May 16, 2009 at 01:26Maple Leaf Country: Canada
Since
About me: programmer (C ++ main language), graduated from the MMU NSU in 2003, since August 2007 we have been living with my wife in Ottawa, Canada.
Remarks
1) all prices are in Canadian dollars, at the time of writing, Google reported that “1 Canadian dollar = 0.850557 US dollars”
2) all of the above are exclusively personal impressions of one of hundreds and thousands of visitors and in no way claims to be true in the latter authorities
3) this is in no way an agitation, but just a statement of facts (I have listed enough negative points too)
So, let's go!
A Brief History of Departure
Inspired by the example of my girlfriend’s older brother (now wife), who left in 2000, I decided, “Why not? who prevents to go, see, and in which case to return? ”
Moreover, I already had one experience of “global relocation” when I arrived from Kazakhstan to Russia.
In general, after graduating from Univer, he waited for 2 years of experience to run (he set this bar for himself), prepared for IELTS, passed it (passed quite well: 7 - 8.5 - 6 - 6), and submitted the documents. They did it through an agency - I did not want to bother with translations / assurances / forwarding to the embassy, etc. Agency services cost $ 2200 (now, they say, already more expensive). All fees and duties are separately. 4 months after serving came honey. forms. Passed the commission. After another 8 months, the answer came "everything is fine, open an account, transfer money, everything will be to you." Yes, one of the conditions for obtaining a visa is an account with a Canadian bank and a tidy sum on it (in our case it was 17 with something thousand dollars). Only one bank opened an account for non-residents at that time: Royal Bank of Canada, and its only representative office in Russia is located in Moscow. The dubious pleasure of flying to Moscow from Novosibirsk in order to open an account was avoided: my wife’s brother opened an account in my name right there, I just sent him a completed application and a special signature card (I found the forms somewhere on the network). In general, we received visas and successfully set sail.
Work
Now it’s a little tight with work, the crisis is affecting, which affected a fair number of IT companies (Nortel gave up so much by launching several thousand new job seekers), but at the time of his arrival, praise to heaven, this was not, and I found work for 1.5 months. In the process of searching, my wife and I went to a special school for immigrants, where they brought up English. My wife continued to study for a couple of months, then she took a couple of specialized courses (marketing, business statistics). Started working 9 months after arrival.
Main job search sites:
monster.ca
www.workopolis.com
Costs
While my wife wasn’t working, my salary (58k per year) was enough for:
* renting housing (820 per month for a 1-bedroom (2-room) apartment with parking + electricity ~ 40 per month)
* food / clothing (in vegetables / fruits / delicacies did not refuse themselves)
* cell / house. phone / Internet (about 140 per month for everything)
* car maintenance (insurance was initially 215 per month, now 185, it grows well with the increase in length of service; gasoline before the crisis reached 1.5 bucks per liter, since the fall it has remained at 0.8, but really for the last week, for some reason, it rose to 0.9)
* entertainments (every weekend I always went somewhere / went)
When my wife went to work (at first by 35k a year, but increased to 45k a year for six months) - it became a complete laf :)
A life
The people are very friendly, no neglect of emigrants (at least open :)). Yes, it is understandable - emigrants here are probably no less than half, if we count 1-2 generations ago. And if you count more - then there will be an overwhelming majority :)
People pay a lot of attention to health. On bicycle paths, there are a lot of people on bicycles, roller skates, just running. And all ages, up to 60 years old inclusive.
Bureaucracy is minimized. Example: moved to another place. Need to change documents: health insurance card, driver's license. Actions: look at the location of special "kiosks" on the website of Service Canada, go to the nearest. In general, the procedure is no more complicated than withdrawing money from an ATM: put the current document, clicked on what is needed in the menu - after a week or two you take out a new document from the mailbox.
I pay bills for cellular / internet / electricity through online-banking. In general, communication with the state machine is reduced to just zero.
Obtaining a driver’s license: I read a book, came in, paid $ 10 for an exam, then you were photographed, your eyesight was checked right there, and you passed the exam — after a couple of weeks, you take out your rights from the mailbox (and for this time give temporary).
The system is special with rights: after a theoretical exam they give G1 category rights, which gives you the right to drive only on the condition that there is a person sitting next to you who has G category rights for more than 4 years but cannot be driven along highways. One year after receiving G1, you can take a driving test. Upon successful passing, G2 category rights are issued, which give you the right to drive on your own, but the blood alcohol content must be full 0. One year after receiving G2, you can take the G exam, after which it is allowed to manage even with alcohol <than 0.08 (FIG in which parrots it is, but in general it’s quite normal to drink a couple of beers in a couple of hours). In general, if someone is going to go, take care of getting rights back in Russia. If the experience is more than 1 year, then you can schedule an exam for G2 immediately after receiving G1. And if the experience is more than 2 years, then G can be obtained without waiting.
Draconian fines, plus a point system that affects the size of insurance (points taken over the past 2 years). Those. not only will you pay $ 95 for an excess of 20 km / h, but also for 2 years you will pay for it every month. And if you make a lot of bumps (depending on the category) - then they can generally be deprived.
The punishment, of course, is inevitable, no “commander, or maybe we’ll agree on the spot?” :)
Miscellaneous
Salaries here are always indicated before taxes (tax is progressive, plus depends on the province, the exact numbers are here: www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html , you can estimate about 30% - it will be close to truths).
All store prices do not include sales tax (in Ontario, federal + provincial is 13%), i.e. at the checkout they will take 13% more than indicated on the price tag (except for some categories of goods, starting with products). At first it infuriates, then you get used to it.
In Ontario, alcohol is sold only in specialized stores. Which work on weekdays until 21, on weekends until 17, so you need to stock up in advance.
For smokers - a complete f * ck: cigarettes are expensive (6-8 bucks per pack, it seems, I don’t smoke myself), plus they are not sold everywhere, and where they are sold they are not on display windows. Smoking is not allowed in all public places (bars, discos, restaurants, cafes). Only on the street. Frost, rain, wind - nobody cares.
Drinking alcohol on the streets is also forbidden (well, unless you secretly pour it into a plastic cup;))
The driving culture is highly dependent on the city (exclusively personal impressions): in Montreal, they almost do not signal about turns, in Quebec they cut it only this way, in Toronto they will miss horseradish if you need to turn. Ottawa is a paradise in comparison. Pedestrians are allowed in, they stop at stop-signs, even sometimes they are missed if you are driving from somewhere on the side (although according to the rules they shouldn’t). What I really like is that you can turn right on red if there is no interference.
Homeless people come across in the streets, beg, but you need to know clearly that they beg not for food, but for booze / dope, because they provide them with roofs and food in the so-called shelter-just come.
But they ask that it is characteristic, politely, “won't you spare any change?”, And even in the case of a negative answer, “ok, thank you, have a good day” :)
Housing prices, of course, fluctuate depending on many factors. But to give an estimate: a townhouse (one block in such a long house a la "sausage", chopped into slices :)) in 2 floors + basement with a total area of ~ 2000 sq. feet in a rather remote (but decent contingent) area (20 km from the center, which, if there is a freeway, is not a problem) will cost about 300 thousand. You can find more details at www.ottawa-homes.ca or any other request google "ottawa real estate".
And finally: Canada is very different from the United States, and Canadians are very reverent that they are Canadians, but not the Americans :) Even in advertising on the radio sometimes skips. For example, an ad for a chain of stores is “proudly Canadian since ....” and so on :)
It seems to have told everything that came to mind. Have questions - ask.
Upd:
A few pics here .
I left the house and first rode a little on a bicycle, then shook it by car (I didn’t reach the center, next time).
A separate album gathered IT companies that came across along the way (from well-known).
For framing / horizon / sharpness, please do not kick: it is fotal on the move from the car, speed from 50 to 120 km / h :)