Canada vs The UK - Which Is REALLY Better For Immigrants

Canada versus the UK. Which one is better? Now, don't get me wrong. Some people will say that comparing Canada to the UK is like comparing apples with oranges. There are three schools of people that are watching this video right now. There's Team Canada, Team UK, and Team I don't even care. And for Canada or for UK, people are very vehement about their opinion. But do you actually know what the data shows? Because based on the data, one thing that I'm setting off is that there are immigrants living in the UK right now who are counting down to one date. That date is February 2027. That's when the first set of people arrive in the UK in 2022 will get to five years. And five years is when you can apply to stay permanently by getting your ILR. But we all know the rumours that have happened about the timing for the ILR, right? Because right now, nobody in the British government has said whether five years is still five years. The Home Secretary has promised an announcement before the end of this year and that's all they've said about it, technically. UK people let me know your thoughts in the comments. Now you clicked on a video about the UK versus Canada so you're probably waiting for me to say which one pays more, which one has better living conditions, which one does more for immigrants and which one has the better health care. Just chill I'm going to give you all of that so just calm down. But I'm also going to show you the thing that almost nobody compares. And by the end of this video, you'll be able to make the comparison yourself. Apples to apples. But one quick thing first. I live in Canada and I've lived here for eight years. So you might be thinking, oh, she's going to talk glowingly about Canada. Okay. Well, go shock you. It go shock you. I am not going to do that. Trust me. I'm going to be fair to both countries. Okay, so let's start with the paper. The Bali, you know, permanent residency. It's the thing that says that you can stay permanently in a country. And for this one, I have to tell you a very relatable story. Meet these two people, Tunde and Kemi. They are cousins from the same family in Lagos, Nigeria. They are both 29 years old. They both used to live in Nigeria and in a bid to relocate, Tunde got a COS and a job offer in London, UK. Hallelujah! He packs up and he lands in the UK in 2022. He's elated and his family is happy for him. Kemi, on the other hand, wants to go to Canada. She doesn't want UK. But her path was much slower than Tunde, her cousin. She writes the IELTS English test twice to push her score up. And since we're talking about the language test, I want to introduce you to an IELTS prep tool kit that can help you prepare for the exams. It will give you so many practice tests. It will score your practice tests. It will give you feedback and you will learn where you are making the mistakes so that you can do better. This IELTS prep tool is free for you to try out until October 17th of 2026. So if you're watching after October 17th, still go ahead and check it out if you're trying to do the IELTS exams. This is one IELTS preparation toolkit that was built for you and that will help you pass. Go and check it out. The link is in the description. Now let's get back to Kemi. She even had to do a one-year master's program to push her scores even further. And so unlike Tunde, she waits about 14 more months. Wow! But thank God, almost a couple of years after Tunde, she lands in Canada as a permanent resident. So finally, Tunde is in the UK and Kemi is in Canada. Awesome for them! Now keep those two people in your head because we're going to follow them through some very, very important experiences. Number one, the temporary and permanent stay. Tunde's visa is tied to his employer because his employer holds a license to sponsor him. If that license goes or his job goes, he's in big trouble. And as far as I know, the rule is that if you lose your COS or your license to work, the home office cuts your visa down to about 60 days unless a new licensed employer offers you a job or gives you a new COS. 60 days. Please check the current guidelines yourself. I'll put the sources in the description. In year two, Tunde's company restructures. They don't fire him immediately. They just tell his whole team that contracts are under review. and Tunde stops sleeping. He becomes very afraid because if things should go wrong, he has just about 60 days to find another employer who has a license, who pays above the minimum salary in a job market that he doesn't control at all. That is big trouble. Now let's leave Tunde with his issues in the UK and face Kemi for a while. She got a job in Toronto, Canada and she's doing very very well. But just like Tunde, her company in Toronto also let go of a chunk of staff and she's one of those who are affected. Of course she's scared too, just like Tunde, but she's never scared of being sent home. She's a permanent resident. Nobody sponsored her. Her status belongs to her and it's secure. So her own kind of fear in this situation is different from her cousin Tunde. But I have to be fair because Kemi came to Canada as a permanent resident and unlike the UK, many people have the opportunity to land in Canada as permanent residents. They are not tied to any employer. But if you come to Canada on a work permit tied to one employer, you are in Tunde's exact same situation, not Kemi's. So for Canada, the real issue is whether you come as a permanent resident or as a temporary resident. For the UK, most times you come in as a temporary resident. So when it comes to the ease of getting permanent residency, Canada wins. In the UK, you need five years on a skilled worker visa before you can apply for ILR, before you can even think about citizenship. In Canada, you can land as a permanent resident from day one if you qualify and citizenship takes only about three years of being physically in Canada. Now let's talk about the cost of living because PR or no PR, man must eat. Now let's assume that Tunde and Kemi have new jobs and they are now stabilized in their respective countries. Tunde earns about £50,000 in London, Kemi earns $90,000 in Toronto. £50,000 is about $94,000 Canadian so I gave the UK this slightly higher salary on purpose. After income tax and national insurance, Tunde keeps about £39,500, that's £3,290 a month, roughly $6,190 Canadian dollars. Kemi, after tax, pension and EI, keeps about $66,800, which is about $5,570 a month. Before rent, Tunde is ahead by about $620 a month. And then rent shows up. Average rent in London is about £2,300 a month, which is roughly $4,300. In Toronto, the average asking for rent for a two-bedroom is about $2,650 and a one-bedroom is about $2,150. I'm putting London's average of all homes against Toronto's two-bedroom, so if anything, I'm being tougher on Canada. So Tunde has about 990 pounds left which is roughly 1,860 Canadian. Kemi has about 2,920 dollars. Kemi is ahead by around 1,000 dollars a month which is about 12,700 dollars a year. Now add the NHS surcharge that Tunde pays upfront which is about £86 a month spread over his visa and the gap is about $1,220 a month which is roughly $14,700 a year. I know a lot of numbers but fair is fair. London is the expensive end of England. England as a whole averages £1,446 for accommodation and outside London, Tunde would have about £1,840 left which is roughly $3,470 and he will be ahead of Kemi even after that surcharge. So this is really London versus Toronto. By these numbers, Tunde keeps about 79% of his pay and Kemi about 74%. So yes, Canada takes a bigger bite. But Kemi's figure includes her pension contributions and EI, which are partly her own future money. Sales tax also favours her. Ontario's HST is 13% against the UK's 20% VAT. Then they have to buy groceries. Canada has had the highest food inflation in the G7 and grocery prices are about 22% up since 2022. One 2026 food report says that a family of four could spend up to $17,000 on food this year. Wow. So based on the cost of living, which country would you say is better? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Now, while you're dropping your comments, there's one parameter that the UK beats Canada hands down and that is community. Guys, the Nigerian community in the UK is bigger and much older. In the 2021 census, about 270,000 people in England and Wales were born in Nigeria. Meanwhile, Canada's 2021 census counted only about 81,000 Nigerians. That's more than three times as many. Then there's Peckham, there's Woolwich, you name it. And it's not just Nigerians, it's most of the immigrant community. And that's why in most cases, your first month in the UK is usually easier than your first month in most of Canada. It's true. And then there's healthcare. Healthcare is one criteria where the UK and Canada feel very different. In the UK, seeing a GP and going to hospital through the NHS costs nothing at the point of use. But nobody tells you that you have paid up front. Most visa applicants pay the Immigration Health surcharge up front, which is £1,035 per year for most adults or £776 per year for students, their dependents and children under 18 years old. For a family of four, that's roughly £3,622 per year of visa duration. So a five-year visa means paying about £18,000. Health and care worker visa holders are exempt from this. After that, you pay small amounts for some things like prescriptions, dental is banded. You pay one band charge per cost of treatment. However, many procedures you still need to pay. In Canada, on the other hand, doctor visits and hospital care are covered by your province and there is no visa health fee. Dental and prescriptions depend on your situation. If your job gives you benefits, you are fine. If it doesn't, you pay out of pocket. The federal Canadian dental care plan now helps people with no dental insurance and family income under $90,000. Under $70,000, it pays 100% of covered fees. From $70,000 to almost $80,000, it pays 60%. And from $80,000 to $90,000, it pays 40%. Now, you can't talk about health care without talking about waiting times. With regards to waiting times, the UK has a median wait of 12 weeks and Canada has a median wait of 28 weeks from GP referral to treatment or even just to see the specialist. Both systems make you wait. Let's talk about the weather. Oh you knew we're going to talk about that. The UK has mild but grey weather. It rarely gets very cold or very hot in the real sense of the word So winters in most of England sits around 3 to 8 degrees centigrade. Snow is occasional and it usually doesn't last and summers are typically in the low to mid 20 degrees centigrade with the odd heatwave. That sounds gloomy. But here's a twist. Toronto actually gets more sunshine than London. Roughly 2000 hours a year against 1500 for London and because it's further south its December days are usually longer. So the UK is mild and grey while Canada is cold and bright. So pick your suffering. Vancouver is the exception when it comes to Canada since its climate is mild and rainy which is much like the UK. So for someone coming from most of West Africa, the UK will be the easier adjustment, while Canada will require a lot more adjustment. So you would need serious winter gear like your coat, your boots, your gloves, the whole works. You will also get higher heating bills and you need to learn how to deal with ice and snow. It is what it is. Okay, let's talk about the one that nobody wants to talk about. Racism. Now before you run to the comments to defend your country, relax. Nobody is coming out of this one clean. Here's what the police actually recorded. In England and Wales, police recorded over 115,000 hate crimes in the year to March 2025, which was up by 2%. Race hate crimes rose 6% to over 82,000 and about 71% of hate crimes are racially motivated. In Canada, police recorded almost 5,000 hate crimes in 2024. 2,300 of those targeted race or ethnicity up from 8% and that has risen six years in a row. Black Canadians were the most targeted group with 873 cases. Please don't screenshot those numbers and write UK is worse or Canada is worse. The countries are different sizes and police count differently. A lot of this never even gets reported. The UK's own crime survey estimates about 176,000 hate crime incidents a year, which is more than the police have recorded. Racism also shows up in quieter places, like in the job market. In Canada, unemployment for visible minorities is 8.6% against 5.7% for everyone else. Both countries will tell you that they are multicultural and yet both will eventually ask where you are really from. The same movie just different accents. A visa without a job is just an expensive sticker so let's talk jobs and the job market. In the UK, unemployment was 4.9% for April to June 2026 which sounds okay until you see that payroll employees fell by about 100,000 between July 2025 and July 2026. Earlier this year, London had the highest regional unemployment rate at 7.6% and youth unemployment hit 14%, a five-year high. Yes, London, the place everybody wants to go to. One data tracker also says that job vacancies dropped to a five-year low. Canada isn't smiling either. Unemployment was 6.4% in August, and employment fell just by 42,000 jobs. That was about just two weeks after the 50% US tariffs on Canadian goods kicked in, and wage growth was the slowest since 2017, excluding the COVID year. Toronto sits at 6.7%, which is better than the 9% it hit in July 2025. The UK has the lower headline number but Tunde still needs a licensed sponsor and a job at over £41,000 salary level for him to stay in the UK. Kemi's number is higher but as a PR she can work for any employer in Canada. So one country makes finding a job harder on paper and the other country makes it harder in practice. Now I must also mention child care which has been called the The silent salary killer. In England, full-time nursery for a child under two averages £148 a week for eligible working parents after the three hours and inner London is £185. That's roughly 280 Canadian a week. In Ontario, the fees now average about $19 a day and they are capped at $22 a day. That's about $95 to $110 a week. And since we're talking childcare, this is the best time to talk about About being able to bring your family with you. For both of these countries, being able to bring family depends on which visa you hold. Neither country has banned families completely but both have been closing the doors on bringing family. For the UK, nurses, doctors and other health workers on the health and care route Can bring dependents on standard terms and so can PhD students. However care workers can't bring anybody and overseas recruitment into those jobs closed in July 2025. If you got a skilled worker visa after July 2025 in a job below degree level spouses and children can no longer join you. Masters and undergraduate students can't bring family either. In Canada as a PR you put your spouse and your children on the same application as yourself. If you come as a temporary worker, your spouse can get an open work permit only if your job is tier 0 or 1 or a select tier 2 or 3 jobs like transport, trade, natural resources, or agricultural jobs. You also need at least 16 months of valid work authorization left. For students, spouses qualify if the student is in a master's or PhD program or is studying a listed professional program as bachelor's. Spouses of most undergraduate and college students no longer qualify. I'm not going to compare the cost of housing, but I just want to say that when it comes to housing quality, England has an old house problem. For example, about 4 million homes in the UK are affected by damp conditions. In the private rental sector specifically, 22% of homes are non-decent and only 86% of private rentals have central heating. The UK's housing quality is more age and condition. But unlike the UK, Canada's housing problem is mostly price and space. Like in Toronto, a two-bedroom apartment can cost as high as $2,900. $900. Now, after all we have said and done, which of these countries so far do you think you prefer? Which one is cheaper to move to? For the UK, a single adult on a five-year skilled worker visa pays £1,618 in visa fees, plus £5,175 in health surcharge, which is over £6,000 in total. That's about 12,800 Canadian. For Canada, Express Entry costs $1,590 per adult plus $85 for biometrics up to $170 per family. The big number is the proof of funds which is over $15,000 for a single person and over $28,000 for a family of four. You keep that money but you need it to be sitting in your account when you apply. Now government fees for a family of four comes to about three thousand eight hundred and ninety dollars plus medicals. So Canada is cheaper to enter but it is asking you to show a huge proof of funds. The UK is more expensive but an employer can sometimes carry the cost for you. Cheaper isn't the same as easier though. Many Nigerians also come through a study permit, which is a whole different pricing that I won't get into in this video. Now, I know there's much more that we can talk about, but at this point, let us settle it. What is the verdict? Which of these countries is better? My answer is, it depends. I know, that's an annoying answer. But listen, the UK is a great place if you get sponsorship. Canada is better to stay if you get the permanent residence and each country's weak point is the other country's strong point. Don't ask which country is better. Ask which route am I actually on and what happens to me if something goes wrong. So let's get back to the cousins. Neither of them made a stupid decision. They made the decision that almost all of us make. They did what they What they could with the information that they had at the time. And you cannot fault either of them. At the start of this video, I told you that there are three teams. Team Canada, team UK and team I don't care. Which one are you? Tell us in the comments. In this battle between the UK and Canada, did we compare apples to apples? What other criteria do you think we could have compared? And if you are either in the UK or in Canada, tell us in the comments, which country do you think is better? I would really like to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much for watching. My name is Shea Obasi and this is The Canadian Dream.