Good evening all,
I am new in this forum. Hope someone can help me and my husband decide what is the best for our family. My husband was interviewed by a canadian employer and luckily he was made to sign a 3 year contract. He might be starting his job sometime October or November of this year. My question is whe can he apply for SCQ? What is the processing time for SCQ? Our eldest is 13 years old and we fear that he turns 18 before he can get us to Quebec. Th
Let me chip in some details for you as I am currently residing in Quebec as a temporary worker and applied for CSQ recently.
November will be a cold time, so get snow boots and down jackets before you land. I recommend Pajar water proof boots, NorthFace down jacket or Canadian goose. This can set you back by $600-900 CAD/ head. Your husband already got a job in Quebec, which is good. But if you do not have an IT background, it will be very very difficult to find a job. You will have open work permit, so you can work too. Most professional jobs in Quebec except Software Engineering will need fluent French. But there will be jobs which won't need French too, but those will be clerical jobs for US based companies or clients, which pays minimum wages or 13$/hour.
As far as getting a PR, You can apply for CSQ after 6 months after landing in Quebec, 6 months is the minimum time required to be a resident to apply as Cap Exempt CSQ in Regular Skilled Worker Program. The processing time for getting a CSQ statistically varies from 4 to 7 months. Then there is Federal stage after getting a CSQ. There is another category called PEQ, which requires excellent French knowledge.
I don't have any kids yet, so do not know much about kid's education. But I would be more concerned about your kid's education. In Quebec, there are language laws after the Bill 101.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_French_Language
There are English schools as well as French schools. But there are certain restrictions on admissions for children of immigrant parents to English schools. So carefully do some research about school admissions for your kids. There are many private English schools which will be very costly if you can afford that.
Also read this link :
https://www.educaloi.qc.ca/en/capsules/access-english-schools-quebec
I am quoting this from Wikipedia :
====================
Language of instruction
Further information:
Education in Quebec
The language of instruction from kindergarten to secondary school is French. (The instruction language is the language in which the classes are taught. Learning of English as a second language is mandatory for all children attending French school beginning in elementary school.)
Articles 87, 88 and 89 provide for the use of
Amerindic languages and
Inuktitut as language of instruction. The rate of introduction of French and English as languages of instruction is left to school committees and parents' committees.
[22]
At the request of parents, the following may receive instruction in English:
- a child whose father or mother is a Canadian citizen and received elementary instruction in English anywhere in Canada, provided that that instruction constitutes the major part of the elementary instruction he/she received in Canada;
- a child whose father or mother is a Canadian citizen and who has received or is receiving elementary or secondary instruction in English in Canada, and the brothers and sisters of that child, provided that that instruction constitutes the major part of the elementary or secondary instruction received by the child in Canada.
The original 1977 Charter provided for the English instruction not on the basis of a parent having received his instruction in English in
Canada, but in
Quebec only. This came to be amended following the adoption of the
Constitution Act 1982, which defined the educational right of French and English minorities in all provinces under
section 23 of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
============
Please read more about the Bill 101 and how it will affect your child's education. Your child's education would be single most thing you should be concerned about because you mentioned your eldest is 13 years old. Other than that, there is pretty much nothing major to consider before moving to Quebec. In Montreal island many people speak English and you don't need a car to get around. The public transportation is very good. The apartment rent will be around 800-1100$ for a good 2 bedroom one. Most apartments are very old, so find a concrete walled one, else you might hear your neighbours and their TV or music which can be very irritating.
Some tips :
1. Quebec is one of the provinces which has high income tax and sales tax. The tax system is progressive. So calculate your husband's salary using this calculator. It gives me my accurate take home salary. So this calculator is correct.
http://www.ees-financial.com/calculators/TakeHomePayCalculator.htm
2. Sales tax in Quebec is 15%. So anything you purchase (except unprocessed food) will have its 15% added to the final bill.
3. Health insurance will be given by government, but only after 3 months after you land, so you have to take private health insurance for your entire family before you land.
4. Employer insurance , employers provide extra insurance for the whole family, but they take the premium from the salary, so adjust your take home pay for that cut.
5. Many banks provide bank account for newcomers, if you do not maintain minimum balance in your account, there will be a monthly "account maintenance fee". I recommend TD Bank. BMO is good too, but they don't have mobile check deposit option yet.
6. Public transportation monthly pass is 83$. It can be used to travel on the metro and the bus unlimited. The public transportation in Montreal area is called STM. (
www.stm.info)
7. Apartment are very old, thats why rent is cheap. Some apartment have all included rent. Some have separate heating and electricity charges. Old apartment floor are creaky, walls are thin, will be irritating if you have a noisy neighbour. So pay a little more and get a concrete wall apartment, possibly near a metro station or a bus stop which gets you to the metro station. Try to get the top floor, corner of an apartment, so that you get some sunlight during the winter.
8. Buy gloves, down jackets, beanie, snow boots and very good ones. Don't cheap out on those, because your life & health depends on it.
9. There are malls like CDN plaza where lot of immigrants shop, because you get cheap products there and Walmart.
10. There is a general disregard for immigrants and non French speaking people by the native Quebecers, I am not generalizing, but there are some. So be prepared to face a little discrimination
or aggressive behaviour from some people, especially cashiers & waiters, because they can't stand the fact that we are better than them and that they are serving us
This thread will have discussion on applying CSQ as Cap Exempt for temporary workers residing in Quebec:
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/mon-project-cap-exempt-applicants.402454/
