Canada's IMMIGRANTS DIARY: Challenges faced by New Immigrants

[NN74]

CANADA MIGRATION: GOOD OR BAD OR OPTIMISTIC OR PESSIMISTIC VIEW
Thousands of educated professionals around the world are immigrating to Canada every year. It is good to present the two sides of the story - good or bad- about this immigration. Just sharing some info, if you have any URL/details about challenges faced by new immigrants, please share.

http://www.thinkingofcanada.com/thinkbeforeaction.html writes:
"Now in 21st century, thousands of educated professionals around the world are thinking about immigration to Canada. They do not have a complete picture of what they are going to face in Canada. Most of the educated professional immigrants are doing odd jobs in Canada and it is not because they are making good money in these jobs but because mostly Canadian employers do not consider them for any job related to their education and experience.

Now the question is why?

If we list reasons, they may be given as follows;

1: Lack of trust: New immigrants do not have Canadian work references, which is a necessity for getting a job in Canada. Officially work reference means some one who can tell about your skills, your behavior, and your character, etc.

2: In job workshops; they tell job seekers that 85% job market in Canada is hidden. Hidden Job Market means; jobs offered without advertisement and only employers, managers, supervisors and some of employees of the organization know about them.

3: Difficulty in communication.

4: They need you for jobs; Canadian do not want to do.

5: They are reluctant to change their workplace environment.

6: Some of employers suppose that the quality of work of Canadians is always batter than others.

7: Canadian employers need to oblige people in their social circle.

8: Once Prime Minister Harper was asked by the interviewer of a multicultural channel that why he has not abolished the Right of Landing Fee (instead of reducing it to 50%)? He abruptly responded ( without thinking ): "It is so many million dollars". This means that millions of dollars prevail on minds of policy maker.

9: Employers and Canadian Immigration Department have no coordination in making the immigration policy. Canadian immigration policy is obsolete. It does not reflect the actual needs of labor market. Regarding immigration one of the minister of Ontario Government once said, "No more academics needed." Immigration policy needs complete revision keeping in view the wisdom and skills, and not the money in pocket of people landing on international airports of Canada.

10: Mostly Canadian employers, managers and supervisors are not trained for utilizing multicultural workforce.

What ever the reasons are, we have no control on them. We can only adjust ourselves according to prevailing conditions in job market of Canada.

Most of the new professional immigrants start with general labor (mostly through Employment Agencies) for survival. If you do not have a very good physique, please do not write more than 25 pounds of weight you can carry as workplace deaths and injuries record is not very impressive in Canada. Do not try to visualize the situation of Canadian job market from jobs posted on internet...."

Read more of above experience http://www.thinkingofcanada.com/thinkbeforeaction.html

 

[NN74]

Canadian Experience - a word, part of every newly landed immigrant, hears whenever he/she finds a job or interview call!

Skilled immigrants to Canada continue to experience high rates of underemployment and unemployment. A lack of recognition of foreign credentials and experience, language and communication barriers, discrimination and employers’ requirement for “Canadian experience” all contribute to this disconnect.

This article presents the preliminary findings of a research project exploring what “Canadian experience” means in the context of skilled immigrant employment. Given confusion over “Canadian experience,” the authors argue for use of the term “tacit knowledge.” While Canadian experience seems to encompass hard skills, the tacit dimension of Canadian experience (soft skills) is much harder to acquire.

Not everything about how one needs to operate within a new workplace (and new cultural environment) can be explained in words (codified knowledge). Some of this knowledge always remains tacit. A structured, nurturing environment (e.g., successful mentoring and internships) could provide a context in which immigrants could obtain tacit knowledge.

Ultimately, we need broad structural changes in how immigrants are perceived and treated in our society. In the interim, the authors believe that acquiring tacit knowledge will provide immigrants with a more nuanced understanding of the Canadian job market and thus a strategy to address this complex issue. (Ref: http://www.beyondcanadianexperience.com/sites/default/files/csw-sakamoto.pdf)

 

[NN74]

How new immigrants are being treated in Canadian Job Market?

On February 8th 2012, The Globe and Mail published an editorial on the challenges that immigrants face: it was called “Canada’s immigration selection model should focus on long-term labour market needs“.

The editorial writers cited a recently published study by one of the big banks to call for the government to once again change the selection rules so that policy give more weight to applicants who can speak English or French.

This approach to public policy—the suggestion that the problem lies with the characteristics of immigrants—cannot be the whole story. To a labour economist this sounds like a labour supply explanation, and misses the opportunity to examine the structures and characteristics of the system in which immigrants are placed: that is, to also recognize the role of labour demand.

By not adjusting the number of immigrants the country lets in with a business cycle downturn immigration policy is forcing those who arrive here to paddle upstream. This needs to be a concern not just in the short-term, but also with respect to long-term labour market outcomes. Jobless spells will be longer than they need be, motivation will be challenged, and immigrants will be forced to take jobs in occupations that will imply lower wages over the long-term than they are qualified for.

But there is more to the problem than just the state of the business cycle, a case made by Philip Oreopoulos, a labour economist at the University of Toronto, in a paper called “Why do skilled immigrants struggle in the labour market?”

Oreopoulos applied to jobs in the Toronto area by sending out fictitious c.v.’s—6,000 of them— during a period in which the labour market was booming. The important point of his research is that the c.v.’s were cleverly designed and differed in particular ways. In effect he was conducing an experiment, or what he calls a “Field Experiment”.

The “control” case was a particular c.v. describing a Canadian born individual, with Canadian education, with Canadian job experience, and crucially a “Canadian” sounding name. This was sent to job vacancies he found on-line, and then a series of similar c.v.’s were sent to the same vacancies. These differed slightly: some only in that the name was changed to be a common Chinese, Indian, or Pakistani name; others in addition to having different names also listed work experience that was obtained abroad; and finally others also differed in that education credentials were obtained abroad.

http://milescorak.com/2012/02/10/immigrants-face-challenges-in-finding-jobs-that-are-not-of-their-own-making/

 

[sandy_dakore]

How new immigrants are being treated in Canadian Job Market?

On February 8th 2012, The Globe and Mail published an editorial on the challenges that immigrants face: it was called “Canada's immigration selection model should focus on long-term labour market needs“.

The editorial writers cited a recently published study by one of the big banks to call for the government to once again change the selection rules so that policy give more weight to applicants who can speak English or French.

This approach to public policy—the suggestion that the problem lies with the characteristics of immigrants—cannot be the whole story. To a labour economist this sounds like a labour supply explanation, and misses the opportunity to examine the structures and characteristics of the system in which immigrants are placed: that is, to also recognize the role of labour demand.

By not adjusting the number of immigrants the country lets in with a business cycle downturn immigration policy is forcing those who arrive here to paddle upstream. This needs to be a concern not just in the short-term, but also with respect to long-term labour market outcomes. Jobless spells will be longer than they need be, motivation will be challenged, and immigrants will be forced to take jobs in occupations that will imply lower wages over the long-term than they are qualified for.

But there is more to the problem than just the state of the business cycle, a case made by Philip Oreopoulos, a labour economist at the University of Toronto, in a paper called “Why do skilled immigrants struggle in the labour market?”

Oreopoulos applied to jobs in the Toronto area by sending out fictitious c.v.'s—6,000 of them— during a period in which the labour market was booming. The important point of his research is that the c.v.'s were cleverly designed and differed in particular ways. In effect he was conducing an experiment, or what he calls a “Field Experiment”.

The “control” case was a particular c.v. describing a Canadian born individual, with Canadian education, with Canadian job experience, and crucially a “Canadian” sounding name. This was sent to job vacancies he found on-line, and then a series of similar c.v.'s were sent to the same vacancies. These differed slightly: some only in that the name was changed to be a common Chinese, Indian, or Pakistani name; others in addition to having different names also listed work experience that was obtained abroad; and finally others also differed in that education credentials were obtained abroad.

http://milescorak.com/2012/02/10/immigrants-face-challenges-in-finding-jobs-that-are-not-of-their-own-making/

very true and right. si please before landing read this and think. I did mistak that i kand here. but days are goes out i did not go vack india. cause i left good job and i did not back that ki.d of job.

 

[NN74]

Canada Immigration: Foreign Skilled Workers Struggle To Find Jobs In Their Professions

When Lin moved to Canada in 1999 from Gutian county, in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, he was full of hope. He had almost 10 years of experience as a mechanical engineer and a bachelor's degree from one of the most prestigious schools in China. He had a master's degree from a university in Japan and had worked in the country, a place more racist toward other Asians than he thought Canada could ever be. Lin estimated it would take him a few months to find professional work. Instead, after sending out 150 résumés over the course of six months, he didn't receive one call.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/12/19/canada-immigration-foreign-skilled-workers_n_2293003.html

 

[NN74]

Unspoken Discrimination in Canada!

by Frank Valeriote, who is the Liberal MP for the riding of Guelph

For new immigrants, arrival in Canada is always accompanied with hopeful and noble aspirations, most of them for the well-being of their children.

Coming to Canada means new jobs, prosperity, access to education and ultimately security for their family's future. Our country has been greatly enriched by the contributions of new immigrants. The reality is, however, that the promise of jobs is quickly met with the cold, hard fact that such expectations of job opportunities were overstated, a detail left out of the brochures and government ads circulated in other countries.

New Canadians and those recently landed face a multitude of challenges, even today, decades after the enormous influx of immigrants from non-European countries began. I am approached daily by incredibly qualified people, new Canadians who attend my office or at events in the community enthusiastic about the chance of finding a job commensurate with their skills and training, yet unable to even get an interview.
http://www.orangeville.com/opinion-story/4184471-canadian-job-experience-an-immigrant-s-dilemma/

 

[NN74]

For many immigrants, depression's part of life in Canada

Skilled immigrants to Canada arrive with a sense of adventure and optimism, only to be beaten down by sometimes insurmountable barriers to meaningful employment. As rejection notices pile up, frustration can build to the point of depression. And as the months drag on and savings dwindle, mental-health problems can develop and adversely affect a person’s ability to get a job and deal with the day-to-day challenges of life in a new country.

http://www.straight.com/news/many-immigrants-depressions-part-life-canada

 

[NN74]

Finding job of your field, is not only a challenge but a real time consuming plus luck factor!

This thread expedites more on this, having 3 degrees plus good experience, wouldn't worth in Canada finding job of your field!

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/3-degrees-no-job-offer-t157651.0.html

 

[NN74]

Another Story!

Pakistani immigrants make Dartmouth home sweet home!
YEARS AGO, back in Pakistan’s central Punjab province, the Awan family considered their economic opportunities and assessed their chances for personal growth.

It would be simplistic and untrue to say all roads led to Dartmouth, where their home is now and where the family of five is happily ensconced in the community.

But theirs is an intriguing tale, a story of newcomers settling in a place far from their homeland in Asia and adjusting to major changes on a continent a world away.

The Awans’ quest for a stable, safe life for themselves — parents Shazia and Muhammad and three sons — and educational opportunities for the boys followed the adults’ traditional wedding, in 1992, in Pakistan. Then there was a six-year stint for the family in Dubai, a sheikdom on the Persian Gulf.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/429938-pakistani-immigrants-make-dartmouth-home-sweet-home

 

[xXCiscoGuyXx]

Thank you for these.
This is heartbreaking.
After all the struggle, it should be so hard to face this.

 

[NN74]

Here's another depression story!
You may disagree but after all its real opinion and faced by one!

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/canada-seems-big-while-being-in-india-but-in-reality-its-bullcensored-word-country-t190857.0.html

 

[NN74]

Cultural Issues with immigrants!

It is difficult enough for Canadians to move from one part of Canada to another. How much more difficult it must be for an immigrant to move from one country to another.

The Rural to Urban Adjustment: Those who come from rural areas are accustomed to a simple society where everyone has a place in the community and no one is a stranger. Often these people are thrust into a fast, impersonal, urban society that can be confusing and overwhelming.

Cultural Shock: There is generally little or no preparation for the challenges an immigrant faces with respect to their traditional value system. Both adult and children immigrants face cultural challenges: the adults through daily interactions and the children through the school system. How do you respond to the new culture whose value system differs from your own?

Loss of Social Support System: Family ties and deep friendships are frequently severed. Immigrants often lack social resources to draw upon to support them through new experiences and difficulties in a new country. Feelings of loneliness and isolation are quite common as newcomers grapple with a new environment and settlement isses.

Change of Economic Status: Often immigrants come with special skills that are not recognized. A lack of fluency in English and lack of Canadian experience often leads to acceptance of positions of lower stature. The struggle to get established frequently leads to a decision to have the mother enter the work force. This can bring a change of role and added pressures for the mother.

Role Reversal: Children come to have power over their non-English speaking parents and grandparents as they learn English and control the communication from school and with the surrounding English-speaking communities. They communicate to parents what they want their parents to know and hear. Grandparents may find their traditional authority questioned by their children and challenged by their grandchildren. They often feel useless, lonely, isolated. They find themselves totally dependent on their children with few meaningful activities to engage in.

Change of Social Status: The family is thrust into a new society where its members' social status may not be the same. Consequently, they develop a need to establish and prove themsleves.

Adjustment to the Educational System: Many immigrants come from a strict, traditional, authoritarian system, which separates school and home. Canada, on the other hand, utilizes an open educational system, which promotes parent involvement in the child's education life. For many, this is a foreign concept. Often the opportunity for a better education for their children provides the impetus for immigrating. Therefore, the pressure to succeed in school is tremendous.

Parenting Dilemmas: The conflict between family needs and individual needs. The Canadian society is an individualistically oriented society, contrary to the strong family orientation of traditional societies. The strict authoritarian discipline of traditional societies versus our more democratic, consultative model; pressure to maintain the old ethnic culture at home opposing the school peer pressure facing the children to be accepted like other Canadians. The authority of parents is challenged and parents are often torn between old values of grandparents and their children’s wishes.

Adolescent Identity Crises: Who are we? Caught between two cultures, which values do we accept? Reject? "Banana" is a derogatory term for Chinese who reject the Chinese culture - they are "white inside and yellow outside". They must lean to be comfortable with both cultures. They must be proud of who they are or there will be repercussions. The real advantages of their dual culture heritage must be stressed. They can participate in two cultures. The crucial issue is whether the two cultures can be bridged. Those who successfully integrate the two are richer and stronger for it. They can draw on two cultures for more creative solutions to problems to work and to life.

Generation - Communication Gap: As the children begin to assimilate in their new society, many lose fluency in their ethnic language while the adults fail to learn English. There is no longer effective communication between children, parents and grandparents. Often a feeling of distance develops as children become better educated than their parents. Some children become ashamed of their family and heritage.

Negatives in Society: Visible minorities in our society are sometimes faced with discrimination, misunderstanding, and prejudice. This negativity, aggravated by a a potentially depressed economy, can sometimes make immigrants scapegoats. As in any society, there is the usual suspicion of newcomers by more established groups.

Many immigrants successfully cope with these challenges but there are others who do not have the inner resources or experience to deal effectively with them. We as good hosts have a responsibility to assist those who need support to successfully integrate. By providing support services we not only strengthen the family and our society, we can “head off” the development of major adjustment problems. In addition, we can invite and facilitate immigrant contributions to Canadian society. Here we have an opportunity to show the world how many different races and cultures can live, work and play together in peace and contentment. What a hopeful and exciting challenge for all of us.

http://www.vircs.bc.ca/settlement/common_issues.php

 

[NN74]

Experiences of an immigrant to Canada!
Devanshu

The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/contributors/contributions/devanshu-narang/Experiences-of-an-immigrant-to-Canada/articleshow/12080183.cms


After spending the last thirty months in Canada as an immigrant, I can add with fair conviction that the policy makers of the Canadian immigration department leave no stone unturned to make new immigrants start afresh from zero when they arrive here.

Disagree? Let us examine the immigration process from the eyes of an applicant.

When a person applies for Canadian immigration in the skilled category, he is appraised based on a points system, which gives higher importance to his educational and language skills and his experience in using those skills in his profession of choice.

 

[Katayoon]

Bravo! Excellent resume of immigrant job market!

4: They need you for jobs; Canadian do not want to do.

 

[grande_folie]

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