Intro
Hello! I have just started a year long contract as a 3D animator in Montreal Canada and I wanted to write a post sharing what I have learned in hopes it helps those who will be in a similar situation. I am going to cover the immigration/work permit process, banking, housing, transportation, entertainment, language, food and some tips and tricks I learned and of course I will share some of the failures I had to hopefully help you not to fall into some of the problems I did.
Immigration from the U.S.A
I was born in the United States, so in order to work in Canada I needed a work-permit; which is just a piece of paper that you can fold and put in your passport that lets the border agents know how long you will be in Canada and what your Citizenship status is. Anytime you leave and re-enter the country you will need this document (So don't loose it!). You will also need your passport and work permit to do most things such as open a bank, apply for housing and of course to work in Canada. To obtain the work-permit the studio payed for it and gave me a POE (Port of Entry Package) which had a copy of 4 year degree from SCAD (you must have have a degree I was told if you are not a Canadian citizen), resume and a copy of the offer/contract I had with the studio. As soon as I landed in the Montreal international airport I went through customs and was directed to the immigration section where I was given a ticket and waited for my number to be called in order to talk to an agent. 4 hours later, I was called handed the officer my POE, then waited about 20 minutes for the officer to print my work permit then I had to pay a CAD $155 fee (Ask the studio to reimburse you the $155 as travel fee!). After paying the fee I was handed my work permit and was allowed to work in Canada! One thing I learned is my work permit was only valid as long as I was working with this particular studio; so if for any reason I quit and worked for another studio in Montreal I would have to get a new work permit. Also note that depending on your contract and situation your work permit may have an expiration date that you should be aware of! Once you have your work-permit you are going to want to get your SIN # (Social Insurance Number) as soon as possible. You are going to need this nine digit number for all sorts of things. Now you will be able to fill out the form online; however, it will take a while for them to get back to you, so I called Service Canada made an appointment and during the week made a 15 minute walk downtown went into their office, answered a few questions and they printed my SIN # for me. The whole process took about an hour. There was no fee for the SIN #. Now you can just show up to service Canada and wait in line, but when I went the non-appointment line was rather long and I was able to get in an out quickly, so just make an appointment. Be sure to bring your work permit and passport!
Banking
Coming from the U.S.A one of the first things I needed to do was set up a Bank in Canada. Unfortunately, I came into Canada on a Friday night, so I could not schedule an appointment until Monday. So, be sure that you come to Canada with some cash, so you can buy groceries/food, hop on the metro ect... You can pay with your credit card you have in the U.S.A, but the card I had was a 5% fee for every purchase, which is why I just paid in cash. You can do a currency exchange in the airport; however, before you leave I would recommend going to your local bank a week in advance and doing a larger exchange of money, which will take the bank a few business days to order and have ready for you to pick up. I came to Canada with a 3 months of rent in mind, which was the right idea, but not quite enough, which I will discuss more in the housing section. When I signed up for a bank It was a $6 transfer fee for anything under 2K, and anything over 2K had to be a wire transfer and the fee was $45. But I have a trick for you to transfer enough funds for you to put a payment down while you await your first few paychecks from your new job! I called my bank in the U.S.A and asked to raise the amount I could withdraw from an ATM in a day. I have found that BMO bank's atm machines in montreal would allow me to withdraw the max the U.S.A bank would allow me to withdraw for a $3 fee. Over the course of 2 days I transferred over 2K into my new bank for about $6 instead of wiring money(waiting 3-5 business days for wire transfer) and paying a more expensive fee. This allowed me to pay all the fee's & downpayment that came with my apartment. Depending on your bank you go with in Canada and the bank you have in the U.S.A you may not run into this, but I did and this was the work around I found the best! So be sure to talk to your bank and find out the best way to transfer funds and have a concrete plan before coming to Canada!
Finding Housing
Housing is going to be the HARDEST part of your entire move! Every artist I have talked to has had difficulty finding a place in Montreal. The studio I joined placed me in a corporate stay (apartment with kitchen, washer, dryer ect...) for two weeks; which allowed me to hunt for apartments. You have two main options in terms of housing. You can live outside the downtown area (30-50 minute metro ride) which will be a bit cheaper $800-$1400 a month + $80 Metro monthly pass. Now, I found most of these places did not come include water, electricity, wifi, or have a stove refrigerator, washing and drying machine. So it may be cheaper, but I would consider adding $200-$300 a month for water, electricity, and wifi if the place does not come with it. Now I found that apartments downtown (10-20 minute walk from most studios) started around $1500 - $1850 a month but had all your utilities & amenities included! Most of the places were 500 - 700 square feet 1 bed apartments. Some apartments do not come with wifi and that will run you anywhere between $30-$60 a month. Do not cheap out on wifi though because as many things are remote or Hybrid due to the COVID-19 pandemic it is more productive and efficient to have a good virtual connection into the studio's computers. When you are in crunch on a show and have tight deadlines and working overtime you do not want to be fighting slow and laggy connection. Now comes the problem I ran into... Canadian credit history... I thought I was on top of it the first week! I had an apartment picked out I sent my application in and late on Thursday night I was told it was denied because I did not have Canadian credit history and my American credit History was no good in Canada. So, I offered write a check 6 months even an ENTIRE year's worth of rent. This particular apartment said they did not allow that and the only way was to have a co-signer with Canadian credit history. Luckily, I have a retired family friend who is Canadian and had solid Canadian credit history. But.... they did not accept that because the person was retired and had no income! So... I found another apartment who required Canadian credit history or if you were a foreigner you could give them three months of rent, which wold be returned to you at the end of your lease. This is why I recommend have about 4 months of rent with you or in the bank when you move. They took the 3 months of rent from my account and then when my lease started I had to pay another month of rent plus the $300 application fee. My first paycheck had not quite came yet, which is why I recommend transferring enough funds as early as possible into your new Canadian Bank. The moral of this story is to talk to the appartment complex right away and let them know you are a foreigner and discuss your salary and your Canadian Credit history/ lack of and see what they have to say. Also, note that some apartments won't let you rent if you your gross salary does not meet their calculation.
Example: salary x 35% = x amount / 12 = x amount. If the amount is less than what the rent is you wouldn’t be eligible for the unit. The Canadian government website says multiply by 35%; however, some apartments are 30% which will bring what you can afford down. Be sure to ask the apartment complex if they have rules like this because I did not. I broke down what I was willing to spend and afford and told them my budget, but I did not realize they themselves had restrictions on what I could afford based on their equation.
I came to Montreal in the middle of March and most apartments are available for occupancy in June-August so it made it a bit more difficult to find a place with immediate occupancy in mid March/ start of April. I found some friends find a small cheap place they could be at for a bit and then during the summer they had plans to move during the summer months.
Finally, be sure to ask if they have any promotions running. I signed a 12 month lease, but they had a promotion for 2 months free which would be applied to the last two months! Be sure to ask because that is an easy way to save some money!
Do I need to learn French?
When I told people I was moving to Montreal everyone asked me do you know French? Here is the thing, the official language is English & French in Canada; however, there is a huge French speaking population in Quebec/Montreal. All the signs are in French first and depending on the place English signs/menu's will be available. Everyone will most likely greet you in French and it is polite to greet and thank people in French and ask if they speak English or just start speaking in English. Most (Like 90%) of the Island of Montreal is bilingual, but it can be a little awkward if they do not speak English. At all the banks, apartments people speak English and in the studios everyone speaks English. No you do not need to learn French; I have found myself downloading the Duo lingo app and going on Quizlet and picking up some vocabulary. I find that I struggle the most at grocery stores. If I am looking for a specific spice or type of bread it can be a little frustrating. Some brands will be in in French only and some will have both and some will be only in English. It truly depends on what you are looking for and the brand. The Metro system only speaks in French, but you can easily follow the map and read the signs to get on and off at correct stops, but it is something to be aware of. Short answer you can absolutely survive without knowing any French, but I strongly encourage picking up small phrases and some food vocabulary! The French speaking citizens are VERY proud of speaking French so you can gain some respect from locals if you at least try.
Entertainment/Transportation
Montreal has lots of things to do and is a very easy city to navigate. Many studios have events happening in the evening such as beer Friday or there will be studio organization events that run on Friday or on the weekend. There are many theaters in the area and being in the movie making business you will find yourself going to movies with friends/work buddies. I am still very new to the city, but I know there are many music festivals and other events happening in the summer! There are plenty of bars, restaurants, farmer markets and malls to explore. Montreal is the home to the largest underground city/mall. So in the cold months you are able travel many of Montreal's streets underground. They have movie theaters, restaurants, and all sorts of shops all underground, which is pretty neat! Just in the few weeks I have been down here people in the film/vfx/animation industry love getting together playing games, and just hanging out! It is very easy to find things to do without spending a fortune, but on those special events there are plenty of things to do to celebrate special occasions, like going to a Hockey game! There are also plenty of History and science museums to go to in Old Port, so go be a tourist and explore what Montreal has to offer like the botanical garden!
Food
I am going to keep this short! Dairy is EXPENSIVE and meat portions are SMALL, compared to the U.S.A. There are plenty of grocery stores. The main ones I see is IGA, Metro Plus and Provigo. Now, I do go out of the downtown area and use my Costco card to do some larger food runs as well to get meat and produce.
Tips & tricks
BIXI: Bike rental! Montreal is a very Bike/longboard friendly area.
Driving: NO right on red on the island of Montreal, but it is allowed once you leave Montreal. Flashing green lights gives the right away to left turning cars.
Need a ride share: Use an app called EVA. Uber is like twice as expensive as EVA. You don't have all the bells and whistles of the uber app (all the safety features of uber). All the drivers I have had are very friendly and there are plenty of drivers available.
Conclusion
This has been my experience moving to Canada/ Montreal! Please share any experiences or tips/tricks. If you have any questions feel free to ask!
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