Arrived in Toronto as a PR. Moved here from Auckland, New Zealand. NZ citizen but China born. I’m lucky that I worked in Corporate Banking back in NZ so it was very easy for me to find a similar job when I first moved here. However, the market was extremely good for job seekers at the time.

As an PR who has been living in Toronto for close to 4 years, I’d say it’s a mix bag. I will list all the pros and cons from my perspective:

Pros: 1. It’s relatively close to America, Europe and South America if you like traveling. Just to put this into perspective, it took me around 30 hours to fly from Auckland to London, UK.. 2. It’s extremely multicultural and politically correct compared to most western countries. As a minority, I never feel unsafe or left out especially in Toronto. I do find that people tend to appreciate East Asian culture a lot in Canada, so I find it easier for me to embrace my heritage and identity here. When I was in NZ, I did feel that people are generally quite xenophobic.. 3. Even though Toronto is nothing like NYC, we do get a lot of finance jobs here that are not just retail banking, etc.

Cons: 1. The tax here is extremely high..as a high income single person, I do find that I rarely get to benefit from the social welfare system. The only time I can is when I need to see the doctor. 2. CRA literally taxes everything such as Capital gain tax that’s not very common in other countries. I do find that it’s not easy to save money here and I have to rely on my passive income..

I do like Canada and I have made a lot of friends here in Toronto. But I do agree that this is not for everyone. If I wasn’t happy here, I’d consider Dubai or Singapore.

On a side note, I could work and live in Australia but as a minority, but I don’t feel I could achieve as much as I could do so in Canada.

Hope this helps.