Canada?

[Garfield 2]

Hey guys.

As some of you may know, I've always wanted to live in the States. Getting there is obviously not easy, but I've applied for a Green Card in the Diversity Visa lottery.

The results come out in May, but I won't get it most likely.

 

There are many Work in Canada expos in Ireland recently, and it came across my mind to maybe try Canada? Visas are not that hard to get either.

 

What are the benefits and drawbacks of choosing Canada over the States?

 

What kind of money is possible to be earned at the age of 21, with little experience and a High School diploma?

 

Thanks,

Garfield

[Raavi]

With a high school diploma?! Good luck with that. 9/10 skilled workers are chosen over people with basic education. Canada, is a beautiful country. If you want to be relatively close to NYC, Toronto would be a good choice, a very diverse and interesting city. If you prefer nature and don't mind a lot of rain, Vancouver is your city. Canada is US-light if you will. It's a lot like the US but arguebly much more livable.

[Garfield 2]

With a high school diploma?! Good luck with that. 9/10 skilled workers are chosen over people with basic education. Canada, is a beautiful country. If you want to be relatively close to NYC, Toronto would be a good choice, a very diverse and interesting city. If you prefer nature and don't mind a lot of rain, Vancouver is your city. Canada is US-light if you will. It's a lot like the US but arguebly much more livable.

Not from Ireland though. Most people are starting to get educated now since the "if-you-have-no-degree-get-lost" attitude is starting to emerge.

Most people here aged 25-40 don't have anything but a high school diploma.

[Trund]

You'll most likely make considerably less money than you would here in Europe, especially without a College degree.

You could go to College over there if you want to, but that's probably really expensive as a foreigner.

 

You're also forgetting that Canada has quite some requirements as well to be able to receive a work permit.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-who.asp

 

There's quite some requirements that you need to fullfil. I think for you the best would be to contact the immigration office, and just ask them what the chances are to find a job, they should know the best after all.

 

Would also be a good idea to check whether you are even eligible to work there, once you know whether you are you can always ask them for further informations.

 

I mean I do know people that moved to Canada, but all of them had lots of work experience and were at a higher age already, so it was easy for them to find a job and easy to get a permit as well.

[Inky]

I'd say with just a highschool diploma you'd either be doing retail work or warehouse work. There's probably more but really that's around the type of work you'll get. I don't know what minimum wage is anymore, but my last job in retail over the last 3 years I went from $10/hr to $13.75/hr. In a full 80 hour pay period that's around $850 a pay cheque if I remember correctly. As for a warehouse job, the only one I had (which involved unloading and loading trucks for SEARS) started at $14/hr.

 

With how much it costs to live where I am, in Calgary, that alone might not be enough to live on your own each month so you'd need a roommate for sure.

[MIKON8ERISBACK]

The Greater Toronto Area can be ridiculously expensive to live in even with a roommate splitting the costs. Take this from the person who actually lives there. If you really want to be close to the American border, than try the Niagara region. I would suggest looking at Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Fort Erie (just across the river from Buffalo and a minutes drive from the American border), or Welland. However, you can reduce a lot of financial strain by living out in a relatively rural area. Lakefront real estate can get quite pricey.

 

The stereotype of Canadians being polite has some truth to it, however, just like anywhere else, the odds of bumping in to certain types of people is an issue of luck. The cost of everything including health care in some instances tends to be considerably more than in the United States. In the Niagara Region, especially in areas near the south shore of Lake Ontario, there are a lot of fruit orchards and wineries that dot the landscape and the immediate area surrounding St. Catharines has a slightly milder micro climate in comparison to other areas, however, they are also very prone to relatively unpredictable lake effect snow storms which can create blizzard conditions. In most areas of Southern Ontario under the moderating effects of the Great Lakes, rain is not an uncommon occurrence during the winter and mild spells bringing temperatures into the double digits on the Celsius scale happen once to twice a season.

 

I would suggest avoiding the Greater Toronto Area entirely due to the traffic, politics, and cost of living. The whole Greater Toronto Area suffers from a cocktail of almost non-existent mass transit, a low quantity of highways, and a low quantity of arterial roads coupled with very high population density and explosive expansion of the suburbs. Almost all major urban centers suffer from traffic dilemmas nowadays, but Toronto takes the cake because it is among the worst in North America. It's worst than New York City with it's impressive mass transit, and it's also worse than LA with it's well designed freeway system, seriously.

 

As for the politics, if you hit someone with a broomstick and spray someone with food peppers who is trying to rob you in Toronto, you will be charged with assault with a weapon and administering a noxious substance.

[Antinark]

There are quite a few irish ex-pats here in Toronto. Seems like overnight all the irish pubs went from being hokey knock offs with latina waitresses to full on green and orange, stew bubbling, Sinn Fein stocked motherf*ckers. A lot of young people seem to be finding work here, though mostly in the service industry and the trades. I work with a few irish fellows in the film industry, good guys.

 

Toronto isn't stacked with promising jobs, but there's a lot of work out west on the tar sands (though that's sort of collapsing slowly these days). I'd say it's worth it if you want a mix up, i've heard the same about the visa's being fairly easy to get. Hopefully the celtic tiger recovers soon, it's sort of sad seeing a whole generation in exodus.

 

^And don't listen to the 905'er above me, Toronto is a great place to live. Everybody says it's expensive, but i've never paid more that $500 a month in rent (you just have to know where to look, go north of bloor and you're golden). I'm a 20 minute bike ride from the heart of the city, and I can eat the food of 30 different nations within a kilometre radius of my home. Montreal is pretentious (at least the anglophones are) and Vancouver changes from utopia in the span of a city block (that and you pay $1000/month to live in a shoebox).

Edited March 3, 2013 by Antinark

[Tchuck]

Been living in Vancouver for just over a year now, having finally landed a job after a year studying. It's an amazing city, very liveable. Downtown will be quite expensive to live in, but if you don't mind commuting you can find cheaper things in nearby cities like Richmond and Burnaby. It rains a lot when it's not summer, it's close to beautiful Whistler, and it's very safe and the people are nice. You are also a stone throw from the US border, with Seattle nearby giving you cheaper air access to the rest of the US.

 

Regarding finding work and such, can't help you much there. In some areas, experience will count more than a degree, specially in the games industry which is where I work. You can find quite a number of positions in the varied fields. If you speak a second language like Chinese or Japanese, it's even better. You'll most likely find some positions in retail or working at bars and restaurants, at least that's what 90% of the European friends I made here worked at. If you wanna get a feel for it, you can go on Vancouver craigslist and search around to see the sort of requirements they look for.

 

If you don't care for extreme conditions, you can always go for the Northwest Territories and the like, where it's terrible weather, but they need people. Or go out to Nova Scotia or Newfoundland if you don't mind nothing ever happening

[Icarus]

there's a lot of work out west on the tar sands (though that's sort of collapsing slowly these days)

Really? Last I heard, they were expanding. I don't think you're going to see too much collapse in that area of the province until oil prices go completely bust and/or there's no more oil left to drill for. There's a lot of companies hiring for oil excavation en masse.

 

If you want a job that pays quite well (I'm talking $25/hr+) but has really harsh working hours, think about taking a job in the oil patch as a labourer in Alberta. You'll work your ass off, but you'll get paid for it.

[Inky]

That's right, they don't skip on wages up north there. I don't know how true this is, but from what I've heard people that work in Starbucks up in Fort McMurray start at $25/hr.

[luongo01]

That's right, they don't skip on wages up north there. I don't know how true this is, but from what I've heard people that work in Starbucks up in Fort McMurray start at $25/hr.

That's true, but buying some stuff from stores is a lot more expensive as well mostly because of transportation costs. If someone does end up working up north, penny pinch as much as you can and save some money. Then you can move to another city and all those savings should help pay some of the ridiculous rent prices.

 

 

[omgz153]

Be careful of the ugly women in Canada.

[Tsuroki]

There are quite a few irish ex-pats here in Toronto. Seems like overnight all the irish pubs went from being hokey knock offs with latina waitresses to full on green and orange, stew bubbling, Sinn Fein stocked motherf*ckers.

God bless em. Cute Irish waitresses that could likely kick your ass from here to Mississauga if you made a wrong step.

 

I love it.

 

'Nark is on the money, though. Lots of expat Irish here in T.O. A good gaggle in my apartment building, and I've worked with a few in previous jobs (IT-related).