do we consider Qatar as our home? I am just wondering, are there and how many (if any) of us would like to immigrate to another country, let's say to US or Canada?
thanks a lot for ur information ... i'm still thinking a lot but it seems that i better work with my degree here in qatar .. i would get more money than in canada.. i thought bcuz many peoples r immigrating that there are several vacancies with a good salary..
wheeeeew where shall we go then?
charmed wut professional job r u doing? and wut is that degree u r preparing?
"Similar eyes are seeing similar things, in a different ways"
The weather will be around 18 - 30 degrees with the occasional rain showers (not every day) - and it will almost 24 / 7 daylight - but only almost - to experience that travel another 500 km north - good advice buy some mosquito propellant. So it's a real nice summer there
this is rather heated! Yep silver moon me and the hubby cant get into canada at present as neither of us have a degree! How shocking!!!! We both have professional jobs but no degree so we cant get in! very upset about this one very sad!!! maybe we can get over there eventually! We are both doing degrees now to try abd get in!
but i do agree that canada is expensive to live thou all the reaserch which we have done on living there has been very shocking! Like i said NB is where we want to move to!! the houses there are affordable but elsewhere they are getting more expensive! i can only hope that one day we will make it here!
Oh and Gypsy - your from newfoundland! im so jelouse my friend comes from there and has told me how beautiful it is!
Vasteras is the place (I think), not sure if it's north or south didn't check on the map yet. Do you know what's the weather like say from June to August? Do they get close enough to having a summer? Temperature range? Is it rainy? Thanks a lot!
Wow, so if you have a house in Toronto you are obviously making enough money that you don't need to worry about surviving.
I haven't had a bad experience with my own country at all, nor have I had one here. However I simply think home is wherever you are happiest and where your family is. Mine is here in Qatar, and I am happier here because I'm not constantly wondering about work or bills or where my next meal is coming from. So for me, Qatar is home.
I have my OWN house there, in TORONTO, RIGHT in Toronto, not some Mississauga, or Bramton... And I am the one who pays the mortgage, and i am the one who pays the bills.
....this is an endless crapy argument…
..if you read the initial post, you could understand, this thread is NOT about where you can save more money! It’s about WHAT you can call your HOME!!! Not everything in this life is about money! I agree a lot, but not everything…Qatar is very nice country to live in for the short period of time (for different people this term might be different).. but how you can say “this is my Home Land” about the country which you will never be a citizen of!! you had a bad experience with your own country, and I had the good one!! too bad for you...
Calling local is not free. You have to purchase a phone plan and that's a minimum of $20 to $40 a month. If you don't believe me look up Rogers, AT&T or Bell Canada.
You can't even buy a pair of NEW jeans from Walmart for $20 don't be ridiculous. As for the price of gas, maybe it's dropped in the last month or two, but it was $1.75 a litre when I was home last summer.
I don't know how long you lived in Canada, but you obviously never had to worry about paying your bills.
..if you read the initial post, you could understand, this thread is NOT about where you can save more money! It’s about WHAT you can all your HOME!!! Can you see a difference???
This is crap… Local Telephone Calls in Toronto ARE FREE!!!!!!! You call US for 5 cent a minute, you call Europe for 8-12c a minute!!! You even call Qatar for 50-60c/minute!
...you CAN buy jeans for $20...
and I contacted my friends just 1 minute ago. 1 litre is 90c!!!
Ah silvermoon, the old "Don't believe everything you read in the newspaper..." argument doesn't apply here since these are from the two largest and most well known newspapers in Canada, so the information has to be accurate, also all of the Cost of Living info is from the government of Canada website.
As for how much I earn here in Qatar? I earn the same here that I would in Canada, but with no taxes I am living a much better quality of life then I would back in the T dot O dot.
Seriously guys, I love Canada too, but lets not give Ram or any other immigrant the wrong idea.
So Silvermoon, you said the minimum monthly wage is Toronto was $1500, you were wrong, it's $1280 before taxes.
Toronto is the most expensive city in Canada to live in, here are living costs for the last 3 years from: http://www.canadaimmigrants.com/Torontoliving.asp
2006 Housing Prices
The average price of a detached house in Toronto is $365, 537
Source: Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Living in Toronto (GTA)
Average Rent for Two-Bedroom Apartments in 2006
$1,067 per month
Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. 2006.
Public Transportation
Ticket
Monthly Pass
Regular
$2.75
$99.75
Senior/Student
$1.85
$83.75
Source: Toronto Transit Commission. 2006
2005 Average Car Insurance in Ontario
$2,383.64 per year
Source: Car Test .ca
2004 Average expenditure per household
Concept
Annual Amount
Food
$7,632
Shelter
$16,589
Household Operation
$3,503
Personal Income Taxes
$17,272
Source: Statistics Canada. 2004.
Alcohol & Cigarettes
2007 Minimum Wage
$8.00 per hour
Consumption Taxes
In Toronto, two different taxes are applied to products and services. The federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) is 6%, while the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) is set at 8% and applies to the selling price including the GST. Some items including groceries, restaurant meals, and books are PST exempt.
hey girl!!! relax!!! where is you sense of humor?????
I WAS KIDDING!!!!
.. and don't believe everything you read in newspaper. Just recently the link to some article about the cost living IN QATAR was posted on this site. According to this article you have to make at QR32,000-36,000 a month to feel more or less comfortable.. Do you Gypsy make this kind of money here? Do you still feel comfortable with money you make? ...SO?????
i know they all don't, but in general europe is not as nice as it can be.
most muslims go to france, spain and britain. france and spain are terrible. britain is probably the best in europe, but still needs work.
italy gets many north africans too, and they aren't so good either.
i have met open minded people from all these places, so i know that there are many people working on improving things, but systemic racism is still strong when compared to canada.
the previous conservative government in spain was flat out telling unemployed spanish people that the immigrants were to blame for them not having jobs. awful stuff.
i had a canadian friend who worked summers during university at one of the invesment banks on Bay street. after uni he went abroad and worked for some big banks in London, Frankfurt and Milan (for about 5 years). when he went back to toronto, he had some yahoos telling him he didn't have enough canadian experience. considering that toronto is a nothing next to london and frankfurt with regards to that industry, that made us laugh.
my wife is not canadian, and she had to volunteer for 4 months before landing a job. but now that she's on the ladder, she moving fast.
as a community i think we are far ahead of anyone else, but having said that there are still many insular small minded people living amound us in Canada.
Silvermoon you don't even know that Canada isn't part of the UK and you are arguing with me about the cost of living??
Look I love my country as much as the next person, but I'm realistic about it. Ram I know dozens of guys with your qualifications serving coffee for a living. Why? Because Canada is over run with educated professionals. The cost of living is high, taxes are high and good jobs are few and far between.
As for how Canada treats it's immigrants, yes we are very open and tolerant, but even that is starting to dissapear. Look at Herouxville and the rest of Quebec?
no other country assimilates immigrants as well as canada, and when you consider how the US and many european countries treat arab and muslim immigrants these days, it's really a good place for you to be.
are you having problems to immigrate to Canada from UK??? (at least that's what indicated in your profile, that you are from UK)....walla??? isn't Canada the part of UK??
i'm looking for getting out of the middle east .. i'm a vb.net programmer having certification from Microsoft as application developer and i want to immigrate .. that's all.. but where and how here is the prob.
"Similar eyes are seeing similar things, in a different ways"
The Netherlands is beautiful, but taxes are high there too, and unfortunately it isn't as immigrant friendly as Canada (like pretty much all of Europe).
Well silvermoon it may be like that in the T.O. but in the rest of the country it's nothing like that at all. I lost 21% in taxes off my minimum wage. And medicine isn't free, health care is, if you are willing to wait 6 months to get seen by a doctor. And only basic education is free, I'm still $50,000 in debt for my University education, and if you don't have uni in Canada you'll be flipping burgers for a living.
Much rather be home in Vegas, let's see my wife is doing the Christina Aguilera concert this Saturday (sorry but I'd be doing the Bob Seger one if I was there,because I've never seen him live )then next weekend she is doing the Rascal Flatts show (again I'd be doing Eric Clapton, same reason)and then next Sunday she is doing the NASCAR 400 race... So crap what am I going to be doing instead hmmmnnn...
Well I am trying to resolve issues with a Travel Agency here so that when my wife visits in March she and I can check out Oman. You know all the fun stuff book airfare (which I did online) etc... I am so mad I can spit right now... So I will refrain from discussing this travel agency until things are resolved.
Issues with QTEL, compound, crazy-fool drivers (and I thought after living in Saudi it would be much better here, HaaaHaaa..etc sometimes I feel like I am living in the "Land of Oz"
Beautiful Corniche, buildings, people... so much looks good in appearance but just like Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Lion, Tin Man found out once the curtain was pulled back... Enough said... Now back to work and wishing I was back in Vegas enjoying the desert the way it is meant to be enjoyed (at least for me
This is weird… living at the same country and having absolutely opposite point of view on it!! funny...
Of course I am not talking about McDonalds! I am talking about a lot of nice cozy places downtown Toronto with the beautifully cooked meals… and I didn’t say : you can get beer at bar for $2. I said: for $5… here it’s $11 for 1 bottle, it’s like almost whole pack of 6 bottles in T.O.! And the wage minimum is still $1500. Taxes on this minimum are next to Zero. And even at the end of the year the Government returns you some amount for GST, and some amount for Income tax! Not to mention free school educatio and medicine..
May be to live in Qatar for the short period of time for "making money" is good enough. But you will never call Qatar your Home Land. And that's what this thread about..
Expenses in Canada are ridiculous. Expect to end up broke very fast over there! Short cab rides that would cost 15qr in doha cost 50qr in Canada. The States allows you to save more money.
even if Qatar is more expensive overall, if you are making more overall and saving more overall, then it's a better option than TO (financially speaking).
Just read your post again silvermoon, and I have to add that most people moving to Canada are doing so with family's, they can not stay in a guest house or basement apartment with a family. Also yes, you can go to the liquor store and buy 6 beer for between $12 and $14, but you can't buy them individually.
Speaking as someone who as attempted to live on minimum wage there in a city nowhere near as expensive as Toronto. Basically all you can do on that salary is live, and barely live at that (and that's one person, not a family).
I will say that the cost of accomodation is higher here, but clothes, food and hanging out costs are much pricer in Canada! I can buy a suit from Mexx here for 500QAR which home in Canada would cost $500. Vegetables here are a quarter of the price of home, and the cost of eating out is WAYYYYYY cheaper here.
I don't know where you are eating or hanging out in Toronto, but I don't count MacDonalds as a very good meal. Also you can not buy beer at a bar for $2. In my dinky little town a bottle of cheap beer is $4 or $5, It's higher in Toronto, also you have to pay cover to get into the bar.
And the minimum salary is not $1500 a month it's $1300 and you lose 20% of it or more to taxes.
You can find apartments for $400 to $600, but they are usually awful crap places, and bachelor apartments to boot. Also they tend to be off the many public transport lines and cars are twice as expensive as here.
Also work experience overseas is counted depending on what you do, especially since it is nearly impossible to find entry level positions in Canada.
sorry, Gyspy, I can not agree with "cost of living in Canada is way higher than in Qatar". Starting from accommodation, then food, then clothes, then hanging out and having fun - all that is much much more affordable in Canada than here. You can find tonnes of places where you can have very good meal for the "funny price" of C$6-8! (I am talking about Toronto). You can find an independent place to live for CAD 400-600 (like a room in guesthouse or a basement), while the MINIMUM salary is C$1500. Here minimum salary is about C$400, but independent accommodation starts from C$1500! Nonsense! Look at the proportion!
Food is also cheaper… even fruits, which should be next to free here, are more expensive then in Canada… Clothes - all types of clothes for all range of prices from $3 to ... endless...Bottle of beer is about C$2. In the bar - about $5 (comparing to $11 here).. and so on..
...By the way, if you don't know, the work experience in Qatar won't be really counted in canada. They usually ask for "canadian experience".. So for the young people like Amr, it's better to get to Canada earlier (if they want it), and to get their experience right there..
...and after all, you can call Canada “My Home” very soon after settling down there. You will never call Qatar “My Home”....
I am not in Qatar yet - I might be making the move.
We are considering it because we can afford to live on one salary in the ME and still save. We would like to have a baby and my wife would like to stay home for more than one year.
the job situation makes it hard! My husband is a consultant and im an accountant but neither of us want to do those jobs if we get to NB! I want to open a cafe and he just wants a unpressured job! Sadly Canada have deemed us unskilled so we cant get in! Gypsy wereabout in canada are you from - just so i can get jelous! And how about newfoundland too - wow canada has the most beautiful places im sad now remembering how much i want to live there!
LOL Charmed, New Brunswick is beautiful (no Nova Scotia, but beautiful) but it's nearly impossible to find jobs in small towns! The unemployment rate in the Maritimes in small towns is at 40% and higher. :(
there are tons of jobs in finance at the moment in canada.
the taxes are high, but things work overall so at least you know where your money is going.
canada is far more relaxed than the US, and we tend to treat immigrants far better (although if you are from the UK I don't think you would have any problems).
wow thats the one place we wanted to immigrate too! Do you realise how hard it is to get into Canada its shockingly hard! Me and my husband dont have enough point to get in! Gypsy is right thou jobs out there are few and far between and the taxes and insurance make the cost of living very high! But still i would go there if i could, we want to move to new brunswick area live in the middle of nowhere and just live peacfully! Canada is an amazing country! usa seems cool too - the little towns which no one had heard of i think would be the best!
Luckily thou me an dthe hubby can get into oz so i think thats where we will end up!
I would say that you're better off here. In another 10 years or so give it a shot, because by then you should have enough experience to land a decent job.
Canada is a free country in the sense that you can do pretty much whatever you like within the boundaries of the law. We have gay marriage and freedom of religion and speech, practically legalized marijuana. It's heaven really, except that finding a job is difficult. I know lots of guys with your experience who are fluent in English, born and raised in Canada who are serving coffee for a living. IF you can find a position, which is doubtful cause there would be visa issues as well, the pay would probably be pretty good, but you would lose a big chuck to taxes and the cost of living is way higher so your money wouldn't go as far.
"Nor was I arguing about Canada being a free country"
wut do u mean by a free country or not? wut kind of freedom r u talking about? cuz i was seriously thinking about going to canada as i know a business man in egypt, he is canadian from Toronto and i was thinking about going there.
please explain more ... i'm programmer n certified from microsoft as application developer, graduated of computer science and good in english .. not fluent but i'm ok i can deal with people in english easily.. can i find a good job there with a good salary?
"Similar eyes are seeing similar things, in a different ways"
Also to get anykind of professional job you need years of experience, for someone fresh out of Uni or new to the country they would have no chance of finding a decent position.
I'm not an accountant. Nor was I arguing about Canada being a free country. What I was saying is that there is a lack of jobs and the cost of living is steadily increasing. Maybe in small town Ontario you can afford a mortgage or a decent apartment but in any of the major citites, especially Toronto, you would be hard pressed to find a one bedroom within your price range.
I am surprised, that you as accountant had difficulties finding the job. Any Classified in any newspaper/online starts from tens accounting positions. I just quit my nice job in Canada. And since I am here, they are asking me to come back and take over this position again. It was a good administrative position, where I could apply all my multiple skills. And it was good paid. Here they only know low paid secretaries. An "office manager" is offered QR4000 and small room in shared accommodation. And even in this case the Company is not in hurry to carry out the obligations according to the contract. In Ontario an office manager/executive assistant can afford buying a house, or at least a decent apartment. And of course can very easily afford renting the nice independent flat.
Not to mention, that Canada - is FREE country. In any possible way.
Actually Mila I would have to disagree with you. As a native Canadian I can attest that the job market is saturated with educated professionals. What they lack is service people and people to work the oil rigs. So, yes if you want to flip burgers for your whole life or work on a rig there are plenty of jobs. If however you're a professional such as myself, getting a decent job is difficult, especially since most of the jobs are already taken by baby boomers refusing to retire.
Also with high taxes and a high cost of living, Canada really isn't that great a place to be.
It doesn't really matter what any of you think anyway, as within a week all of you will be back in your respective countries thanks to the mass deportation order I requested from my good friend Sheikh Tamim.
Gypsy, I have to dissagree with you. I just been to Canada this past christmas where my husband town which is Edmonton, they actually sortage of people to work. You can find many jobs offer in morning paper or you can find any sign along the way. I can find any job for me easily if I do live there now. I love Calgary though. More warmer.
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i tried to contact you,but you do not accept the e-mails. please contact me via this site.
thanks a lot for ur information ... i'm still thinking a lot but it seems that i better work with my degree here in qatar .. i would get more money than in canada.. i thought bcuz many peoples r immigrating that there are several vacancies with a good salary..
wheeeeew where shall we go then?
charmed wut professional job r u doing? and wut is that degree u r preparing?
"Similar eyes are seeing similar things, in a different ways"
Don't kill me if my weather predictions are wrong - it could be a rainy and cold summer - or an even warmer one than normal.
When the s*** hits the fan...
That’s right, Gypsy! I am "making enough money"...and I was an immigrant just several years ago...
***make money and love! no fighting, no war!!***
Thanks! That's much better than what I was expecting : )
The weather will be around 18 - 30 degrees with the occasional rain showers (not every day) - and it will almost 24 / 7 daylight - but only almost - to experience that travel another 500 km north - good advice buy some mosquito propellant. So it's a real nice summer there
When the s*** hits the fan...
this is rather heated! Yep silver moon me and the hubby cant get into canada at present as neither of us have a degree! How shocking!!!! We both have professional jobs but no degree so we cant get in! very upset about this one very sad!!! maybe we can get over there eventually! We are both doing degrees now to try abd get in!
but i do agree that canada is expensive to live thou all the reaserch which we have done on living there has been very shocking! Like i said NB is where we want to move to!! the houses there are affordable but elsewhere they are getting more expensive! i can only hope that one day we will make it here!
Oh and Gypsy - your from newfoundland! im so jelouse my friend comes from there and has told me how beautiful it is!
love life!
Vasquez that was me ooo asking about Sweden …
Vasteras is the place (I think), not sure if it's north or south didn't check on the map yet. Do you know what's the weather like say from June to August? Do they get close enough to having a summer? Temperature range? Is it rainy? Thanks a lot!
Wow, so if you have a house in Toronto you are obviously making enough money that you don't need to worry about surviving.
I haven't had a bad experience with my own country at all, nor have I had one here. However I simply think home is wherever you are happiest and where your family is. Mine is here in Qatar, and I am happier here because I'm not constantly wondering about work or bills or where my next meal is coming from. So for me, Qatar is home.
I have my OWN house there, in TORONTO, RIGHT in Toronto, not some Mississauga, or Bramton... And I am the one who pays the mortgage, and i am the one who pays the bills.
....this is an endless crapy argument…
..if you read the initial post, you could understand, this thread is NOT about where you can save more money! It’s about WHAT you can call your HOME!!! Not everything in this life is about money! I agree a lot, but not everything…Qatar is very nice country to live in for the short period of time (for different people this term might be different).. but how you can say “this is my Home Land” about the country which you will never be a citizen of!! you had a bad experience with your own country, and I had the good one!! too bad for you...
HALAS! I am out of this fight!!!
***make money and love! no fighting, no war!!***
Calling local is not free. You have to purchase a phone plan and that's a minimum of $20 to $40 a month. If you don't believe me look up Rogers, AT&T or Bell Canada.
You can't even buy a pair of NEW jeans from Walmart for $20 don't be ridiculous. As for the price of gas, maybe it's dropped in the last month or two, but it was $1.75 a litre when I was home last summer.
I don't know how long you lived in Canada, but you obviously never had to worry about paying your bills.
this is an endless crapy argument…
..if you read the initial post, you could understand, this thread is NOT about where you can save more money! It’s about WHAT you can all your HOME!!! Can you see a difference???
***make money and love! no fighting, no war!!***
This is crap… Local Telephone Calls in Toronto ARE FREE!!!!!!! You call US for 5 cent a minute, you call Europe for 8-12c a minute!!! You even call Qatar for 50-60c/minute!
...you CAN buy jeans for $20...
and I contacted my friends just 1 minute ago. 1 litre is 90c!!!
***make money and love! no fighting, no war!!***
Ah silvermoon, the old "Don't believe everything you read in the newspaper..." argument doesn't apply here since these are from the two largest and most well known newspapers in Canada, so the information has to be accurate, also all of the Cost of Living info is from the government of Canada website.
As for how much I earn here in Qatar? I earn the same here that I would in Canada, but with no taxes I am living a much better quality of life then I would back in the T dot O dot.
Seriously guys, I love Canada too, but lets not give Ram or any other immigrant the wrong idea.
So Silvermoon, you said the minimum monthly wage is Toronto was $1500, you were wrong, it's $1280 before taxes.
Toronto is the most expensive city in Canada to live in, here are living costs for the last 3 years from: http://www.canadaimmigrants.com/Torontoliving.asp
2006 Housing Prices
The average price of a detached house in Toronto is $365, 537
Source: Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Living in Toronto (GTA)
Average Rent for Two-Bedroom Apartments in 2006
$1,067 per month
Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. 2006.
Public Transportation
Ticket
Monthly Pass
Regular
$2.75
$99.75
Senior/Student
$1.85
$83.75
Source: Toronto Transit Commission. 2006
2005 Average Car Insurance in Ontario
$2,383.64 per year
Source: Car Test .ca
2004 Average expenditure per household
Concept
Annual Amount
Food
$7,632
Shelter
$16,589
Household Operation
$3,503
Personal Income Taxes
$17,272
Source: Statistics Canada. 2004.
Alcohol & Cigarettes
2007 Minimum Wage
$8.00 per hour
Consumption Taxes
In Toronto, two different taxes are applied to products and services. The federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) is 6%, while the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) is set at 8% and applies to the selling price including the GST. Some items including groceries, restaurant meals, and books are PST exempt.
2006 Federal Income Tax
Net Income
Tax
Basic Personal Amount
0%
Up to $36,378
15.25%
Up to $72,756
22%
Up to $118,285
26%
Over $118,285
29%
Source: Canada Revenue Agency. 2006
2006 Provincial Income Tax
Net Income
Tax
Basic Personal Amount
0%
Up to $34,758
6.05%
Up to $69,517
9.15%
Over $69,517
11.16%
regarding --> Does anyone know what's the average temperature in Sweden summer time?
Which part of Sweden - i.e. how far north and what summer month?
When the s*** hits the fan...
hey girl!!! relax!!! where is you sense of humor?????
I WAS KIDDING!!!!
.. and don't believe everything you read in newspaper. Just recently the link to some article about the cost living IN QATAR was posted on this site. According to this article you have to make at QR32,000-36,000 a month to feel more or less comfortable.. Do you Gypsy make this kind of money here? Do you still feel comfortable with money you make? ...SO?????
***make money and love! no fighting, no war!!***
i know they all don't, but in general europe is not as nice as it can be.
most muslims go to france, spain and britain. france and spain are terrible. britain is probably the best in europe, but still needs work.
italy gets many north africans too, and they aren't so good either.
i have met open minded people from all these places, so i know that there are many people working on improving things, but systemic racism is still strong when compared to canada.
the previous conservative government in spain was flat out telling unemployed spanish people that the immigrants were to blame for them not having jobs. awful stuff.
Actually this is a bit old. Gas/Petrol is almost $2 a litre now in most parts of the country. Otherwise it looks right.
Here's minimum wage by province.
Province General Wage
Alberta $7.00 Alberta Human Resources and Employment
BC $8.00 B.C. Ministry of Labour
Manitoba $7.60 Manitoba Labour
New Brunswick $7.00 New Brunswick Employment Standards
Newfoundland $7.00 Labour Relations Agency
NWT $8.25
Nova Scotia $7.15 Environment and Labour
Nunavut $8.50
Ontario $8.00 Ministry of Labour
PEI $7.15 Community and Cultural Affairs
Quebec $7.75 Commission des normes du travail
Saskatchewan $7.55 Saskatchewan Labour
Yukon $8.25
Here's some cost of living examples:
Here are some typical costs for items and services in Canada. Please note all figures are in Canadian funds. You can find a currency converter here.
Rent - Bachelor Apartment (one room apartment, one month, large city) $700 - $1,100
Rent - Bachelor Apartment (one room apartment, one month, small city/town) $500 - $700
Utilities (one month) $20 - $30
Phone (one month not including long distance) $20 - $40
Cell Phone Package (one month) $40
Cable Television (one month) $25 - $50
Internet Connection (high speed, one month) $40
Groceries for One Person (one month) $200 - $300
One Dozen Eggs $2 - $3
Bag of Rice (2 kg) $2 - $6
Bus Fare One Way (local) $2.25
Local Telephone Call $0.25
Fast Food Meal (hamburger, soft drink, french fries) $4 - $6 per person
Average Restaurant Meal $10 - $25 per person
Coffee from Specialty Coffee Shop $1.70
Admission to Nightclub $0 - $15
Gas/Petrol $0.75 - $0.90 per litre
Movie $11.50 - $13
Pair of Jeans $40 - $80
Pair of Running Shoes $60 - $200
Return flight from Vancouver to Toronto $300 - $1,200
Letter within Canada $0.50
International Postage (letter) $1.45
i had a canadian friend who worked summers during university at one of the invesment banks on Bay street. after uni he went abroad and worked for some big banks in London, Frankfurt and Milan (for about 5 years). when he went back to toronto, he had some yahoos telling him he didn't have enough canadian experience. considering that toronto is a nothing next to london and frankfurt with regards to that industry, that made us laugh.
my wife is not canadian, and she had to volunteer for 4 months before landing a job. but now that she's on the ladder, she moving fast.
as a community i think we are far ahead of anyone else, but having said that there are still many insular small minded people living amound us in Canada.
Here's one on tourism that mentions the cost of living.
http://www.680news.com/news/business/article.jsp?content=b030108A
"When it comes to the cost of living in the country, Canada scores really bad - 120th out of 124 countries - very expensive," said Mia."
Ram here are two articles from credible Canadian newspapers dealing with employment for minorities in Canada.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=23837ef6-b8d7-4dc1-accb-4d673852d731&k=48929
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070228.wvisible0228/BNStory/Business/home
Silvermoon you don't even know that Canada isn't part of the UK and you are arguing with me about the cost of living??
Look I love my country as much as the next person, but I'm realistic about it. Ram I know dozens of guys with your qualifications serving coffee for a living. Why? Because Canada is over run with educated professionals. The cost of living is high, taxes are high and good jobs are few and far between.
As for how Canada treats it's immigrants, yes we are very open and tolerant, but even that is starting to dissapear. Look at Herouxville and the rest of Quebec?
Not all the European countries mistreat Arabs and muslims immigrants.
Does anyone know what's the average temperature in Sweden summer time?
then canada is your best bet.
no other country assimilates immigrants as well as canada, and when you consider how the US and many european countries treat arab and muslim immigrants these days, it's really a good place for you to be.
are you having problems to immigrate to Canada from UK??? (at least that's what indicated in your profile, that you are from UK)....walla??? isn't Canada the part of UK??
***make money and love! no fighting, no war!!***
check your e-mail
***make money and love! no fighting, no war!!***
i'm looking for getting out of the middle east .. i'm a vb.net programmer having certification from Microsoft as application developer and i want to immigrate .. that's all.. but where and how here is the prob.
"Similar eyes are seeing similar things, in a different ways"
and what do you do?
The Netherlands is beautiful, but taxes are high there too, and unfortunately it isn't as immigrant friendly as Canada (like pretty much all of Europe).
you confused me .. ur points r totally different..
wut about the cubic area? do i have to be fluent in french to go there? is it the same as u r talking about ..i mean like the taxes n minimum wage..
Does any one know about any other place?? a net friend told me about Holland? any Idea?
"Similar eyes are seeing similar things, in a different ways"
Well silvermoon it may be like that in the T.O. but in the rest of the country it's nothing like that at all. I lost 21% in taxes off my minimum wage. And medicine isn't free, health care is, if you are willing to wait 6 months to get seen by a doctor. And only basic education is free, I'm still $50,000 in debt for my University education, and if you don't have uni in Canada you'll be flipping burgers for a living.
Much rather be home in Vegas, let's see my wife is doing the Christina Aguilera concert this Saturday (sorry but I'd be doing the Bob Seger one if I was there,because I've never seen him live )then next weekend she is doing the Rascal Flatts show (again I'd be doing Eric Clapton, same reason)and then next Sunday she is doing the NASCAR 400 race... So crap what am I going to be doing instead hmmmnnn...
Well I am trying to resolve issues with a Travel Agency here so that when my wife visits in March she and I can check out Oman. You know all the fun stuff book airfare (which I did online) etc... I am so mad I can spit right now... So I will refrain from discussing this travel agency until things are resolved.
Issues with QTEL, compound, crazy-fool drivers (and I thought after living in Saudi it would be much better here, HaaaHaaa..etc sometimes I feel like I am living in the "Land of Oz"
Beautiful Corniche, buildings, people... so much looks good in appearance but just like Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Lion, Tin Man found out once the curtain was pulled back... Enough said... Now back to work and wishing I was back in Vegas enjoying the desert the way it is meant to be enjoyed (at least for me
This is weird… living at the same country and having absolutely opposite point of view on it!! funny...
Of course I am not talking about McDonalds! I am talking about a lot of nice cozy places downtown Toronto with the beautifully cooked meals… and I didn’t say : you can get beer at bar for $2. I said: for $5… here it’s $11 for 1 bottle, it’s like almost whole pack of 6 bottles in T.O.! And the wage minimum is still $1500. Taxes on this minimum are next to Zero. And even at the end of the year the Government returns you some amount for GST, and some amount for Income tax! Not to mention free school educatio and medicine..
May be to live in Qatar for the short period of time for "making money" is good enough. But you will never call Qatar your Home Land. And that's what this thread about..
***make money and love! no fighting, no war!!***
Expenses in Canada are ridiculous. Expect to end up broke very fast over there! Short cab rides that would cost 15qr in doha cost 50qr in Canada. The States allows you to save more money.
what matters is how much you save.
even if Qatar is more expensive overall, if you are making more overall and saving more overall, then it's a better option than TO (financially speaking).
Just read your post again silvermoon, and I have to add that most people moving to Canada are doing so with family's, they can not stay in a guest house or basement apartment with a family. Also yes, you can go to the liquor store and buy 6 beer for between $12 and $14, but you can't buy them individually.
Speaking as someone who as attempted to live on minimum wage there in a city nowhere near as expensive as Toronto. Basically all you can do on that salary is live, and barely live at that (and that's one person, not a family).
I will say that the cost of accomodation is higher here, but clothes, food and hanging out costs are much pricer in Canada! I can buy a suit from Mexx here for 500QAR which home in Canada would cost $500. Vegetables here are a quarter of the price of home, and the cost of eating out is WAYYYYYY cheaper here.
I don't know where you are eating or hanging out in Toronto, but I don't count MacDonalds as a very good meal. Also you can not buy beer at a bar for $2. In my dinky little town a bottle of cheap beer is $4 or $5, It's higher in Toronto, also you have to pay cover to get into the bar.
And the minimum salary is not $1500 a month it's $1300 and you lose 20% of it or more to taxes.
You can find apartments for $400 to $600, but they are usually awful crap places, and bachelor apartments to boot. Also they tend to be off the many public transport lines and cars are twice as expensive as here.
Also work experience overseas is counted depending on what you do, especially since it is nearly impossible to find entry level positions in Canada.
sorry, Gyspy, I can not agree with "cost of living in Canada is way higher than in Qatar". Starting from accommodation, then food, then clothes, then hanging out and having fun - all that is much much more affordable in Canada than here. You can find tonnes of places where you can have very good meal for the "funny price" of C$6-8! (I am talking about Toronto). You can find an independent place to live for CAD 400-600 (like a room in guesthouse or a basement), while the MINIMUM salary is C$1500. Here minimum salary is about C$400, but independent accommodation starts from C$1500! Nonsense! Look at the proportion!
Food is also cheaper… even fruits, which should be next to free here, are more expensive then in Canada… Clothes - all types of clothes for all range of prices from $3 to ... endless...Bottle of beer is about C$2. In the bar - about $5 (comparing to $11 here).. and so on..
...By the way, if you don't know, the work experience in Qatar won't be really counted in canada. They usually ask for "canadian experience".. So for the young people like Amr, it's better to get to Canada earlier (if they want it), and to get their experience right there..
...and after all, you can call Canada “My Home” very soon after settling down there. You will never call Qatar “My Home”....
***make money and love! no fighting, no war!!***
I am not in Qatar yet - I might be making the move.
We are considering it because we can afford to live on one salary in the ME and still save. We would like to have a baby and my wife would like to stay home for more than one year.
I was born in Newfoundland, but raised in Nova Scotia. My father's family is all from New Brunswick.
It would be fantastic if you could do those things in Canada, but unfortunately people born there can hardly do those things, much less immigrants. :(
the job situation makes it hard! My husband is a consultant and im an accountant but neither of us want to do those jobs if we get to NB! I want to open a cafe and he just wants a unpressured job! Sadly Canada have deemed us unskilled so we cant get in! Gypsy wereabout in canada are you from - just so i can get jelous! And how about newfoundland too - wow canada has the most beautiful places im sad now remembering how much i want to live there!
love life!
Withnail, if there are so many jobs in finance, why are you and my father working here?
LOL Charmed, New Brunswick is beautiful (no Nova Scotia, but beautiful) but it's nearly impossible to find jobs in small towns! The unemployment rate in the Maritimes in small towns is at 40% and higher. :(
what do you work in?
there are tons of jobs in finance at the moment in canada.
the taxes are high, but things work overall so at least you know where your money is going.
canada is far more relaxed than the US, and we tend to treat immigrants far better (although if you are from the UK I don't think you would have any problems).
wow thats the one place we wanted to immigrate too! Do you realise how hard it is to get into Canada its shockingly hard! Me and my husband dont have enough point to get in! Gypsy is right thou jobs out there are few and far between and the taxes and insurance make the cost of living very high! But still i would go there if i could, we want to move to new brunswick area live in the middle of nowhere and just live peacfully! Canada is an amazing country! usa seems cool too - the little towns which no one had heard of i think would be the best!
Luckily thou me an dthe hubby can get into oz so i think thats where we will end up!
love life!
I would say that you're better off here. In another 10 years or so give it a shot, because by then you should have enough experience to land a decent job.
SO U DON'T RECOMMEND IT FOR ME TO THERE
"Similar eyes are seeing similar things, in a different ways"
Canada is a free country in the sense that you can do pretty much whatever you like within the boundaries of the law. We have gay marriage and freedom of religion and speech, practically legalized marijuana. It's heaven really, except that finding a job is difficult. I know lots of guys with your experience who are fluent in English, born and raised in Canada who are serving coffee for a living. IF you can find a position, which is doubtful cause there would be visa issues as well, the pay would probably be pretty good, but you would lose a big chuck to taxes and the cost of living is way higher so your money wouldn't go as far.
"Nor was I arguing about Canada being a free country"
wut do u mean by a free country or not? wut kind of freedom r u talking about? cuz i was seriously thinking about going to canada as i know a business man in egypt, he is canadian from Toronto and i was thinking about going there.
please explain more ... i'm programmer n certified from microsoft as application developer, graduated of computer science and good in english .. not fluent but i'm ok i can deal with people in english easily.. can i find a good job there with a good salary?
"Similar eyes are seeing similar things, in a different ways"
Also to get anykind of professional job you need years of experience, for someone fresh out of Uni or new to the country they would have no chance of finding a decent position.
:P
I'm not an accountant. Nor was I arguing about Canada being a free country. What I was saying is that there is a lack of jobs and the cost of living is steadily increasing. Maybe in small town Ontario you can afford a mortgage or a decent apartment but in any of the major citites, especially Toronto, you would be hard pressed to find a one bedroom within your price range.
I am surprised, that you as accountant had difficulties finding the job. Any Classified in any newspaper/online starts from tens accounting positions. I just quit my nice job in Canada. And since I am here, they are asking me to come back and take over this position again. It was a good administrative position, where I could apply all my multiple skills. And it was good paid. Here they only know low paid secretaries. An "office manager" is offered QR4000 and small room in shared accommodation. And even in this case the Company is not in hurry to carry out the obligations according to the contract. In Ontario an office manager/executive assistant can afford buying a house, or at least a decent apartment. And of course can very easily afford renting the nice independent flat.
Not to mention, that Canada - is FREE country. In any possible way.
... baby boomers are retiring...
Actually Mila I would have to disagree with you. As a native Canadian I can attest that the job market is saturated with educated professionals. What they lack is service people and people to work the oil rigs. So, yes if you want to flip burgers for your whole life or work on a rig there are plenty of jobs. If however you're a professional such as myself, getting a decent job is difficult, especially since most of the jobs are already taken by baby boomers refusing to retire.
Also with high taxes and a high cost of living, Canada really isn't that great a place to be.
if you're looking for freezing country and a good life style... canada is the best...
like action and american dream... so america is your way
europe is may be the "between"... uve got the weather, life style, jobs... but people make the difference!
middle east can be also in the same range as europe depending on what criteria we make our choices...
so it's really depend on what are you looking for ...
but think before jumping ;)
good luck
It doesn't really matter what any of you think anyway, as within a week all of you will be back in your respective countries thanks to the mass deportation order I requested from my good friend Sheikh Tamim.
Gypsy, I have to dissagree with you. I just been to Canada this past christmas where my husband town which is Edmonton, they actually sortage of people to work. You can find many jobs offer in morning paper or you can find any sign along the way. I can find any job for me easily if I do live there now. I love Calgary though. More warmer.
Much too cold. US is okay ( I was born there and raised there ) but I prefer Europe and the Middle East to North America. Europe is the best!!!!
I would rather live in Canada. At least I'll get to see Avril Lavigne. Haha!
"How we survive, is what makes us who we are!"
Qatar is hardly home. There is less party here.
Even if you can afford a Land Cruiser, you are still an outsider.
I would rather pick apples in New Zealand if given a chance.
Peace! (",)
"How we survive, is what makes us who we are!"
There are no jobs in Canada or the US. You're better off staying here.
there is no respect for the human being. lets immigrate from here to canada.