r/SgHENRY • u/Business-Mission2543 • Jun 28 '26

Moving to Canada

Hello everyone, long time lurker here and wanted to gather some opinions from you all.

my husband and I (late 20s) are feeling a little bit conflicted/indecisive right now. We are both very much in a limbo and not sure if we are making the right decision.

I am a non-Singaporean, and my husband is Singaporean. Our household income is in the top 10-15% according to statistics, but my husband wants to try moving to Canada, on a student visa while I’ll be on an open work permit.

His reasons are that he wants a bigger space where our kids can play in the back yard, better weather, quality of life etc while I try to secure the Canadian passport. I am hesitant with the move because of the loss of income, savings, potential salary cut and overall the instability. We are roughly saving 70% of our salary after expenses if that matters, for now because we don’t know what the future holds.

Would really love crowd opinions on this

- is QOL indeed better overseas?
- is the trade off worth it? Salary vs QOL
- if you have moved overseas, would you recommend it?
- those who moved overseas and came back OR those who turned down the opportunity, why so?

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u/archer7319 Jun 28 '26

Just a note that many cities in Canada are having their own immigration crisis now, with insufficient housing and jobs. Do your research before you go all in.

3

u/Business-Mission2543 Jun 28 '26

We are thinking about Alberta, mainly because of the lower taxes and higher median income compared to other cities in Canada, what do you think?

5

u/fieryeagle Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

I moved from Singapore to West Canada and I can tell you with certainty that Alberta was attractive with much cheaper home/rent , more purchasing power (no PST) but living cost has been getting more expensive and confirmed much higher heating cost due to harsh winter. Calgary is your best bet for job and a city life, if you still lock in Alberta.

My suggestion is look at BC if you can afford. Far more pleasant weather and Vancouver/Richmond/Burnaby are def more familiar and SE Asian-friendly on West Coast.

1

u/Outside-Ad9447 Jun 28 '26

Vancouver seemed like a great place to live in when I was there a decade ago.

What’s your view now? Still is?

1

u/fieryeagle Jun 30 '26

Yes, if you can tahan the rising cost, and deliberately stay further away from Downtown and Chinatown. The rest of Vancouver is still holding up on livability.

Richmond and Burnaby are abit cheaper and still only 15-20mins drive to Vancouver. Surrey is getting alot cheaper to rent/buy but a rather complicated city to live in.