Living in Toronto

punky

I'm moving to Toronto with my girlfriend in October. It's the 1 yr under 35 working visa.

If anyone's done it or knows Toronto, please advise me on:

Where's a good neighbourhood to live?
Ideally near downtown (or an easy cycle/commute) and not too expensive. Somewhere youngish and vibrant would be great. I'm thinking the equivalent of Rathmines/Ranelagh without the rip off prices.

Any advice on good places to go out?
We don't want to spend every weekend in Irish pubs with every Tom, Dick and Paddy from back home. Where's a good neighbourhood/street to go for a night out? Where's a good place to meet cool Canadians or non-Irish? I'm not anti-Irish or anything but I don't want to get sucked into an Irish social scene when I'm abroad.

Any advice on job hunting? websites, recruitment agencies etc?
If anyone has got work with NGOs or done some volunteering I'd like to hear how you got into it.

Anything else I should know?

Thanks a million!

Ruu_Old

Theres a thread here relating to a move to Canada, maybe you will find some answers there.

punky

Thanks for that. But if anyone has any Toronto specific info, I'd great to hear from ya.

mcgrate

Hi Punky,

Did exactly the same thing a few years ago, except i went solo.
Toronto is a fantastic city. I was intending on going West but decided to stay on.

I was staying in the University of Toronto residence for the summer but then moved into a shared apartment just off Yonge street ( one of the main street) at the Eaton Centre. It was only about 300 dollars a month rent..but i think i got a really sweet deal.
The university residences are a good base for looking for accommodation. think its all single rooms so not sure how that'll work with a girlfriend in tow..but you could give it a go.

Its a great city to live and doesnt really matter where you are because there are subway lines and trams and buses also.
Toronto is made up of loads of "Little " districts. Little Italy, Littly Greece etc. and they have a fantastic china town and japan town too!

The Social life is very good Downtown..along King Street, Queen street, Church street. They have some really good bars too. And thank god, very very few irish bars. There is one place called the Irish Embassy..but its an After Work crowd and wouldnt accept my irish drivers licence as identification until the chef came out to verify it was real !! Not quite the "irish bar" i was expecting. Look out for a bar called the Market Bar. Its down the end of church street heading towards the water..dont know the name of the street though..
Canadians try to imitate old english bars. They have a lot of "something" and Firkin similar to British Pubs-but they are great fun and do really good beer pitchers and wings. I guess these would be the Typical Canadian pubs.

There is a cool area of the City called the Beaches. A lot of people i worked with lived there and highly recommended it.

I cant really recommend any classy places to eat out as i was on a budget so generally did my own cooking. But again, King / Queen street is the nightlife-y area so head down there.
Hope that helps.
Any other questions?

underworld

Het punky check out www.workopolis.com for jobs specific to toronto,went over with my girlfriend for 6 months and stayed in a place called greenwood,lovely spot and very safe... its east from where young and bloor meet we stayed there cause we got very lucky with jobs,actually the second day we got there we got jobs painting $600 p/w and that was with no social security no.we just got lucky i guess,check out all the papers as soon as u get over for jobs and accomodation...if u have any other questions pm me u will have a blast over there fantastic city...i wanna go back:(

punky

Thanks for the tips underworld and mcgrate. Can't wait to head over.

punka

Punky, if you're going in October the University residences won't really be an option as term will be well underway by then. But try the 89 Chestnut residence, they sometimes have vacancies during the year. Also the University of Toronto Housing website has some good resources, although you need to be a student to access some of them. I'll be attending the University from September, they sent me a list of temporary accomodation that I can email to you if you PM me your address.

jjbrien

I just got back from living in Toronto and I do miss it. I again done the USIT work abroad option. Ok some of the figures that people quoted for rent are a little off. The university halls were last summer $600 per month dependging on which one you stayed at. If you need tempory accoumindation then I recommed you stay at the YHA on Church and King St from October on they do rates for $150 per week for swappers. Rent goes from $400 per single room or $950 per 2 bedroom basement apartment. There are of course some areas where you should avoid Queen on Bathrust is one such area. There is an area east of Ryerson university called Javis St and shooter st you should avoid also. Also dont go to Jayne and Finch.

Most of Toronto is pretty safe I never had any problems myself. The subway system is fantastic. You will really love it. Swap the hosting orginasion will try to push you in to a low end job. You can get something career related which is much better for you. It will be very cold in November so before you go make sure to go into Dunnes and buy yourself some very warm clothes and some boots as you will need them. As I found out myself very quickly if you need anything else just ask.

punky

Thanks everyone.
I'm definitely looking for decent work (have a good bit of work experience) so I'm gonna try and avoid the menial jobs if possible.

I think we have somewhere to stay for a week or two when we arrive with friends of friends. After that, I guess we'll need some cheapish accomodation as we won't have a lot of cash. Thanks for all the tips.
I guess I'll need lots of warm clothes as well. Would I be better off waiting until I arrive to buy winter clothes? I'm thinking my euros may go a bit further in Toronto than in Dublin?

I have a few very specific questions. Not sure if you can help but...

Does anyone know how one might get involved in playing regular football in Toronto? Even a five-a-side league or something like that?

Anyone know any good live jazz bars that don't cost an arm and a leg?

Did anyone do any camping/staying in cabins in the countryside? Did you need to rent a car to get there or are there places you can get to by train/bus and then rent bikes or whatever.

Thanks.

jjbrien

Buy you winter clothes over here in Ireland as they are quite expensive in Canada

empirix

where is the warmest part of Canada, waying it up against Australia(have been there), i am thinking about long term here, is it really very cold and dull, wheres the best place for IT work, out of interest what are Canadian chicks like babes or .....

jjbrien

Vancover in the winter is the warmest. Toronto is the warmest place in summer. As for Canadian babes I have to say Toronto is pretty good for them as the universitys do be in session during the winter.

punky

I'm gonna bump up this thread by asking if anyone knows how difficult it is to extend your visa/get residency in Canada? Not sure if I want to spend the rest of my life in Trublin or County Backarseofnowhere.

jinx51

punky wrote:

I'm gonna bump up this thread by asking if anyone knows how difficult it is to extend your visa/get residency in Canada? Not sure if I want to spend the rest of my life in Trublin or County Backarseofnowhere.

I too would very much like to know the answer to this.

jjbrien

You can not extend your visa if your on the Under 35 programme. You can apply to go again on the SWAP programme if you held a student visa already. If you need anyting more just ask I was on the Usit Swap canada programme last year and ended up working for Travel Cuts who run swap if you need anything else just let me know.

punky

So does that mean that if you do the under 35 programme, there's no way you can extend your visa? Even if you got sponsored by a company?

What's the story with SWAP? Can you not do SWAP if you've done the under 35 programme?

Cheers.

jjbrien

punky wrote:

So does that mean that if you do the under 35 programme, there's no way you can extend your visa? Even if you got sponsored by a company?

What's the story with SWAP? Can you not do SWAP if you've done the under 35 programme?

Cheers.

You can not redo swap if you have done it on the Under 35 programme already that is a condition layed down by Citazonship and Immigarion Canada. There are some other options you can condsider you may apply for permant residency in Canada but that would reuire your to show that you have upto $10,000cad in your bank account. You would also have to pass the skills test. You can also have a better chance in passing the test if you have a job already in canada. Vist http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.html for more details on visas.

jjbrien

Are you in Toronto yet if you are ask Libbey in the SWAP office on King St fior details on the people who did an immigration presintation last year in the office.

punky

Nah. Not going for a few months. Just thinking ahead. Thanks for the info.

jinx51

jjbrien,

How long did it take for you to get approved for your visa? USIT say 6-8 weeks, wondering if that's accurate.