To All Forumers,
First of all, I would like to thank all of the experts in this forum that helped me a lot in getting my Canadian Visa. In return, I am writing this feedback of my experience. I hope these points will help you in some ways.
ArrivalVery smooth arrival at the Pearson International Airport. We've been accommodated nicely from point of entry to immigration to customs.
Points:
1. Make sure you have all your paperwork with you. ( Certificate of landing, Passports, 2 copies of your incoming items)
2. If you can carry you own things to the customs, do not let the airport porter to do it for you as it looks free but its not! Will cost you minimum $20 for the service. You can rent a trolley for a fraction of the price of the porter.
3. If there is no relatives picking you up from the airport, you can book online for a taxi. Just search Toronto Airport taxi on the net and it will come up. But be sure you have Canadian $ with you already. Roughly, it will cost you $65-$75 from airport anywhere in GTA IF PRE-BOOKED.
Housing1. It is crucial to be in a nice place when you first land here in Canada, as it won't be a good experience if you settle in a cheap but dangerous place. Sacrifice some more cash for the first 2 months for your apartment as this will be a very important stage of your immigration. You can search Kijiji for short term accom or in our case, we booked at AIRBNB.CA. It's a website where in private home owners lend their rooms/apartments for short term. It cost $200-$300 more than cheap ones but usually the owner can orient you to Canada and help you settle. And the most important is its safe! ( pls read the review on their page before you rent their place)
Transport
1. Try not to buy a car just as yet. When you land, what you have is time but not cash, so even commuting will cost you time its better than paying a car and insurance.
2. If you need a car for a day or 2, just rent. Its cheaper.
3. Insurance is SO HIGH here in Toronto. For new drivers, it will cost you $400-500/ month no matter what car you drive, so get a car if you can afford it.
Food
1. I can't say anything bad here. It is so cheap wherever you go. I have lived in Australia and New Zealand and Canada's food is cheaper.
2. If you rent a place, make sure it is near a supermarket. It will save you money to do your groceries.
JOB!
1. This is the hardest part. Take note, if your job is not regulated here ( meaning like nurses or doctors ) then you won't be able to get your dream job just as yet. You need to start from scratch. This means, start with a survival job for a few months but try to get a survival job atleast related to your field. It will be $10-$12/ hr and mostly part time jobs are available.
2. If your job is regulated, try to get registration before you land. In my case, I am a nurse, so I get my registration right after I landed and working as a nurse.
3. DON'T EXPECT! Canada will not give you your dream life right after you landed. I am telling you, it is HARD. I am not trying to scare you, but just be ready as like what I have mentioned- you will start from scratch. Give Canada a good 1-3 yrs to get you settle.
4. Job searching is a lot of time. You will spend 3-6 months to get your first job! I am not joking. You might get lucky and get a survival job in less than a month. So, try to bring lots of money to get thru this period.
5. In my case, I landed January 15, I reviewed until Feb 6 when I took the nursing exam. Feb 7, I started applying for whatever job even cleaners. Unfortunately, no work until March 15 when I worked as a caregiver. I did 4 nights in a week with a 12$/hr shift and this pays for our food and other miscellaneous. My wife ended up working in a department store just walking distance to us. Our landlord help her by being her reference- THIS IS THE REASON WHY I SAID FIND A NICE PLACE TO STAY. Nice home means nice people means help! Now, I will be starting as a Registered Nurse in one of the hospitals here. It took me 5 months to get the job and pay that I want. It might be different story for you if your profession is not regulated.
Honestly, Canada is a very nice place but very challenging. Again, if you have enough cash to spend even if you don't find work for 1 yr and if you have the courage to roll up your sleeves and trade your managerial position to a cleaner for some time then you can go here. Otherwise, you need to think twice as like what I have heard and experienced, it will take an Immigrant 1-3 years to get a stable job.
Again, this is not to discourage you from pursuing your Canadian dream, but for you to be ready before going here.
spike
we are choosing between vancouver & toronto since we have relatives & friends in both places. but we are leaning toward toronto because ontario is the only province that has both public and catholic schools (elementary & high school) and since we are from the philippines that are more inclined into a catholic schools and thought of the same in sending our kids to school. our relatives who will help us lives in brampton (gta) but we prefer toronto. our preference in choosing a place is the school's overall rankings in toronto district. ;D