Landing Experience - Calgary Alberta

[ramzy2277]

Thanks obaid for the informative reply,

by the way are u still in ur home country or already in calgary......how did u book the flat in advance?....was it by ur name or ur friend`s name?.....may i know which location of NE and how many bedrooms and the cost......?....i choosed falconridge NE becuz i have a distant relatives living there ,i already informed them to look for a place for me,but somehow i found them little bit lazy and not doing much....so i decided to look by myself online......also I will come to calgary like in late may not around 23 or 25 so i dont know if i will find rentals starting by that time and for a short period,like month to month till i get our PR cards......

regarding the rent cars?....i know its expensive but i was thinking like whenever we have important place to go and its not easy to commute in unknow city along with ur wife and 10 month baby....so i was thinking to rent a car for a few days till we finalize the official papers like SIN CARD,HEALTH CARD.....JOB FAIRS and collegues...then return the car....i hope someone knows a good website to check how much it will cost to rent a car for lets say a week....?

 

[myluckyprincess]

"hi. for those who already have settled in Calgary, do you think these studies are true?

Top 1 Large City: Calgary (#2 Ottawa; #3 Edmonton)

#1 Best Place to Raise Kids: Calgary

#3 Best Place for New Immigrants: Calgary (#1 Burlington; #2 Vaughan)

Source: http://www.moneysense.ca/2013/03/20/canadas-best-places-to-live-2013/"

that's right. the comments in the link shows that Calgary is not one the best cities in canada. but i hope some others here may still share their experiences on living this particular place.

I am landing next month insha ALLAH at Toronto then go to Calgary as final destination.......i checked ur link but try to read the reader`s comment on this subject.......seems scary....most of them disagree sharply that Calgary is the best place to live in canada most of them agree that calgarians are snoppy and rude compared to other canadian citizens......hope someone who lives there can verify this argument....especially Amitkey......

 

[obaid.Samee]

Thanks obaid for the informative reply,

by the way are u still in ur home country or already in calgary......how did u book the flat in advance?....was it by ur name or ur friend`s name?.....may i know which location of NE and how many bedrooms and the cost......?....i choosed falconridge NE becuz i have a distant relatives living there ,i already informed them to look for a place for me,but somehow i found them little bit lazy and not doing much....so i decided to look by myself online......also I will come to calgary like in late may not around 23 or 25 so i dont know if i will find rentals starting by that time and for a short period,like month to month till i get our PR cards......

regarding the rent cars?....i know its expensive but i was thinking like whenever we have important place to go and its not easy to commute in unknow city along with ur wife and 10 month baby....so i was thinking to rent a car for a few days till we finalize the official papers like SIN CARD,HEALTH CARD.....JOB FAIRS and collegues...then return the car....i hope someone knows a good website to check how much it will cost to rent a car for lets say a week....?

No problem bro always willing to help .
I am still in my home country. I rented the place in advance and as amikety told us in her previous posts most of the time rent is due on every 1st of every month but you can find places where u can rent them by 15th of month. I luckily found a place from 15 to 15 rent. I got 1 bed room basement which is big and is almost furnished. ITs near airport and bedington hill (not good with areas of calgary thorncliff I guess is the name of neighborhood ). I tried finding a place online but until my friend helped me I could not find one. The lease is with my name on it and I will sign it when I will be Calgary. I don’t think they(ur relatives) are lazy friend. Life in Calgary is very busy. Most of the owners will give you time after 5 and for 1 or 2 hour window in weekdays for the apartment’s view. On weekends you will have full day for visit. What I have heard now a days is that influx has increased and there are very few places left for rent. My suggestion is if your relatives are kind enough, ask them to book a place from 15th of may for you. If you are lucky u will find a place from 15 otherwise you will have to look for a place from 1st. or you can save the extra rent money and come prior to you family and stay at your relatives' place alone for a week or 2 (you can fit in on a couch rather you occupy a room at their place with your family )and look for places. Normally houses are small in size and have 1 or 1.5 washrooms in it. Once you have one (which I think you will get in a week) you call your family to Calgary (provided your wife can travel alone with an infant) and you will not bother your relatives in Calgary. one more thing you can do, there are many places furnished on day to day rent but expensive. you can come with your family rent them for 2-3 weeks and in the mean while find a place for rent. You have to do a lot of things on your own unlike your native country where you have many friends and contacts willing to help you . I hope you understand what i am refering to.

For rent a car it’s your call. Since I don’t live in Calgary till now I cannot be sure about the system. But I have heard it is good. you just have to know the bus and C-train routs.
and for important things like SIN card and health card you can use a taxi (which might be expensive but comparing to a week's rent and insurance will be affordable). I am sure you will not go to job fairs with your wife and 10months kid will you? so if not then you can take a bus for that. But once again these are my thoughts. You can wait till any one in Calgary replies you (Its night time there) or do whatever is convenient for you.

Hope it is helpful.
Regards,

 

[mythestic]

One more question for the experienced ones.... Regarding the list of the goods to bring canada. Which are necessary to take pictures and give them to customs at the landing ? I've read that laptops are now mandatory as well as jewelry. I did know about picture of the last ones.

As usual thanks in advance

we landed in last september.. only had pictures of jewelry.. they were accepted.. no issue at all.. I dont think you will need pictures of Laptops n other electronic devices.. However, Qorax can answer this better.

 

[2calgary]

No problem bro always willing to help .
I am still in my home country. I rented the place in advance and as amikety told us in her previous posts most of the time rent is due on every 1st of every month but you can find places where u can rent them by 15th of month. I luckily found a place from 15 to 15 rent. I got 1 bed room basement which is big and is almost furnished. ITs near airport and bedington hill (not good with areas of calgary thorncliff I guess is the name of neighborhood ). I tried finding a place online but until my friend helped me I could not find one. The lease is with my name on it and I will sign it when I will be Calgary. I don't think they(ur relatives) are lazy friend. Life in Calgary is very busy. Most of the owners will give you time after 5 and for 1 or 2 hour window in weekdays for the apartment's view. On weekends you will have full day for visit. What I have heard now a days is that influx has increased and there are very few places left for rent. My suggestion is if your relatives are kind enough, ask them to book a place from 15th of may for you. If you are lucky u will find a place from 15 otherwise you will have to look for a place from 1st. or you can save the extra rent money and come prior to you family and stay at your relatives' place alone for a week or 2 (you can fit in on a couch rather you occupy a room at their place with your family )and look for places. Normally houses are small in size and have 1 or 1.5 washrooms in it. Once you have one (which I think you will get in a week) you call your family to Calgary (provided your wife can travel alone with an infant) and you will not bother your relatives in Calgary. one more thing you can do, there are many places furnished on day to day rent but expensive. you can come with your family rent them for 2-3 weeks and in the mean while find a place for rent. You have to do a lot of things on your own unlike your native country where you have many friends and contacts willing to help you . I hope you understand what i am refering to.

For rent a car it's your call. Since I don't live in Calgary till now I cannot be sure about the system. But I have heard it is good. you just have to know the bus and C-train routs.
and for important things like SIN card and health card you can use a taxi (which might be expensive but comparing to a week's rent and insurance will be affordable). I am sure you will not go to job fairs with your wife and 10months kid will you? so if not then you can take a bus for that. But once again these are my thoughts. You can wait till any one in Calgary replies you (Its night time there) or do whatever is convenient for you.

Hope it is helpful.
Regards,

hiya........nicely explained obaid bro..........+1 for u

 

[betterfuture]

Thank you all for your high value comments. Good to hear some of you had no issue stablishing in calgary even when you still at home country. Regarding renting without having looked the place neighborhood and meet the landlord peronally, I've been suggested to land in calgary and stay in a hotel or a in a short place accomodation until I find the place to live. That's the plan I'm considering but, I'm preparing a list of places to look when I arrived, nonetheless I couldn't find a short stay place so far. Any help you can give me will be appreciated.

Ramzy, other provinces will be ok for me too. I believe in my case The important thing as a newcomer is to get a job as soon as possible, no mater where it is. Gaining confidence and experience in calgary will be considered as an asset for further job opportunities. Volunteer jobs in the o&g area is not common but It would worth to try it.

I personally believe renting a car with the international driver license will be very expensive, however I understand you situation with your family. Asses how many days you will need the car and how much fuel you will need and evaluate the costs associated. In my case I'm single and moving to calgary alone so I am prepared mentally to take the train and buses around th city as long as my conditions in the new country were stable and then I will take the next step to buy a car..of course that's my personal plan.

Regards,

 

[obaid.Samee]

hiya........nicely explained obaid bro..........+1 for u

Thanks Bro... my first +1

 

[ramzy2277]

Thanks bro obaid ur reply is really helpful..........i will try to push our relatives to look for a furnished flat more seriously......bybthe way did u buy an international travel insurance.....i think we need it, as alberta province will revoke ur card if u dont stay 6 months in a 12 month period.......so if u going to stay for short time like me iguess better to buy one.

 

[ublerum]

You aren't giving us much to go on with "professional" job. What type of work is your husband considering? Has he contacted Labour Ready? They can help him find temporary work, so at least he has some income. My husband's job hires workers from Labour Ready to help unload orders from delivery trucks. Not fun, but at least it's work and he can meet people and learn about opportunities.

By profession my husband is an accountant and he has registered with lots of hiring agencies who seemed very promising when they met him but there is always this issue of canadian job experience which obviously one who is coming as a skilled immigrant doesn't have ...now my husband is applying in supemarkets and other places for odd jobs..can you give me the phone number of this Labor ready..so that he can contact them ...right now he just wants work,,,,,any work would be fine..we dont want to lose all our saving on the rent and other expenses...thanks for your help

 

[ublerum]

One more question for the experienced ones.... Regarding the list of the goods to bring canada. Which are necessary to take pictures and give them to customs at the landing ? I've read that laptops are now mandatory as well as jewelry. I did know about picture of the last ones.

As usual thanks in advance

We found the apartment through a broker whose relative owned this apt in a newly constructed building in NE. Its very hard to find good places now since manyyy people are cuming here everyday and almost all basements and apartments are booked very quickly...and as for the photographs ..you do not need to giv pictures of any good accompanying you or later except gold jewlery if u intend to bring something later ..if you are bringing with you just u should know its worth.

 

[ublerum]

Hi Ublerum,

can you please tell me how u found this one bedroom,and how much u pay as rent.....i am aslo planning to land at Calgary next month and we are a couple with one infant, i will look for a 1 bedroom with living room in the range of 1200$ in FalconRidge.

thanks

by the way whats ur husband`s profession, i can assist by giving some good centers that prepare newcomers to canadian workplace and strategies of finding jobs.

We found the apartment through a broker whose add we saw in some halal meat shop here..we are paying 1100 for one bedroom and it includes utilities..as for my husband's luck with finding job he has already been to many settlement agencies and centre for newcomers but they all just have strategies and we cannot just survive by them....its hard getting your first job here i think cauz no on one is ready to give one chance to the new comers!

 

[manila07]

We already landed in Calgary last march 29. Let me just share my experiences before landing till now. Lucky for my I have a cousin in Calgary but he is still renting so he is the one who facilitated the place that we are renting right now. We live in a basement in SE near Marlborough mall. The weather is something to get used to but locals say that weather this time of the year is already okay for them. For the first few days we just tried to cope with the weather and the time difference by Monday bought a map of Calgary and asked locals where to get our SIN, Health Card and Scotia Bank as referred by our thread starter. Tuesday we started applying for our SIN, Health Card and getting a bank acct, everyone we met that day are very helpful and polite. Wednesday morning my wife woke up with the flu, good thing we brought some medicines and now she is feeling okay. This is our 1st week in Canada and we just started passing resume online and through people we met and we are hopeful that we are going to get jobs soon.

I forgot to say that I am a registered nurse in our country and also a registered teacher but I am willing to do jobs out of my field learn the Canadian way and contribute.

 

[ramzy2277]

We already landed in Calgary last march 29. Let me just share my experiences before landing till now. Lucky for my I have a cousin in Calgary but he is still renting so he is the one who facilitated the place that we are renting right now. We live in a basement in SE near Marlborough mall. The weather is something to get used to but locals say that weather this time of the year is already okay for them. For the first few days we just tried to cope with the weather and the time difference by Monday bought a map of Calgary and asked locals where to get our SIN, Health Card and Scotia Bank as referred by our thread starter. Tuesday we started applying for our SIN, Health Card and getting a bank acct, everyone we met that day are very helpful and polite. Wednesday morning my wife woke up with the flu, good thing we brought some medicines and now she is feeling okay. This is our 1st week in Canada and we just started passing resume online and through people we met and we are hopeful that we are going to get jobs soon.

I forgot to say that I am a registered nurse in our country and also a registered teacher but I am willing to do jobs out of my field learn the Canadian way and contribute.

thanks manila for sharing ur experience,

my wife is RN as well,but she still worked on assessing her credentials so far, did u?...can u plz tell me whats ur plan for getting certified as RN in Calgary.......second....I am worried from the weather as well, being in the gulf all my life then going to a cold country is worrying me a lot.....i think its still cold in Calgary in April and probably May .....so do we have to bring heavy cloths and what kind of medicines we r allowed to take with us..?....like antibiotic bills ,cough syrup ....etc.....by the way....does the heating system works even in summer...!!.....i checked some weather forecast websites....the temp decrees to 8 to 6 C degrees at nights...thats way cold to me..... :-*

 

[mythestic]

We already landed in Calgary last march 29. Let me just share my experiences before landing till now. Lucky for my I have a cousin in Calgary but he is still renting so he is the one who facilitated the place that we are renting right now. We live in a basement in SE near Marlborough mall. The weather is something to get used to but locals say that weather this time of the year is already okay for them. For the first few days we just tried to cope with the weather and the time difference by Monday bought a map of Calgary and asked locals where to get our SIN, Health Card and Scotia Bank as referred by our thread starter. Tuesday we started applying for our SIN, Health Card and getting a bank acct, everyone we met that day are very helpful and polite. Wednesday morning my wife woke up with the flu, good thing we brought some medicines and now she is feeling okay. This is our 1st week in Canada and we just started passing resume online and through people we met and we are hopeful that we are going to get jobs soon.

I forgot to say that I am a registered nurse in our country and also a registered teacher but I am willing to do jobs out of my field learn the Canadian way and contribute.

You guys, and everyone who is landing should contact "Center for Newcomers". This is the website and location details, call them to get the appointment and visit them.. they are really helpful!

Suite 1010-999 36 St NE Calgary, AB T2A 7X6
(403) 569-3325

www.centrefornewcomers.ca/

 

[brighta]

You guys, and everyone who is landing should contact "Center for Newcomers". This is the website and location details, call them to get the appointment and visit them.. they are really helpful!

Suite 1010-999 36 St NE Calgary, AB T2A 7X6
(403) 569-3325

Dear Mythestic
Is there any "center for new comers" thing in Sowtheast area?
Thank you