Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Hi all

My Fiancée and I have recently been accepted for IEC. We both have up until to December to activate it. We are planning to sell our house and move between March – May 2018. So far, I’ve been rather lucky with getting remote interviews and have various companies interested in hiring me.

Due to the field in which I work (IT), the vast majority of jobs are in Vancouver and Toronto. I currently have 1 company in Vancouver and 2-3 companies in Toronto who are 90%+ likely to hire me. There is also 1 potential employer in Halifax, NS and Vernon, BC who have closing dates around the 15th this month which may also develop into something.

We are potentially going to start a family quite soon in our IEC (which I will ask questions about later) so we’d ideally like to live in a “town” or suburbs, with close access to walks and amenities, within a commutable distance to downtown Vancouver, Toronto, or even Halifax & Vernon.

Our plans are to achieve PR within the 2 years. I’m currently scoring too low on CRS, so we will likely go the PNP route, or the CEC route after one year.

To give as much info as possible:

Vancouver Job - $90,000 - $100,000
Toronto Jobs – $110,000 - $130,000 + 5 – 20% bonus (guaranteed, apparently)
Vernon, BC - $80,000 - $90,000
Halifax, NS - $80,000 - $90,000

Our preferred location was originally Halifax, NS due to the setting, proximity to the sea and the lower house prices. However, jobs in my field are few and far between. So, we are worried that if I do get a job, and it doesn’t pan out, we will be in trouble financially. The same for Vernon, although, my knowledge of the area (except the nice google images of the place) is limited.

Here are my questions:

1. What is employer extended health care and does it cover pregnancy care?
2. Are there any potential issues of having a baby in Canada on an TWP?
3. Should I be happy with 3-4 weeks holiday? I’m used to 5, but I haven’t played hard ball yet with demanding more.
4. Based on the above figures, do you recommend any places to live near to those cities that match our criteria? We both drive, but we’ve heard the GTA traffic is horrendous. A 30-min max commute would be ideal.
5. We expect to have approx. £25,000 with the sale of our house and after clearing our debts. Would it be wise to pay £4-5,000 to ship our contents, which we are not even sure equate to the cost of transfer? I’m less attached to our belongings, by my fiancée would like to bring furniture, etc.
6. Has anyone used OIPNP Job Offer Stream or BC Tech Pilot scheme?

Apologies for so many questions, it’s hitting home that we are making the move and want to get as much information as possible.

Thanks in advance!

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Reply your thinking seems sound. We need to know roughly where the GTA jobs are. 30 minutes isn't far on the 401.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

I live in Kamloops (about 115km from Vernon) here is a comparison if you're interested

$80k - $90k is a good salary for a blue collar town, your money will go further in Vernon than it would in Vancouver.

The are plenty of pros and cons of leaving in a small city, if you are serious about BC, I would definitely recommend a one week recce trip to check out Vancouver & Vernon before you make your decision.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Hi Danny, Thanks for the link!

We like the looks of Kelowna, Vernon and other similar areas in BC, but it's a rarity to get a senior job in my niche field. I worry that if I find one, and anything happens to it, we will struggle to get by.

I’m wondering whether we try to find somewhere around Toronto / Vancouver until we get PR and then widen our search. There’s a new job in my area almost every day in Toronto. But where? lol

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Hi Matt,

You don't mention much about your fiancee's plans? I know you said you have plans for a family so will she be taking all that time to look after them?

The reason I ask is, your quoted salary in my opinion is pretty good for one person (well done!). However in the GTA, for two people it becomes average and for three people less so. If you want to live in an apartment fair enough, but if you want to live in a house within 30mins of Toronto, it isn't going to happen. You may be best looking at outer areas such as Burlington/Hamilton to the West, or Oshawa to the East.

Any reason you want to sell your house?

I'm a former IEC'r just like you and living in Toronto, but I've had a few IEC friends call it quits on Canada at the end of their visa's, or before. Would you not want the security net if you don't like it here?

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Hi mahdawg,

The plan is to start a family, so we want to make sure we can afford to live on 1 salary. My fiancée will likely get a job too before and after, we just don't want it to be a necessity right off the bat.

I’ve seen some jobs around Oakville, Kitchener & London that are Circa $80,000 - $90,000 so that might be a better option? We want a minimum 3 bed house in a good location, with a decent commute where ever i decide to take a job. Hopefully it won't be too hard :(

In regards to selling; we have debts which we wouldn’t afford to pay off whilst living in Canada. We’d love to rent out so we have that safety net. Anyway, we were going to move to a new house in the near future so it’s not that much of a problem.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

I certainly think it's a lot more doable than Toronto! I like it here but accept that I can't afford the quality of life I want to have, so will he heading either East or West as well. Always worth noting that if you're near the GO train you can pop into downtown Toronto quite handily without the costs of living here :)

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Thanks mahdawg! Areas situated near Go Lines are also very expensive, which is expected. I'll keep looking :)

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Employer extended healthcare covers some expenses not covered under the provincial plan. To benefit from extended health, the employee also needs to be covered under the provincial plan. On IEC you have to have travel medical for the duration of the permit, you may not be covered on the provincial plan.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/h...liday-programs

Only if you don't have medical coverage. Check your IEC insurance. Also, any major illness of injury, could end up with repatriation to the UK rather than extended care in Canada. Once a baby is born in Canada, it will be Canadian and get provincial coverage. The mother may not if she goes not qualify.

Only you can answer that. Depends how strong a position you are in. Some try and push with success and others have lost.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

In Ontario, once you have a contract to work for at least 6 months (that's the contract, not the time actually working) you would be able to obtain OHIP - you can read more here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/apply-oh...et-health-card and http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/publi...hipfaq_mn.aspx
Please note though, in order for your fiance to qualify as your dependent (rather than getting OHIP in her own right, with job etc.,) you would either have to be married or qualify as common-law spouses by residing together (without a break) 'as if married' for a minimum of 12 consecutive months.


Kitchener would be far cheaper to live than Toronto or Vancouver.

:)

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Ah, thats great news then! I'm assuming most full-time jobs come with a contract in Canada? probably sounds like a stupid question, but you never know!

Aviator - Thanks, haven't looked for IEC cover just yet. I'm guessing that even with a full time contract and employee healthcare + provincial cover, you still need the 2 year cover? What happens if we get PR before the 2 years, is the insurance cover paid upfront or monthly?

thanks all.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

We'll be married before going out. Ah, another question: We will be getting married within months of coming to Canada. Will there be any issues with the change in surname for my fiancee? Will the passport need to be changed before departing?

Cheers

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Travel insurance is always paid up front.

Re employment contracts, lots of jobs are very informal, with at most a letter acknowledging a hire. You may have to ask the employer to draw something up.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Given your options and the scenario you describe, I would not choose Vancouver (or suburbs). It is significantly more expensive than the other cities on your list and to live here on the one salary and start a family would be very, very tough. Especially if your wife-to-be doesn't work enough before going on maternity leave to qualify for EI payments during the leave. Housing here in Vancouver is very expensive. Likely you'd only manage a very small apartment on the one salary. Childcare is $$$$ too, something else to consider. Plus childcare is difficult to find. (Our daughter started daycare this week and I go back to work tomorrow after mat leave).

Personally I would plan to move over to your chosen location, both work at first and then once you're settled, then look into starting a family. To have a baby with no social network for support would be hard too, so best to make friends first.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Thanks Adele, very informative!

Yeah, I think we’ve both concluded that Vancouver is a no go! Unless we can earn more than $150k minimum for the quality of life we want.

Great advice regards starting a family. How long does it take to qualify for EI payments? Also, my Fiancée’s parents are near retirement age so we except they might be joining us for extended periods which will help with Childcare.

Thanks again!

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

We live in NS and we absolutely love it here.

A few things I would suggest from being a serial expat (many different countries before Canada) and a stay at home mum of a preschooler.

I would wait until you have PR to start a family for several reasons. I had no family history of problems in pregnancy at all and ai was very fit and healthy, but I had nightmarish complications which no insurance would have covered, and being packed off back to the UK whilst having complications in pregnancy would be horrendous.

Likewise, it depends how independent you both are, but it sounds like you have close family support from your fiancée's parents, having kids shakes up your life hugely, and emigration is tough - doing one shortly after the other while you're still trying to establish a life here, and while you don't have the security of PR...you may be borrowing trouble. Added to that not having a support network close to hand its going to throw you, and more especially your fiancee in at the deep end.

What if she ends up with PPD? It would be isolating enough being a new stay at home mum in a new country, but not having a circle of friends and their support makes it a lot tougher. For example, a while ago I had to be rushed to hospital for an emergency, my husband was in an all staff meeting and I couldn't get hold of him. Had I not had good friends who dropped everything to help and looked after our child we would have been in a real pickle. In emergences you need people within five minutes of you who can help.

With PR too you'd be entitled to the full suite of Government benefits (obviously depending on what you're eligible for) including Child Benefit, which is another safety net.

Re shipping your stuff, I wouldn't personally. You aren't coming over with much money, not if you are intending to make a permanent life in Canada, and taking any money out of that 25k I think would be starting to cut it too fine, especially if you want to start a family - take that 4k that you would have spent on shipping and put it aside, then you have an extra safety net for when you have kids, or for a rainy day.

If you get PR first you would have time to establish a life here, friends, support etc, which would make things much easier on you when you do decide to start a family - plus only two sets of PR fees and all associated costs rather than three. Emigration is hard and it is stressful, and it throws up a whole lot more issues than you would ever expect - you certainly get to see how strong your marriage is lol. Every time we've emigrated I forget just what a toll it takes on you, and even moving to NS from another province threw up its problems. Adding the stress of a new baby into the mix? No thanks!!! :D

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Sorry that sounded very doom and gloom!

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Thanks Raindropsandroses.. we are now cancelling everything because you've scared us half to death!! :p
We are both very independent, but I’m not sure anything prepares you when moving to a new country. I do agree about the PR side of things, although, the PNP job offer stream appears to be straight forward and relatively fast (if anyone’s used this stream, please let me know) and hopefully won’t take too long. I guess that is only for Ontario though, I need to investigate the other PNP’s.

As per the below and Aviators advice, I think as long as I get a contract in writing, we both get OHIP + additional employer coverage? Correct me if I’m wrong of course.

Good advice. I'm thinking that we try to get a funished place initially until we get our finances sorted. We could store our belongs for the time being, until we have the extra funds to bring them over.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Sorry! I'm not sure about Ontario personally, but I do have friends who've gone through Ontario's PNP scheme from within Canada and it took them 18 months or so, that was a year ago so perhaps they're more efficient now.

Re provincial health care, again we moved to Canada after we had PR but if you're on a TWP insurance, provincial, employer and otherwise only covers you for reasonable, routine expenses - an awful lot of pregnancy stuff isn't covered as pregnancy isn't seen as an essential. If you wait until you've got PR all is covered, and with employer insurance you'd be in a good spot. For example if, God forbid, your fiancee ran into problems during pregnancy and X treatment was the standard but probably wouldn't work, but Y treatment would definitely work but it much more expensive, without PR you'd be stuck with X. As my consultants were fond of saying, in pregnancy more often than not everything goes smoothly, but wouldn't you want the reassurance of knowing that if things did start going wrong both your fiancee and child would have the best available care, rather than just the cheapest basic option?

It may be that you can find some insurance which would cover it, in which case great, but then there's still the support network issues.

Yes, insurance would cover emergency treatment but that wasn't what I meant, if your fiancee has to have emergency treatment and can't get hold of you, or you need an hour or so to get home/to the hospital, who's going to look after your child in the mean time?

Getting settled in a country is so much easier when its just two adults, plus it gives you the opportunity to really explore life there without the considerable added responsibility of your kids interests to think about, all the making sure you have provisions for any emergency, you can wing it a bit more when you don't have kids.

Sorry, I really don't mean to sound depressing, if you take starting a family out of the mix it sounds like you're starting off on a good footing :)

Another thing I would say, as I feel obliged to promote NS, is that whilst there may not be as many jobs in your field, you may be able to negotiate a much better deal in employment terms. My husband certainly did, not many people wanted to work in his field in Nova Scotia, everyone wanted to work in Ontario/BC/Alberta so he negotiated a very good deal and gets treated very very well by his employer, who don't want to lose him.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Another thing, you could get an unfurnished place and look for the local thrift stores (Value Village a big chain one) and if you've got a local Habitat for Humanity Restore shop (google "habitat for humanity restore Facebook" and your city) they sell very cheap furniture and appliances.
We got a lovely sofa, loveseat and armchair set for $150 total and they look brand new. Most of the Restore shops will deliver for a small fee too.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

It looks to be 30-60 days, but i'm not sure if thats just for PNP and then additional time for PR? I really need to find out more about it..

Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program: Processing Times

Perhaps starting a family can be put on the back burner for now then! We were just trying to do our part for the Canadian population ;)

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Great idea, thanks! The missus loves a bargain :goodpost:

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

It appears that the PNP stream for Job offers is paper based. Does anyone know if the paper based PR application requires ECA for high school edutcation and language test to be taken?

OIPNP charge $2000 for PNP if in GTA and $1500 if outside of the GTA then plus PR application fees.. it certainly mounts up quickly!

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

You might want to take a look at this post, if the Atlantic Provinces were your first choice..

http://britishexpats.com/forum/canad...ancies-899238/

For PNP streams, read this: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...-nominees.html and https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...igibility.html for links to the PNP programs.

Edited to add - here's the link for the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Project https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ion-pilot.html

:)

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Lol in that case I am a bad Canadian, we only have one child and he wasn't born here :D. I dont want to be a downer about starting a family - that's a choice which is very personal to you, but from emigration experience, not something I'd choose if I had the option to get settled first.

Yes the 30-60 days is for the PNP processing, then the points get added to your EE profile, then you go through the standard ITA draw and PR stuff with CIC. It seems v expensive to be frank, and paper based is a lot slower than Express Entry. Yes you do still needle IELTS and ECA for paper based.

Siouxie makes a great point, the Atlantic Immi stuff seems to be working well, I know a local couple who've gone through it and they were very happy with it, and where we are in NS (about 1hr-1.5hrs from Halifax) there's a lot of very positive talk about it locally.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Tuppence was a poster who found a good job in NS then wanted to leave it but could not without leaving the Province. Perhaps a read of her posts would be of interest.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Thanks Siouxie & raindropsandroses - I'll take another look at the Atlantic Immigration Pilot.

In Regards to all NSPNP streams it says "All of our streams require at least Canadian High School (or equivalent). " How many GCSE's need to be taken to achieve this with an ECA? or is it 6th form?

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Thanks, i'll take a look :)

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

You might also think hard about expecting in-laws to come for extended visits and provide child care ..............

it is not acceptable for parents to come and provide free child care, thus taking a job away from a Canadian. You might find that they are refused extended visas in that case.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

More than unacceptable, it would be illegal.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Initially they would come over for moral support during the early stages, because they have flexible occupations. Further down the line, with sponsorship, we would enlist their help. Although, they might decide they don't want to come over anyway.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

This was pretty shocking. Out of interest why is it illegal? Are they concerned purely about taking a job from a Canadian? Could I grand parent visit for 6 months and watch the children or is that illegal?


I'm interested because I just don't understand the logic behind this, surely Canadians leave their kids with their parents.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

It would be at least A-Level. If you don't have much of a higher education background then I'm not surprised that your CRS is low tbh. I have IT work experience in Canada but only met the CRS passing grade after earning my degree.

In your case something like AINP is probably going to be the best option but keep in mind that some of those jobs don't pay especially well. I think a few companies like IBM have NOC and support call centres in NS and the driving force behind recruiting from abroad is because they struggle to get any Canadian residents to relocate.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Hi, yes that has been the issue previously. However, now I’ve got IEC i was hoping to go the PNP route via paper based or CEC EE (with nomination). I don't believe CEC or OINP require high school education.

In regards to jobs; i would not accept anything less than Senior consultant / Architect / IT Manager level positions regardless. I would love to come to Canada, but i'm not taking a step backwards to achieve it.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Do you have no formal education at all? Please keep in mind that the Canadians value certificates and paper credentials far more so than we do in Britain. It's not the be all and end all in a high demand sector like IT (I didn't have a degree when I last worked there) but it might work against you particularly when applying for senior level positions and when you're living in an area where jobs are more scarce.

It's also not uncommon for people to take a step backwards regarding their first couple of years in Canada, particularly since Canadian experience and qualifications are valued so highly. Again, less of an issue in IT than in most other professions but still something to keep in mind.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

I finished High School and I've got a massive list of industry certifications. Finding a job has not been a problem so far.. i've had 6 different companies interested in me so far. If i worked in Toronto, there would be a lot more too. None of them have questioned my education.

The problem is achieving PR. So far, with PNP, Ontario seems like the winner.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Your certs will do more for you there than they will in Britain but a lot of companies still would question why you don't have at least an associates degree, particularly for management roles.

Not a killer by any means and not a problem in the short term, especially if you already have work lined up but still something to keep in mind.

If you have a particularly sought after specialism, and it sounds as though you do, then you shouldn't struggle too much.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Yeah i expect that they will question the lack of degree for management roles. The management roles I’ve seen so far are paying less than the consultant ones anyway :ohmy:

I would be scared to commit and take a job unless I know I can achieve PR. It’s not worth the stress lol.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Keep in mind that consulting there doesn't offer some of the benefits that it does in the UK although arguably it's less enticing in the UK these days since they killed off IR35.

In Ontario you need at least a 6 month contract to score a health insurance card as well if you're not a PR.

Re: Jobs & locations - advice needed!
 

Depends what's meant by "consultant". That term is used both to describe people who work on a contract basis, regardless of the level of the position, and people who are employees of an organization who don't have anything specific to do. Typically someone who is an employee and has the title "consultant" or "business consultant" is waiting to retire and no longer trusted to touch anything. A younger person who has no defined purpose will be called something like "Agile Evangelist" or "LEAN Facilitator".

In this case I'd guess "consultant" means "contractor" but that's not clear. If it does then I don't see how a contract could relate to a health card. The contract is between an agency (hereinafter "the pimp") and the contractor's individual corporation. There's no contractual arrangement involving the individual, nor can there be, as both the contractor and the pimp need that distance for tax and liability reasons.

Given the stability of the OP's ambitions I think he needs an actual job rather than a contract.