Wife and Family seriously considering a move to Toronto . Skilled Worker application is nearly complete (BOY do those guys want to know everything !
I am an Engineer with expert skills in the British Fresh Chilled food industry. Anyone know of any contacts in the industry please ?
How easy is it to rent some where to live , I have heard getting a guarantor can be a pain for immigrants?
Can i drive on my U.K license ? roll
Cheers !
Hi there. I'm able to help you with remarkably little of this, since I don't drive and know nothing about your industry.
However, I do live in Toronto, and I can tell you that the renter's market is quite good at the moment. A lot of people abandoned renting to buy condos, which let to a much larger vacancy rate, so I would say it's pretty easy.
Obviously it depends where you want to live and what kind of place you want, but rental prices are roughly half those in London. We rent a comfortable two-bedroom apartment in a high-rise in a nice reasonably central part of the city for $1400.00CAN inclusive. I wouldn't think being a foreign national will be that much of a problem, although references within Canada would help. Nearly 50 per cent of the population of this city was born outside of North America. But if in doubt you could get an agency to take care of all that for you. Also there's a free weekly here in boxes all over the city called 'Renters News'.
One very common complaint among British expats (and other immigrants) here is that they arrive, having done all the paperwork and paid all the money, only to discover that their qualifications are as useful as toilet paper. Many industries here are something of a closed shop. Be absolutely sure yours will be accepted. Go on other sites with more representation of British expats to Canada on it and ask lots of people for their experiences. Don't forget the February factor either. By then temperatures of -20c are not uncommon. It's not for everyone.
That said, Toronto's a wonderful city. I have very few complaints here.