About e-and immigration. This time - Montreal

    My family and I moved to Montreal from Kiev in April this year. Almost half a year has passed. It was not possible to compare with other Canadian cities yet, but I will try to describe in more detail, and I hope that my experience will be useful to someone.

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    A bit of history.
    We have been living in Kiev since 2006, for almost 5 years. They had, in general, not the worst “standard of living”, there was something to lose: friends, pretty good, as it seemed, work, relatives (though not in Kiev, but still not overseas).

    My wife and I decided to go to Canada as soon as we got married, but all the time something was missing: either money, points, or a profession on the liststopped fitting (I'm a programmer). But we had to do something, give up and give up our goal, we were not going to. Sometime in 2007, we accidentally met guys who were planning to go to Canada under the program of the province of Quebec. We went for an interview with a company that was involved in the process of immigration to Quebec. There we got points, they said that we are going through, that they will take up our process. But it cost about 4 thousand euros, which we did not have extra. Therefore, we decided to do everything ourselves. And they started by learning French.

    Languages)
    With English, it so happened, we both had no problems. But the French language was taught with different teachers, with varying intensity, sometimes without any intensity at all. In the end, we submitted the documents in the fall of 2009, when we were sure that we were passing on points (by that time the necessary amount of experience had accumulated “in white”), that we would have enough money at the time of entry for the first time, Well, and that by the time of the interview we will have enough French to give us the necessary selection certificates. After submitting documents, they intensified preparations for the interview, began to devote more time to the language. In fact, French is what repels most of the process of immigration to Quebec. The language is not the easiest (English is much simpler), efforts to really master it at a decent level - you need a lot. But the trick is that the interview with the immigration officer is enough, in fact, quite limited French, especially if the points with a margin. I know examples when people prepared for several months and successfully passed interviews with a priority specialty, good education and French, leaving much to be desired.

    Forum
    More information on the process and individual nuances can be read and consulted, for example, in this forum . The first advice that you can get there is not to contact (if several thousand are not superfluous for you) with consultants who do a very simple job of filling out your forms, taking considerable money from you, while not guaranteeing anything, and often making mistakes and causing additional problems.

    Our process
    I don’t know how your process will turn out, dear business man, if you decide to immigrate through the Quebec program. But I can describe how approximately our happened. Having sent the documents on November 20, 2009 to the consulate of Vienna, we began to wait for the so-called “Accuse”, in other words, confirmation that our case was accepted for consideration. After 3 weeks, they removed money from the Visa card for consideration and sent this Accuse on December 29, 2009. On April 3, 2010, an invitation came for an interview that we took place on June 09, 2010. I must say that in the process of immigration of Quebec province there are 2 stages: provincial and federal. The provincial begins by submitting documents to the consulate with the department of the government of Quebec, which relates to your country of residence (with regard to Ukraine, and, it seems, Russia is a consulate in Vienna), this stage usually ends in an interview with a certificate of selection, which is the basis for the granting of a Canadian visa by the federal government. The federal stage - begins by submitting documents to the Canadian Embassy in your country and ends with obtaining visas. We filed a document for the federal stage on July 05, 2010, on October 14, 2010 we passed the honey. inspection, and on January 24, 2011 received the long-awaited visas. In total, our process took 430 days, which is very good. They say now - the terms in Ukraine have increased slightly. Regarding money, we did not keep accurate records, but approximately, excluding the costs of learning French (this is difficult to calculate, we taught too unevenly), it took us about $ 7,000 for the process and tickets. In addition, we took $ 15,000 with us for the first time. which is the basis for a federal government granting a Canadian visa. The federal stage - begins by submitting documents to the Canadian Embassy in your country and ends with obtaining visas. We filed a document for the federal stage on July 05, 2010, on October 14, 2010 we passed the honey. inspection, and on January 24, 2011 received the long-awaited visas. In total, our process took 430 days, which is very good. They say now - the terms in Ukraine have increased slightly. Regarding money, we did not keep accurate records, but approximately, excluding the costs of learning French (this is difficult to calculate, we taught too unevenly), it took us about $ 7,000 for the process and tickets. In addition, we took $ 15,000 with us for the first time. which is the basis for a federal government granting a Canadian visa. The federal stage - begins by submitting documents to the Canadian Embassy in your country and ends with obtaining visas. We filed a document for the federal stage on July 05, 2010, on October 14, 2010 we passed the honey. inspection, and on January 24, 2011 received the long-awaited visas. In total, our process took 430 days, which is very good. They say now - the terms in Ukraine have increased slightly. Regarding money, we did not keep accurate records, but approximately, excluding the costs of learning French (this is difficult to calculate, we taught too unevenly), it took us about $ 7,000 for the process and tickets. In addition, we took $ 15,000 with us for the first time. The federal stage - begins by submitting documents to the Canadian Embassy in your country and ends with obtaining visas. We filed a document for the federal stage on July 05, 2010, on October 14, 2010 we passed the honey. inspection, and on January 24, 2011 received the long-awaited visas. In total, our process took 430 days, which is very good. They say now - the terms in Ukraine have increased slightly. Regarding money, we did not keep accurate records, but approximately, excluding the costs of learning French (this is difficult to calculate, we taught too unevenly), it took us about $ 7,000 for the process and tickets. In addition, we took $ 15,000 with us for the first time. The federal stage - begins by submitting documents to the Canadian Embassy in your country and ends with obtaining visas. We filed a document for the federal stage on July 05, 2010, on October 14, 2010 we passed the honey. inspection, and on January 24, 2011 received the long-awaited visas. In total, our process took 430 days, which is very good. They say now - the terms in Ukraine have increased slightly. Regarding money, we did not keep accurate records, but approximately, excluding the costs of learning French (this is difficult to calculate, we taught too unevenly), it took us about $ 7,000 for the process and tickets. In addition, we took $ 15,000 with us for the first time. In total, our process took 430 days, which is very good. They say now - the terms in Ukraine have increased slightly. Regarding money, we did not keep accurate records, but approximately, excluding the costs of learning French (this is difficult to calculate, we taught too unevenly), it took us about $ 7,000 for the process and tickets. In addition, we took $ 15,000 with us for the first time. In total, our process took 430 days, which is very good. They say now - the terms in Ukraine have increased slightly. Regarding money, we did not keep accurate records, but approximately, excluding the costs of learning French (this is difficult to calculate, we taught too unevenly), it took us about $ 7,000 for the process and tickets. In addition, we took $ 15,000 with us for the first time.

    Relocation
    When visas are received, tickets are bought, it remains to say goodbye to relatives, friends who managed to fall in love with Kiev and try to pack their lives in 6 trunks, 3 carry-on suitcases, a laptop bag, a camera bag and do not forget the cat. Tickets were purchased through the international migration organization, which allowed us to save a little and take not one bag per luggage, but two per person. There’s no need to talk much about moving. I’ll just say moving to another country with all the belongings - the thing is incredibly heavy, and, having arrived at the place, we tumbled from exhaustion.

    Work
    Oddly enough, I was not going to seek work. A couple of months passed in attempts to continue the work that I did in Kiev, already from home as a contractor. But it soon became clear that the work was less than previously expected, which was especially unpleasant, given that the payment is hourly. Despite the fact that the rate was not bad, due to the low load, the money continued to melt catastrophically quickly. And you had to quickly look for something else. The recruiter who contacted me in Kiev helped. As soon as I arrived in Montreal, we talked live with him, made contact, so to speak :) And when I asked to find a job for me, he, after clarifying my preferences for technology and salary, just scheduled the next day 2 interviews for me. Both, I must say, I successfully passed, and since the end of June I have been working in a local firm as a modest senior programmer with a good salary, as for a start. Finding a job from a call to a recruiter asking me to find a job before signing the proposal took exactly 6 days. All communication went exclusively in English, although mostly people have their native language - French. But in the IT field, English is the standard, although, they say, knowledge of French significantly expands the circle of potential employers in Montreal. The initial refusal to look for work was in my case a clear mistake, which cost us almost all of our savings. And the work found was actually very helpful. although mostly people have their native language - French. But in the IT field, English is the standard, although, they say, knowledge of French significantly expands the circle of potential employers in Montreal. The initial refusal to look for work was in my case a clear mistake, which cost us almost all of our savings. And the work found was actually very helpful. although mostly people have their native language - French. But in the IT field, English is the standard, although, they say, knowledge of French significantly expands the circle of potential employers in Montreal. The initial refusal to look for work was in my case a clear mistake, which cost us almost all of our savings. And the work found was actually very helpful.

    Taxes
    They are tall here. They say that it’s more difficult to find a place in Canada than here. But, on the other hand, if you take it from a low start: for example, getting an education, not earning a lot in the beginning - it helps a lot. Because there is egalitarianism. They take it from the rich, give it to the even richer :) (for example, to those who build roads, by the way, lousy, somewhere like in Kiev) and, importantly, quite a lot falls to the poor. Much goes to medicine, but this is a separate song. In short - if something serious happens - they will try to cure it, probably quickly and free of charge. But if you get a cold, then the doctor can not wait.

    Arrangement in a new place
    We rented housing for the first time in the center. Montreal has a place like the Latin Quarter. A lot of students, parties, cafes, night clubs, theaters, cinema ... in short, life is in full swing. And we shot there simply because we could not find anything else at a similar, albeit a very rather big, price. And all because with a cat it is not clear to anyone from which country it is not clear which nobody wanted to temporarily hand over anything. Especially with the cat. Without a cat, they would probably save several hundred :) The attitude to animals is twofold. On the one hand, everyone loves them, on the other - it’s more difficult to rent a house with them.

    In general, we lived in such a wonderful place (in fact, I would not refuse to spend my student years there) from April 12 to May 1. In May-June they found another temporary apartment, and from July 1 at the same time, in April, they agreed on a permanent one. If the three of us in the center lived in a studio, paid $ 350 per week, then May-June we lived in a 2-bedroom apartment (which, by the way, was already rented out to other people since July, everything is done here in advance and so on) and paid 950 dollars a month. The house had a sauna and a pool, the house itself was a tall and rather nondescript testimonial. And since July, they moved to permanent housing, larger ones, also with 2 bedrooms, with a fee of $ 1,150 a month, the price includes water and heating. This is the price of an apartment in a good area, in a relatively quiet place, in a concrete house. The apartment is about 1000 square meters. ft. (90-100 sq. m.). I liked the large square balcony, large living room, in the kitchen - lockers, fridge, stove and dishwasher. I also really like here that in each bedroom there is a large built-in wardrobe. Very convenient, no need to buy extra furniture. But the most important reason for choosing this area and this apartment was a good elementary school nearby. Almost all the furniture needed to be bought. Good help Ikea. Although the furniture is not the highest class, it is quite functional, especially if there is not a lot of money. But the most important reason for choosing this area and this apartment was a good elementary school nearby. Almost all the furniture needed to be bought. Good help Ikea. Although the furniture is not the highest class, it is quite functional, especially if there is not a lot of money. But the most important reason for choosing this area and this apartment was a good elementary school nearby. Almost all the furniture needed to be bought. Good help Ikea. Although the furniture is not the highest class, it is quite functional, especially if there is not a lot of money.

    Products
    Many products differ from those that can be found in Kiev supermarkets. In general, we can say that they are more expensive. But on average, I like the quality better. If you set yourself the goal of buying only the natural - it is quite possible to implement. I like local eggs from the store much more than eggs from the store in Kiev. If desired, you can buy locally produced products on the market. Perhaps a little more expensive, but in quality - everything is just fine. For money, probably, it goes around $ 1,000 a month for a family, but I can’t say that we are denying ourselves something.

    Languages
    Montreal is a bilingual city. But Quebec is a province where one official language is French. Canada is a country where the two official languages ​​are French and English. In the second half of the 20th century in Quebec there was a very strong surge of nationalism, which almost led to the separation of the province from Canada. Now the passions have settled down a bit, and it seems that the majority have already changed their minds to separate.

    I can say that almost everyone knows English here, almost everyone knows French. But many people prefer to speak one language, which often depends on the area. Knowing one of the languages, you can live here quite well, but without knowledge of both, a huge part of the labor market (especially the part where you need to communicate with clients) will be inaccessible. And if you want to live and never hear French, the province of Quebec is clearly not for you. There are plenty of opportunities for learning both languages, the main thing is time and desire. A bunch of state-sponsored courses, affordable university programs for which you can get a loan and will also pay a scholarship ... In addition, the fact of immersion in the language environment is important, which happens if you find a local job.

    To summarize, I can say that we like it here :) We did not get a higher standard of living, as a percentage, probably expenses and incomes did not change globally. But we got more peace of mind, a sense of security and what can be considered the quality of life: better products, water that you can drink from a tap, an area in which you will never, never meet a homeless person and an understanding that in those areas where the homeless yes - they exist only because they themselves decided to choose such a life.

    I also want to note one thing. Visiting local restaurants and looking at drivers in local expensive cars, I am amazed at the number of pensioners. Grandpa over 80, crawling out of an expensive restaurant and sitting in his sports piston - such a sight in Kiev is almost impossible to meet.

    If you have questions, I will be happy to answer.

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