Has anybody moved to Montreal

[canadaprparent]

Friends,

I have a job offer from Montreal in a reputed multinational firm. If I accept the offer i will be moving from US to
Montreal with my spouse and 5 yrs old. Has anybody moved to Montreal ?

Incase you did how did your find the place in terms of quality of living, cost of living, people etc. Were you able to
manage with French ? can you suggest any good places to live .

appreciate if anybody can share their thoughts ....

 

[Leon]

I will share what little I know which isn't much. I hope you get a reply from someone who actually lives there. I have some friends who live there and one who moved there without knowing a word of French. It is possible to get by in English and there is an English neighbourhood. However, much nicer if you speak French.

Daycare is subsidized a lot more in Quebec than in some other provinces. I know this because I briefly had a co-worker who came from Quebec and he moved back after a couple of months in Alberta because it was costing a fortune in daycare for his kids.

Quebec sends all kinds to French schools unless you have some extremely good reasons why your son needs to go to an English school. I am not sure what reasons they would consider as extremely good. I suppose saying that you are on a company transfer and may have to go back to the US where your son would have to go to an English school might help.

 

[links18]

You can live in Montreal w/o knowing any French. Most people are bilingual. In fact, it can be very frustrating to learn French there, because people will usually assume you are a tourist and respond to you in English. However, it is very hard to work in Quebec w/o knowing French.

 

[CharlotteJ]

Lovely city, but bad traffic ...

I consider Montréal as a living museum myself and it is in fact so too, but sure if you can have a good job and your family/friends with you, a great place to live in and grow up.

It is the city of " joie de vivre" the French way, but me, personally, there are tens of more fun great places and cities around or close to MTL to settle in and look for a job too and QC is a very charming and pretty province with friendly people too.

Oh and in MTL you get more value for your money if you want to buy or rent a property, larger homes for sure in quiet neighbourhoods.

In MTL itself, English is the business language or else, they won't be able to do any business at all with the world, like in Paris or elsewhere in France or Switzerland that large corps or companies use English language as to commincate, same for Germany, NL or any other non English speaking nation on Earth.

 

[PommeDeRoute]

Hi,

If you already have a job, a major hurdle is already cleared and you can deal with the rest.

Is it necessary to speak French in Montreal? No. Is it dysfunctional not to? Yes, I think so. If you want to learn French, there are many opportunities to do so. You can take university classes, go to a language school, place an ad and do a language exchange with a francophone who wants to learn English, and/or go through the francisation program. You can find out more about this program here: http://www.immigration-quebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/french-language/learning-online/admission.html.

There is alot of data suggesting that immigrants who go through francisation integrate better and are more upwardly mobile. I know first hand that these courses go a long way in making you functional in a francophone society. The program is completely free.

In terms of quality of life, taxes are high I won't lie. But there are alot of tax breaks for people who are in special situatations for example if you are studying, if your spouse does not work, if you have children, if you are renovating a home etc. If you are smart about it, you can also reduce your tax liability by investing in RRSPs, like in the rest of Canada. It is very inexpensive to buy a condo in Montreal. Condos in nice areas start at around $160,000, which puts ownership well within reach.

I would have to disagree with Charlotte on Montreal being a living museum. This is a very young city with lots of opportunities to socialize and go out. Montreal is known as North America's premier party city and I would say it lives up to this reputation. People here put the emphasis on being happy first. Everything else comes after, so this make it a very pleasant place to live. If you already have a job, I would say come on up. You will not regret it.