Moving to St.John's
 

Hi All,

I'm starting a new job and hopefully (after a probationary period) a new life in Canada, St.John's beginning October 2019 (some of the best months to be there coming up I believe!) Initially the company are providing accommodation, but I'll need to find somewhere more suitable for longer term rental. Can anyone let me know where the nice locations are, good transit access or just a good area, transit won't be a problem once I sort a car out.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

Hi,

Assuming you mean St John's, Newfoundland (as opposed to St John. NB - worth checking! :-)) then I can help. I've lived in the area for 15 years.
Would need to know a bit more about where you will be working and what sort of accommodation you are looking for (by PM if you don't want to share openly), but in general terms public transit is rather lacking. Metrobus ( https://www.metrobus.com/html-defaul...ages/index.asp ) is the bus service. It covers St John's reasonably well but service to other communities int he metro St John's area is limited. Website will give you route maps.

St John's is a nice enough city. No truly bad areas, but some places I wouldn't choose to live. As I say, it'll depend on whether you want to be handy to downtown to party every night or want space/land & budget of course.

Cheers
AX

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

I thought it was Saint John NB :sneaky:

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

Hi AX, thanks for answering and to clarify, it's St. Johns Newfoundland.

The company is on Torbay Road, actually out towards Torbay and not Downtown. Initially it's just me. The company have a probationary period during the first three months, so I could screw it all up and end up back in the UK by Christmas! So while this probationary period is active, easy access to amenities and shops is what I'm after, a two bed apartment would be fine (and partially furnished too a bonus!)

I'm looking at a budget of $1100 p/m. I don't mind getting a smaller place for myself and then moving on later. I've seen that there is a Metrobus service runs along Torbay Road so initially I could get somewhere as close to that as possible as I've read various articles about the public transit system and figure I'll need to sort a car out sharpish! 😁 Once I've done that I suppose just taking the 'rush hour' into account is fairly standard. Is it easy enough to sort out a car on a work permit? Mine is 2 years and I'm going to apply for residency after the first year.

When the family join me and we start looking for a place to buy, we're not party people anymore and have been looking as far a field as Paradise or Torbay, so it's more the space/land we'll be after.

I've fired a fair bit at you there so thanks again. 😊
AW

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

Hi,

OK. Suggest you check out the routes and schedules on the Metrobus website (note that there are different schedules for summer and winter) as that then likely dictates where you can live if you need to travel to work by Metrobus. Obvious point as well is you'll need to get to a grocery store etc without a car so bear that in mind as well. Google maps is your friend. (Supermarkets in St John's are Dominion, Sobeys and Colemans.)

Rental property can be found on www.nlclassifieds.com & https://www.kijiji.ca/ plus through www.realtor.ca . There are serviced apartments on Torbay Rd which might be of interest for the short term: https://homeporthotel.com/ .

Longer term you are going to need a car to get around the city. On a two year work permit no-one is going to lend you money to buy/lease a car for a term beyond your work permit so that might be a problem. Used cars are disproportionately expensive here & the climate & road conditions are such that a $5k beater here is going to be in pretty rough shape. Again, NL Classifieds and Kijijji will give you an indication of whats available at what cost. The other obstacle you will face is insurance cost which is mind numbingly high in Canada and in Newfoundland in particular. Expect to pay $400 or more a month. Johnson Insurance get good reviews and likely take into account UK NCD. I use a broker called Action Insurance.

Is your employer providing any assistance with relocation and start up costs?

St John's is a great city & Newfoundland a wonderful place. The downsides to living here are cost - most things are more expensive than elsewhere in Canada - and isolation - its expensive and time consuming to travel from this place. Plus the weather - you live here despite the weather not because of it! :-) I've been here 15 years (my wife is a Newfoundlander) and we have two kids born here. We have a good lifestyle but have had to work hard to achieve it and as I say, the place is not without its challenges.

All the best
AX

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

Hi, thanks for the info.

Employer is providing assistance, $5k for relocation costs which I'm hoping doesn't include my current travel over initially and is for when I bring the family. But the insurance, how come it's so extortionate! Seriously, how can anyone drive anything in NL for that kind of money! I currently pay £370 a year.

AW

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

There are many threads on insurance costs - one running at the moment. Forget GBP 370 a year, costs in Canada generally are an order of magnitude higher. My $400 a month example is based on a relation who is a 22 year old new driver. Obviously if you are older, are able to get an insurer to accept proof of no claims history (as opposed to no claims discount) in the UK, you should get a lower cost. My own vehicle costs me $1500+ a year and I'm a 50 year old bloke with no claims and 14 years driving history in Canada.

Prepare to also be shocked by mobile phone costs and paying sales tax on second hand cars as well....

Oh yes, and the cost of a pint of beer.... I can drink cheaper in London UK than I can here!

EDIT: Not trying to shock you or rain on your parade, but these are things worth knowing about.

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

Granted, I'm trying to be realistic as I can about this, so looking at lots of sources for info, so cheers. I'm dying here reading this though!! OK, cards on table, I'm a 52yr old taking a massive gamble on this job in NL! We're not completely leaping into the dark, doing it in stages, the first of which is me over there seeing if the job works out. Only then would we start the house selling process etc. I'm seeing it as a last chance to move over, been trying to convince the wife for years to do it! I've no claims history back to 2014, so hopefully it would be good enough, could manage $1500+ a year.

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

I can only attribute it to lack of competition and the fact that Canadians are careless drivers. At least in Halifax, there are so many accidents that the Police don't really investigate an accident (unless there is injury or death), so much as supervise getting it off the road. Insurance companies then seem to have an automatic "who was at fault" scheme drawn up.

You will be amazed at the carelessness of drivers here, and I have seen enough of drivers from NB, ON, PEI and QC this summer to conclude they are no better there than in NS.

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

Welcome to BE!


This may be of help with regards to renting - lots of links to rental websites and information as to what you will have to pay up front etc.
https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Renting-Canada

We also have a section on cars :D https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Car_Buying-Canada
Have the company applied for an LMIA or is this part of the Atlantic Provinces Pilot Project?
Have you checked that with a year of Canadian Experience you will meet the requirements for Permanent Residency, either through PNP or Express Entry?

Exciting times ahead!

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

Wise words from Siouxie. Hopefully you've looked in to it already, but do check if not and you're hoping to stay permanently.

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

Lol, exciting indeed! The employer has done an LMIA. I'd previously done an application via the Skilled Workers Program and was 1 point off the 67 points required without a job offer, so with the added points from having a job and then work experience in Canada for a year, I'm guessing it'll be enough.

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

That's great, but it's only the first step - scoring over 67 as a FSW will be enough to get you in to the Express Entry pool of applicants. But then once in the pool, a second points test is in place, the Comprehensive Ranking System. Only the highest scorers are selected and invited to apply for PR. You'll need above approx 450 or more as a rough guide - Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) tool: skilled immigrants (Express Entry)

HTH.

Re: Moving to St.John's
 

So, if I didn't make the 450 on that program, what does that mean? Are there alternatives, does it mean a continuously renewed work visa is the only option?.

Cheers, AW.