Ziad87
I think rtp should be in Toronto by now. Hybrid submitted his papers around 4-5 months ago. So I guess if he didn't receive a response already then he should receive one very soon. Any updates Hybrid?
As for my case, Ontario seems to be really behind schedule right now. They haven't really explained why they are experiencing such huge delays. What should usually take 3-6 months is now taking 6-9 months. So they still haven't even processed my application. I sent it in late December and they just got to processing early December.
As for the regular Express Entry rounds, unfortunately they are still picking candidates with 450+ points. The government mentioned that last year they were dealing with Syrian immigrants and the backlog of 2014 applications. So it was expected that this year they would lower the minimum points required. However, from what I can see so far, it hasn't improved. In fact, it was a bit better last year.
Hybrid
No updates for me as well, still waiting, I submitted my application by end of December 2015, and last update I've received was in early January, haven't heard anything from them since January 3rd.
I heard from my relatives in Canada that they are still accepting Syrian refuges and are busy dealing with them. So no clue how long we will have to wait...
rtp
user wroteHello,
I would be very interested to hear about the guys that left, if they found it difficult to find a job, what problems did they have during interviews etc... So maybe keep this thread updated?
Sorry for the late reply.
I found a job very quickly, actually I found 2 jobs in like 2 month. I quit one and joined another, now am not sure if I got very lucky, or the market here is quite good, I would say both. My CV isnt bad either, I have MCSD, experience in .NET and AngularJS, and one online article. So am guessing those help too.
Just like most Lebanese companies, be prepared to do some exams and then some HR interview. I don't think there is anything special about finding a job here. Just like Lebanon, you have to show your skills and your eagerness to learn... It seems you can get away with not being an excellent English speaker.
However, I heard too many stories of engineer/pilots/computer science students working as a chief, cashier etc... My friend is a Chemist and he found a job after 1 year (in chemistry), he was working as a cashier for 1 year.
I think 6 month to find a job in computer science would be realistic.
Note that am speaking about Toronto, Montreal market is usually not as good as Toronto.
If anybody needs help, post here and I would ask, if i dont please message me.
user
Thanks. Well the unemployment rate in Lebanon is higher than in Toronto, and I have no problem findings jobs here. So I think it shouldn't be that hard. The new express system... It's very hard to get above the required points... I'm waiting for my wes degree and ielts results. Fingers crossed.
rtp
I was asked on "how is life in Toronto", I think some people will be interested, so let me answer here.
First of all I have been here for around 6 month and its my opinion...
I think the best way to describe Toronto is to view it as many Bourj Hammouds [BH] (Armenian). BH have a different culture ( even language is different...) than the rest of Lebanon. Toronto has a lot of BHs, so what happens is that some Chinese immigrates to Toronto and settles in lets say an area called Area88. His relatives want to immigrate, where do you think they are going to immigrate too, Area88 ofcourse. Its only natural for a "minority" to help out each other and form a subculture thingy like BH in Lebanon (btw am Armenian myself, just stating the obvious no offense). So what happened in Toronto (Canada), is that you have a lot of different cultures, each have their own Area. So Area88=Chinese, Area55=Indian, Area44=Iranian... Ofcourse people do mix with each other and everybody can speak English (with their accent lol). There are A LOT of chinese here and you would hear a lot of people talking Chinese and you would ask yourself "where the hell am I !?". So sitting in the subway you will most likely hear some different language than English because everybody speak their mother tongue....
In Toronto, you wont find a lot of racism, well everybody is from another country either way^_^, so people are friendly and respectful, people would tend to lean to their race but still its not bad. I heard its very bad in American and white people. Nobody is fond of Middle Eastern, me neither, and am from that area :P.
Don't worry there is hummus and Kenefe here too, there are some Supermarket that sell Lebanese products and Lebanese bread, the down side is that I live in an Iran/Korean, area and I need around 1h 15minutes to reach the lebanese supermarket, so it can be quite time consuming to reach your destination.
Its more Civilized here, like instead of yelling "M3alem 3l mafra2!!!", you push a button and the bus would stop on the next bus station.
The Commute is amazing here! There is a bus on every street! Subway is nice as well (a little bit of train traffic).
Expect to spend around $1600 USD per month (rent, transportation, eating, essentials), Montreal is suppose to be cheaper FYI.
Toronto is relatively flat, so no mountains, no uphill or downhill (in general). There are a lot of free parks here, I really envy children here, they have so much playing parks! There are lot of park for adults too like free baseball park, ice skating, soccer (football), basketball, skate park, picnic etc... You will see a lot of soccer fields empty (sad).
People in Toronto are very very very (did i say very?) health aware. They exercise a lot! You will see people jogging on the street in the middle of a storm (-15 degree) am like "wtf, go home!!". A lot of dogs too, apparently girls seem to be more attracted to dogs than men lol. Talking about girls, we all heard that Lebanese are the most beautiful women. LOL! Toronto has some insane beautiful looking girls, and there are all kind of women, white, black, indian, latino and the special mix between them as well ;) ... Just up your game and pick what you like.
to be continued....
Ziad87
Thanks for the info rtp!
Your budget seems pretty good. It's around $2,070 CAD, right? I am curious about your budget breakdown in addition to the location and type of housing you chose. If you don't feel comfortable answering these questions then no problem, I can understand.
Which area do you live in? Are you living alone? If so, 1 bedroom or bachelor apartment?
Are you using taxis in addition to public transportation? Do you use the monthly/yearly TTC passes?
Hybrid
What about salaries?
rtp
Sorry if my ideas are not organized, am just throwing whatever comes to mind. All below prices are in Canadian Dollar.
The Salaries range for Software Developer is between $35k -> $100k, 0 to 5+ years of experience respectively. I currently make $60k/year, I have around 5 years of experience. After Tax that's around $3.4k per month.
I use monthly TTC pass, i dont think there is a yearly one. No, usually you wont need any other method of transportation. TTC cover all of Toronto area and it up still 2am or something.
You should expect to pay around $1300 (bachelor) for rent, $140 (unlimited public transportation, in Toronto), $55 mobile + data, $450 food
I currently live in North York, near Maxome and Cummer. When I immigrated here, I didn't know anybody, so I used Airbnb to rented a room inside a house with an Iranian family. I pay $1000/month, dinner is included and I don't have to pay for electricity which usually mounts to $50/month and internet which is around $50/month.
Needless to say the internet speed here is insane and the electricity doesnt ever go off, talk about culture shock :).
You have around 6 month of cold here, so most outdoor activities stop. The city feels dead looking from the outside, but the malls are usually packed all season. After 6 month, the city is starting to come a live and you see people in parks playing soccer, baseball, football etc... It gets down to -20 degree, but its not as bad as it sound. Since the bus is always on time, you know when to start walking from your home to the bus station, you usually have withstand the cold for like 10minutes and then the bus has heats and the metro too, and there a decent of path underground. A decent amount of Malls are underground here, you feel like a Dwarf race :P
People here are busy with their lives, so usually people don't have a lot of time for one another since you have to clean your house, cook, iron etc... Maids are nearly non existent. So it does feel a little lonely, if you don't make friends and making friends is usually hard... Meetup.com does help, just came in from a soccer meetup :)
Hospitals are free but the doctors don't seem that good and usually have to wait for like 1-2 hours to be checked, even in emergency!
The main problem here is that you have to pay property tax which sums up for ~$350/month which is insane, even after you own the house you have to pay that amount... Car insurance is around $300/month. If your 20-30 year, I would say being in Toronto is very nice and go for it, worst case scenario, you stay here for 3-4 years and get the Canadian passport and take it from there. If you like it you stay, if you don't you can go elsewhere...
Ziad87
Thanks for answering my questions and even more.
Yeah I'm hearing about a lot bachelors and even small families deciding to just keep on renting without a plan to purchase property in the future. The taxes you mentioned and maintenance costs can be pretty high.
Thanks again and good luck!
rtp
My pleasure guys, if you have any questions let me know. I forgot to link you to some famous websites.
http://www.indeed.ca/ (finding job)
http://www.kijiji.ca/ (classified)
http://toronto.craigslist.ca/ (finding job + classified, i found my job here, if my memory serves me well)
http://www.viewit.ca/ (renting)
Thank you and best of luck for all of you!
user
Thank you very much.
scorpioxy
rtp, I'm glad that you've made it there.
If anyone is interested in information about Australian immigration, I'll be happy to share my experience. I had to go through it by myself so I'd like to help other people who are interested.
rolf
I dont live in canada but much of this applies to me too.
rtp wrote
Its more Civilized here, like instead of yelling "M3alem 3l mafra2!!!", you push a button and the bus would stop on the next bus station.
I actually started to miss that. It is very nice when you come from Lebanon, at first. You don't have to struggle all the time to get what you want. You just have to follow a simple and clear system and you will get it in a predictable manner.
But then when people never need to talk, only to follow the system, after a while they act detached and are less aware of each other. It's my theory anyway.
rtp wrote
Toronto is relatively flat, so no mountains, no uphill or downhill (in general). There are a lot of free parks here, I really envy children here, they have so much playing parks! There are lot of park for adults too like free baseball park, ice skating, soccer (football), basketball, skate park, picnic etc... You will see a lot of soccer fields empty (sad).
People in Toronto are very very very (did i say very?) health aware. They exercise a lot! You will see people jogging on the street in the middle of a storm (-15 degree) am like "wtf, go home!!". A lot of dogs too, apparently girls seem to be more attracted to dogs than men lol. Talking about girls, we all heard that Lebanese are the most beautiful women. LOL! Toronto has some insane beautiful looking girls, and there are all kind of women, white, black, indian, latino and the special mix between them as well ;)
Mountains is another thing I miss. And yes the winter is so long in northern countries. You also did not mention longer days, which is actually a nice thing.
Some people think that Lebanese girls are all that. They probably haven't been outside Lebanon! Take the prettiest Lebanese women you see, make her taller and prettier, add style and taste, a little bit of character and humility, and you get an idea. And don't get me started on all the exotic and mixed persons you see, black women with freckles and copper hair, mixed asian - european, etc.
And regarding the people jogging, I totally get you. Machines!
Also yeah quite healthy. I went to Canada once, I remember going to a pub and nobody smoked! That was before the ban on smoking in Lebanon, I dont know if anyone remember how it was in a pub on Monot on Saturday night. Cultural shock, but in a nice way.
eWizzard
rtp, were you already in Toronto when you landed the job?
thegodfatherdany
@rtp,
Since you mentioned your annual income previously, do you find it hard to save money on the long run considering your state as an employee with 5 years of experience? How would it apply for fresh graduates let's say in your opinion? I assume it would be quite tough to live there during the first years of experience considering someone with zero experience .
scorz
" Its more Civilized here, like instead of yelling "M3alem 3l mafra2!!!", you push a button and the bus would stop on the next bus station. "
Lebanese buses used to be like that in the mid 90s :(
Well there were no bus station but at least instead of yelling " 3al mafra2222 " you just push a button.
vegetaleb
What about Quebec ? As I am French educated I would see my self there, how's the job recruitment? Easier than let's say Dubai?
How much should you ask as salary if you want to pay a rent, live a good life and and grow your bank account?
Red7
rtp wroteI we all heard that Lebanese are the most beautiful women. LOL! Toronto has some insane beautiful looking girls, and there are all kind of women, white, black, indian, latino and the special mix between them as well ;) ... Just up your game and pick what you like.
I was in Quebec for a few weeks and I can confirm this statement.
I was like wtf the girl that begs in the metro is more beautiful than any Lebanese daddy girl.
vegetaleb
Red7 wrotertp wroteI we all heard that Lebanese are the most beautiful women. LOL! Toronto has some insane beautiful looking girls, and there are all kind of women, white, black, indian, latino and the special mix between them as well ;) ... Just up your game and pick what you like.
I was in Quebec for a few weeks and I can confirm this statement.
I was like wtf the girl that begs in the metro is more beautiful than any Lebanese daddy girl.
All Lebanese girlz are princess and they want to live like one, that's what's killing them sexually speaking
rtp
@rofl, its true you feel some kind of detachment, thats the down side... I believe that is why South Americans are considered to be the happiest because they have a lot of interaction with humans, here its so little, it is disturbing sometimes, thus the detachment. This is coming from a guy who isnt too high on human interaction to begin with ^_^ (introvert)
@eWizzard, I landed a job after around 1 month or something, not sure if i got very lucky.
@thegodfatherdany, 0 experience is hard anywhere, but 0 experience mostly depend on your skill, since most positions require a test. Am not sure if i should recommend having at least 2 years before you come or not. I think the 0 experience get payed around 35k-40k, you will be able to pay your expenses and do minor activities but I highly doubt you will be able to save. With 60k, I manage to save around 1.5k each month. But as a new immigrant, I would suggest you ask for lower price than the market, because you have a lot of local computer science students, so you should attract them with something, skill ofcourse but pay as well. So I would suggest to ask for max 35k. Once you get yourself in the market, the game becomes easy. You just have to land your first job...
@vegetaleb, I have no idea about Quebec but I know the rent is cheap by like $300 or something but their Tax on everything is more, here its 13%, in Quebec i think its 15%