Pharmacist immigration and living costs

[Pooja Chavda]

Hi All,

I have a masters in pharmacy and have been working as a haematology and oncology pharmacist in the UK for over 5 years.

I am looking to move to Canada with my husband who is a graphic designer and I was wondering what the average living costs are?

Mainly housing, bills, food and best area to live. We are also looking to have children soon so would we be able to afford children if we move?

Thank you for all your help

 

[scylla]

Hi All,

I have a masters in pharmacy and have been working as a haematology and oncology pharmacist in the UK for over 5 years.

I am looking to move to Canada with my husband who is a graphic designer and I was wondering what the average living costs are?

Mainly housing, bills, food and best area to live. We are also looking to have children soon so would we be able to afford children if we move?

Thank you for all your help

Living costs quite vary widely from location to location with larger cities being more expensive. It's really impossible to comment on your question without knowing which specific city / town you plan to live in.

 

[Pooja Chavda]

Thank you for your reply Scylla, im quite unsure as its early days still doing research.

Any reccomendations? Somewhere not too expensive, good area to start a family? Any suggestions will be helpful. Thank you

 

[scylla]

Thank you for your reply Scylla, im quite unsure as its early days still doing research.

Any reccomendations? Somewhere not too expensive, good area to start a family? Any suggestions will be helpful. Thank you

I don't have any recommendation. Canada is a big country and there are many many different places you could live and that are good for raising a family. I would recommend you do some research on where the job market is good for your profession and your spouse's profession - and then narrow down a few places based on that - then research those locations. You can usually find averge cost of living for specific locations by googling the name of the city and "cost of living".

 

[Pooja Chavda]

Thank you for getting back to me. I will google some places and look into it.

 

[canuck78]

Would warn you that the job market for pharmacists is not very good in Canada. There is a surplus of applicants and it is only getting worse. Salaries have been decreasing over the past 15 years. If you have good jobs in the UK I would consider carefully if you want to move. In terms of hospital pharmacy jobs, you would likely have to move where you can get an opportunity if you can get one. Would definitely assess why you are moving and your expectations.

 

[Pooja Chavda]

Hi canuk78

That's a very good insight thank you.. google states 70k to 100k is this true?

I have a decent job in the uk as a hospital pharmacist but dont get paid enough for what we do.

My husband may not be working so my top cities i think would be toronto, ottawa or montreal, could we live on one salary?

Thank you

 

[Bs65]

With Montreal on your list assume you can speak French ?

 

[canuck78]

Hi canuk78

That's a very good insight thank you.. google states 70k to 100k is this true?

I have a decent job in the uk as a hospital pharmacist but dont get paid enough for what we do.

My husband may not be working so my top cities i think would be toronto, ottawa or montreal, could we live on one salary?

Thank you

The current salary at many community pharmacies has fallen to the $32-34/hour. Not many new pharmacists in Canada are making 100K unless they are own a pharmacy. Toronto would be the worst place to settle as a pharmacist. You’ll need to be bilingual if you want to work in health (and many other industries) in Montreal. Of all places Quebec pharmacists have not been as affected by the decrease in salary because most pharmacists and foreign graduates don’t speak French. Of course you can live on one salary but you will have a very tight budget and will have to make some sacrifices.

Would look at various chats about the surplus of pharmacists especially in the urban centres. There may still be good pay at the much more remote locations in Canada. Hospitals used to pay a lot less so it was easier to get employed there but now that hospitals have better pay vs retail and stability plus often benefits the competition for jobs will increase. Immigration and schools increasing admissions rates have really screwed up the whole profession. 15 years ago you’d get a 10k signing bonus and make 70k a year. Now salaries are decreasing and there is no way your salary will increase. Lots of people combining a bunch of part-time jobs together. People hope they can keep their jobs at the same salary rate. On top of this they keep admitting more pharmacists. Same issue for dentists. There are huge volumes of foreign dentists immigrating to Canada and the Canadian graduates are already struggling to find jobs.

 

[scylla]

Hi canuk78

That's a very good insight thank you.. google states 70k to 100k is this true?

I have a decent job in the uk as a hospital pharmacist but dont get paid enough for what we do.

My husband may not be working so my top cities i think would be toronto, ottawa or montreal, could we live on one salary?

Thank you

FYI - Montreal should only be on the list if you speak French fluently.

 

[Roobii123]

Hello friend,
I am in a dillema on getting my PEBC documents evaluation. They say I need the national Id number(NAPRA id) how can i get that number?also how to purchase the self assessment tools??and where to do the payments for the same?god i am so confused.can any one help with this procedure of documents evaluation through PEBC?

 

[canuck78]

Hello friend,
I am in a dillema on getting my PEBC documents evaluation. They say I need the national Id number(NAPRA id) how can i get that number?also how to purchase the self assessment tools??and where to do the payments for the same?god i am so confused.can any one help with this procedure of documents evaluation through PEBC?

Are you sure you need NAPRA just to get your degree evaluated?

 

[Roobii123]

They are asking for the napra id when i am registering for pebc

 

[canuck78]

They are asking for the napra id when i am registering for pebc

Registering for PEBC or document evaluation for international graduates applying for PR?

 

[Roobii123]

Yes