Moving to Montreal with an American husband

amother

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 1:23 pm

justcallmeima

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 3:20 pm

1) How easy/difficult is it for an American to move to Montreal? What is the process involved? What is the cost of the visa/citizenship? How long does it take? Will my husband be able to start working right away? What exactly should we be applying for? Will he be able to get medicare once he's in Montreal? Would he be able to take those government funded college courses? (The free ones that they have)

2) Besides rent with heat included, what other home bills would I be paying? Hydro? How much would that usually cost for a two person family?

3) I am expecting a baby in a few months and was wondering how easy/difficult it would be to find a new OBGYN there whom I'd be comfortable with and deliver my baby.

4) I know the provincial government gives money for each child you have there. How much would you get per child? And until what age?

5) What qualifies you to apply/receive welfare in Montreal?

6) How much does a 2 br appartment usually rent for?

1) It's not "hard" but it does take a LOONG time. The best thing would be for him to apply from OUTSIDE of Canada- the process will go faster, but could still take 6 months to a year depending on how busy they are, how understaffed etc. Be VERY careful while you are waiting for his papers not to make "shtick" when you cross the border. You could jeopardize his status and he would not be allowed into Canada at all. They are MUCH stricter than they used to be. He will not get medicare right away, so you will have to purchase private insurance until he qualifies. I can't remember what the cost is, but it's a few hundred dollars. You will have to sponsor him so you will have to prove that you can support him financially until he gets a FT job which he cannot get until he has his permanent residency card (PR). He would not be able to take the provincially funded college courses until he has his PR.

I live in Ontario so I can't answer your other questions. Hatzlacha rabah and b'sha'ah tovah!

.

canadamom

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 4:05 pm

amother wrote:

I'm a native born Montrealer, and my husband is American. A job opportunity just came up and we both realized we could be doing much better financially in Montreal, than where we are right now in the states. (He is out of a job here.)

1) How easy/difficult is it for an American to move to Montreal? What is the process involved? What is the cost of the visa/citizenship? How long does it take? Will my husband be able to start working right away? What exactly should we be applying for? Will he be able to get medicare once he's in Montreal? Would he be able to take those government funded college courses? (The free ones that they have)

I know there is someone here that helps people with immigration questions, pm me for number

2) Besides rent with heat included, what other home bills would I be paying? Hydro? How much would that usually cost for a two person family?
really depends on the apartment

3) I am expecting a baby in a few months and was wondering how easy/difficult it would be to find a new OBGYN there whom I'd be comfortable with and deliver my baby.

there is a dr. in the jewish general hospital accepting new patients, he actually is a frum dr. and is supposed to be good, his name is dr. abenhaim, number to the jewish is:514-340-8222 just be aware that in montreal your dr. might not come to your delivery, you get whatever dr. is on call that shift.

4) I know the provincial government gives money for each child you have there. How much would you get per child? And until what age?
this depends on your income we get money from three different places for our kids, one is only till age 6

5) What qualifies you to apply/receive welfare in Montreal?

no clue!

6) How much does a 2 br appartment usually rent for?

in what area?? outremont (chasidish) is the most expensive, around $1200 uptown and lubavitch is signifigantly cheaper

good luck, and pm me with any questions

canadamom

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 4:05 pm

amother wrote:

in what area?? outremont (chasidish) is the most expensive, around $1200 uptown and lubavitch is signifigantly cheaper

good luck, and pm me with any questions

amother

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 4:28 pm

OP here.

I'd be looking for the apartment in chabad/lubavitch area. Although we'd live in CSL or TMR too if the apartment wasn't too expensive. We don't want to pay more than 1000 especially if utilities are extra.

I was also wondering how you get a pediatrician for your baby after it's born. A doctor that you can easily get an appointment if the child is sick, and get regular checkups at. All I remember growing up there is running to the EMR or a clinic and waiting 4 hours each time just to see a doctor.

canadamom

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 8:00 pm

amother wrote:

yeh! good luck with that, most dr.s nowadays have closed practices. who was your pediatrician growing up? usually they will accept your kids.

Laughing Bag!

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 8:52 pm

when you apply for permenant resident you can apply at the same time for a working permitwhich is an additional cost. total time can depend on who is proccessing your case. lol. At the time we did it it took us quite fast we did all paperwork ourselves and a year later when my sil was working on theirs it took them forever. in general it takes about a year for trhe whole process though.
Medicaid you can get once you get approved by quebec, which means that after sending in all your papers to canada they will eventually send you a letter that they sent your case to quebec; then youll need to wait for the envolope from quebec which arrives in french but you can request an english translation,lol. once you send it in to quebec it shoul takeonly a few short weeks for their reply. with the letter of their approval you can get medicaid.

about drs youre in for a good one. lol. there are almost none that take new patients however if its your first you might have an easier time. If your childhood dr is still around then you can defenetly use it as they wont say no unless the dr has retired lol. there is a list of pediatricians available which you can start calling now so you might get somewhere with that. a friend of mine started looking for a dr only after her baby was born, to her luck it was vecationing season by the time she reached the dr they were not interested bc her baby was almost 8 weeks old! she used the clsc during that time which you can also do but its not the same as having a personal pediatrician. GOOD LUCK ON THAT!

about a dr for yourself you can call the hospital and ask them for drs office the obs are just as hard to get to as pediatricians. the one I used started out private for most of the time meaning you need to pay from your pocket or pay for private insurance! YOUR DR wont nessassarily really come to deliver your baby unless hes on call or paid private.

depending on your income, family size and childs age you get the money for the kids under age 18. besides you get also an additional 100$ monthly per child under age 6.

rent in the areas your looking into can be under 1000$. depending on what heat you have you might need to pay gas metropolitain/ hydro. how much it would cost you depends on the size/ age of the appartment, if its insulated if the windows are good... the winters are usually more expensive but in newly renovated appartments you might not see such a diffrence if its electric heating, gas cost ALOT though!

Good luck on all!

Gerbera

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 7:24 am

I'm Canadian as well and sponsored my husband. The immigration/sponsorship process and application is different if you are applying to sponsor someone in Quebec versus the rest of the country so I can't help with specifics. One thing you should know is that you are not allowed to sponsor someone if you are on financial assistance from the government...so you wouldn't be able to apply for welfare while in the middle of your sponsorship process (that info is taken directly off the website for Immigration-Quebec)

I agree with the previous poster - apply from outside the country! It is much faster! My husband received his papers in 5 weeks from mailing the application in. If he has a job offer - he can be sponsored through the employer.

You are responsible for the person you are sponsoring for THREE years (since it is a spouse) if during the time period he applies for any government assistance or special allowances (glasses, dental care) YOU are required to reimburse the government for those sums.

In terms of the process - not familiar with Quebec, but it was very straightforward fro us - we did it ourselves, no lawyer...took awhile to complete the application. They want A LOT of proof that it is a valid marriage - you need to include photos, etc - again I don't know about the Quebec application.

There is usually a 3 month waiting period I believe before you can be eligible for health insurance. You should check into that. You are probably also bound by that since you were living outside the country - you'd have to check with the Health Department.

Bills- besides for rent and perhaps electric and water depending on the rental situation there is also phone bills/cable/internet if you have any of those. Sometimes you have to pay for a parking spot or permit as well.

I moved to Canada 7 months pregnant - I suggest you start looking for a doctor! Regarding the paragraph above with the health care - make sure you are covered so you don't have to pay out of pocket!

Canadian government gives $100 per child under 6 regardless of income - other provincial programs are income based I believe.

Ok, I took a peek at the Immigration website - you fill out the standard Canadian form that we did PLUS a separate one for Quebec - you have to meet the requirements of BOTH governments. You also have to fill the forms out in French...by the way. You only move on to that process once you are accepted through the federal application.

Regarding your healthcare eligibility - read this:
http://www.ramq.gouv.qc.ca/en/.....shtml

If you need any help with the main application - feel free to ask! We didnt do it that long ago and found it pretty easy.

Good luck!

Gerbera

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 9:20 am

In regards to one of the posters above...for sponsoring a spouse you don't have to prove you have the financial means to support them - that is only for sponsoring a parent, sibling or adult child I believe. I sponsored my husband without having to show any income or any bank account info at all. The sponsorship of a spouse is different from other categories of family members. Again, you just can't be on government benefits to sponsor.

In order to rent an apartment you will probably have to prove you have an income though - we had to provide a letter from an employer stating annual salary as well as a letter from the bank...I think the other way to do it without a job is to have someone sign as your guarantor if you don't pay your rent they can get the money from them - when I rented in Montreal as a student my parents were the guarantors since I didn't have the income.

Laughing Bag!

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 10:41 am

amother wrote:

Laughing Bag! wrote:

If your childhood dr is still around then you can defenetly use it as they wont say no unless the dr has retired lol.

OP here.

Just my luck, my childhood pediatrician is retired. I've had 20x more personal care from doctors in the states since I moved out of Canada.

I totaly understand what you mean drs in montreal are quite underpaid, at least thats what they claim so there arent many and they dont do too much for you. the Irony of it all is that there are very many medical students in montreal but all come to learn just because its cheaper as soon as they graduate the look for jobs elsewhere! lol.