Hi there,

My fiance and I will be moving to Edmonton in May. I have a good job offer. Relocation is for the most part paid for by my new employer. I've done quite a bit of reading around about Canada and cost of living etc, but I do still have a few questions.

- I've heard reference to British driving licenses being "exchanged" for an Alberta driving license. Does this mean my British license would be lost? What if I wanted to move back to the UK?

- My new salary will be $67k, which I thought was a good wage. I am 26, and on less than that in the UK. However, after browsing some of the other forums it raised the possibility that we could struggle on that wage. Is this so? Is the cost of living really that high? I will be moving over with my fiance, cat and me. For now we are working on the assumption that my fiance won't be working (at least for a while). We will be looking to rent - I guess as nice a place as possible for around $1300 per month.

- When I move over I will (hopefully) be taking out a loan to consolidate a few bits and pieces from in the UK, to pay off whilst in Canada. This should amount to around £6000's worth. How easy is it to pay these off whilst in Canada? I'd read that it can be very troublesome and costly transferring money across. Surely this must be a common occurance though?

- Anyone know what I would need to do about my student loan? At the moment it comes straight out of my wages. I'm assuming I would continue paying it in Canada but would have to transfer money across (in the same way as the loan mentioned above)?

- I've tried to get a good idea of how much of that salary I can expect to see after tax. My best estimation so far has been around $3750. Does this sound about right? It seems taxes are comparable, if not worse than in the UK.

Thanks in advance!

No answers so far....?

Too many different questions in one post? I might have a go at one or two points but the long list put me off Or maybe much of information is already on the forum, or has recently been discussed? Or the topic title means that no-one from outside Edmonton will be likely to read it? See this Tips on Using the Forum article for pointers on getting the most from the forums

1. Yes, it should be taken from you (sometimes they forget, sometimes they only take the photocard). If you move back to the UK you can swap your Alberta one for another GB one. Be sure to give reference to the fact that you previously held a GB one (previous address, dob, unique driver number if you know it) - that way you'll get full manual privileges back instead of automatic-only.

Ah right thanks for that. I was concerned that if i return to the UK it might be a faff getting my UK license back. Don't really want to have to re-take my test etc!

I don't know about edmonton but if you are going to owe 6000 pounds then that will convert roughly to $12,000. Now i don't know what your repayments are but you really have to either keep up with them or pay more than that each month so if you need to pay 200 pounds back a month then expect to need to put $500 a month into your bank account also bearing in mind that there will be a charge for 'wiring' money + a charge for currency exchange whether this charge is done locally or in the UK it's still charge.

No worries on that, you'll just get it back

This is very close to what I come up with as well. It depends of your fiance is working as well. I did the calculation based on yes and came up with $3949 per month.

Revenue Canada has an online program that you can use to get an estimate of what the deductions will be. Its not totally straight forward what to do but not impossible. Here is the website:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/eservices/t...ss/pdoc-e.html


The summary:

Payroll Deductions Online Calculator
Results - Effective January 1, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Employee's name
Employer's name
Pay period Monthly (12 pay periods a year)
Pay period ending date
Province of employment Alberta
Federal amount from TD1 Claim Code 1 (Minimum - 8,929.00)
Provincial amount from TD1 Claim Code 1 (Minimum - 15,435.00))

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross salary income for the pay period 5,583.00
Total EI insurable earnings for the pay period 5,583.00
Taxable salary income 5,583.00
Cash income for the pay period 5,583.00
Federal tax deductions 863.59
Provincial tax deductions 407.09
Requested additional tax deduction 0.00
Total tax on salary income 1,270.68
CPP deductions 261.92
EI deductions 100.49
Amounts deducted at source 0.00
Total deductions on salary income 1,633.09
Net amount 3,949.91



If you do the calculation you will see that the CPP deduction is $261 and the EI deduction is $100. At that rate, the maximum amount will be paid in about 8 months or so and your paycheck will increase by those amounts every month. Until the new year anyway. Then you have to start paying again.

Hi Leviathan, we moved to Edmonton seven months ago and we love it!

You might want to keep your UK bank account open and set up a direct debit payment for your student loan. That way you only have to worry about sending money to your UK bank account. I don't know how the student loans company are about accepting international payments though, so there might be an easier way.

We stupidly closed our UK accounts before we moved to the US and leaving them open would have been much more useful.

We bank with HSBC and I transfer money both to the UK (birthday presents etc) and the US using their online service. I think it costs $30 per transfer, but it's very easy to do - I just have to log on and request a transfer between the accounts - I think I had to phone them initially to give them all the account details.

Hope you guys get settled in and enjoy the place.

My husband and I survive in Edmonton on about $50k per year (we are both students), although we do have about $40K in savings as a cushion and for emergencies. We have about $3500/month in total as take home pay. Our mortgage is about $1400 per month, car payments are $400/month, car/home insurance about $300/month. We pay for cable/internet/phone $170, property tax is $200, utilities $250, medical insurance $100. Money is tight but we do get by.

As for property, my feeling is that there isn't a lot of rental property around, and the good stuff is fairly expensive. I don't see a lot of houses for rent, just apartments/condos. Okay if you like that sort of thing.

There are tons of jobs in Edmonton so why not think about your fiance getting a job? That would help you out a lot.

Hi,

Thanks for you replies so far!

It is definately possible that my fiance could work - at least a few days a week. It would give us more disposable income.

We are really looking forward to coming over - just got lots of junk and other bits and pieces to sell over here over the next few weeks. Decided I will sell my new plasma TV and buy a new one over there as my current TV is 240v only.

The bank transfer fee of $30 doesnt sound too bad - is that for a transfer of any amount?

yes and no. The limit that i have for online banking is $500 although if i want to transfer more than that i have to go inside the bank.

Also just to note i think that limit can increase if you ask for it.

To be honest, I don't know, but I actually transferred $1000 to my American account today, and it never told me I couldn't so I am assuming that is OK

To be honest, I'd take what people say on here with a pinch of salt. Everyones experiences are different.
Like in the UK, some people live very easily on much less than the $67k you mentioned. Others would call that bordering on the poverty line.

I very nearly turned down a job offer because folk on here said we'd struggle to survive. When we've looked in to it more closely, we'd be relatively comfortable. We'll be arriving in Edmonton as soon as the twp goes though.
Hope all goes well for you- if you have the desire to make it work, I'm sure you'll have no troubles.

Out of interest, what sort of work do you do?

I was just wondering on what type of visa you are coming over. Is it as a permanent resident (maybe not, as you are already talking about when you go back to the UK) or temporary work permit. If TWP, will your fiance get an open work permit?