Canada vs Germany: Which is the best country to get PR?

Why have we decided about this topic; Canada vs Germany?

Well, if you’ve thought about moving to a new country; for work or studies or just to start a new life to improve your standard of living.

Canada and Germany are among the best countries for aspiring immigrants with great career and study options.

In this “Canada vs Germany” comparison article, I’m gonna tell you about the pros and cons of PR for both countries. With the points explained in the article, you’ll be able to make an informed decision.

Why Choose Canada over Germany?

Table of Contents hide

Why Choose Canada over Germany?

Why Choose Germany over Canada?

Resident Permit: Canada vs Germany

Education

Safety, social security, and benefits

Citizenship: Canada vs Germany

You can choose Canada over Germany because Canada offers

Lower taxes
High wages
Many permanent residence programs to apply
PGWP (Work permit after studies)
International students can work part-time and full-time
Friendly welcoming people
Vast cultural diversities
Great education
English or French as main languages
Easier to buy property

Canada is far more tolerant of other cultures due to the vast diversity in Canada. And offers great education quality. English or French as the main languages.

Jobs in Canada are not dependent on your language whereas in Germany some jobs required to have a strong command over german.

And more importantly in the later stages, it’s easier to buy property in Canada compared to Germany.

Why Choose Germany over Canada?

You can choose Germany over Canada because Germany offers

Lower cost of living; low rents
Better location for traveling to other European countries
Climate is not as harsh
Jobseeker visa
4th largest economy in the world
a lot more job opportunities
cheaper well-developed education

Germany offers a job seeker visa which enables you to fly to Germany. And look for a job which you can’t do without getting a work permit in Canada.

It’s the fourth-largest economy in the world. There are a lot more job opportunities. Cheap and well-developed public transportation.

Canada vs Germany

Firstly Canada and Germany are the two biggest nations for aspiring immigrants right now.

If you didn’t already know Canada aims to accept more than 400,000 immigrants every year over the next three years.
And even Germany has similar immigration levels of around 300 to 400,000 immigration applications being accepted every single year.

In many popular studies and publications, Canada has been ranked as the best country for aspiring immigrants in the world. Whereas Germany isn’t too far behind holding the fifth position.

Both Canada and Germany are developed countries with a high standard of living, excellent job, and investment opportunities, stable economies, and great infrastructure facilities.

Cost of living

The first comparison of Canada vs Germany is the cost of living. It is a very important factor in deciding if you’ll be able to actually live in a country that you immigrate to.

The cost of living is definitely lower in Germany than in Canada. Canada is an expensive country.

Groceries, clothes, transportation rent, etc are all cheaper in Germany.

According to numbeo.com, cost of living comparison Canada vs Germany.

Consumer Prices in Germany are 2.31% lower than in Canada (without rent)
Consumer Prices Including Rent in Germany are 5.68% lower than in Canada
Rent Prices in Germany are 13.65% lower than in Canada
Restaurant Prices in Germany are 5.87% lower than in Canada
Groceries Prices in Germany are 21.00% lower than in Canada
Local Purchasing Power in Germany is 16.05% higher than in Canada

Obviously, it also depends on where you want to live, which city you want to choose and it would depend on your standard of life as well.

If you want to go into detail, Numbeo.com is a very useful website. On the website, you can compare different cities. And see the cost of rent, groceries, transportation, etc in each city.

Buying property

Buying property is cheaper in Canada compared to Germany.

If you really want to buy a house or an apartment. You probably won’t be able to do this easily in Germany without going into huge debt for a long time.

Properties in Germany are really expensive. However one must remember that rent in Germany is considerably much lower compared to Canada.

The next point is the location.

Location

It’s a no-brainer that Germany has a better location compared to Canada to travel.

From Canada, the only place that seems close by is the USA. To go to any other countries it seems like you have to board never-ending flights which are also really costly.

On the other hand, Germany is in the center of Europe.

The location is amazing if you want to travel to the various European countries. Other European countries are so close by, you can just literally drive to different European countries around.

Germany is a much better option if you like to travel to new countries places. Like Prague and Amsterdam are just a five-hour drive away from Germany. And France, Italy, and Switzerland are neighboring nations as well.

So Germany is a much better option if you like to travel to different countries.

Climate

Climate is also a very important deciding factor for anyone immigrating to a new country.

Many provinces in Canada experience six months of harsh winter weather.

The temperatures in Canada fall as low as below 40 degrees. And this can be quite hard to deal with. Especially if you’re already suffering from any respiratory problems.

German summers are hot and the winters are cold and snowy. But rains are unpredictable and common during all seasons.

However, the coldest temperatures in Germany are just around -10 degrees. And the average winter temperature is 3 degrees and in summers it’s 22 degrees.

So the climate is much easier to deal with in Germany

Employment

With regards to employment let me first start with vacation time.

If you’re working in Germany, you’ll get a vacation time of five weeks per year. Whereas in Canada, you’ll just get two weeks per year which is less than half.

And everyone mostly uses this vacation time around the Christmas and new year holidays.

And also in Germany, your salary is paid monthly. Whereas in Canada you’ll be paid every two weeks.

And so the chances of spending your hard-earned salary are higher in Canada.

Also regarding the work-life balance, you never end up doing overtime in Germany on most days. As nobody else does it too. So you don’t feel drained at the end of the day.

But in Canada, you’ll have to compete a lot with your colleagues. And it’s a very common thing to stay back over time in Canada. And it’s frowned upon if you leave early.

Coming to the best part.

According to the Country economic

The current unemployment rate in Canada has a high 7.5%. While it is just 4.5% in Germany.

On a related note let’s talk about your wages.

Higher wages?

Wages are higher in Canada but so is the cost of living.

So you’ll earn better in Canada but you’ll also end up spending much more until you can buy your own place.

Your biggest expense in Canada would be rent. Even so, you’ll end up with more cash in hand due to the lower tax rate compared to Germany.

I’ll tell you more about the tax comparison between Canada and Germany later in the article. Next, we come to the preferred occupations in both countries.

Famous occupations

Canada is especially popular for IT professionals, engineers, medical workers, oil and gas positions, and the service industry.

Canada is generally more accepting of professionals who are specialists in their fields. And they even have special immigration programs catering to these specialist positions like the Federal Skilled Worker.

The federal skilled worker program is one of the main options for workers who want to immigrate to Canada permanently. This program allows the worker and their families to apply for Canadian Permanent Resident status. And it doesn’t require Canadian work experience or a Canadian job offer. Federal skilled worker program guide

In Germany, if you’re working in the STEM occupations that’s any occupation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. You’ll have the best job opportunities available.

Moreover, you will even be able to apply under the EU blue card which has a longer validity than the temporary resident permit. And these STEM occupations are very broad sectors. A lot of job positions will fall under them.

Taxes

Now coming to taxes which will form a very important part of your decision making. It will directly affect the amounts that you’ll be saving each month.

Taxes are higher in Germany.

The average salary in Germany before taxes is around 40,000 euros and you’ll be paying anywhere between 35 to 45 percent of your earnings as tax. This is a huge amount.

On the other hand, the average salary in Canada is around 52,000 and you’ll end up paying just around 22% as tax. And after conversion, it will leave you more money in hand compared to Germany.

But you’ll have to remember that you’d have to pay extra for your health insurance in Canada. While it is already deducted in Germany. But still, you’ll end up saving more in Canada.

Job seeker visa

Germany offers you a job opportunity with its job seeker visa.

It enables you to fly to Germany for the sole purpose of searching for a job in Germany. It’ll be valid for 6 months and you’ll have to find your job within six months. It is a really easy thing to do if you have the right qualifications and work experience.

There are few basic requirements involved such as travel health insurance fires work experience and proof of financial resources. They are similar to Canada’s proof of funds. The purpose of it is to ensure that you can support yourself and your family until you find a job in Germany.

Canada on the other hand does not offer you a job seeker visa. And you can’t just fly to Canada and search for a job without a work permit or your permanent residency visa.

Now coming to the very important comparison of Canada vs Germany resident permits

Resident Permit: Canada vs Germany

When you move to another country, a residence permit is very important. It ultimately regulates how much you can live study or work in a country.

A residency permit is one step away from attaining a country’s citizenship. Overall Canada is a better country for this. It is much easier to obtain residency permits in Canada.

Canada has more than 80 different immigration programs that you can choose from for your immigration.
Germany just has two main pathways; the European union blue card and an employment visa program.

Well, Canada definitely provides you a wider application choice that may suit much more immigrants.

You can also obtain your Canada PR much faster than your german PR.

The express entry program for Canada makes it possible to obtain your permanent residency in as little as six months.

But the fastest you can obtain your permanent residence permit in Germany is only after 21 months of obtaining your EU blue card or your temporary resident permit. And you also need to know german well.

For this not to mention that obtaining a german temporary resident permit is difficult in itself. And it involves obtaining a job offer from an employer in Germany

Education

If you think about education, both countries have free education until the 12th grade or high school.
Germany even has free education after high school levels even for international students.

But you just have to pay a small amount of around 150 to 300 euros per semester to cover administrative and other costs.

In Canada, you have to pay for your education after high school. The fees for universities and education institutions are really high in Canada.

And if you’re an international student, the fee in Canada is three times more expensive than it is for domestic students.

However, the quality of education in Canada is much better than in Germany. That’s probably why Canada sees around 600,000 international students coming in every year. And Germany just gets around 350,000 students every year. The next important thing is safety, social security, and benefits.

Safety, social security, and benefits

When compared the safety between Canada vs Germany. Both these nations are extremely safe with really low crime rates.

And the governments make sure that you won’t end up on the street if you’re out of a job. Both countries will pay you unemployment benefits to make sure that you can cover your daily expenses in Canada.

You’ll get around 595 Canadian dollars per week if you’re out of a job. And in Germany, you’ll get anywhere between 6,450 and 6,900 euros per month depending on your location and previous income.

However, you would need to make sure that you’ve previously been making regular contributions to the social security systems. But you need not worry as these amounts are deducted as taxes from your salaries.

Both countries also offer child care benefits for children below 18 years of age.
The biggest difference that you’ll feel between Germany and Canada is the language barrier.

Germany is not an English-speaking country. And if you want to actually live there you would definitely have to consider learning german.

While in Canada, the primary languages are English and french which most of us are accustomed to already. So moving to Canada would be easier for many of us who aren’t used to or can’t speak or understand german.

Many jobs in Germany would also require you to be fluent in the German language.

Citizenship: Canada vs Germany

Next is about citizenship.

If you have spent three years or more in Canada you would get citizenship pretty easily. But to get a red passport you need to spend more time as a permanent resident in Germany.

This makes it slightly more challenging. Overall talking about the power of passports.

According to the Passport Index, the passport power of Canada vs Germany is as follows

German passport is the most powerful passport. While the Canadian passport power rank is 16th. For reference, the Global power rank of the Indian passport is 63.

So both these passports are very powerful when it comes to traveling around the world.