Five Things To Keep In Mind Before Coming To Canada

1. Be prepared. Be very much prepared. You are going to start from zero. Canada doesn’t care if you were team lead or senior software engineer in an MNC in India. You are again starting a new life.

2. Be ready to do whatever kind of job you can get at first. I see people rejecting some part-time jobs because it either doesn’t match their skill level or it doesn’t pay enough etc. reason. Your first goal is to manage your expenses and pay bills. Start with any kind of job you can get. Things are going to get better. Give it time.

3. Please don’t buy a car too early unless you can pay 25–30% in down payment. Getting a car is very easy here on financing. But you will have to pay back the amount. Better to use public transportation for a year than spending unnecessarily on a car and stuck in paying EMIs.

4. Please please please do internships. Even if it is unpaid. Most of the employers will ask for Canadian experience and there is only one way to get it. Internships. If you are ready to spend $15k a year on your college, you shouldn’t mind doing a 2–3-month unpaid internship. Have a good finance backup so that you can cover 2–3 months without part time job if needed. Internships will really help you to enter into the job market.

5. Most of the students who come here think that a specific program which has a good demand or scope will lead them to a well-paying job. No. Employers are not waiting for you to come, finish the program and offer you a job. All fields seem to have good demand here but immigrants struggle to land a good job.

Understanding The Permanent Residency Scenario In Canada. How To Get Canadian PR?

Express Entry is the best program to get a PR in Canada. You get a score depending upon your education, work experience, IELTS or other language test result, age, marital status, etc. There are three main categories under EE:

1. FSW: you need to have experience from a foreign country (outside Canada) to be eligible. Rest depends on your score. If your score is more than the minimum cut-off, you will get an invitation.

2. CEC: This applies to people who have Canadian work experience. Again, you need to have EE profile score more than the cutoff.

3. FST: only applies to people who have trade (plumber, carpenter, welder, etc) license.

All the three streams require you to have some minimum score which is more than cutoff.

Following are the main things, which will help you get the best scores:

1. IELTS: get at least 8 in listening and 7 in all other sections.

2. Education: get a degree, diploma or certificate from a Canadian university or college or have your degrees from home country evaluated by WES or any other organization to meet North American equivalent standards.

3. Age: if you are between the age of 24–29, you get max points in this.

4. Work experience: one-year Canadian work experience is more than enough to get good points. Else, at least 2 years of foreign work experience.

5. PNP (Provincial Nominee Program): this is optional. If you go to the specific province and apply for their PNP, then for PR application you get an additional 600 points if PNP is approved. This will give you a score which will most certainly help you get permanent residency.

6. Job offer with LMIA: this is also optional but if you can get a job offer which is supported by Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), you will get additional 50–200 points and you will most certainly get PR.

I have tried to give you a basic idea on all the streams and what you could work on to get better points in Express Entry. Most of the international students study here, get one year experience and apply for PR after scoring good in IELTS. People with good experience from outside Canada either apply directly or if they lack points, they come here and study for a year or two which helps them getting enough points.

Hope this helps. Good luck. :)

Source: Ravi Thakor's Quora Answers

My Struggling Days As An International Student In Canada. Keep Going & Never Lose Hope!

I was a new immigrant in Canada in 2017. I never felt like giving up because I was well prepared for what can happen and knew how difficult things can go wrong. I had read many blogs and forums to get as much information as possible and be prepared.

Still, after I came here, there have been times where I would question myself if my decision was right or if my struggle will ever end. Here are a few instances where the struggle seemed real and hardest in Canada:

1. When I couldn’t get a part-time job even after submitting my resume to at least 50+ stores.

2. When I got my first job to sell credit cards to people. They would only pay me if I make a customer i.e sometimes, I would work for 9 hours marketing the “good services” of my credit card company and only get paid $20 as I could only make one customer.

3. When I got a job in a beer factory where I had to move beer / cold drinks bottles from the conveyor to the packet which was very fast paced. You work for 2 hours and get 15 minutes break. Sometimes, we would get very bad scratches on hands from the caps of beer bottles and we will be ridiculously tired once the shift is over.

4. When I would leave for a factory shift at 6 pm and would do the shift from 7 pm - 7 am and come back home at around 8 am, then sleep a little, finish any of the group assignment or project, cook food or just eat some fruits and leave again at 6pm for another shift. We’re badly tired during this phase.

5. When I finally got a good part-time job but didn’t have a field job and it seemed impossible to land one with the high competition. I would work for 7 days a week doing two different jobs with college and assignment work and my internship too.

6. When I finally got a field job and it was hard for me to handle the stress level and fast paced environment as I was a fresher.

Point is every time I was put into an environment I was not experienced with, I struggled. But then you realize and see that every single student or immigrant around you does the same and goes through the same pressure. Then you start to think less, care less for the future and just focus and getting it through the day. Somehow, you learn to deal with the shit and things keep getting better.

Hope this answer helps. I have no intention to scare or demotivate anyone and just pointing out some of the hard phases. I had some great experiences too and learned awesome things as well. To name a few:

1. I traveled alone to the US all on my own and it was one of the best trip of my life.

2. I worked with entrepreneurs, met some great people and learned how they started their business, what they went through, and how they are running a successful business.

3. I partied a lot with friends and once I had a streak of attending a club for five consecutive weekends. This was a very new experience as we in India stay very conservative.

4. I made some very good friends from other cultures.

To sum it up, there is no good or bad. Its all about dealing with the hard things and enjoying with the ones which make you happy. :)

What is TRV (Temporary Resident Visa)? How To Apply For TRV?

What is TRV? 

TRV stands for Temporary Resident Visa. It is a document stamped on your passport by the Canadian Visa Office which allows you to enter Canada. Everyone who is not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident must have a TRV on his passport in order to enter Canada with a specific permit. TRV will have details on the kind of visa issued, the issuing date, the visa expiry date, etc.

A TRV is needed if you have:
1. Work permit
2. Study permit
3. Visitor visa

Important Note: Most of the students forget to apply for a TRV after getting their post-graduation work permit. If you want to leave Canada and return, you must have renewed TRV on your passport unless you are visiting the United States. There have been cases where students would their home country after the completion of the program and when they come back, they were declined entry because they didn't have a valid TRV on their passport. \

How to apply for a TRV? 

Applying for a TRV is a very easy process and takes around 2 hours if you have all the documents ready. The processing of the application can take between 10-15 days. Check the current Processing Times to find out the latest trends.

Here's the step by step instructions with screenshots on how to apply for a TRV:

Step 1: The very first thing you need to do is to log in to your My CIC account.

Step 2: Select Apply to come to Canada. 

Step 3: On the next screen, click Visitor visa, study and/or work permit. 

Step 4: You will find a list of questions in the next screen. Select the answers which apply to you. Once you complete the first list of questions, the form will recommend you to apply for a Temporary Resident Visa. Click Continue. 

Step 5: Once you click Continue, you'll find a few more questions. Answer them based on what applies to you. The form will ask you if you can make the payment online with a credit card? Select YES. The charges for applying for TRV is $100.

Below is the list of most general answers to the form. This is just for reference and make sure to check and verify based on what applies to you as your answer could be different than this.

Step 6: Pay the application fees of $100 and you will receive a document checklist on your account.

Step 7: Scan or take pictures of the following documents. You can also use CamScanner app which can convert pictures into high quality scanned documents. 

   a. Passport front and back page

   b. Passport picture (35x35)

   c. Medical records if you have

   d. Work permit or Study permit

   e. Download and fill out IMM5257e form. Check and validate.

Step 8: Upload all the documents under the application options. You will start receiving updates on your profile.

Step 9: Once your application is approved, you'll need to send the passport to their visa office. The passport will be returned back to you on your address. 

If you are in Canada, you'll need to purchase two envelopes (one to send and one for passport return) on the following address (only if sent by regular mail or Canadapost):

Temporary Resident Visa Section
CPP - Ottawa (e-Application)
PO Box 9640
Ottawa, ON, K1G 6T2

If you are outside Canada, you can send the passport to the respective country's visa office. To get more details, check out Where to send your passport?

That's all. Your passport will be sent to your home address after stamping and you've got your TRV. 

If you have any questions, feel free to add to comments and we'll try our best to respond as soon as possible. 

Five Things You'll Miss After Coming to Canada

Leaving your home country is not an easy task. Moving to a new place, leaving friends, leaving parents, everything requires a lot of mental strength. Your first couple of weeks in Canada would no doubt be a great "Honeymoon Period". You will enjoy going to new places, trying new food items, meeting new people, etc. But as you start to realize that you'll have to spend the next couple of years here to settle, that's when the homesickness feeling kick in. Below are five things you'll miss the most after moving to Canada:

1. Street Food / Spicy Food: Keep in mind this one thing guys. No matter wherever you go, there is no substitute for Indian food. You'll never find the varieties, the Indian spices anywhere else. Of course, you'll find many Indian food stores who sell all kinds of Indian groceries but the taste will always be missed. In India, you can go out at 2:00 am and still find street food somewhere at the road corner. Plenty of different breakfast items can be seen on street food stalls from early morning. Finding this many varieties and easily available cheap delicious food is something you'll miss a lot. 

2. City nightlife: In India, just as we discussed, you can go out late at night, roam in the city, and enjoy some good nightlife. Cities in Canada, on the other hand, has some great pubs, bars, and clubs which are open till late at night but that is all you have. Winters are the worst and you won't feel like going out at all. Life here will keep you very busy. The travel time will be a lot if you don't have your own car. So, you'll probably spend your weekdays going job and relaxing after coming back home. You will find yourself waiting for Fridays and Saturdays to go out and party with friends. And if you are not a club/bar person, then enjoy your weekends reading a good book in a cafe. 

3. Weddings, family functions, and friends reunions: While you are in Canada managing your studies, part-time job, full-time job, your immigration, you'll see your friends in India getting engaged, getting married, some of your old school friends or college friends will be arranging reunions and you'll find yourself missing everything. You'll also miss the family functions and all the great festival celebrations. This is the hardest thing to deal with as we are very close to friends and family and love to celebrate occasions from childhood. Nevertheless, just keep in mind that struggle is going to pay you back someday. The more you start to adapt to Canadian culture and life, the more you'll find yourself less affected with homesickness. 

4. Playing games and sports with friends: Life in Canada will keep you very busy. You'll hardly get time to do any other activity apart from the job on weekdays. Many people in India go out in the night to play volleyball, badminton or just to roam the city with friends. You will miss all this free time you get. Summers are good and the sun sets usually after 8:30 pm. But winter is bad. Very bad. You won't feel like going out in the chilly weather, the sun sets very early (around 5:30 pm) and you are always with layers.

5. Ease of finding labour and things: Labour is very expensive in Canada. If you want to fix your furniture, if you have any plumbing issue, if any of your electrical equipment is not working and you don't know how to fix it, then be ready to spend a good amount on the labour. As a matter of fact, people who work in trade jobs (carpenter, plumber, electrician, etc) make very good amount compared to other service jobs. In developing countries (especially India) you can find cheap, affordable fix to these kinds of issues. You can get a service for as expensive as 10,000 bucks and from any other local store, you can get the same thing for 500 too. While in Canada, most of the things are standardized.

Hope this article helped you to get some good information about Canada and what it is going to offer you. Of course, there are lots of challenges and struggles but once you start to adapt yourself to the Canadian culture, you'll enjoy.