I have some questions relating to living in Canada, particularly in Toronto, Ontario and the Montreal, Quebec areas. First of all, I hope I posted this right, as I couldn't decide where to post it (either Southern ON or QC sub-forums), so I decided to post it in the Canada (general / id=57) forum [NOTE: I can't find it on the thread listing in there so, if it appears later, I apologise for posting it here. I can find my own post at the URL that loaded after I posted (http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=194876&forumid=57), however]. Before I posted here, I was in Google's Directory (http://directory.google.com), particularly under Regional - North America - Canada - Society and Culture - Immigration - Landing (and related topics) reading about some things related to immigrating and especially beginning a life in Canada. Now, on to the questions:

1. As a non-French speaker, am I expected to have a lot of difficulties in Montreal?
1a. Is Montreal a place where if you don't know French yet, don't even bother thinking about living there?
1b. If you _do_ know French but not the Canadian style, can you expect to run into mis-understandings similar to the differences between American and British English?

2. Are one of these integration help programmes like Sunny Newcomer Services (http://www.sunnynewcomer.com/) _really_ worth the money?
2a. If so, which would you, as native Canadians, recommend?

3. I currently attend college and plan to tranfer to the online programme prior my departure. They already told me there's no restrictions to residence country for their programme. My question is: Since I'm on financial aid (FAFSA, PHEAA, Stafford (I think)), will this be valid when I'm living outside the US?

I may be sounding paranoid here but, I guess it's because I've never lived abroad before and want to be amplely prepared. Thanks for whatever information you give me. I'm hoping for educated responses.

quote:

Originally posted by ali92 3. I currently attend college and plan to tranfer to the online programme prior my departure. They already told me there's no restrictions to residence country for their programme. My question is: Since I'm on financial aid (FAFSA, PHEAA, Stafford (I think)), will this be valid when I'm living outside the US?

Well, you'd have to call your financial aid office, but I wouldn't identify yourself incase you don't like their answers... but financial aid is essentially a loan, so as long as you keep up your payments, I don't see a problem if the online course is located where you curently reside. There might be a problem if the $$$ is financing your Canada venture/education.

Best of luck, come for the edible bacon panties, stay for the maple-syrup slip-n-slide park.

1. Montreal the island is a hotbed of english people - as long as you don't leave the island you'll be good to go with english
1a. Again the island has a big english population - you wouldn't need to know french if you stay on the island - however you'd probably pick some up pretty quickly
1b. I don't know about people in quebec being snobby towards formal french speaking individuals. Most of the differences are in enunciation or little sayings more than anything. The opposite is not true however in france - people there were not impressed with the quebecois french they taught in school here in Canada.

2. No. Everything you can do yourself, and just takes a little time more than anything. If you have command of the english language you can deal with all aspects of gov't without a problem - so why pay money for someone to fill out a form for you?

3. This I don't know. I applied for aid when I got my UMich acceptance - but ended up going to UWO (which was covered by Canadian student loans) so I never looked into transferring or using the US aid funds to the Canadian instituion. I'd check with your loan providers to see if the have residence restrictions.

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Last edited by rabbitjoker on Jul-12-2004 at 17:10

Ali92, the best thing to do is stay a whole week in the city and walk around to see how you fit in (do the same in Toronto)... you're not the first american or english canadian who (wants to) moved to Montreal.

you can survive easily in the downtown core and the west side of the city. But learning french is a big plus, don't kid yourself

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Best advice for getting in the country...

Get on a rusty boat in China and claim refugee status when you get to Vancouver. Sadly im not joking either. Ive dealt with the immigration system enough to understand what a shame it really is.

The best real advice i can offer is to apply through the province of quebec if you know french. They are much more effiencient and they know what they are looking for. The federal immigration system is a waste of time and money and they are incredibly rude. Youll see how much easier it is with the quebec system. The only thing is that all correspondance is in french and they expect you to stay in quebec. You legally dont have to of course but if you give them any indication that you plan to live somewhere else but quebec they wont accept you.

I have a friend who applied under both systems and got denied under the federal canadian system. She knows french, english, has a bachelor of education and 10 years experience as a teacher in a country where teachers are needed and they said no. Quebec was not only nice to her, but they welcomed her with open arms. She now has landed immigrant status and lives in Toronto.

i used to live close to philadelphia, in Lancaster, Amish town $$$

i still go there sometime

i think ull enjoy canada much more than philadelphia

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actually if you request it, every paper and correspondance can be had in english for the quebec immigration system.

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but the interview is conducted in french

quote:

Originally posted by Jayx1 but the interview is conducted in french

back then, my parent were not speaking french at all... :/

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When was back then? im talking as current as last year.

1. As a non-French speaker, am I expected to have a lot of difficulties in Montreal?
1a. Is Montreal a place where if you don't know French yet, don't even bother thinking about living there?

>> you won't have any trouble living in montreal not knowing french very well. of course it is always welcomed if you do know the language, but the majority of the montreal population knows english. the only problem you may encounter is when applying for a job b/c most jobs require that you are bi-lingual. but if you're only going to study, you will be fine. besides, with just a little bit of effort, you will pick it up very quickly once you start living there!

>>what school are you thinking of transferring to?


1b. If you _do_ know French but not the Canadian style, can you expect to run into mis-understandings similar to the differences between American and British English?

>> yes and no. but if you are open-minded and try to assimilate and understand our culture, you will have no problems.

"canadian-style" ... think about it - what is that anyways?
... when it comes down to it, - lesser on a generalized basis - canadians are all very friendly and always incredibly forthcoming and helpful. i've been a landed immigrant here as well, like so many others, since the mid 80's, and i have nothing but good things to say about this country. it's also what you make of it!


2. Are one of these integration help programmes like Sunny Newcomer Services (http://www.sunnynewcomer.com/) _really_ worth the money?
2a. If so, which would you, as native Canadians, recommend?

>>i've personally never heard of this service here in TO, but i would recommend to get in touch with an immigration lawyer or other NGO's that deal with immigration and getting settled. if you feel you need any guidance, PM me and i can give you some good contacts in both TO and Montreal, since i work in this field.


3. I currently attend college and plan to tranfer to the online programme prior my departure. They already told me there's no restrictions to residence country for their programme. My question is: Since I'm on financial aid (FAFSA, PHEAA, Stafford (I think)), will this be valid when I'm living outside the US?

>>you will have to find out this information in the US to see what exactly their policies are and then, of course also check with the financial aid offices here both in ontario and quebec b/c both provinces have different programs and guidelines.
...in the long run, and this could take a while, but when u do get ur immigration status you will be able to apply for financial aid in canada. but by that time you may already be done with your studies ...

>>also, please be aware that the immigration application process can be a tedious and a very long drawn-out course to take.

however, in the meantime, there is a better - a two-step path - you can take:
to secure your landed immigrant status in the short(er) haul, if i were you i would suggest to move to montreal and apply for quebec immigration first. (you will need to find out what their exact policies/ prerequisites are for US citizens applying for quebec immigration).
once you have established yourself there, including learning french (i believe, as long as you know the basics and can communicate somewhat; but it would be best to check what level of french is required to pass the test), it will be easier after a couple of years (- or maybe one year...) to apply for the actual canadian immigration status (ontario does not have this feature, nor do the other provinces).

there may be a couple of other paths you can scope out, which i am not too sure about at the moment - but to be sure i would contact an immigration lawyer, - but not just any, otherwise you might fall through the cracks and waster your time and money!

exactly for this reason and due to the vast amount of bogus immigration consultants in the past, - i should also let you know at this point that canada has just enforced a new law earlier this year in april, requiring for any immigration claim passing through the system to be administered by a registered immigration consultant. the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca will not take any claim into consideration unless it is handled by an immigration lawyer belonging to the Canadian Society for Immigration Consultants. http://www.csic-scci.ca


don't be 'paranoid' to ask any more questions. you are right to try to find out in advance what this country is all about and what your rights and responsibilities are!
to calm your nerves a little - don't be too afraid or worried, people will take care of you here! no matter how diffult it may look at the moment, once you arrive here, you will feel at home - whether it's TO or Montreal. believe me, i know and i've started a life in both cities over the last two years! ... that's what 'canadians' are known for!

if you need any other help and/ or want some contacts, please let me know!

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Last edited by disko-kandi on Jul-12-2004 at 20:18