# thinking of moving to canada



## jdiz (Sep 14, 2010)

My boyfriend & i are planning on going to canada on a work & travel visa which allows us to work for the year in any one place. he is a carpenter & i am in banking. I have been looking at vancouver & am thinking that it might be the place for us. can anyone give me any info on settling in vancouver, cost of living & job opportunities for both of us? what kind of money could we expect to earn & would we have a decent standard of living. where else could be recommended other than vancouver? do carpenters have to join a union etc? how easy is it to open bank accounts & get social security numbers .are there many irish out there who have made the move & how do you find it in comparision to home? - any info at all would be very appreciated as this is both exciting & scary!!!


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## Heading South (Jan 29, 2011)

*Don't have to join a union*



jdiz said:


> My boyfriend & i are planning on going to canada on a work & travel visa which allows us to work for the year in any one place. he is a carpenter & i am in banking. I have been looking at vancouver & am thinking that it might be the place for us. can anyone give me any info on settling in vancouver, cost of living & job opportunities for both of us? what kind of money could we expect to earn & would we have a decent standard of living. where else could be recommended other than vancouver? do carpenters have to join a union etc? how easy is it to open bank accounts & get social security numbers .are there many irish out there who have made the move & how do you find it in comparision to home? - any info at all would be very appreciated as this is both exciting & scary!!!


Canada is very union oriented, thats one reason why the cost of living is as high as it is, but there are lots of non union companies that hire carpenters, and pay, in some case higher wages than unionized. Just because a company is union, doesn't mean they do better work, it just means they quite often have to charge more because of higher overhead. I did carpentry for 6 years, as a non union, and made better money than my cousin who was unionized, because he was paid union wages and I was paid what I was worth.. If you choose to work for a unionized company, expect to maybe lose work because of contract disputes etc, but in the end, if you want to work for a unionized co. you will have to join the union, right now, there are more jobs in the housing market for non union than in commercial construction, and with unions, you will have dues deducted from your check. Union workers will disagree with me, but non union will agree, your husband will have to decide for himself self which is better for him


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## jdiz (Sep 14, 2010)

Heading South said:


> Canada is very union oriented, thats one reason why the cost of living is as high as it is, but there are lots of non union companies that hire carpenters, and pay, in some case higher wages than unionized. Just because a company is union, doesn't mean they do better work, it just means they quite often have to charge more because of higher overhead. I did carpentry for 6 years, as a non union, and made better money than my cousin who was unionized, because he was paid union wages and I was paid what I was worth.. If you choose to work for a unionized company, expect to maybe lose work because of contract disputes etc, but in the end, if you want to work for a unionized co. you will have to join the union, right now, there are more jobs in the housing market for non union than in commercial construction, and with unions, you will have dues deducted from your check. Union workers will disagree with me, but non union will agree, your husband will have to decide for himself self which is better for him


thanks for the info....we are still trying to decide what to do as i have a mortgage in an apartment that i wont be able to sell so cant make the decision too quickly!!! any info is welcome!


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