Need Help!:Indian moving to Canada from US

K

kumar 1

New Member
Hi,I\'m exploring the possibilities of moving to Canada as my 6-year limit on H1 going to expire in about a year.(I\'m basically from India and have been living in US past 5 years).

I\'m considering the option - Perminant Residency in Canada ,which I heard will roughly take about 6-9months.Also I want to explore opportunities for Software Architects/Programmers.Currently I live in SanJose,California and I\'m paid extremely well.However I\'m not sure about Canadian economy,job opportunities,cost of living.

I would appreciate any pointers to following questions.
1.How is cost of living in Canada?How expensive is Accomodation?Here in California,renting one bed room apartment costs about 1500 US dollars per month...

2.How are the taxes?

3.How are the job opportunities in Canada for Software Architects/Programmers.I\'ve got about 8 years of experience in designing,programming in internet/Java/C++ and other..I tried www.JobsCanada.com but that site not carrying much info...I would appreciate any info regarding this.

4.I\'m still not clear who starts Perminant Residency apllication ..employer or employee himself? Agian,where can I get more info about this.

I\'m currently in confused state not able to decide what to do...Please Help me!!! Share your experience if you have gone thru similar stage and learned some points...
I would appreciate any info/advice/suggestions.

Thanks,
Kumar
 
No Title

Let me see if I can answer your questions. For your info I lived and worked in Toronto as immigrant before moving to US and I am also.

1. It depends on where you want to live. If it is going to be Toronto which is definitely expensive than other places, the cost of living is much less than California. You should be able to rent one bedroom apartment for around 1000 dollars Canadian. This will usually includes Hydro and water(apartment rent generally includes these things). After coming to US, my family always complains about high cost of living here.

2. Taxes are high. But there is a trend both at State level and federal level to reduce them. Ontario already started doing them. I heard after next federal election opposition promised to introduce flat Tax rate of 17%(attractive even compared to US rates). The only thing that hurt is PST & GST(sales Tax) is 15%. That is, when ever you buy some thing you 15% sales Tax.

3. Job opportunities for software people are excellent. But do not expect the kind of salaries you are getting in California. You should be able to get starting salary of 50 to 60K with your experience.

4. You should apply for immigration. You can contact Canadian consulate( I am not sure there is one in California or not) and tell them that you are interested in immigrating. They will send you the application. The whole process should not take more than 6 to 8 months.
 
No Title

A few answers.

1) I spent about 18 months in Calgary, Canada and found that apartments rents were quite a bit lower than California. I was able to rent a two bedroom townhouse for about $950 including the utilities and heating. Rents are a bit higher in other cities, notably Vancouver and Toronto. The prices of momst other commodities are higher in Canadian dollars, e.g. food items, clothing, consumer electronics and appliances etc. FOr more info on the subject, refer to the site http://www.relocatecanada.com/index.html.

2) Canada has higher income taxes than the US, both federal and provincial. SInce you are curently in California, you may not notice the difference as much as someone from Texas would. There is 7.5% federal sales tax (GST) and in some provinces, a 7.5% provincial sales tax (PST).

3) Job oportunities are abundant, particularly in the Toronto area. Your best bet will be Usenet newsgroups can.jobs, bc.jobs, ab.jobs etc.

4) In Canada, an individual can apply for permanent residency by himself. You don\'t need to have a job offer, but it helps if you do. For detailed info on the subject, please see the following web sites
http://canadavisa.com/english.htm
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.html
http://www.immigration.ca/

Hope that helps,

Milind
 
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