Moving to Canada

[Nasosdem]

Hi to all members,
I didn't know where to post this, so I just chose off-topic.
So, I am 20 year old, living in Greece, and I just finished my time in army.
I am thinking of moving to another country due to economic crisis (no jobs... seriously NOTHING), and I have a High School Degree as a Computer Technician (System, Network and Application Support), and I ended up choosing Canada (we call them "Professional High Schools" where you take a Degree at a Specialty you choose).
I am thinking of moving to Toronto, so I am asking:
1) What's the average salary of a Computer Technician or equivalent job?
2) What's the cost of living at Canada for 1 person? I mean, rent, utilities, internet provider cost etc.
3) Are there job offers there?
Please don't tell me stay at Greece, we have 30% unemployment, and around 80% at my age.
I wouldn't ask you if I wanted to stay.
Waiting for your answers guys!

 

[dalekphalm]

14 minutes ago, Nasosdem said:

Hi to all members,
I didn't know where to post this, so I just chose off-topic.
So, I am 20 year old, living in Greece, and I just finished my time in army.
I am thinking of moving to another country due to economic crisis (no jobs... seriously NOTHING), and I have a High School Degree as a Computer Technician (System, Network and Application Support), and I ended up choosing Canada (we call them "Professional High Schools" where you take a Degree at a Specialty you choose).
I am thinking of moving to Toronto, so I am asking:
1) What's the average salary of a Computer Technician or equivalent job?
2) What's the cost of living at Canada for 1 person? I mean, rent, utilities, internet provider cost etc.
3) Are there job offers there?
Please don't tell me stay at Greece, we have 30% unemployment, and around 80% at my age.
I wouldn't ask you if I wanted to stay.
Waiting for your answers guys!

 

First thing I would do, is do your research.

 

The Immigration Process for Canada is generally a long and expensive process. It can literally take years, and that's just for Permanent Residence Status, not even counting becoming a Citizen (if that's something you even care to do - certainly not required though).

 

For a Computer Technician, with no experience, you'd be looking at Entry Level. So basically, not much more than Minimum Wage - maybe $30,000/yr CAD. In Toronto, average wages tend to be a little higher, so maybe you'll get something that pays a bit more.

 

Costing of living in Toronto is among the very highest in Canada. Mostly this is due to cost of Rent or cost of buying property. Rent is going to be well over $1000/month for your own apartment (Unless it's a tiny shithole where you're just as likely to get mugged in your own bed as not).

 

Getting roommates or renting a room inside a larger apartment or house will help to keep costs down.

 

You should check real estate listings, apartment listing sites, and Kijiji (Canada's Craigslist lol - hell check Craigslist too). Most people advertise rooms for rent on Kijiji. Even apartments themselves are often listed there too.

 

Cost of food won't be too much higher than the rest of Canada. Same with utilities and Internet.

 

As for Internet itself, depends on what you need/want. You can get basic packages for as low as $30 or so, but you're looking at like 6 or 10 Mbps download. I pay $100 (just under) for 150/10Mbps - depending on where you choose in Toronto, a similar package would be available from Rogers or one of the TPIA resellers like TekSavvy (I use TekSavvy).

 

Utilities, you can expect to pay around $100-200 a month for all utilities, but this is just a rough estimate. It really depends on the specific place you get.

 

There are jobs in Toronto, yes. But competition is fierce. It's the largest city in Canada, so for every job you apply to, hundreds of others are probably also applying (Possibly even thousands).

 

In all honesty, you'll probably start out working at Best Buy or Staples doing computer repairs. NCIX has a few locations in Toronto, so you could apply there You won't see Linus though - he hasn't worked for NCIX for years, and he only really ever dealt with their BC locations.

 

Once you get some experience, you can expect to make at least $40,000/yr, if not more. Once you get a decent amount of experience, that number can easily jump up into the $50-60-70,000/yr range or higher, assuming you continue to grow your skillset. But those salaries are for people who have a good amount of experience, in most cases.

[GBELILREESE]

4 hours ago, Nasosdem said:

Hi to all members,
I didn't know where to post this, so I just chose off-topic.
So, I am 20 year old, living in Greece, and I just finished my time in army.
I am thinking of moving to another country due to economic crisis (no jobs... seriously NOTHING), and I have a High School Degree as a Computer Technician (System, Network and Application Support), and I ended up choosing Canada (we call them "Professional High Schools" where you take a Degree at a Specialty you choose).
I am thinking of moving to Toronto, so I am asking:
1) What's the average salary of a Computer Technician or equivalent job?
2) What's the cost of living at Canada for 1 person? I mean, rent, utilities, internet provider cost etc.
3) Are there job offers there?
Please don't tell me stay at Greece, we have 30% unemployment, and around 80% at my age.
I wouldn't ask you if I wanted to stay.
Waiting for your answers guys!

 

As Dalek said above perfectly it is very expensive to live in Toronto and its a long process with immigration. Do your research friend. 

[Nasosdem]

9 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

First thing I would do, is do your research.

 

The Immigration Process for Canada is generally a long and expensive process. It can literally take years, and that's just for Permanent Residence Status, not even counting becoming a Citizen (if that's something you even care to do - certainly not required though).

 

For a Computer Technician, with no experience, you'd be looking at Entry Level. So basically, not much more than Minimum Wage - maybe $30,000/yr CAD. In Toronto, average wages tend to be a little higher, so maybe you'll get something that pays a bit more.

 

Costing of living in Toronto is among the very highest in Canada. Mostly this is due to cost of Rent or cost of buying property. Rent is going to be well over $1000/month for your own apartment (Unless it's a tiny shithole where you're just as likely to get mugged in your own bed as not).

 

Getting roommates or renting a room inside a larger apartment or house will help to keep costs down.

 

You should check real estate listings, apartment listing sites, and Kijiji (Canada's Craigslist lol - hell check Craigslist too). Most people advertise rooms for rent on Kijiji. Even apartments themselves are often listed there too.

 

Cost of food won't be too much higher than the rest of Canada. Same with utilities and Internet.

 

As for Internet itself, depends on what you need/want. You can get basic packages for as low as $30 or so, but you're looking at like 6 or 10 Mbps download. I pay $100 (just under) for 150/10Mbps - depending on where you choose in Toronto, a similar package would be available from Rogers or one of the TPIA resellers like TekSavvy (I use TekSavvy).

 

Utilities, you can expect to pay around $100-200 a month for all utilities, but this is just a rough estimate. It really depends on the specific place you get.

 

There are jobs in Toronto, yes. But competition is fierce. It's the largest city in Canada, so for every job you apply to, hundreds of others are probably also applying (Possibly even thousands).

 

In all honesty, you'll probably start out working at Best Buy or Staples doing computer repairs. NCIX has a few locations in Toronto, so you could apply there You won't see Linus though - he hasn't worked for NCIX for years, and he only really ever dealt with their BC locations.

 

Once you get some experience, you can expect to make at least $40,000/yr, if not more. Once you get a decent amount of experience, that number can easily jump up into the $50-60-70,000/yr range or higher, assuming you continue to grow your skillset. But those salaries are for people who have a good amount of experience, in most cases.

Thank you for your answer.
There are job seek offices here at Greece, and I also know people who are already in Canada.
My godfather is actually going to come, and has very good friend due to his job (he has trained world-wide champions at Taekwondo).

This means, finding a job is easy, and the business who hires pays the transfer costs and guarantees to the government for me so I can get a visa very fast!

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, Nasosdem said:

Thank you for your answer.
There are job seek offices here at Greece, and I also know people who are already in Canada.
My godfather is actually going to come, and has very good friend due to his job (he has trained world-wide champions at Taekwondo).

This means, finding a job is easy, and the business who hires pays the transfer costs and guarantees to the government for me so I can get a visa very fast!

Having a company that will aid you through the process is a very huge benefit. It's a bit of a legal/paperwork nightmare to immigrate to most countries, and Canada is no different.

 

Those Job Seek offices should have a ton of info on the process if they're the ones helping you get the work visa.

[CostcoSamples]

Toronto is a major immigration center.  In fact, pure Canadians are probably a minority in Toronto.  It's a real multi-cultural disaster to be honest.  Tons of crime, a mixture of a lot of really terrible ideologies from 3rd world countries have come here, etc.  You'd be better off going west to Saskatchewan where there are more jobs and better political stability.  Taxes in Canada are high, but probably not as high as Greece.  Cost of living is tied to the price of oil because we are a major oil exporter.  When oil is high, the Canadian dollar is high and we can buy stuff for cheap, and vice-versa.  Please don't bring the same political ideologies that ruined your own country to Canada, please.

 

Winter is cold.  REALLY cold.  Your body will adapt, give it time.

Canada is not Greece, so don't get upset when things are different (this is a real challenge for people moving to another country/culture).  Come to Canada to make a better life, but become Canadian and adopt Canadian values.  Also, Canada is HUGE.  Toronto is not representative of the rest of the country.

 

[dalekphalm]

13 minutes ago, CostcoSamples said:

Toronto is a major immigration center.  In fact, pure Canadians are probably a minority in Toronto.  It's a real multi-cultural disaster to be honest.  Tons of crime, a mixture of a lot of really terrible ideologies from 3rd world countries have come here, etc.  You'd be better off going west to Saskatchewan where there are more jobs and better political stability.  Taxes in Canada are high, but probably not as high as Greece.  Cost of living is tied to the price of oil because we are a major oil exporter.  When oil is high, the Canadian dollar is high and we can buy stuff for cheap, and vice-versa.  Please don't bring the same political ideologies that ruined your own country to Canada, please.

 

Winter is cold.  REALLY cold.  Your body will adapt, give it time.

Canada is not Greece, so don't get upset when things are different (this is a real challenge for people moving to another country/culture).  Come to Canada to make a better life, but become Canadian and adopt Canadian values.  Also, Canada is HUGE.  Toronto is not representative of the rest of the country.

 

I will note that not all of Toronto is crime ridden. There are TONS of really nice areas and subdivisions and neighbourhoods in Toronto. Obviously, the nicer ones are more expensive though - as in any City, poverty and crime are connected.

 

I would personally never live in Toronto, because it's just too damn big, too expensive, and traffic is too bad. I live an hour outside of the GTA in a medium-large city and it's fantastic out this way.

[Prysin]

16 hours ago, Nasosdem said:

Hi to all members,
I didn't know where to post this, so I just chose off-topic.
So, I am 20 year old, living in Greece, and I just finished my time in army.
I am thinking of moving to another country due to economic crisis (no jobs... seriously NOTHING), and I have a High School Degree as a Computer Technician (System, Network and Application Support), and I ended up choosing Canada (we call them "Professional High Schools" where you take a Degree at a Specialty you choose).
I am thinking of moving to Toronto, so I am asking:
1) What's the average salary of a Computer Technician or equivalent job?
2) What's the cost of living at Canada for 1 person? I mean, rent, utilities, internet provider cost etc.
3) Are there job offers there?
Please don't tell me stay at Greece, we have 30% unemployment, and around 80% at my age.
I wouldn't ask you if I wanted to stay.
Waiting for your answers guys!

 

just make sure to apologize ahead of time and after the fact and you're good

[NavyCuda]

Cost of food is very high compared to Germany, so if your food prices are similar to Germany, expect to pay more to eat.  I go through about $250-$400/month on food.  In a good paycheck month I eat better and the cost goes up.

 

Immigration is a long drawn out process.  I sponsered my wife who immigrated from Germany.  It was $1200 in paper work, plus there will be periods of time during your immigration process that you will not be permitted to work in Canada.  So realistically expect to have enough money to leave Canada a couple times and support yourself while here for a couple years.  If you get caught working under the table that can be the end of your immigration process, resulting in deportation.

[Canada EH]

Well I will contain myself and select my words wisely.

I wish you the best and we need more people like you from your country and else where in non "hostile" countries.

I will not expand on that and leave it as vague. I took out geographical context.

I believe immigration should be a gift given by our government to people who have a skill that the work force lacks here in Canada.

History lessons and progression of language (spoken and written) should be mandatory like some Scandavian countries.

Housing will be an issue, its expensive, depending on where you are renting should be easy.

If you want to make money money, go into the oil patch. Work in a camp as a maid(cleaning etc) or food. Work on getting your H2S Alive ticket, a drivers license, First Aid, buy yourself a 4x4 truck and get on a rig and make tons of money. Sure you could stay in the city and flip burgs, mop, drive taxi, make sandwiches, sweep, or do security. That might be a good route for you to take, security, sit for hours and every now and then walk around and check doors, learn how to dial a cell for help. But the key to progress is to speak good english, have good writting skills and have a great work ethic. You then can climb into contruction trade get some more skills. But the money honey is in oil. You can rent a room for $550/m, an apartment is $850/m. Temp agency labor job is $12/hr, to live on you need to make $18/hr. Bills, cell is like $30/m, transit pass $100/m, utlities $150+/m, insurance is $100 (over 26, no accidents, new driver - yes you will be considered a new driver regardless thank the ins co), gas $1/L 1L gets you 7km. A used vehicle is $500+.

[dalekphalm]

8 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

Well I will contain myself and select my words wisely.

I wish you the best and we need more people like you from your country and else where in non "hostile" countries.

I will not expand on that and leave it as vague. I took out geographical context.

I believe immigration should be a gift given by our government to people who have a skill that the work force lacks here in Canada.

History lessons and progression of language (spoken and written) should be mandatory like some Scandavian countries.

Housing will be an issue, its expensive, depending on where you are renting should be easy.

If you want to make money money, go into the oil patch. Work in a camp as a maid(cleaning etc) or food. Work on getting your H2S Alive ticket, a drivers license, First Aid, buy yourself a 4x4 truck and get on a rig and make tons of money. Sure you could stay in the city and flip burgs, mop, drive taxi, make sandwiches, sweep, or do security. That might be a good route for you to take, security, sit for hours and every now and then walk around and check doors, learn how to dial a cell for help. But the key to progress is to speak good english, have good writting skills and have a great work ethic. You then can climb into contruction trade get some more skills. But the money honey is in oil. You can rent a room for $550/m, an apartment is $850/m. Temp agency labor job is $12/hr, to live on you need to make $18/hr. Bills, cell is like $30/m, transit pass $100/m, utlities $150+/m, insurance is $100 (over 26, no accidents, new driver - yes you will be considered a new driver regardless thank the ins co), gas $1/L 1L gets you 7km. A used vehicle is $500+.

Great information, but all of this only seems to apply to Alberta - not Toronto, like the OP was asking. he's also somewhat skilled, since he has a specialized "Computer Technician" thing from his school - though to be honest I have no idea what that's worth to Canadian employers (Probably not much), so I doubt he'll have to mop floors or be a maid.

[NavyCuda]

I got out of IT because the pay was terrible.

 

I've worked in the oil patch and making money out there is an understatement, if you're willing to work.

 

I worked 7 days a week for 12-14hours a day.  My paycheck was $3600net every two weeks, gross was somewhere over $5000... damn taxes and deductions.  I had the advantage of being a sub-contractor so they paid for us to stay in a camp, so I had zero living costs while out there.

[Canada EH]

Oh some of the camps are amazing. Just amazing.