At the End of the Rainbow!

While reading a haunting post on an immigration failure (about how a family - well settled in Dubai, migrated to Canada and lost it all - read it here ), I started thinking if  I have accidentally painted a way-too-rosy picture of my immigration story to my friends and family. I may have come across as very happy and satisfied with my move - which I absolutely am - but, I may have not told about the hardships I've been through, because, plain and simple, I don't need anybody's sympathy and that's MY preference. 

Note : This post is not in any way intended to scare away or invite immigration to Canada - this is just my experience with the brand new life I started in Toronto, Canada. From this post you can adopt some strategies I followed to ensure a successful settlement in a new Country. This is not applicable to short/long term stays abroad but to permanent migrations.


Note 2: This post was written in 2014 - October - and forgotten midway - Publishing in May 2018 - some timelines and statuses are a bit old but content is still just as relevant. I will add updates in different highlights.

Journey so Far

We have been in Canada for 1 year 6 months. We are expecting our second child. The pregnancy has been fun. I can get her Häagen-Dazs in the middle of the night. With the free medical system, my wife's gynec orders UltraSound scans every 2 weeks and we have been monitoring the baby's development closely. My wife starts her 1 year maternity leave next month during which she will get paid by the government.

I bought a 1300sq.ft - 3BHK flat in April and a car in July - both financed and cost me around 30% of my monthly income in EMIs. I've managed to save up around 8 months of emergency funds (in case disaster strikes). Apart from my home and car loan - which are both building equity as I pay them, I have no other debts. Both of us are insured. Financially, I have achieved some stability.

We feel the quality of our lives is much better than our experience in India. Quality may mean differently to every reader of this post. In my context, I am referring to the general happiness of my family. To those who associate quality of life to career, comfort, house-hold help or any other criteria, please read through the post and assess how you would rate yourself had you been in my shoes.

Why Canada?

This is something, I've been asked many times. Feels like the questions I've heard in many job and college interviews - why do you want to work/study for XYZ? - with the tongue in cheek actual answer - Gee, cause you have an opening and I want a job/ or I got qualifying entrance marks for your college - but we are taught to answer 'better' and we go about with absolute crap like, "your ABC program is awesome" or "this profile suits/challenges me" or some other BS.

Quiet frankly, I am in Canada because while planning immigration, this was the only country we qualified for. We went to the consultant with the actual intention of migrating to Australia but our immigration file didnt score the required qualifying points. Canada was a suggestion by the immigration consultants and we took it - the decision I am really glad I made.

Immigration 101

Immigration is the painful process of plucking your life out of a comfortable and safe nest you have built and replanting in a foreign land.

This definition is painfully true and we have seen many re-plantation failures after we came to Canada. The risk is very real.

I was aware of this risk before I migrated, and I still decided to go ahead with this because of the support mechanism in place for me and my family back in India - our parents. 

Migration Strategy 1 - Work and Career - mitigating major risks 

An important reason behind the decision to take the risk in migration was that I was barely 3 years into my post MBA career. The worst case scenario of restarting from scratch put me just 3 year back in my career - which to be honest isn't that big a deal - if you trust you are good enough to catch that up with your work.

Almost all new immigrants start their careers from scratch in Canada. The main reason being, every job in Canada requires Canadian experience. Its a stupid catch 22 situation, with the only work around being to work as interns or volunteer for free. This is a very normal part of migration and one needs to be prepared to start from scratch - I was.

After getting my PR in June 2012, I had 1 year to make the entry into Canada. So I had 1 year to plan my migration.

My main concern was finding a Job. Not being able to find a good job is the number one immigration failure risk. This is where Wipro's global presence came to my rescue. I started reaching out to global heads and HRs in the Canada/US geography about possible roles that I could be suitable for. Around October - almost 4 month after I started my hunt, I got an offer for a short 3 week visit for a Proof-Of-Concept engagement. We completed the landing in Canada in November. This engagement got extended and I am still part of it.

Migration Strategy 2 - Leave your past behind - its not a bed of roses

When talking to other Indian folks who are new to Canada, I often hear about their pain when they think of their life back in India. It is true, we are so spoilt in comforts in India - a Bai who cooks/washes/cleans - a Plumber comes to fix the leaks - a lot of cheap help available when you want to move in/out heavy furniture or fridge etc.

In Canada, the wage gap between professions is so low that all professions are equally dignified and well paid. Actually a good plumber/carpenter/handyman may make much more than a Senior Bank Manager. Well this fact makes these Professionals' services very expensive to employ. Almost all new comers become expert plumbers/electricians/carpenters within a few years in Canada, You count on friends to help move heavy stuff and on advise on fixing that leaky pipe in the kitchen.

I remember assembling a bed, in the middle of the night, after coming back late from the office to a newly rented flat - cursing my decision to come to Canada. That was one of my low points in my stay here. I have learnt to put my comfortable past behind and plan all endeavors well in advance. To be honest, it feels awesome when you assemble a complex furniture piece looking at the manual, or when you fit the new light fixture, or when you fix the blocked toilet. Its been a new experience with every new problem I face and the funny incidents that have happened when I tackled them are a different blog series by themselves.   

Migration Strategy 3 - do not envy thy neighbor - this is about your journey not THEIR'S

In the last 2 years I've been given loads of advises  - "buy a car/house", "take a vacation", "live in a different area", "take insurance" etc. The people who gave advises were very genuinely concerned about our well being and were offering their own lessons to learn from on how important those advises were.

I have never ignored or blindly followed any advise. I have listened and made notes of all of them. Each advise was correct and appropriate from the point of view of the adviser. I prioritized and followed each advise when I was in a position to accept the advise which in most cases was almost a year later. 

I did not buy a house and bought a apartment instead because it made more financial and operational sense for me considering I have very young kids. I plan on buying a house when my kids are older and need the extra space.

I bought a 4+1 Bedroom house in 2018 - when my kids were older and we needed extra space.

Everyone will tell you its impossible to live without a car in Canada. They are not right. Its just that the comfort of having a car makes it difficult to think of life without one. I made it through 1 year using just the public transport. I agree it was difficult but it made financial sense - the insurance for a new driver in Canada is in tune of CAD 5000 per annum irrespective of old/new car. Instead of focusing on cars, I focused on finding residence as close as possible to a public transport system which was cheap enough to afford. This benefited me three folds - one financially and the other by making my wife independent and finally helping us get our bearings in the new country. I finally bought a car when I could afford to - and instead of buying a second hand - bought a new one - long term equity building.

We have 2 cars now because we both need the mobility. Also our insurance rates have come down drastically in the last 3-4 years ( now I pay for 2 cars less than what I paid for my first year car insurance for 1 car).

Insurance is all about what you are worth financially to your spouse and then paying to protect it in case you have sooner-than-expected departure. Insurance in Canada is expensive and very difficult to get. I didnt waste money on it till I was worth something to my wife, It made financial sense to insure myself only after we had loans to pay out. 

Migration Strategy 4 - Build a new support structure - find your Batman/Batwoman

One of the most important part of you, that you leave behind, when migrating - is the social support structure you built your whole life - be it a friend you confide in, drinking buddies, parents or close relatives. 

It might seem that all this is not that important, but trust me you will miss the little things and small help the most. The realization first hit me hard when I was late from work - stuck in a subway and there was no one to pick my kid from the daycare. A simple little thing as knowing a trustworthy person to pickup a child from bus and keep safe for a few minutes may be what makes you lose sleep when you do not have any support. We also need to think about emergencies - what if you get hurt or fall extremely sick or worse. The reliance that your mom will come with home made curries to take care of you is all obsolete. 

The good news is that almost all here are on the same boat - trying to make social connections. The closest friends we have here are the folks we met randomly on the elevator or chatted with at a party or at work. You will find most people are very responsive. Invest in friends. Know your neighbors. Attend community meetups. Offer help.

I know that today that if I run into any issues or emergency - l have someone to call/rely on. 

Conclusion...

Running after rainbows of others success will land you nothing but envious pain. Make decisions which make sense to you financially and logically. Keep emotions out of the way.

When you feel low - try to remember the actual reason you decided to migrate - be it money, quality of life, kids future or something else. Focus on that.