Mark109

so the LMIA is done, they said the salary was fair and in-line with offer CMs within the organisation with similar experience etc. I must admit I thought I’d be earning more than what’s offered. The offer hasn’t exactly made the decision easy for me unfortunately.

christmasoompa

That does surprise me tbh, it seems low to me too for any kind of role like that. But it must be in line with other jobs if the LMIA was granted.

tweed_wearer

Are you sure? I thought there was a tax treaty and only amounts over the personal allowance were subject to a tax claim in the U.K.

dbd33

Perhaps the company's other employees are in SK or NB, somewhere one could live on that salary.

Moses2013

Not in Canada myself now, but the same rules apply everywhere. I think you basically know it's too expensive right now and are maybe hoping for some more positive feedback.
In reality it just is what it is, so you either need a lot more money or would be better off researching other options/locations.
It's the same with locations I enjoyed many years ago, but moving now would mean I'd end up poor (salaries vs cost of living today).

christmasoompa

Yes, only income from a property that's over that amount will be taxed. But if the property is in the UK then it will be taxed in the UK, not Canada, which is what I thought you were suggesting.

christmasoompa

For a LMIA the wages are province specific. I've just looked it up and the median wage (on Job Bank, which is the minimum it must be for the LMIA to be granted) in BC is only $38ph which seems crazy low to me.

tweed_wearer

so if a property rents for £25k per year, they each pay no U.K. tax on the first £12,570 each. That’s over £25k. Plus The calculation of that threshold is based on profit not income so can deduct letting agents fees, perhaps some wear and tear. Full£25k is taxable in Canada but can deduct mortgage interest in Canada.

JonboyE

FWIW the opinion of someone who doesn't live thousands of miles away is that:

* Construction manager covers a multitude of roles. If you are just running a job site $110k is reasonable. Not tops, but reasonable.
* $110k a year is way more than most people earn.
* A single income of $110k will get you by in suburban Metro Vancouver. Not an aspirational expat lifestyle but all of life's needs met.
* $200k + joint income is really good. It will put you in the top 10% of household incomes. Even after childcare costs you will have enough left for what most people consider a good lifestyle.
* Typically, I would say that the cost of living in suburban Metro Vancouver is similar to suburban London.

Two caveats. The first is that this is all very subjective. I can introduce you to a single person who earns over $250k and is always broke and borrowing money off his parents. I can also introduce you to a family of five that live on less than a 1/3rd of that and are happy as happy can be. If you measure quality of life in terms of spending it all depends on how much you want to spend and on what. The second is that you seem to be very concerned about your material standard of living. If that is your motivation I would think carefully. It can take a few years to establish yourself and your new lifestyle.

christmasoompa

Yes, absolutely. I think I've just misunderstood what you were saying, you were talking about deducting mortgage interest in Canada, so I thought you meant they'd pay tax on the income in Canada rather than the UK.

JonboyE

Fair enough, let me rephrase it. A new poster, seeking useful information, should be aware that dbd33 has opinions about Canada and Canadians. Very occasionally, these opinions coincide with facts.

dbd33

Welcome back!

Of course I have opinions about Canada and Canadians, I've been in Canada for yonks and produced a bunch of Canadians. My experience is what it is, YMMV.

dbd33

And to me. I think this is the central problem with Vancouver, the costs are like a big city but the wages like a small town. That's viable if your income comes from remote work, commuting to a big money location like New York or San Francisco, or if you arrived with a big pile of cash. It's like central London in that way but more Chinese than Russian. My daughter argues that it's a viable location for working families but her house cost multiple millions and her husband works in Toronto. I don't think it's a viable location for the ordinary familly where both adults want to be home at night and neither wants to work more than 100 hours a week.

JonboyE

There are over 1 million households in Metro Vancouver. How many of these have parents that work over 100 hours a week each and are not home at night. Perhaps some facts?

JonboyE

"Opinion" is the sanitized version, after christmasoompa's (not unreasonable) request for decorum.