Kiwis in Canada

Hi there,

My partner and I are from New Zealand and are considering applying for a 12 Month Canadian Working Holiday Visa as part of the Working Holiday Program these two countries offer every year.

Firstly I was wondering about Kiwis already living in Canada especially those who are there as part of the Working Holiday Program so if you are one of these people I'd really like to hear from you.

Was also wanting any advice or tips on where the best places are to go and live in Canada, especially in terms of employment potential, fun, beauty, expense (ie where is cheap and where is expensive) and where other young foreigners living in Canada might tend to base themselves.

Also wondering about what the best way to go about finding a job in Canada would be.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

I wasn't aware of the program, but it sounds interesting. New Zealand is a beautiful country.

I'm not a Kiwi, but perhaps I can answer some of your questions:

With regards to where the best places to live are, it depends on your lifestyle. Do you prefer living in the city or rural living? Would you prefer mild weather or are you ok with colder weather?

If you want warmer weather, obviously BC would be the best choice.

If you like living in the city, then your best choices are Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton are also a fair size.

Toronto, with a metro population of about 5 million, is the largest city in the country with everything you could think of in a city. It has the third largest live theater district in the world, a major zoo, art gallery, museum, plenty of locations for sporting events, concerts, movies, etc. There's also -- and the --. Along with big shopping malls, it has an underground -- that's full of stores and food courts. When combined with the subway system, you can go just about anywhere in the downtown area while barely setting foot outside. Like other cities, however, it does get crowded during rush hour. Also, Toronto has been getting some bad press due to some gun violence recently, but it's far lower than a other cities of comparable size. In fact, its doesn't even have the highest crime rate in Canada despite having the largest population.

From what I understand, Montreal is less expensive to live in, but aside from that, cost of living really depends on how close you are to a city. If you live in a city, you're paying more for location, but you also save money that'd be spent on commuting if you worked in the city but lived outside of it. An apartment in Toronto ranges from about $700 to $1500 depending on what you're looking for. A nice 1 bedroom condo in a new building will run about $1100, but that also includes 24hr security, and lots of other extras that vary from building to building.

Here's an example of what the view is like at some of the new condos:



The building in this picture is part of --, which is a $1.5 billion project that includes 20 buildings and 100mbps internet connections. I'm not sure if they're renting, but people often buy condos as an investment and rent them out.

For what it'd cost to be in the middle of everything like that, you could rent a house just outside of the city, or save some money on an apartment. You can find less expensive places within the city, but be careful because, like other cities, Toronto does have some slummy buildings.

To get idea of what it's like in some of these areas, you may want to check out these links, which have lots of pics. They're from sites about skyscrapers so they focus on architecture, but you can see areas that aren't normally in typical tourism pics.

<SNIP: Advertising>

Most people coming to Canada choose the major cities, which is likely because that's where most of the work is, and the majority go to Ontario.

Thanks for the help.

I currently live in a city with a population of 50000 so I'm not used to living in a big city but I think that is definately where I want to go in Canada. The population of Toronto is more than the population of NZ as a whole so maybe something a bit smaller. Our largest city, Auckland, is only round 1 million so maybe somewhere closer to that size but definately want a big city experience.

As for the weather, the city I currently live in is about as far south as you can live and is reasonably close to Antarctica so I'm used to some cold weather, although probably not to the same extremities as in Canada. Weather is not really too much of an issue though.

Hi, I'm a Kiwi living in Canada - in fact your posting prompted me to join this forum so I could reply! (I came across your question randomly on Google).

I've been living in Canada for 7 months, on precisely the Working Visa you mentioned. Jean gave you a good summary about the cities. I just want to add from my perspective Ottawa is a fantastic city if you're into politics (because it's the capital of the country and all policy and action originates from here). Ottawa is also disected by a beautiful river and largest man-made canal in the world. People always speak of how cold it is, but I find it nothing on NZ...because Canadian houses have central heating!!! Oh the luxury of 20degrees inside all year around! Lastly, Ottawa (and Montreal) are great cities to live in if you're looking to experience the French culture as well as the English. I came here looking forward to learning another language - it's slow-going because French is so complex, but very interesting.

Something to be aware of however, as a foreigner I cannot get a Canadian credit card, although I can open a regular bank account. The absence of a Canadian credit card is annoying because my only alternative is to use my NZ one, which of course operates at a lower exchange rate. Also, that bank account is empty now, as my automatic payments going into my Canadian account. (International wire transfers are expensive - about $50 a pop, so forget it!)

I am lucky because my partner is Canadian so everything goes on his credit card -from car rental to when I purchased my computer. Also, I do not qualify for provincial free health care, even though I pay the same taxes (apparently there is a chance I will get these returned when I leave the country).

On the topic of jobs - what fields are you looking to work in? eg do you have much career experience or are you thinking of doing casual work like working in a ski field or in a bar? It is much more difficult to get jobs here than in NZ, particularly if you are in Ottawa/Quebec and do not speak French, because many jobs require you to be bilingual. But moreover, most jobs require at least 4 years experience in the field. And Canada is more about who you know than what you know...which is difficult for foreigners!

I hope this has been helpful. I'll look out for your reply.

Alberta is looking for every type of worker for oil sands or for their very shallow industry base (local mechanics etc) to replace people who have taken up the McMurray challange.

Big bucks going into your pocket and more big bucks comming out of your pocket to find a hoval to live in and eat.

Hi there,
I am writing to Kiwi T...Simply because I find my situation a bit like yours...I am a french canadian actually working in New Zealand for a circus. I am planning to come back to Canada this summer with my kiwi partner and we are looking for a casual job for him. I am teaching him a little bit of french, but its never as easy as being over there...We are planning to stay in Montreal for a couple of months, do you think we might be able to find him a summer job??? Would you have any advices for us??? Do you need an actual contract to get a work visa before you leave NZ??? Any comments would be more than welcome.

Merci beaucoup!

Virginie

Hey fellow Kiwi, I read an old post of yours and was wondering if you could fill me in on the 12 month working holiday visa.
I've just returned to NZ after 4months travel in Canada. I'm in love with the place and would sell my soul to live and work there for a year.
Was there any kind of age limit when you applied?

(International wire transfers are expensive - about $50 a pop, so forget it!)
Have you tried Money grams --there on line at located at Canada post quite reasonable


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this website above its quite informative for new comers

All the best and its great to hear about the program, we love visitors !!

I am a born and bread Canadian but love to meet and exchange ideas with people all over the world !!

I've met a lot of wonderful folk from Australia on family exchange programs. Perhaps you might want to research that before anything else. I don't know what kind of work you do, or if New Zealand has the same sort of programs, but it was an ideal situation. You swap houses and the whole bit. And, hopefully, you get a family like ours who takes the whole thing very seriously... if my uncle would have been invited to something, so was his exchange family. They got to spend Thanksgiving with us (they were most thoroughly revolted by pumpkin pie BTW, lol), and were around for a few suppers, a couple birthdays, and a baby shower. It was wonderful being able to so thoroughly show off the culture.

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do!

Hmmm, hadn't looked at how old this thread is.... well, I'll leave the idea up anyway, incase anyone else decides they want to look into these programs.

Oh my it is old LOL

Hmmm, this is an old thread. Just wondering how the above members got on ? Are you still around? Any updates?

I'm heading to Canada from New Zealand on holiday end of this year, spending Xmas and New Year, should be awesome. If I love it as much as I think I will I would love to move to Canada too.

I would love to hear from other Kiwis' in Canada, how did you do it and how are things with life in Canada in comparison to NZ?

I have a daughter who lives in Canada, for almost 12 months now, she hopes to get residency down the track.

Cheers

Well... Canada's a pretty big place, and it's certainly not just one place, I'm sure there are places and things here you'd love, and things you'd hate, so think carefully about that. Changing countries and cultures is a very big step, and there are multiple cultures here too. I've lived in Alberta, Saskatchewan (where I am now and expect to remain, I grew up here), southern Ontario, and Nova Scotia, at various times in my life. They're all very different if you're at all culturally sensitive, and they're all very different from anything you're likely to find at home. And you may find the climate a little difficult. Just some examples that have struck me during my life here: how would you feel if the daily high temperature was below -30°C for a week? Have you any concept of how cold that is? Fairly typical for a prairie winter. How would you feel about suffocating heat and humidity, temperatures well over 30°C, humidity close to 100%, and when it rains, it rains warm water that just makes it even more oppressive? Fairly typical for summer in southern Ontario. How about 50 cm of heavy wet snow falling half a dozen times a winter? Fairly typical for certain areas of our east coast.

I have a brother-in-law from New Zealand, and those are the things that bother him the most. He's currently in Toronto, where winters are fairly benign in Canadian terms, but he can't stand even that, he spends most of the winters in tropical places. He has a job that lets him arrange his life that way, he's an academic lawyer specializing in issues of land ownership and registration, and arranges all of his consulting work with tropical third world countries so he can avoid most of the winter in Toronto.

I don't mean to be discouraging, as a patriotic Canadian I'd immediately agree that Canada is a sane and civilized place, I'm deeply grateful that an accident of birth has made me a citizen of it, and I think it's a fine place to live and work and raise a family. But New Zealand too, from what I know of it, is also a sane and civilized place, and with you being a New Zealander it seems likely that all your family and friends and all the things that are comfortable and familiar to you will be there too. So think carefully about leaving all that for an alien land. I would certainly welcome you to my country if you decide to make the move and become one of us, but I'd like you to be confident you can be happy here before you make that decision.

Hello --

Thank you for the long speel I have noticed you write the same to others whom may have commented along the same lines as I ... and that's okay ... Not everyone loves foreigners, ha! However I am of a happy and poipular breed, and well liked for being me and for being pretty straight up too, much like yourself ...

I think if I was to move to Canada I would move to Vancouver whre the climate isn't too harsh. Like any place "when in rome" is a great philosphy I would follow.

I am aware of the temps, my daughter moved almost a year ago and she was blown away at the extreme temps but nothing has deterred her love of the country, the people and the way of life.

Kiwis' aka New Zealanders love new cultures and we are as a rule adapatble and like anything new there always the pros and the cons.

I'm looking forward to my holiday and I will make a judgement call then.

Thank you so much for your input, appreciated.

Cheers from a switched on Kiwi