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Brutal Winter and a Jobless Immigrant family

deerestlovelybear

Hero Member
Jan 20, 2015
712
203
Hi guys,

Looking at this excitement about applying for PR reminding me and my family of years ago when we was as excited as you guys applying for Permanent Resident. I still remember the date I got my PR visas for the entire family, it was like we are going to a paradise, it was the best day in our life, we was so happy.

But now the reality of a broken dream in Canada is killing us day by day. Since the day we landed in this land, supposed to be our dream new home, we have sent countless of job applications. We followed all the advices, we volunteered and work for free and being exploited till we could not stand any more. My wife and I both took turn going back to school and spent the last dollar of savings into our last investment in a hope of landing a white collar job. We are not looking for jobs that pay 100K, all we need is a decent white collar job that we do not have to hide our qualifications and experience back home, a job that feed our family and do not leave our back so painful we cannot sleep at night. Over 3 years since we are here, all we have are surviving jobs, we shoved snow, cut grass, cleaned toilet, watched over shops at night in dangerous areas, yet we are not able to save any money and we spent all our hard earned money we got before we came to Canada. We want our parents here to help taking care of the kids while we upgrade ourselves but the insurance cost of super visa is forbidden barrier and it is almost impossible to sponsor them to Canada, even the 5000 lucky people submitting application on the 1st day of the year when application is opened and earn tons of $$ to meet the income requirements need to wait over 10 years till the time their parent can come to Canada as PR.

The market here is simply too small and there is absolutely no white collar job for immigrants unless you already have family or friends who are in the position of hiring you. People here are nice but this is simply too small an economy to absorb the huge number of skilled immigrants each year. Canada has been admitting a quarter of million skilled workers every year over the past decades and if you look at the number of jobs created last year, you know where those people will end up to. Canada now is not like Canada in the 1980s and 1990s, the number of jobs created each year barely match the number of local graduates and schools here increase the intake year by year because international students is a huge source of their revenue. I am totally shocked at why the government keep adding too many skilled immigrants to the country every year despite the brutal reality and hardship that these immigrants have to go to. This is clearly inhumane and misleading. Many families from other countries are leaving everything behind in the false hope of a better life in Canada just to realize that there is nothing for them here and they have to clean toilet, wash dishes or drive taxi. No matter if you have PhD or are managers back home, there is nothing for you here to use your skills and knowledge.

If the purpose is to recruit foreign skilled workers to do labourer job then what about Canadian youth who are jobless and desperate to earn some money to pay back their tuition loan? I totally do not understand the system, it is completely a scam and it is brutal. Just last week I was laid off from my security guard job, turned out that it was filled by another young immigrant. I am pretty sure he get less than what I earned which is just slightly above the minimum wage for a night shift job. And now the winter is brutal, and our family is turning to meagre social assistant and EI that is hardly enough to put foot on the table. We do not know what to do, it is harsh here. We want to go back, but the thought of being looked at like a "loser" make us feel so painful. Everyday I look at the snow, I just feel like we made the worst decision to leave everything behind and we are paying for that decision.
 

niravk

Hero Member
Jul 16, 2011
631
13
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
deerestlovelybear said:
Hi guys,

Looking at this excitement about applying for PR reminding me and my family of years ago when we was as excited as you guys applying for Permanent Resident. I still remember the date I got my PR visas for the entire family, it was like we are going to a paradise, it was the best day in our life, we was so happy.

But now the reality of a broken dream in Canada is killing us day by day. Since the day we landed in this land, supposed to be our dream new home, we have sent countless of job applications. We followed all the advices, we volunteered and work for free and being exploited till we could not stand any more. My wife and I both took turn going back to school and spent the last dollar of savings into our last investment in a hope of landing a white collar job. We are not looking for jobs that pay 100K, all we need is a decent white collar job that we do not have to hide our qualifications and experience back home, a job that feed our family and do not leave our back so painful we cannot sleep at night. Over 3 years since we are here, all we have are surviving jobs, we shoved snow, cut grass, cleaned toilet, watched over shops at night in dangerous areas, yet we are not able to save any money and we spent all our hard earned money we got before we came to Canada. We want our parents here to help taking care of the kids while we upgrade ourselves but the insurance cost of super visa is forbidden barrier and it is almost impossible to sponsor them to Canada, even the 5000 lucky people submitting application on the 1st day of the year when application is opened and earn tons of $$ to meet the income requirements need to wait over 10 years till the time their parent can come to Canada as PR.

The market here is simply too small and there is absolutely no white collar job for immigrants unless you already have family or friends who are in the position of hiring you. People here are nice but this is simply too small an economy to absorb the huge number of skilled immigrants each year. Canada has been admitting a quarter of million skilled workers every year over the past decades and if you look at the number of jobs created last year, you know where those people will end up to. Canada now is not like Canada in the 1980s and 1990s, the number of jobs created each year barely match the number of local graduates and schools here increase the intake year by year because international students is a huge source of their revenue. I am totally shocked at why the government keep adding too many skilled immigrants to the country every year despite the brutal reality and hardship that these immigrants have to go to. This is clearly inhumane and misleading. Many families from other countries are leaving everything behind in the false hope of a better life in Canada just to realize that there is nothing for them here and they have to clean toilet, wash dishes or drive taxi. No matter if you have PhD or are managers back home, there is nothing for you here to use your skills and knowledge.

If the purpose is to recruit foreign skilled workers to do labourer job then what about Canadian youth who are jobless and desperate to earn some money to pay back their tuition loan? I totally do not understand the system, it is completely a scam and it is brutal. Just last week I was laid off from my security guard job, turned out that it was filled by another young immigrant. I am pretty sure he get less than what I earned which is just slightly above the minimum wage for a night shift job. And now the winter is brutal, and our family is turning to meagre social assistant and EI that is hardly enough to put foot on the table. We do not know what to do, it is harsh here. We want to go back, but the thought of being looked at like a "loser" make us feel so painful. Everyday I look at the snow, I just feel like we made the worst decision to leave everything behind and we are paying for that decision.
Very well said brother...you brought out the harsh reality on the face. Don't lose hope....and you certainly get a decent white collar job. Good things in life comes in small parts and of course, delayed
 

deerestlovelybear

Hero Member
Jan 20, 2015
712
203
niravk said:
Very well said brother...you brought out the harsh reality on the face. Don't lose hope....and you certainly get a decent white collar job. Good things in life comes in small parts and of course, delayed
Everyday we pray to god, and then it become months, and then years.. And the more we are deep into surviving jobs, the harder it is to move up and get a white collar one. But without doing those surviving jobs, how can we support our kids or even ourselves? Food is more expensive every year, oil price dropped but fresh food and vegetable rose 12% due to the low Canadian dollars and everything here is imported! We are even more impoverished and trapped into the vicious circle of poverty and no job. Even to buy a fresh suite to go for a job interview seems like a big burden to us!
 

purplesnow

Hero Member
Feb 1, 2015
960
56
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
while i'm sorry for the situation you find yourselves in, its not true that there are no white collar jobs here. Every immigrant I know here, including myself has found a professional job with very little hassle, despite all of us being on temporary visas to start.
I'm not trying to rub it in, but maybe you need to look elsewhere, Canada is a huge country if there are no opportunities where you are, maybe try a different province?

the moral here is to do your research before deciding Canada will be your saviour. No one will walk into their dream career here, no matter how much experience they have at home or abroad. the only experience that counts here is Canadian. Everyone needs to work hard to get anything here.
Yep, the winters are harsh. If you want somewhere nice and sunny, Canada fits the bill for about 5 months of the year. the rest of the time its cold. Emigrating or uprooting a family is a big deal, don't make that decision on a whim.
I see so many people here talking about the Canadian dream or what have you, but they've never been here; know what it is you're actually trying to get into, rather than a notion of some paradise. Canada's great, but its hard bloody work and that's what people need to be prepared for.

I wish you and your family all the best, it will come right in the end.
 

Conor9900

Hero Member
Jun 20, 2013
358
13
+1 purplesnow. The country is replete with white collar jobs and I and all my friends had no issue securing them in a short space of time, which would not have been the case in my home country. While I sympathise with your situation, immigrants who come to Canada and end up on social assistance are exactly what Canada is trying to avoid with their new ranking system, hence the marks for speaking the national languages, having Canadian work experience etc
 

deerestlovelybear

Hero Member
Jan 20, 2015
712
203
purplesnow said:
while i'm sorry for the situation you find yourselves in, its not true that there are no white collar jobs here. Every immigrant I know here, including myself has found a professional job with very little hassle, despite all of us being on temporary visas to start.
I'm not trying to rub it in, but maybe you need to look elsewhere, Canada is a huge country if there are no opportunities where you are, maybe try a different province?

the moral here is to do your research before deciding Canada will be your saviour. No one will walk into their dream career here, no matter how much experience they have at home or abroad. the only experience that counts here is Canadian. Everyone needs to work hard to get anything here.
Yep, the winters are harsh. If you want somewhere nice and sunny, Canada fits the bill for about 5 months of the year. the rest of the time its cold. Emigrating or uprooting a family is a big deal, don't make that decision on a whim.
I see so many people here talking about the Canadian dream or what have you, but they've never been here; know what it is you're actually trying to get into, rather than a notion of some paradise. Canada's great, but its hard bloody work and that's what people need to be prepared for.

I wish you and your family all the best, it will come right in the end.
I am curious where you are at and what are your background, I know many people got jobs in IT if they can do programming exceptionally well but that is not what I can do unfortunately. I have tried to look around too but to move the entire family it is not at all easy, especially when your kids just went to school. Also it is impossible to have interview from distance and spending money to fly around is not easy as we do not have a lot of disposable income. Perhaps you are young, single, educated in Canada, work as a programmer, I do not see many people like you said around me who got white collar jobs easily. In Alberta it used to be very easy to get jobs but I was reluctant to move due to family just accustomed to here in Toronto but now the window of opportunity is shutting as oil price drop and Alberta is slipping into recession. I regret not landing there earlier, it was the only bright spot in Canada. I would love to hear more from you on your experience and sincerely thanks for your wish.
 

niravk

Hero Member
Jul 16, 2011
631
13
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
deerestlovelybear said:
Everyday we pray to god, and then it become months, and then years.. And the more we are deep into surviving jobs, the harder it is to move up and get a white collar one. But without doing those surviving jobs, how can we support our kids or even ourselves? Food is more expensive every year, oil price dropped but fresh food and vegetable rose 12% due to the low Canadian dollars and everything here is imported! We are even more impoverished and trapped into the vicious circle of poverty and no job. Even to buy a fresh suite to go for a job interview seems like a big burden to us!
I commiserate your situation bro. A new phase full of prosperity awaits you..
 

ttrajan

Champion Member
Oct 14, 2013
2,237
49
Category........
AINP
Job Offer........
Yes
LANDED..........
15-08-2012
Sorry to hear about your story. Yes it is the hard reality here. In Alberta most of the engineering companies are laying people now due to slump in oil price. Most of my friends left Canada in the recent months, since no jobs available in the market.
 

digitalgame

Full Member
Jul 20, 2011
46
2
Hi deerestlovelybear,

U r in Toronto that's why u r facing this sort of issue. I m IT guy i moved 2 yrs ago in Canada i just spend 2 weeks in Toronto then move Calgary. I easily got field related job. Still quite high chances over here to get job. Make a bold decision and move here.

Thanks,
 

jassu2

Star Member
Jul 7, 2012
158
25
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
though i m not in canada.. and i applied randomly online.. i still got emails (though they didnt proceed when they realized tat i m non-canadian and would require LMIA which is time consuming for everyone involved..)
any way i got those emails within 2 weeks of applying.. i work as an accountant.. so dude there r jobs available.. i dont knw if i get to migrate or not.. but i m taking CMA exam which would pay me (hopefully) richly even if i dont get to migrate...

abt the snow.. well i knw its cold as frozen hell over there.. but i guess i dont mind it much and am looking at opportunities which would present me after 10 yrs of working, for example if i dont like it there.. i can move to gulf.. tropic climates.. Australia (lets just say i got close friends in all these countries)..

yes i m single.. and still looking for migration.. i have heard frm couple of close friends that they want to migrate with their spouse and kid(s).. and i just stare at their faces and try explaining them tat its for best if only 1 person first moves and then after few months the second person.. but then they stare bak at me.. lmao..

guess i just like to think things differently..

all in all as the other guys say.. move to another place.. its freaking huge country.. but i guess moving with family is actually pain..
but thats probably the best thing to do..
 

zhk

Star Member
Dec 7, 2014
89
1
I have heard stories like that alot where people coming here as foreign skilled workers end up working odd jobs and I do empathise with them however, from my personal observation, majority of the int'l students who graduate from a Canadian univ do end up getting a decent job related to your field even though they don't carry much experience with them. Majority of my friends including myself here were able to find a good job or atleast a job related to their field within 6 months to max a year post-graduation. And those, who were smart enough to get into CO-OPS /internships etc during school were even better off.

Having said that , I don't understand why they would make things difficult for int'l graduates.
 

trini_ac

Star Member
Apr 16, 2014
64
12
jassu2 said:
though i m not in canada.. and i applied randomly online.. i still got emails (though they didnt proceed when they realized tat i m non-canadian and would require LMIA which is time consuming for everyone involved..)
any way i got those emails within 2 weeks of applying.. i work as an accountant.. so dude there r jobs available.. i dont knw if i get to migrate or not.. but i m taking CMA exam which would pay me (hopefully) richly even if i dont get to migrate...

abt the snow.. well i knw its cold as frozen hell over there.. but i guess i dont mind it much and am looking at opportunities which would present me after 10 yrs of working, for example if i dont like it there.. i can move to gulf.. tropic climates.. Australia (lets just say i got close friends in all these countries)..

yes i m single.. and still looking for migration.. i have heard frm couple of close friends that they want to migrate with their spouse and kid(s).. and i just stare at their faces and try explaining them tat its for best if only 1 person first moves and then after few months the second person.. but then they stare bak at me.. lmao..

guess i just like to think things differently..

all in all as the other guys say.. move to another place.. its freaking huge country.. but i guess moving with family is actually pain..
but thats probably the best thing to do..
I agree I am a fund accountant and once I realized that express entry would be hard without lmia I also started applying and found despite all the horror stories that I got calls back but the process of lmia is what stopped the process. I think white collar jobs are indeed possible but moving your whole family to a province is severely limiting. That is where the downfall is.
 

Umer_Ali

Star Member
Apr 23, 2014
92
4
been here in canada as intl student and seen many people like that esp when doing odd job during studies.....IMHO its mostly because the people with family dont have much time to actively search for job as finding job is a full time job in itself.....the problem is with kids and wife and when 8 hours odd job its not easy to find time to apply jobs full time....when you are single its much easy....

but all i can give you is hope....i have seen many success stories as well so just keep on trying and you will be successful...