Moving from Bay Area to Canada
Wanted to get your opinion on what to expect- what would be most difficult to adjust. I understand that salaries will be less so savings will be less. Current salary not very high. Would also like recommendations for which city I could live at. I would like to live close to work and go in 2-3 times a week. I have a i140 priority date 2021. Single Indian woman with a cat. Would be nice if the city has at least 10% Indians so I can blend in. Have some friends here who I will miss. Don’t know anyone in Canada. Absolutely don’t want to move back to India. Current job is ok but manager is the stressed out, micromanaging kind. I will ask them if they can move my location to Canada, it might not work out. If not it would be nice if I can work with a team that’s based out of Bay Area. I like to travel and be outdoors- I can restrict that to local areas. Also like gardening, would like a small space for it if possible. Long term definitely want a family, so a place where it’s possible to own a home with single income would be nice. If my kid(s) have interest in stem would be nice if they have an outlet/opportunity to pursue. Sorry about the meandering post. YOE 8 TC 200k #h1b #canada #visa
If you live in Vancouver, you can work west coast hours and work for any remote first bay area tech companies
I moved from Bay Area to Canada .. Dm if you have questions .. you will get salary cut with high tax rate .. I would not worried about housing if you don’t have plan to buy ..I live in Vancouver fyi
Canadian here. Toronto would be a good choice. Pros: plenty of job opportunities, vibrant social life. Cons: expensive housing , traffic. I’d recommend only drive during weekends.
Only drive during weekends lol. Is it better if there is flexible work schedule like 11 - 8 pm?
Unfortunately no. Traffic is bad in all major highways throughout weekday. It’s better to live and work near public transit stations. E.g Yonge and Finch
DM,I can help you
I moved from usa to canada last year.. dm me if you need to know anything
10% Indians 😯, may be tough. You would have to look for a specific locality within any given city. For example, Brampton in Toronto and Surrey in Vancouver. Probably the most surprising thing for me when I moved from California to Canada was the housing and rental cost. It is higher than the Bay area. It may be affordable if you live far away in suburbs; something like more than one hour drive time from downtown. The second surprising thing was the state of tech jobs in Canada. It is nowhere close to silicon valley in California or even other second tier industrial cities. Wages are about 50% of the Bay area and jobs are few. It becomes further difficult if you work in a niche that is not prevalent in your city. When I was applying to jobs anywhere in Canada, I was getting more calls from US employers hiring for remote workers in Canada than the Canadian employers. The third surprising thing was the cost of stuff. Since factory made goods are imported, and higher taxes are levied, it usually costs something between 10 to 30% higher to buy the same stuff in Canada compared to the USA. Check out the domestic Canadian flight travel rates. However, the crime rate is lower than the Bay area. The diversity appears to be similar to the bay area. It's just that diversity resides towards the low and jobs. In the Bay area, we would assume a person of Indian descent to be a high earner, which is exactly the opposite in Canada. Also, the border officers are way nicer in Canada.
Yea I think cost of living will be a shock no matter how much I mentally prepare for it. One of the main worries about remaining in the us is the sheer stress of the 60 days in case of layoffs.
Canadian cities have 50% Indians specially straight outta pind
I agree.. ☝️
Canada blows right now. Crowded, everything is expensive, housing prices insane, infrastructure can’t support the 2M “international students”, health care broken, salaries blow. Seriously, don’t. The country has turned to absolute trash in the last 4 years. This coming from a (formerly proud) Canadian
Why are you thinking so far ahead ? You are yet to get married you are already thinking of STEM for your kids. Think in terms of a 3 to 4 year time frame
Of course not important now, might select a place for short term like 4 years first.
Canadian houses are more expensive than US houses. In general you'll get paid less, taxed more, and everything will cost more. Oh and don't forget that -25 C is a very normal winter day, as is having waist high snow banks that don't melt until May. It's not an exaggeration to say that winter lasts half the year. Source: I'm Canadian
I don’t think it hit -25 deg once this winter….
You can't just look at the warmest year on record