Cost of Living

The Cost of Living in Canada does vary from Province to Province, and city to city. Moving to Canada as a new Immigrant will of course be expensive in the first few months as you get your new life established and this often means initial expenses (Cars/ Insurances/ home etc). It is important to differentiate between the rate that you bring any capital over to Canada (the exchange rate) and the buying power and living costs compared to your income in Canada. As a generalisation, goods and services will be around double the cost in CAD$ as they are in, for example British Pounds, overall. Of course some things will be cheaper and some more expensive. It is normal to keep referring back to your home currency in the first year.

Also bear in mind that household expenses should be researched; heating systems may be different (Oil/ Warm Air/ Gas) and house sizes may be larger, especially with a basement, so square footage to heat will increase.

Prices of services and goods in Canada are usually shown without sales tax (HST/ GST).

At the end of the day, costs can be subjective, as your lifestyle will probably be different in Canada with differing expenses.

Even with a secured job in Canada it is imperative that new immigrants, especially those bringing a family, should have adequate initial capital. It’s impossible to put an exact figure on what you should have (as apposed to the minimum required by CIC) but realistically funds should be available of at least $30-40k on landing.