Recently landed - our experiences in Toronto

[OmSai73]

Congratulations and Good Luck !!!!!

[jnathan]

Relocating from Melb, Australia to Canada?
Australia : Did not enter into recession in recent times, unemployment rate is 3.3%
Canada?   Well and good into the recession and Unemployment rate is now over 9%

[bkuper]

Thanks jnathan for your comment.
Whilst I do agree that Canada has more unemployment, I did mention earlier that we are at a different stage in our lives and it is not the job/money factor which has influenced us. Family and lifestyle are the biggest motivators for us.
We have not decided if my husband will be looking for work or perhaps open his own business. We are fortunate to have either option open to us.

Whilst Australia technically avoided the recession, it does not make it a very affordable place to live. In the last few weeks we have had bushfires, major floods and are currently experiencing a category 5 cyclone. These events will push our already high food prices into the stratosphere as well as burn through a lot of government reserves in the re-building of the state of Queensland (which was already quoted in the billions before Cyclone Yasi hit last night).

[virgiemaricel]

 @  bkuper: How did you go about the "goods to follow?" When will the customs tax apply with it? Will the cargo shipping company (that will bring the goods to follow) compute the shipping fee without the customs tax?

We'll be landing in Toronto in May 2011. The baggage limit imposed by our airline makes it hard to bring all the important things to Canada. 

[jnathan]

Lets see.

[idas]

Hi all,

we recently did our landing in Toronto.
Everything was quite smooth at the airport, although it took a while for the Customs agent to go through the "Goods accompanying" and "Goods to Follow" lists. We had to have two lists as we have returned to Australia to sell our home and finish off some other commitments. We will make our final move in April.

Anyway, Toronto is great. .....

Thanks for the nice share. Wish you best of luck on settling life in a new area. If you don't mind could you clear a little bit why the Customs agent took longer then normal, they are supposed to only entry the total amount in the system and stamp the documents. Do they go through every item individually?

TC