I intent to land in Toronto this June and don't seem to find anyone from Toronto in this forum.
Is it new immigrant to Toronto too busy struggling to survive or enjoying the good life and not bother at all to share their experience in this forum?
Just curious ..
Hi, welcome to Toronto. Have you already planned out your landing process and your immediate first days in Toronto? Better yet, do you already have someone here to help you? Perhaps you'd already have thought out what exactly you'd be doing when you step off your flight fully laden with maximum baggage.
The GTA is a big place. If you arrive at Pearson airport, you are in Mississauga and not Toronto. Getting to Toronto downtown is confusing. Getting out of the airport is confusing. Renting a car and trying to make sense of the ramps leading out of the airport is confusing.
Some points to note:
- Getting through the immigration and customs process. Have your COPR ready to present to the immigration counter. You will be re-directed to a larger room to be further processed at another counter. Have everything correct and accurate. I saw the guy in the next counter being detained for false information. You will be given a welcome package. Then you're out and on your way. Next go through the customs office. This is where you submit your forms for Goods Accompanying, and Goods to Follow. You'll need a VISA card to borrow the baggage cart and to pay any customs fees.
- Getting from the airport to your place of accomodation. I suggest booking a hotel that provides free shuttle bus from the airport. I do not suggest picking up a rental car from the airport. The multiple layers of ramps from the airport is daunting. If you must drive, have a very good GPS.
- Getting your social insurance and banking done. You'll need to be mobile to do this. Your Singapore drivers licence is valid for 30 days, then you can't drive. Open a HSBC Premiere account while still in Singapore, they will arrange for a canadian version of VISA card to collect from here which you can start using immediately. Any demand draft that you bring to deposit to open a bank here can be stuck for 6 weeks, so don't rely on your dd as your primary source of funds initially.
- Getting food from your location. Again, need to be mobile or else end up ordering room service. If your hotel has groceries nearby, then the area probably isn't that good.
- Scout out the neighbourhoods, you might like some areas, and not others. What you see on Google Earth may not look the same at eye level. Some cues, check out the cars on the street, and the tidiness of the homes. It'll give you an idea of the income level of the street.
- Getting your Ontario Drivers licence. I suggest signing up for proper driver's training. Don't kay kiang cho hero like me, eventually I signed up for training. The rules here are very different. Their definition of emergency stop is different from our Sgp method. Go to Traffic Police in Ubi and pay the $10 for the certificate of no violations. DriveTest will give you credit for it and waive the 12-month waiting period for the graduated licencing scheme.
- Getting your car, and insurance for your car. Too many choices of cars and all very affordable by Singapore standard. Pay more and buy from certified dealers, or else get cheated by the unethical ones. Insurance is very expensive, you'll be starting from scratch like an eighteen year old. Get a letter of no claim from your insurer, it helps a bit.
- Viewing properties, home inspections. Get a good GPS, check MLS, and happy house hunting. View from the outside first, chances are you might not like the street, the facing, the neighbours etc. Get your realtor to arrange for internal viewings when you like everything about its outside. New suburb house in former meadow plot looks nice but is not necessarily better than old 50 year old homes. The older homes may be of solid timber and withstood the test of time whereas you don't know how long the chipboard of the new house will hold up.
- Getting in-principal loan approvals from the banks before closing your purchase. Standby 25% in cash for the downpayment. Anything below and you'll need a job reference and incur additional cost of annual mortgage insurance.
The GTA is large and stretches 50km east to Whitby and 50km west to Hamilton from Toronto downtown. Buying houses in Toronto incurs the extra Toronto tax that does not apply to other parts of the GTA. The nicer the house is, the higher the annual property tax. This amount can range from $2500 to $5000 or more. There are countless nature trails and falls on the west. There is a nuclear power station on the east. Almost everyone is Chinese in Scarborough and Indian in Brampton. We'll blend right in. It is against the law to display racism so everyone is polite and politically correct or else get sued. Be prepared for a high level of multiculturalism.
By the way, Toronto is not that cold as it has the lake effect to moderate. All houses are well insulated and the winter is not too bad if you are used to the kind of aircon in a singapore office building. I also hear anecdotes that it is cheaper to live day-to-day in Toronto than Vancouver.
I don't know how much you have researched already, let me know if there's anything you want to know about. It would be nice if you can provide a bit of your background, whether there are kids and therefore schools, etc.