Another [Canadian] thread
That_Spoony_Bard
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Registered User regular
So here's my story:
I'm located in Kent (25 minutes south of Seattle) and I'm finishing up grad school in August with a degree in counseling. Right now, the counseling field isn't that great (mostly due to state cuts, as well as an influx of therapists and social workers) in King County. I've played around with the idea of looking for a job in my field up in Canada, and thus have a few questions.
1: I've noticed that many of the counseling jobs start off a fair amount higher than the jobs in Seattle/WA (16-20/hr in US vs 25-30/hr in CDN). AFAIK, the cost of living isn't that much different according to some sites I looked at. Am I missing something?
2: Could anybody speak to the license requirements in BC to practice counseling? I'd imagine it varies, but some of the government sites regarding requirements are kind of hard to make sense of.
3: Is it possible to maintain a very part time job in the US while still living in Canada? My grad program is considering hiring me on as a Teaching Assistant, which would only be 1 day/week for probably 5 hours. I'd be willing to drive down every week for that (I love teaching).
I'm still doing a lot of research and talking with people on both sides of the border, but any input would be grand!
I'm located in Kent (25 minutes south of Seattle) and I'm finishing up grad school in August with a degree in counseling. Right now, the counseling field isn't that great (mostly due to state cuts, as well as an influx of therapists and social workers) in King County. I've played around with the idea of looking for a job in my field up in Canada, and thus have a few questions.
1: I've noticed that many of the counseling jobs start off a fair amount higher than the jobs in Seattle/WA (16-20/hr in US vs 25-30/hr in CDN). AFAIK, the cost of living isn't that much different according to some sites I looked at. Am I missing something?
2: Could anybody speak to the license requirements in BC to practice counseling? I'd imagine it varies, but some of the government sites regarding requirements are kind of hard to make sense of.
3: Is it possible to maintain a very part time job in the US while still living in Canada? My grad program is considering hiring me on as a Teaching Assistant, which would only be 1 day/week for probably 5 hours. I'd be willing to drive down every week for that (I love teaching).
I'm still doing a lot of research and talking with people on both sides of the border, but any input would be grand!
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Looking up minimum wage in BC, it's only $8. On that same page, the minimum rate for a bunch of Daffodils is 12.5 cents a bunch, but that does not include vacation pay. Something to think about?
also remember that you'll be paying higher sales tax and higher income tax. However yes, this does make up for the fact that you won't be paying $texas anymore for health insurance.
Rent in Vancouver proper and Victoria is pretty expensive as well. Remember, I pay $715 for my little closet apartment :P
also, it's only in the last few years that the American dollar got flushed down the toilet. Before, that $20 wage was only worth $15 in the states.
If you decide to commute down for work 1 day a week in the states, I believe you'll have to pay income tax on that if you are permanent resident in Canada. However, you'll save a decent amount of cash by doing all your shopping and buying gas in the US.
tax info
EDIT: CPP and EI also come off each pay cheque but can't give you an exact number on that but probably only accounts for about $2000 of my $15000 in deductions. The majority is taxes and my RRSP contributions.
Origin: theRealElMucho
About $9000 in Federal Income Tax.
About $3820 in Provincial Income Tax.
You also have to factor in employment insurance and the Canada Pension Plan. Also, if you work any overtime, more deductions. Then, take off any union dues, benefit packages, RRSP contributions, etc.
http://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax
Also, since you're going to BC, be aware of HST. That's a 12% tax on a lot of things you buy (goods or services). Take a quick read through here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_British_Columbia
Edit: Oh yeah, $25-30/hr is pretty damned good to start out.
It depends where. It's not chump change by any means, but that wage in Toronto is a lot different than that wage in, say, Hamilton.
It sounds like the increased wages are offset by the taxes and such. Aside from healthcare and culture, is there any significant differences in living in Canada, assuming I could find a job in the same field on both sides of the border?
Less toll roads.
But seriously, with regard to what exactly? The job itself, or lifestyle? Culturally, Canadians and Americans are a lot more similar than the media would have you believe, especially when you're talking about Americans closer to the border.
Edit: Oh, aside from culture. I couldn't tell you the differences with regards to your job.
Not exactly sure, I'm guessing all of the major things have been touched on more or less. I'm learning about job differences from people outside the board. My main thing is expanding my job search radius once I graduate (3ish hours from my current location, which includes Canada and Portland) and since Canada is a different country, I wanted to make sure if the right opportunity came up, that I wouldn't be shooting myself in the foot if I moved north.
Unless you have a very specific plan for getting a work visa, you'll have a very difficult time securing employment and resident status in Canada.
Either way, carefully check into things like eligibility for healthcare. Don't assume just because one social service is extended to visa workers that they all are.
Remember this. It's not just like moving state to state, you need a plan and the paperwork to back it up.
This may or may not be the product of my field of study (counseling) and I may or may not be afraid you'll take my jerb.
But seriously. Life in Seattle isn't all that different from Vancouver, other than major infrastructure changes (no freeways and no tolls! which IMHO is better), regional differences, and anything that you'd find different between Canada and the US anyway. It really depends on how you'll find Canada culturally applicable to you as an individual.
And I have no idea if you can maintain a part time job in the states while living in Canada, but my gut says that will be very difficult to accomplish. To put it politely, you would be having your cake and eating it too. If you're going to live here, you're going to have to prove you work here also, and dare I say it, work here exclusively. But someone else might be more knowledgeable about that.
I am going to third this, because i've been trying for this the past year and it's been a nightmare.
Since the United States does not offer the equivalent of a holiday work visa, and the only way you're able to get a work permit is if you're already hired, you're pretty much dead in the water. The only way for a person with a bachelor status to apply for Permanent Residence and succeed would be to attend a college/university program for at least two years, then apply for a post-graduate work permit. Put in at least a year's equivalent of full-time work and then you can apply for the PR card.
It's a huge pain in the ass, but at least it's nothing like the USA's policies for getting a green card or citizenship.
By the end of the Summer, I'll have my masters degree. Would that boost chances of a PR card?
Maybe the data that I looked at is old, but it looked like the cost of many goods in Canada were close to on par with the US (but that wasn't including taxes). Am I missing something?
-Edit- Here is what I was getting cost of goods from. http://www.studyincanada.com/English/canada/cost.asp?Preference=canada
They tend to jack up the prices of things "just because".
Actually its because the CDN dollar is usually a lot lower than the American dollar, so prices reflect the difference. Except when they are near parity - then retailers or whomever just pocket the difference.
You should expect to pay 5% more on equivalent cars, 10% on electronics, and anywhere from 5% to 50% more on books, especially hardcover.
That's my experience, anyway.
edit: And yes, taxes are higher here. HST is 12%, and that applies to many, many goods and services.
It's now $1.14 per liter of gas where I live (Just SW on GTA). That's about .22 gallons. In Buffalo right now, I'm looking at $3.26 per gallon, or about $0.72 per liter. That's almost another $20 per tank of gas for my little 4-door. Don't even bother counting for exchange, because the rate right now is a penny off.
Tobacco and alcohol follow the same trend. I'm not sure about the price of a pack of cigarettes, since I don't smoke, but I'm guessing around $10. It goes up all the time. A case of domestic beer (24 bottles) is usually around $40, give or take depending on what brand it is.
I'm getting the impression that Canada is all about the tax rape.
Aside from the free healthcare, how is that money being used? I'd assume it pays for much of what the taxes in the US pay for (police, fire, gov't assistant programs). I don't mind being taxed as long as it's being useful to the rest of society (more or less, but I think that's a different discussion).
Cigarettes don't matter though, because smoking is bad for you.
And as for your question, Bard....that's a pretty broad question to answer.
I'll say this. I'd rather pay the taxes I do and live in Canada then play a little less and live in the States.
There's also the education system, which is funded heavily compared to the US, if I'm not mistaken (especially post-secondary).
Basically, the process is as follows:
1. Find a company that will hire you and sponsor your visa.
2. Get the visa.
It's not really that the process is terribly long and involved. Start to finish, getting my visa took 15 minutes at the border (I got a port of entry visa), and there was really minimal paperwork. What helped tremendously is that I was moving jobs within my company, and their attorneys wrote up a letter explaining the situation and exactly why I qualified for a visa.
The issue you will face is finding a company in your field that's willing to sponsor your visa, which is a needless pain in the ass for them, especially if there are plenty of people in your field around BC already. On top of that, if it's a government job, I'm guessing they will be extremely adverse to the idea.
Also, you won't be able to change jobs in Canada once you get there without applying for a wholly new visa. If your job ends for whatever reason, you'll have to leave the country. Working visas are specific to whatever job you hold.
As for taxes: besides alcohol, I didn't notice it too much. I paid maybe 1-2% more in income tax. I am a single dude who makes a good amount of money with no real deductions (no house, no kids, not a business owner, etc), so basically I was already paying a lot in taxes by US standards, and it didn't change that much in Canada.
I don't believe this will work. You need to study at a school in Canada for at least two years and graduate there before being able to apply for a post-graduate work permit. It's just how it works.
Now if you finish your Master's at wherever you're going and manage to find a company in Canada that's willing to hire you over a citizen there you'd be a-ok; your degree would make it a bit more enticing, because the company would have an actual reason to hire you over any joe-schmo, especially if your field is specialized.
But the reality is that (like Doc stated) it is a huge gambit. It's way easier to secure permanent residence through alterior means than through a work visa, because trust me when I say that it's a massive pain-in-the-ass for the company to go through that. We're talking multiple interviews, lots of added fees and monthly delays before they can legally put you on their records for pay. Also add the fact that the government tacks on an added bonus to the companies for hiring their own citizens instead of immigrants, and you've got one hell of a mountain to climb.
Securing PR status is worth it in the long run, but to get it you'll need to live in the country at least three years, and you need to do at least a full year's worth of work for one of them. Unfortunately for you, the work hours only count with either a post-graduate work permit or a work visa (which is tremendously difficult to get for a lot of people).
Hope that helps!
If you want to get an idea of how it goes, check out CharityVillage.com, find yourself a job or two of interest, and give them a call to ask whether they will consider a non-resident applicant. I can almost guarantee you that the answer will simply be "no." Getting a degree in counselling isn't super difficult here, and places with high immigrant populations are experienceing a glut of overqualified immigrants (they were psychologists or psychiatrists in their home countries, but are having trouble getting re-certified here) who have gone back to college in Canada, gotten that counselling degree, and are applying for counselling/social service jobs with years of experience.
Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but I've been through the process (my now-spouse and I solved my residency issue by just getting married, since my prospects of getting up here with a work permit appeared quite poor) as somebody with social services experience. Even after getting permanent residency, I ended up going back to school to get an MA in order to be employable.
Gas is around $1.18 to $1.20/litre in Vancouver right now.
Yeah, I'm sure that's what it is in Toronto right now as well.
Redick.
edit: Sorry, I really shouldn't be thread-jacking.
CANADA IS EXPENSIVE, IT'S RELATED
That is pretty damn helpful actually. No worries on being a debbie downy, it is what it is. The main places that I saw that had openings were VCH and Fraser health and while they did have a tab for international apps, I'd reckon they were more directed at doctors and skilled med workers. It'll be something I'll check into.
There is definitely variation. It's usually no more than 15 cents of a difference, though.
The difference between Fraser Valley and Vancouver is that once you get outside of the boundries of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, the Metro Vancouver gas tax does not apply.
I should have known that.
There's a Metro Vancouver gas tax?
Fuck me. One more reason I'm glad I left that place for the shining paradise of Northern BC.