but 26th floor, south facing balcony over lake, $1400

I totally believe $700 is possible.

And yes, I agree with the conversion. I'm just showing a comparison.

:-)

masiosare

Yes, that's true, rent in Toronto is way more expensive than in Montreal, but also salaries are higher and taxes are lower, I would expect my living expenses to be higher in Toronto, but I wouldn't move there for less than $65K CAD per year

If you live in downtown Montreal expect to pay about $670 - $850 CAD per month, check it on the internet if you don't believe it, of course if you live far from downtown you get a bigger and cheaper place

There is no point for me to lie about my area or whatever, since I'm trying to compare both places, it wouldn't make sense to say that I live in a palace if I'm not, the only person that I'd be dishonest with is with myself!! Note that I live in Montreal, not in Toronto!

Toronto is more expensive than Montreal in terms of rent and in terms of car insurance, in some stuff, but overall quality of life is similar in both places, people I know who live in downtown Toronto pay about $1,000 cad for an apartment !

Of course if you live in Canada you get paid in Canadian salary, but I try to compare converte prices to see what you can afford in both places

Based on what I'd heard I thought it would be very easy to get a well paid job in London straight away, but when I went there I found out that it is actually not as straight forward as I thought

celine_uk

what was your immigration status in the uk? if u were looking trying to get s sponser ( work permit) then yes it would be harder to find a job in london

masiosare

My immigration status in the UK is HSMP, I can work for any employer without sponsorship but I have to decide soon if I move there or not

celine_uk

no i just ask because a Canadian friend of mine moved to london 2 years ago on a working holiday visa and he visa run out,, she just got her company to sponser her for a work permit, it wasnt easy finding an employer but she did it

masiosare

That's great for her! does she plan to stay there forever? or she is there to gain experience / save enough money (I don't want to gain "experience" abroad, I did already in the U.S.) I want to settle down somewhere as I've been moving for one place to another for a while

celine_uk

she there to stay she told me, i know i may sound anti toronto which im not, i just think that london has so much more to offer than toronto, yes toronto is a nice city but not a world class city, it lacks something i dont know what ( maybe culture)

why not try to live some where else in the UK north Americans seems to think if you live in the UK you must live in london when there is so much more people forget the UK is has 60 million people living there ( double the population of canada) and has many cites, i know i may sound hypocritical with me living in toronto myself but im in canada because of my partner and his family etc i can completely understand why you dont want to move around thats why we are not moving anytime soon and staying in toronto for a while etc

i wish you the very best in whatever you decide, good luck!!

SpeC

How very true that statement is, during my extensive travels both working & living in differnt parts of the world, every North American I've met has said to me "you come from London" as if that's the only place in the UK .
Now to try & shed some light on the UK, inflation has just risen to its highest level in 10 years (now 3%) there has just been 2 interest rate increases, which means the cost of living has risen, mortgages have gone up, which in turn increases 'Rent'.
I have many friends who work in London (UK), but choose to live & commute into work, (most of them have a 2-3hr journey)because of the huge costs of living in the city.
You will probably find a job more easily available in some of the other big cities in the UK, Birmingham, Manchester etc. If you're not to bothered about London, but want to be down south close (ish) to London, then try Milton Keynes, Oxford, Cambridge, Swindon area.
My advice from a Brit would be : steer clear of London if at all possible, unless you can get a VERY well paid position.

Best of Luck for the future.

masiosare

I totally agree, UK is not only London, however that's where the highest salaries are (also highest cost of living), and for renewing my visa I need to earn a certain level each year, otherwise it doesn't get renewed (HSMP)

That's why I only consider London

garryk

There are many jobs outside London paying well over 24K (I know, I've had one of them for 8 years). IMHO, you'd need to be earning 45K+ in London to even consider making the move to there worthwhile.

I considered (was offered) a role there which paid 40K once and dismissed it simply due to the cost of living there and the fact it's so crowded. I'm happy living a few miles outside Manchester - you, of course, may be different but you really are limiting your options if you think nowhere outside London pays good money...

Perry Groves

The cheaper area of London offer cheaper rents but more crime. The figure you quoted for rent could get you somewhere that you may not want to live for long.

It is incredibly expensive to live in London, I am only here because we live in a family owned house, otherwise we would really struggle. I agree that unless you can get a high paid job, it could be a tough life here.