International Students| Why choose New Brunswick?

What all this blog talks about?

• Little about New Brunswick and why did I move?

• What's in it for international students?

• What about immigrants who want to settle?

• Transportation of New Brunswick

• Housing In New Brunswick

• International Food In New Brunswick

• Conclusion

Little about New Brunswick and why did I move?

New Brunswick is one of the thirteen provinces and territories in Canada, and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is also the only province with both French and English as its official languages. The largest cities in New Brunswick are Moncton and Saint John whereas its Capital city is Fredericton. This was a general overview of this serene quiet province. If you need to know more about the geography or history of NB, then wikipedia is your best friend.

I personally moved to New Brunswick after Covid had gotten worse in Toronto and it felt scary to travel to work or even to be at work. But that wasn't the only reason I had moved. Being six months on my work permit, I was still looking for a job that was NOC B so that I could be eligible for express entry.

No thanks to Covid, many people were left jobless, many businesses had to be shut down, and many companies had to cut on their Human Resources to meet the needs of everyone in the difficult time. The direct effect of this was on recent graduates with none to little experience.

I was one of those recent graduates with less experience. I kept applying to jobs in Toronto but I knew I was heading down a dead end street. I had heard that students usually move to different provinces to get PR but I didn't know I would end up being one of those. And to this day, I do not regret it. I landed NOC B job within a month of landing in New Brunswick.

I hope my journey of New Brunswick will be useful for some and educational to others who are either new to New Brunswick or are thinking to move here.

What's in it for international students?

Many students are mostly aware of Toronto, Winipeg, Surrey, Vancouver and as such. The names we hear are the ones we know, and to some extent that's good but there is so much more to Canada than those places.

It also has the oldest English University; University of New Brunswick which offers many programs to fit your needs. If this is not enough, the tuition fee of the programs offered in NBCC are literally half in price of those in Toronto or Vancouver.

Also, New Brunswick has many immigrant programs to help students get their Permanent Residency. To name them:

• New Brunswick Express Entry Labour Market Stream

• New Brunswick Post-Graduate Entrepreneurial Stream

• New Brunswick Skilled Workers with Employer Support

• Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program (AIPP)

I will do another Blog on specifically these programs so we all understand them a bit better and see which one benefits us the most. And if there are any questions regarding them, please leave a comment, I'll be sure to answer those.

What about Immigrants who want to settle?

New Brunswick has approximately 800,000 population and about eight major cities and then dozens of small Towns and Villages. Some say, another advantage for settling down in New Brunswick is the cheaper rate of property. The price of buying a house as compared to those famous provinces is way less. If you go goggle right now, you may be surprised at the difference of what you can buy in Toronto and what you can buy in New Brunswick for same price.

If you are someone who wants a quiet and peaceful life where there is uniformity in the town and everything closes at certain decent time, you may want to lean towards cities like Bathurst or Edmundston. But if you are someone who wants balance of quiet and loud, major cities like Moncton, Saint John or even Fredericton can be a good choice to move to. New Brunswick will leave you breathless when it comes to lakes, mountains, and its natural beauty in general. I will talk below more about Housing, Transportation, and Food in depth.

Transportation in New Brunswick

This is one of those things no one generally either talks about or mentions. But this is so important if you are a student or even a permanent resident, who does not hold a driver's license or own a car. Not every place in New Brunswick has transportation.

For example the town I lived in, Woodstock, had no public transportation such as buses. It did have two private companies of Taxi, which had sky-high price.

Saint John, Moncton, and Fredericton are the only Cities with the transportation system which can be at least reliable. "Saint John’s inter-city buses operate between 6:00 a.m. and midnight, while Fredericton’s 28 buses travel along nine different routes between Monday and Saturday. Moncton’s Codiac Transit operates seven days a week with an express bus making regular 15-minute runs between the Northwest Centre and Champlain Place, but service is limited on Sundays." As mentioned in New Brunswick-Transportation.iexplore.com

So, be aware of where you are moving to in New Brunswick. Would you require a car? Or is it going to be walking distance to where you will work or study? This may look like a tiny thing, but it has major impact in your day to day life.

Housing in New Brunswick

Another reason of moving to New Brunswick for good will be affordable housing. "Compared to the rest of Canada, New Brunswick’s housing prices are low, the cost of living is affordable, and traffic and commutes to work and school are manageable." as mentioned in Finding a Home in New Brunswick - www.welcomenb.ca

You can manage to buy a decent house of your dreams in New Brunswick while also be able to not break you back with huge amount of Mortgage. There are many resourceful information which can help you choose a place that benefit you by making a wise choice.

After Covid hit everywhere in Canada and number of people lost their jobs, many bought properties in New Brunswick as it was much cheaper and moved. The population growth in New Brunswick is tremendously increasing since last couple of years.

International Food in New Brunswick

To speak strictly from my own experience, there are not as many as international food places to dine at as you would find in Toronto or other bigger provinces. From what I have seen so far in Moncton, there are Thai restaurants, Korean restraunts, Malaysian restaurants, and some Indian restaurant.

Being an Indian this was my biggest concern when deciding to move. There wasn’t much or any information on internet regarding this. So, I am glad to be able to share this piece of information with you all.

At least, in Moncton, there are many Indian restaurants, Indian stores, and even Walmart has tons of Indian products. There are places like Tandoori Zaika, Taj Mahal, India King and few others where you get to dine in or order take out from applications like Skip the dishes or DoorDash.

I also lived in Woodstock for about six months, which is around 3 hours drive from Moncton, it had no Indian stores, there was only one Indian dining place in a hotel itself but it too was closed for the entire time I lived there. I very much missed my food so, I am dope to be now living in Moncton.

Summary

New Brunswick should definitely make it to the list of provinces you are thinking to move to for either study, job and career, or to settle down. This is a beautiful place with many opportunities to be explored. It has diversity and really friendly neighbours. Be sure to leave early because, they will stop and ask you 'how are you doing today?' :)

Not only does New Brunswick has nice people, but the property prices are way decent than out there in other Provinces. I would say, New Brunswick is an on-growing province which will be much more populated and will hold way more opportunities in the coming years.

This may be a great opportunity for students to study and get their PR without having to spend a dime to lawyers, and also for immigrants who want to settle down and won't be bothered much by the quiet and peaceful cities of New Brunswick.

I hope this blog works as a stepping stone in your search for either moving to new Brunswick for study basis or for settlement purpose. I would be more than happy to answer any questions, please feel free to reach out :)

Citations:

Top Reasons For International Students To Study In New Brunswick - www.iapply.io

New Brunswick - www.canadim.com

New Brunswick - www.welcomenb.ca

New Brunswick-Transportation.iexplore.com