Moving with no plans
 

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Hi, welcome to BE.

That's a very vague set of questions - sorry! Canada is HUGE. Can you give a bit more info - what field of work are you going to be job hunting in, what kind of climate do you want, do you want a French speaking part, do you need direct flights back to the UK, do you want snow sports or any other particular sports (i.e. boating etc), landscape wise would you like access to mountains or prairies, do you want a bigger more bustling city or a smaller one, any transport links required, etc, etc? The more info you can give, the more likely you are to get good recommendations.

And if you do a search of the forum you'll find loads of info on the various cities across Canada, to get you started.

Best of luck.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Hi Gbrod, welcome to BE. :wave: Please take a moment to review the site rules linked in the menu bar above.

Canada is huge with many possible alternatives from densely populated urban cities to remote wilderness. Could you please at least tell us a little more about yourself, say, your age, qualifications and work experience, and perhaps something about your interests, otherwise you are likely to discourage many posters from saying anything as your questions are so vague that most responses will be a waste of the poster's time.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Some clues, please:

Do you like people? As in, do you want to be in a populated area where people will love your accent and offer themselves for you to do with as you will or would you rather see a lot of cows?

If people preferred, what language would you like those people to speak?

How much cold can you deal with?

Is proximity to a geographical feature such as the sea or mountains important to you?

Do you drive?

Re: Moving with no plans
 

I recommend Prince George in British Columbia. This will be a proper Canadian working holiday that you will remember. Not being stuck in a concrete jungle working some boring office job. You may as well move to London, England for that.

You should be able to get a place for under $1,000 month

https://www.kijiji.ca/b-apartments-c...ge/c37l1700143

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Re: Moving with no plans
 

:lol:

Re: Moving with no plans
 

OK, so English speaking and you don't mind cold........narrowed it down to maybe 80% of the country. :lol:

What kind of job will you be looking for? And any answers to my questions above? Do you have a rough budget in mind for your 1 bed apartment? Prices will vary hugely depending on where you go so that may help narrow things down quite a bit.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Okay, that budget is certainly going to rule out places like Vancouver or Toronto. Maybe have a look at the Atlantic provides? If you're not after a buzzing city then that could work.

Good luck.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Sorry to be negative but $12k won't last long if you're gonna spend the first weeks in an hotel..
We spend a lot of time in Oakville for work and it's about $250 a night for a double..

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Most apartment rentals (which are generally unfurnished) are for a minimum of 1 year, so perhaps that isn't the best plan if you want to travel around. Furnished shorter term lets tend to be very expensive. You may be better looking at shared accommodation or even hostels temporarily (they would also give you the opportunity to meet people). Another option might be Homestay - where you can 'rent a room' for days / weeks at a time and they tend to be cheaper than AirBnB as you are staying with people rather than getting the whole place. https://www.homestay.com/

Is it your plan to apply for Permanent Residency in Canada at the end of your temporary work permit? Asking as if it is, then you may need to get a permanent job to enable you to claim extra points for Canadian Experience. :)

I live in the City of Hamilton (which isn't big - about the size of a large town) about an hour from Toronto - plenty of public transit both for getting around the city and to other parts (including Toronto).. rentals range from $850 for a bachelor/studio apartment - although some go for more .. it's like a bed sit but with your own bathroom and kitchen; to $1250 for a small 1 bed.. better areas / facilities the prices are higher.

Personally I wouldn't worry about buying a vehicle - it would be cheaper for your to rent one when you need it - for going out of town or similar - if you are living somewhere there is public transit .

I'd recommend getting a servers license (yes, working behind a bar in most Provinces in Canada requires you to have a license!) for one of the Provinces, so you know you should be able to find work somewhere if you get stuck.. or even a job in the mountains if you are hoping to go to a ski resort. If that is your aim then the sooner you start looking for work the better - most of the Ski resorts start recruiting in the summer for the winter. :)

For working.. are you thinking of labourer jobs or driving jobs or working in construction or in a warehouse or factory or something? What about farm work or similar? The kind of work you want / can do will determine which Provinces are likely to have more jobs.


Hotels/Motels can be booked from $70 to $140 a night around these parts! - I suggest you look at Priceline or Trevago because $250 a night at this time of year in Oakville is a rip off, something you would expect to pay for NY eve or similar!

Re: Moving with no plans
 

theres things calles hostels, which only cost around 250-300 a week so I know I can spend a few weeks on that because I have already looked that over in a lot of cities.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Yeah i see your point its better to share a place with someone because its cheaper and unsure of the position. that I will look into more then.

for the moment its a work and travel visa 2 years. I have decided on if i'm going to stay at the end or not as that's part of why i'm going over there, if something did come up and was great opportunity then I would apply to stay if that's an option.

Toronto Sounds like a good place to start, are there like a lot of wide job opportunities there ?.

can you rent by day or week ? and if do you know how much that roughly is a day because if that comes with insurance it sounds like less hastle.

so ski resort work do you need a certain license other than the servers and what type of jobs go at the resorts?

thank you for taking the time to write that and help it is much appreciated

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Thank you for your sarcastic reply..

I gave you the hotel prices because you said..

QUOTE: I could always try as for the first few weeks when I come over it will be spent in hotels so can always travel around that province.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Don't really needs skills to work in a Canadian city, city's have jobs for all skill levels really.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

It's 2 and a half years since I sold the duplex and although a couple of my tenants stayed a few years I never had one wanting anything more than month to month, including those who didn't become a tenant.

One aims for a long term tenant but month to month appears to be the norm around here.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Re: Moving with no plans
 

In most Provinces you will be required to rent for a minim period of 12 months, on a contract - then once the 1 year expires you would go on 'month to month' with 30/60 days notice to terminate the agreement.. Some Landlords will let for shorter periods, but not many... that's why I suggested Homestay until you decide on where you want to be for a bit longer

You can read more in our Wiki: https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Renting-Canada

Re: Moving with no plans
 

1 year leases are the norm in BC,but month to month can be found, just not as common unless a room in a house or such.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Things are obviously much more relaxed here.
Here's part of the official New Brunswick lease.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...f63db58c86.png
If it's not for a fixed period, it's week to week; month to month; or year to year..
I had a dozen tenants in my time and with the other people coming to look that would make at least 40 and not one was interested in anything other than month to month. It was actually rare for anyone to even want to sign a lease. That was what they were used to.
A signed lease is a recommendation of the Province Rentalsman but not a requirement. If there's no lease, it's treated as month to month. And in my experience that's the way people like it.

My duplex was in Moncton but there were plenty of interested people moving from other parts of NB and other provinces and they seemed to be used to month to month too.

I've no doubt the agencies and/or owners of the big apartment buildings will be more strict on it but there are very many rentals in duplexes and triplexes who will be glad to have the place rented. kijiji is a good place to look for this part of Canada.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Have you looked at the possibility of managing a remote fishing/hunting/camping lodge?
Lots of them want live in caretakers/handymen, they pay fairly well and your food and lodging are included.

If you search for "wilderness" or "live in" on indeed.ca there are loads of opportunities. Some for a few weeks, some for a few months. We have friends who do this year round, and have regular clients, works well for them :nod:

I think you have an amazing opportunity to travel around and work in lots of different places.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Another option for accommodation could be house sitting / pet sitting.. it can range from a few days to weeks/months :)

https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/...itters/canada/
https://www.mindmyhouse.com/owners/overview
https://www.housecarers.com/how-homeowners.cfm

Re: Moving with no plans
 

Re: Moving with no plans
 

https://proserve.aglc.ca/Index.aspx?tabid=13&sc=ASIPOL
https://www.servingitright.com/course_intro.html
https://smartserve.ca/online-training/


^ Alberta / BC / Ontario (to start you off) .. for most of the Provincial licensing for serving liqueur you can do it online before you get here :)

Re: Moving with no plans
 

My daughter worked in Canada for a hotel chain. Delta hotels, the one in Kananaskis Valley (AB). They put you up in staff accommodation (shared rooms). Only a few hotels there for the ski slope and a drive to any other form of town (but many that work there have cars and will give you a ride). She loved the experience - worth a thought maybe.

Re: Moving with no plans
 

The TFW rules did indeed get changed a few years back I think, so it's now no longer trivial to order a batch from Manila or Mangalore to do all the drudge jobs - though still possible if the company is willing to eat a year or two of being lethally understaffed to keep wages suppressed, as walking into a fast food place anywhere between Calgary and Kelowna (at least) will demonstrate :V Banff is therefore suffering (as are most resorty type places) due to pay and housing, essentially. As in, the pay for the jobs there is actually a "shortage" of (hotel housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers etc) is generally poor (hence the shortage) and housing options mostly involve either living several people to a room somewhere you're renting yourself or living several people to a room somewhere your job owns or rents for you. Well, that or living in a van - Canmore seems to be a particular hotspot for that, probably because Parks Canada chase them out of Banff, I don't think I've ever stopped at the A&W there and not noticed 3-4 minivans with curtains drawn. This naturally limits the pool of people willing to do them to wanderers like WHV kids and the desperate.

As mentioned it's nevertheless hardly the worst way to spend a summer or winter if you're young and can't think of anything else to do, there's lots of nature to get out into, you definitely can save up some money even at low pay if your job houses you and there's hordes of other entertaining young reprobates from around the world to amuse yourself with. Time to look is ideally about 2+ months ago though as it's really summer by now (recent weather notwithstanding) - though you'd have no trouble finding work finding somewhere to live would be harder than earlier in the year.