Living Cost in Canada

Hiii..

If now you got your ITA - Visa for first entry. You must be thinking how much money I will need to stay in Canada at the start.

Survival is not an issue in Canada if you are willing to work hard and also do not shy away from various normal jobs.

Having lived in Toronto, here's an approximate estimate -  

1) Monthly Rent : approx $1200 (that includes Hydro (heating).  Could come down to less than $900 if you gofor basements. However please note that basements are usually cooler and coldest during winter. So you will have to wear sweaters n all while roaming in house. 

Also there are 3 types of places 

• Basement - $700 to $900 -  basements are cheaper but winters are long. last thing most people want is to be stuck underground for 6-7 months of the year. plus in basements you have a higher chance of pipes bursting and being flooded.  

• Apartment -@1200  It is 1 BHK apartments / flats however for laundry you will have to use common areas. The laundry will not be inside house. No gyms / security etc.

• Condos - $1500 - Laundry will be inside the flat. Security Guards and gym and other indoor games will be available.  

Some Apartments in Canada do not have Ceiling lights and almost none of them have ceiling fans. If you are to rent out an apartment from a rental company, you are within your right to ask for a repaint (they should do it anyway) and get the flooring fixed. All apartments come equipped with Smoke alarm so make sure your Hob has an exhaust on top.

Also I will not prefer to live downtown. The problem living in downtown is that most grocery store's tend to  be expensive.  SO unless you do shopping in Wall Mart where the prices do not alter based on location then the normal stores are expensive.

2) Electricity: $60 (Toronto) 

3) Cellphone bill per person: $35-$70 (depends on your plan)  

4) Transportation:   ($120 Toronto) (That's for a TTC or a skytrain zone 1 pass) (per person) 

5) Groceries: depends ( could be $60 a week for a family of 2 if you buy from No Frills or could be about $120 if you buy your groceries from fancier places like Sobey's etc.

6) Internet : If you get a plan from Bell or Rogers, you're probably looking to shell out anything over $100. Start (in Toronto) is about $60 (25mbps) 

7) If you intend to buy a car, it's going to be an expensive affair as the car insurance in canada is very high. For car worth $ 40 K will have appx $500 EMI and $500 insurance per month. 

9) A normal restaurant's meal on an average for 2 people could be approx $40 with tax plus you'd have to add 15% as tip on top. 

In summary - you will need appx $2000 to start your life in Toronto. You may need more at the start for buying furniture and other stuff like winter clothes, kitchen stuff etc. 

Plan accordingly.

See Yaa..

Vidya 

How to score more under Express Entry – Comprehensive Ranking System

Hello All,

I will help you to understand the CRS and also how can we make an effort to get maximum score in CRS. As you know, if you want to get an ITA you need minimum 451 score, as per the last year trend. People who have 451 score have also received ITA.

1. Total number of points available under the Express Entry CRS is 1,200.

So now, I would say if you are married and up to age 29 years or even 30 years you have better chance towards getting more than 450 score.  Lets focus only on the 600 points now as we assume we will not get any province nomination and not a job offer as well. So we need to score 450 out of 600 to receive ITA.

Single applicant - 

1. Core human Capital: Maximum 500 points;
2. Skill transferability: Maximum 100 points;

Applicant accompanying spouse-

1. Core human Capital of Principal Applicant: Maximum 460 points;
2. Core human Capital of Spouse: Maximum 40 points
3. Skill transfer ability: Maximum 100 points

If your age is upto 30, you will earn full score under AGE factor, additionaly for your spouce as well you will earn score. 

If you have master degree or more you will also earn full score. 

If you have more than 5 years of work experience- you will earn maximum score.

SO the main trick now is to earn best score in IELTS. If you observe that based on your language proficiency your score differs a lot.

You at least need CLB 8 and your spouce need CLB 6 /7 to get you full score on transferbility matrix. 

With good official language proficiency and foreign work experience you can earn 50 points straight away and your score will be more than 450. 

For example:

If main applicant is of 29 years old, have MBA/ MCA or any masters degree and has best IELTS score - CLB 9 and have 5 years or more experience then you earn handsome score. 

3.IELTS Score - CLB 9

Listening - 8.0

Writing - 7.0

Speaking - 7.0

reading - 7.0 

Also if you spouse score 

Listening - 6.0 to 7.0

Writing - 6.5

Speaking - 6.5

reading - 6.5

Then you will earn full 100 score on Skill transferability factors. 

So bottom line is get your IELTS score to Maximum and you will get more then 451 points and hence ITA. I gave IELTS twice to get the 100 points in transferability factor and received my ITA.

Below is information for your reference, you will find it on CIC website as well. 

Core/Human factors

• Age = 100
• Level of education = 126
• Official Languages = 116
  • First Official Language = 116
  • Second Official Language = 0
• Canadian work experience = 0

Subtotal - Core/Human capital factors = 342

---

Spouse factors

• Level of education = 8
• First Official Languages = 12
• Canadian work experience = 0

Subtotal - Spouse factors = 20

---

Skill transferability factors

Education

• A) Official Language proficiency and education = 50
• B) Canadian work experience and education = 0

Subtotal = 50

Foreign work experience

• A) Official Language proficiency and foreign work experience = 50
• B) Canadian and foreign work experience B) = 0

Subtotal = 50

Certificate of qualification = 0

Subtotal Skill transferability factors = 100

---

Comprehensive Ranking System formula

Subtotal Core/Human capital + Spouse factors + Skill transferability = 462

Additional points = 0

Grand total = 462

A) Summary of points per factor for Express Entry candidates

A. Core / human capital factors	Points per factor - With a spouse or common-law partner	Points per factor - Without a spouse or common-law partner
Age	100	110
Level of education	140	150
Official languages proficiency	150	160
Canadian work experience	70	80

B) Summary of points per factor for Express Entry candidates

B. Spouse or common-law partner factors	Maximum 40 points
Level of education	10
Official language proficiency	20
Canadian Work Experience	10
A. Core/human capital + B. Spouse or common-law partner factors	Maximum 500 points (with a spouse or common-law partner)	Maximum 500 points (without a spouse or common-law partner)

C) Summary of points per factor for Express Entry candidates

C. Skill Transferability factors	Maximum 100 points
Education	Maximum 50 points
With good/strong official languages proficiency and a post-secondary degree	50
With Canadian work experience and a post-secondary degree	50
Foreign work experience	Maximum 50 points
With good/strong official languages proficiency and foreign work experience	50
With Canadian work experience and foreign work experience	50
Certificate of qualification (for people in trade occupations)	Maximum 50 points
With good/strong official languages proficiency and a certificate of qualification	50
A. Core/human capital + B. Spouse or common-law partner + C. Transferability factors	Maximum 600 points

D) Summary of points per factor for Express Entry candidates

D. Additional points	(maximum 600)
A. Core/human capital + B. Spouse or common-law partner factors + C. Transferability factors + D. = Grand total - 1,200
Arranged employment	600
PN nomination	600

CRS – Core factors

Core / human capital factors	With a spouse (Maximum 460 points)	Without a spouse (Maximum 500 points)
Age	Number of points (100 maximum)	Number of points (110 maximum)
17 years of age or less	0	0
18 years of age	90	99
19 years of age	95	105
20 to 29 years of age	100	110
30 years of age	95	105
31 years of age	90	99
32 years of age	85	94
33 years of age	80	88
34 years of age	75	83
35 years of age	70	77
36 years of age	65	72
37 years of age	60	66
38 years of age	55	61
39 years of age	50	55
40 years of age	45	50
41 years of age	35	39
42 years of age	25	28
43 years of age	15	17
44 years of age	5	6
45 years of age or more	0	0
Level of Education	With a spouse - Number of points (140 maximum)	Without a spouse - Number of points (150 maximum)
Less than Secondary school (high school) credential	0	0
Secondary school (high school) credential	28	30
One-year post-secondary program credential	84	90
Two-year post-secondary program credential	91	98
Post-secondary program credential of three years or longer	112	120
Two or more post-secondary program credentials AND at least one of these credentials was issued on completion of a post-secondary program of three years or longer	119	128
University-level credential at the Master’s level OR an entry-to-practice professional degree. CIC only accepts as an entry-to-practice professional degree, those degrees issued in relation to an occupation listed at NOC Skill level A and for which licensing by a provincial regulatory body is required.	126	135
University-level credential at the Doctoral level	140	150
Official languages proficiency - first official language Reading, writing, speaking and listening total points for each ability: 32 with a spouse 34 without a spouse	With a spouseMaximum 128 points	Without a spouseMaximum 136 points
For each ability	32	34
Less than CLB 4	0	0
CLB 4 or 5	6	6
CLB 6	8	9
CLB 7	16	17
CLB 8	22	23
CLB 9	29	31
CLB 10 or more	32	34
Official languages proficiency - second official language Reading, writing, speaking and listening total points for each ability: 5.5 with a spouse 6 without a spouse	With a spouseMaximum 22 points	Without a spouseMaximum 24 points
For each ability		6
CLB 4 or less	0	0
CLB 5 or 6	1	1
CLB 7 or 8	3	3
CLB 9 or more	6	6
Canadian work experience	With a spouseMaximum 70 points	Without a spouseMaximum 80 points
None or less than a year	0	0
1 year	35	40
2 years	46	53
3 years	56	64
4 years	63	72
5 years or more	70	80
Subtotal - Core / human capital factors	Out of 460 points	Out of 500 points

CRS – Spouse factors (if applicable)

Spouse factors	With spouse - number of points per factor	Without spouse (0 points – does not apply)
Spouse`s level of education	10	0
Less than secondary school (high school) credential	0
Secondary school (high school) credential	2
One-year post-secondary program credential	6
Two-year post-secondary program credential	7
Post-secondary program credential of three years or longer	8
Two or more post-secondary program credentials AND at least one of these credentials was issued on completion of a post-secondary program of three years or longer	9
University-level credential at the Master’s level OR an entry-to-practice professional degree. CIC only accepts as an entry-to-practice professional degree, those degrees issued in relation to an occupation listed at NOC Skill level A and for which licensing by a provincial regulatory body is required.	10
University-level credential at the Doctoral level	10
Spouse’s official languages proficiency - first official language Reading, writing, speaking and listening– total points for each ability	Maximum 20 points	0 (does not apply)
For each ability	5
CLB 4 or less	0
CLB 5 or 6	1
CLB 7 or 8	3
CLB 9 or more	5
Canadian work experience	Maximum 10 points	0 (does not apply)
None or less than a year	0
1 year	5
2 years	7
3 years	8
4 years	9
5 years or more	10
Subtotal - Core / human capital + Spouse factors	500	500

CRS – Skill transferability factors

Skill Transferability factors	Maximum 100 points for this section
Education	Maximum 50 points for Education
With good official language proficiency and a post-secondary degree	Maximum 50 points
	Points for CLB 7 or more on all first official language abilities, one or more under 9	Points for CLB 9 or more on all four first official language abilities
Secondary school (high school) credential or less (levels 1&2)	0	0
Post-secondary program credential of one year or longer (levels 3,4 & 5)	13	25
Two or more post-secondary program credentials AND at least one of these credentials was issued on completion of a post-secondary program of three years or longer (levels 6,7 & 8)	25	50
With Canadian work experience and a post-secondary degree	Maximum 50 points
	Points for education + 1 year of Canadian work experience	Points for education + 2 years or more of Canadian work experience
Secondary school (high school) credential or less (levels 1&2)	0	0
Post-secondary program credential of one year or longer (levels 3,4 & 5)	13	25
Two or more post-secondary program credentials AND at least one of these credentials was issued on completion of a post-secondary program of three years or longer (levels 6,7 & 8)	25	50
Foreign work experience	Maximum 50 points for Foreign work experience
With good official language proficiency and foreign work experience	50 points
	Points for foreign work experience + CLB 7 or more on all first OL abilities, one or more under 9	Points for foreign work experience + CLB 9 or more on all four first OL abilities
No foreign work experience	0	0
1 or 2 years of foreign work experience	13	25
3 years or more of foreign work experience	25	50
With Canadian work experience and foreign work experience	Maximum 50 points
	Points for foreign work experience + 1 year of Canadian work experience	Points for foreign work experience + 2 years or more of Canadian work experience
No foreign work experience	0	0
1 or 2 years of foreign work experience	13	25
3 years or more of foreign work experience	25	50
Certificate of qualification (trade occupations)	Maximum 50 points for this section
With good official language proficiency and a certificate of qualification	Maximum 50 points
	Points for certificate of qualification + CLB 5 or more on all first OL abilities, one or more under 7	Points for certificate of qualification + CLB 7 or more on all four first OL abilities
With a certificate of qualification	25	50
Subtotal: A. Core + B. Spouse + C. Skill transferability factors	600
Additional points	Maximum 600 points
1) Arranged employment OR	600
2) Provincial or territorial nomination	600
Grand total	Maximum 1200 points

Content Source from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/express-entry/grid-crs.asp

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/crs-tool.asp