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| quote: | Originally posted by eRRaTiK
I plan to live and work in Canada for at least 6-12 months.
What's the cost of living like in places like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal? I'm in the IT industry (project mgmt) so ideally I'd like to move somewhere with lots of job opportunities.
Also, what's the weather like around November through to Feb?
Anything I need to know, any govt requirements I need to satisfy? I'll have to learn how to drive on the other side of the road  |
Zomg sif not come to the source for information about Canada...
Then again, Des seemed to have covered the majority of it.
Requirements wise, if you're just going for the working holiday visa, you'll be set. As usual, there's the "you need $3000 in your account before we let you in" but they don't even check.
Driving on the other side of the road is easy. I quite liked driving in Toronto. They're allowed to turn right on red at any time unless otherwise specified, which is hella convenient. You just need a little bit of extra concentration to remember which side of the road you're driving on for the first week or two, then it becomes second nature. I've done some crash hot parallel parks (crash was use metaphorically) in Toronto.
Weather wise Nov to Feb is obviously winter. I personally quite like it, but others disagree. That's just personal opinion though. Still, if you haven't experienced a northern winter, be prepared for -20 days, with wind chill on top. Although whilst I was in British Columbia, I was walking around in -10 weather with jeans, a t shirt and a jacket on (plus gloves and thick socks) and was fine.
If you go to an agency, they'll give you a job pretty quick smart. If you want to go for a company, you might be waiting for a while. The problem with going direct to a company is that because you're only going to be there for 12 months at the very most, it's quite hard to be employable. By the time they've spent a month training you, you might decide to sod off to some other part of the country, so it's not worth their while.
If you work doing shit kicker work, expect shit pay compared to us here. They get minimum wage = about $8 an hour plus tips. That's dirt, considering for guys like us, minimum wage in Aus is at least $20 or so. However, having not worked in IT, and basically thinking it was pointless for me to try, I don't know what the wage is for that.
Taking money out of your Australian account over there costs somewhere around $5 per transaction, so take out like $500 at a time. I forget exactly what the credit card surcharge was, but I didn't find it overly exorbitant. Although if you rack up a lot on it, then it'll add up.
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I would rather have the truth tear my body apart...
Than have my soul wander forever in darkness...
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