@narmeen:
Hello again, thank you for your good wishes, I also hope everything goes perfect for me
, well where to start, All the government employees have been very polite and kind, all the services and publications are in french, when I did not know a work or I felt nervous I asked if it was OK to continue in English or just say the unknown work in English and they were OK with that.
To get the SIN (NAS) card, the ask you only for your passport with the visa and your COPR, once you get the number (right away) they tell you it will get through the mail in X weeks, which came early as I was expecting it, once I got the number, I went to get the driver license, one new thing I was not expecting was, you have to make an appointment, it is not fast, I arrived the 12 August and the next available appointment they could give me was Sep 17th, so I can only comment it is going to take a while, but don't worry, I read somewhere in the pamphlets or their web site, we are entitle to drive with our international driver license 90 days, after that, you could be sanctioned. So I still have time and I do not have a car anyway
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Montreal is a big city, but as you can imagine, space to extend is not a problem here in Canada, so, all the business are small business, and there is small amount of shopping malls, which I was expecting otherwise, all the streets are clean and there is signs for everything, to cross the streets, the name of the streets, where to cross, where are the bus stops, where is the metro station (all look like normal buildings, very different from my home country, but the counters and tickets sales and corridors are under ground), etc. You can buy a ticket for 1 run (CAD$2.64), 6 runs, 1 whole day[CAD$7.00] (no matter how many times or connections you make), 1 week (CAD$20.XX), 1 month and there is a 4month ticket only available to students. The 1run, 6run and 1day you buy the paper ticket, for the rest you have to bay a plastic card very similar to a SIM card for the cell phone (the whole plastic not just the chip) it costs CAD$7 and it is rechargeable, you have to keep the paper receipt just in case. ahh before I forget, all this passes work for the metro and the buses, there is no difference. Now I am really really really impressed with their bus/metro system, every time I have had to go somewhere I just go to google maps, type in the two addresses and google will tell me with 1 minute of error EXACTLY at what time the bus or metro will stop, where to transfer, how long to wait for the next bus or train to arrive, all the bus stops have a number written, google will tell you that stop number. As well you can go to the web site of the transport network, www.stm.info to trace your route, really amazing guys.
@shahzadchowdhry: i currently live in Montreal, QC. Well I am comparing the rent costs to my home country and they are more expensive, but compared to the US, they are just a bit more expensive, I rented a room, not an studio or an apartment for myself, I rented a room which I share with the landlord and one more roommate and it costs CAD$500/month, but before I made my decision to move in here, I read in craiglist and severl sites where you look for apartments and the price range for an apartment with one room (the whole apartment) cost around CAD$800-900. I made my decision to arrange stay here before arriving because I was afraid my process to receive the permanent resident card would take longer than normal or to not have any problems at my arriving because of what I mentioned, I could not come directly to Montreal as I would wished, so in order to all go smooth in Toronto, I decided to rent before to know this place through the internet, the page I used was ca.easyroomate.com. This was only my way to think, it might not be a problem, but I did not want to take the risk.
Now the jobs, I have not pay attention to ALL employments only in my area, but in general, I would say there is a LOT of working demand, every day I read about 10-20 NEW posts for my area, so it will depend on what you are looking for (the area and the $), now this is testimony, I went to the NOC web site, read about the low-average-high pay in my area, every time I have received a call form a job post I did in the past XX days, they always ask you, how much are you expecting to make? What is your salary expectancy? Then I come up with just a bit lower than the average (not the low one) and they in general do not argue about it, so I can confirm or assume, this table is accurate. Now for survival jobs, there is plenty (about 1 sign every three blocks), when you walk the streets, you'll see signs like hair dresser, storage clerk, delivery guy needed, so in case of need, that you cannot wait anymore to start working and you need the money, I am going to say there is a survival job possibility almost immediately.
I hope I did not bore you with banal details, but I really want to describe you all I have seen these three weeks. Please, if you have some specific question, I will gladly answer the best I can. In resume, now I am almost sure I will survive without a car, at least if I find a job around the city. I have been applying during my three weeks for 4 days last week and four days this week, in total, I am going to say 30 applications sent by email, I have received so far, 4 phone interviews, which I have been told is a good sign, and I have been requested a face to face meeting with two of them, I have been asked to take a test in each one, I have been asked to sign a paper consent to check my background (which obviously is going to come up black, I just arrived
) and the final decision for any of these two jobs, I will get one this coming Tuesday or Wednesday, God help me to get one of those at least.
