請幫忙!! 請問移民去加拿大, 怎樣寄嘢過去最平?

CHU.LAM

請幫忙!! 請問移民去加拿大, 怎樣寄嘢過去最平?
因明年會移民到多倫多!!! 屋企D嘢又多, 而家煩緊唔知點搬過去, 真頭痛, 請問有冇過來人可比些意來見?

郵局, 船運....??   

謝謝

chunkahoy

From my family's experience, if your furniture is not really really expensive or has some special "meaning" to them, I personally would recommend you buy new furniture when you ARIIVE or has your own house over there. Because shipping is not cheap at all. And then you buy insurance, tax, etc. Local furniture is not expensive over in
Canada.
Or even better choice, you arrive, rent a temporary place or house, go shop around and then compare, IF you do decide afterwards you still want to ship your old stuffs, then I would recommend "Santa Fe" over "Columbia", because Columbia  broke our red-wood table when it arrived in Toronto. And Santa Fe workers are much better at packaging.

CHU.LAM

Hi chunkahoy,

Thanks so much for your comments.
Are you living in Canada? (Toronto or Vancover)

Actually our furniture is not that expensive & also don't have any "special meaning" However, what we concern are those stuff like toys, books & educational material for my daughter, photos, computer, all our clothes, home appliances & kitchenware, etc...
Are they expensive in Canada?

You're right as I forgot about the insurance & tax!! However, if I really decide to send all the stuff from Hong Kong to Canada, do you have any idea/experience how much will it cost totally including the tax, insurance & transportation fee from Hong Kong to Canada? (Estimate)

Thus, may I know Santa Fe & Columbia is forwarding company in Canada or in Hong Kong ?

Sorry for so many questions. However, it's really help for my planning.

Thanks so much in advance for your valuable opinion.
  
CHU.LAM

大豬既老婆

其实你究竟有几多野呢？
我吾系住系加拿大， 我住系美国。
但我好多朋友买新屋装修既时候， 距地会系系中国、香港整个集装箱运过黎（好似一个大货箱）， 里面有晒咩地砖呀， 浴缸，sofa。。。 连埋运费计落都平过系呢边买。而如果你系移民， 第一次你搬野过黎， 好似吾需要打tax架窝。（呢个我吾知加拿大同美国有无分别）
如果你已经知道自己有落脚既地方， 不妨可以问下有关呢方面既资料。

wwgjc

Hello,

I will move back to Canada again, and can I know the information or contact number of the company that you
recommand for packing? I mean " Santa Fe ". Thanks a
lot la!

xother

ChuLam,
If you looking for saving money, it is not worth, especially if you have not yet settle down. Canada has different voltage and it is no good to ship any electronics.
I will suggest you to pack the memorable or something you cannot replace, such as photos. You can buy almost everything in Canada and you just need to shop around to get good price.

原文章由 CHU.LAM 於 07-7-14 23:33 硐表
請幫忙!! 請問移民去加拿大, 怎樣寄嘢過去最平?
因明年會移民到多倫多!!! 屋企D嘢又多, 而家煩緊唔知點搬過去, 真頭痛, 請問有冇過來人可比些意來見?

郵局, 船運....??   

謝謝 ...

JJJmom

Hi ChuLam,
I just moved from HK to Toronto. We don't ship furniture as the shippment was expensive. We have around 54 cartoons and it cost HK18,000 not including insurance. These 54 boxes only occupied around 1/4 货箱. If you have furnitures, you may have to use the whole 货箱 or more... So together with the transportation fee, it may cost you more than purchase here. The furnitures here although is expensive than HK but it will fit your house better.

CHU.LAM

Thanks for all your sharing.

Hi JJJmom,
Is this the first time you moved to Canada? How do you feel? Better than Hong Kong? You know, I really upset about our living standard after move to Canada !! In fact, we're not rich but my husband really want to go back next year, especially for our kid's education !!

I think my case may simular with yours. Can you give me  some more valuable comments?

I may not ship those big size furniture but will send all our clothes, valuable items, electronic items, kitchen wear, toys, books & CDs, etc.. As I think we cannot effort to buy everything new there!! Therefore, would like to seek for a cheaper way to send our belongings in order to save $$ !!        
May I know :
1) Which forwarding company you choose ?
2) Do you know how much it cost for 1/2 or whole  
    container?   
3) How long it take for sending the stuff from Hong Kong   
    to Canada?
4) Did you purchase the insurance? How much is it ??
5) ANY DUTY / TAX YOU NEED TO PAY for your stuff import to Canada? (I really worry   
   about this as I heard CA government  charge very high  
   tax !!!)

Thank you very much in advance.
Cheers

JJJmom

Hi Chulam,
The living standard here was good especially for child. The food here were about the same price as in HK and as we do not eat out very often, so comparatively it cost us less. But other items were really expensive.

We are still not get used to the style here that everything have to do it by your own. Even when you purchase new furniture, you have to bring it home and get it fixed. The other thing is driving, as I do not drive in HK, however without your own car, it was very inconvienent. I am still taking driving lesson now. One thing I feel upset was my husband have to go back to HK to work.

Regarding your queries,
1) Which forwarding company you choose ?
- We used Asian Express. The service was good

2) Do you know how much it cost for 1/2 or whole  
    container?   
- Shippments were charged by volume, for our case the shipping company just advised we have used around 1/4 container. But I know the more you have they will give you better rate.

3) How long it take for sending the stuff from Hong Kong  to Canada?
- Around 1.5 mth

4) Did you purchase the insurance? How much is it ??
- We just purchase the min, around HKD1000

5) ANY DUTY / TAX YOU NEED TO PAY for your stuff import to Canada? (I really worry   
   about this as I heard CA government  charge very high  
   tax !!!)
- We were lucky that don't need to go thru detail checkings. Just fill in a questionaire to clear custom. I heard that someone have to pay few thousands CAD. Please remember to write as much as you can in your goods to follow list. Those listed item will be tax free.

Hope above helps.

CHU.LAM

JJJmom,
Thanks indeed for your information & sharing.
woo. few thousands CAD of VAT... really scared me,  expensive than the transportation fee!!! As u suggest, I must wrote more detail as I can la ..

By the way, when did you moved to Toronto & which city you're living in? We also plan to move to Toronto as well.
.
Yes, you're right, it's really inconvenience without a car there. I also don't know how to drive and must take the course as well !! May I know how long will those lessons take, is it difficult & expensive?
.  
Is it really hard to find a job in T.O. caused your husband must come back & work in HK? How many child you got? It's really not easy for you to take care whole family in T.O. 加油呀...   

I also worry about our career as we don't have any professional skill or experience!!! I'm thinking should I take some course in Hong Kong (e.g. childcare, facial course, etc..) before I move, so may be more easy for me to find a job there!!!

Any suggestion?

SandyMaMa

Hi!  Chu.Lam,

You means you are in Canada now & want to move back to HK since your living standard & your child education being not good in Canada?

Tkx!

原文章由 CHU.LAM 於 07-9-17 00:42 硐表
Thanks for all your sharing.

Hi JJJmom,
Is this the first time you moved to Canada? How do you feel? Better than Hong Kong? You know, I really upset about our living standard after move to Canada !!  ...

SandyMaMa

Hi!  Chu.Lam,

1 more question - You said T.O. is difficult to find a job.  What kinds of job you are looking for?  Did you have working experiences in HK before?

Sorry for my queries, because I want to immigrate to Canada for the reason of my child education .

原文章由 SandyMaMa 於 07-9-19 18:59 硐表
Hi!  Chu.Lam,

You means you are in Canada now & want to move back to HK since your living standard & your child education being not good in Canada?

Tkx!

CHU.LAM

SandyMama,

I think you mis-understand..
I'm asking JJJmon some questions as I may move to Canada nex year..I'm now in HK.

JJJmom

Hi Chulam,
We were landed in 2005 and just moved permanently this summer.

I have 3 kids so it would be worthwhile for me to move to Canada. My husband go back to HK as we understand he may not be able to find a job with similar pay here. It would be difficult to use purely on our savings ! He will spend a few more years in HK and decide what to do next.

I am a working mother in HK, so now it was a challenge for me to be a full time housewife. But once we have been settled, we will tried to explore for job opportunities. Of course it can't compared with what we have been achieved in HK.

Although I have driver license in HK, I never drive, so to me driving was really difficult. Also the rules here is totally different, I have to learn from the very beginning. The driving lesson here is quite expensive. My instructor charged me CAD42 per lesson last for 1.5 hours. I have taken 3 lessons so far and still a long way to go. But people said driving here is more easier as the road here are wider. But I concerned about the speed and as a new driver, it was scary.

CHU.LAM

thanks again!! are your children going to school now.... same school?  nearby? or some private school?....  can they get use to it? What were their grades when they left HKG? My husband will be hunting for a place in Mississauga or any place not too close to chinese community....

My husband said driving in T.O. is much easier than driving in Hong Kong, you'll enjoy driving once you get the hang of it, and you'll need it because you've got 3 JJJs. (I assumed their names start with J)

JJJmom

You are so clever ! My child's name are all start with J. They were P6, P4 and K1 and now Grade 7, 5 and JK.

In Toronto, public schools will only accept children living within their boundaries. Or you may choose to study in whatever private school but of course it was quite expensive. Unlike HK you may select one school outside the area or use others address. :-|

That is why we have spend long time to find a place with good schools. (HK style ma !) You may find houses in these areas are a little bit higher. My child are all study in same school now and have school bus. I only have to bring my son to school as he only studies half day.

BoBoCute

Santa Fe is quite reliable.  The guys just came to my house and packed everything for me as I didn't want to do the packing myself.  Not a thing was broken when I unpacked my stuff.
The funny part was they also packed a bag of rubbish and shipped it to London with my other stuff

Tsang04

JJJmon/chu.lam,

唔好意思,想加咀.....我一家都會明年7/8月移民到多倫多...現在還未計劃啲嘢....我諗住做全職ｍａｍｉ，　hubby找工作，　都冇$$, 因有2個小朋友..佢地讀書會好啲.....

shipping呢, .因啲加俬都old了，可能幾個櫃咁啦，但小朋友真的好多嘢。我都不那麼ｗｏｒｒｙ呢啲。。。

只希望ｊｊｊｍｏｎ可分享吓那边生活悜形，有何ａｄｖｉｓｅ，　有什麼要在ｈｋ買定

我想小朋友學中文。。。有門路嗎？

謝謝。。。

原文章由 CHU.LAM 於 07-9-20 00:55 發表
thanks again!! are your children going to school now.... same school?  nearby? or some private school?....  can they get use to it? What were their grades when they left HKG? My husband will be huntin ...

xother

from my experience, things are almost the same except we have to add sales taxes. However, if you are smart and look for promotion, then things can be cheaper here. Currently I am looking for a digital camera and I found that the price is the same as buying in HK (includes all taxes). Besides, freight is not cheap, plus insurance and custom....it is better to save it.
Canadtire is one of the most popular store throughout Canada and they often has big discounts on their products, like 40% and I found it even cheaper than HK. For brand names toys, then it is much cheaper here. Or you can easily buy second hand stuff and very often, it is very good deal.

Learning Chinese...plenty of place to learn, but how old is your children?

JJJmom

Hi Tsang04,
My younger kids like Canada very much because there were more space here. They played up and down and enjoy having their own room. My elder daughter said she missed HK very much and still wanted to go back. In HK she can go to library or to shopping mall with her friends by herself, since we just lived up above Shatin Plaza. Now she totally rely on me as the public transport is really inconvenient. You must have your car otherwise nowhere you can go. We are suffering from this at the very beginning. It was better now but still I will just go out avoiding rush hours, like Sat/Sun afternoon, as my driving skill was not so good !:cry:

To me, I am trying to be a full time mom. I used to work in HK and it was a challenge to me. I feel time go slowly, although we just been here for 4 months, it seems to me a year already. If you enjoy family life, sure you will enjoy the live in Canada very much.

I think most of the things can bought here, like xother said. Don't bring too much electronic applicants as the voltage is different, it was no use. You may considered to buy some down jackets or snow pants in HK if on sales. Last time we bought some at Seiyu it cost hk$3xx each. Comparatively it was more expensive here. My daughter likes to read Chinese fictions, she can read 1 to 2 books a day ! But it was quite expensive here so we just borrow them from library. As my husband is still in HK, he will help to buy some in his next return.