Curious to know about educated immigrant experiences.

[AAL1984]

Hi I am a Canadian.

I would like to hear some experiences/thoughts/perceptions etc..from well educated newer immigrants.

I am not looking for input from refugees or people who were sponsored to Canada by relatives, ie family classes.


I just wanted to know what motivates you (ie educated immigrants) to come to Canada? The reason I ask is that I see so many highly educated immigrants in this country who can't get a job in their professions, many suffer from severe depression and hatred towards Canada.

So why do you guys still continue to immigrate to Canada in large numbers?

Do consultants, or embassies lie to you?

What motivates you to leave your jobs and professions behind, and come to Canada?

Are you guys aware of the challenges and difficulty in getting any kind of well paid job over here, or the weak poorly structured Canadian economy?

I'm so sick and tired of seeing well educated people ie doctors etc..working at WalMart, its a damn shame!!

Are there any immigrants who were able to secure a good job in their profession? I would like to hear some success stories as well, if at all possible.

 

[scylla]

This isn't my story (I was born in Canada). But it's the story of someone I got to know very well.

A few years ago I acted as a mentor for business professionals who were new immigrants to Canada. Through this program, I met a wonderful woman who had immigrated to Canada from a South American country with her husband and teenage daughter. Both she and her husband were educated and successful professionals. Her reasons for leaving and coming here were very specific. They wanted a better future and more opportunities for their daughter. Both she and her husband felt their home country was taking a bad turn politically and economically - so they made the difficult decision to immigrate.

The first year was very very difficult for them. I remember several meetings I had with her where she was almost in tears because she and her husband were struggling to find jobs (any job) and were watching their savings disappear. But she kept telling me that they made this sacrifice for their daughter and for her future - and they knew it was the right thing to do no matter how difficult.

Within a year and a half they both had good full-time / permanent jobs in their professions, their daughter was doing extremely well in school and Canada had turned into their home. I know it was a difficult journey for them at the beginning. But they are very very happy here as a family now.

 

[AAL1984]

That's awesome^

Can you tell me what their profession was? What line of work are they working in, and what part of Canada?

I'm just curious because I want to see which professions offer better opportunities for immigrants, and which parts of Canada are better for them.

 

[scylla]

Sure.

This was in Toronto. I have to admit that I forget what the husband's exact profession was (it was the wife I got to know very well). The wife was previously a business manager/business administrator in her home country and is now working as a project manager for one of the big banks in their downtown Toronto (Bay Street) offices.

 

[computergeek]

I have yet to land, but I've been living here (working on a NAFTA work permit) for the past 2.5 years. I grew up near the border (our TV stations played both the US and Canadian national anthems when they started up in the AM, in fact.) One of these forms asks for the "first date of entry into Canada" and I literally had to ask my mother (I was 2.5 years old at the time.)

I have a very specialized set of skills and a global client base - I can work from virtually anywhere as long as I have access to the internet and an airport reasonably close. I chose to move because I was (and still am) deeply discouraged with US social policy (I happen to also be gay). I decided that I wanted to "vote with my tax dollars" and contribute them to a society that offered a more progressive social policy. That hasn't quite worked out the way that I want (I found, through the medical exam process that I tested HIV positive and because I'd chosen to land in British Columbia I'm automatically ineligible to land in the federal skilled workers class. Had I chosen to land in Toronto, I would not have been automatically excluded.)

Of course, life has also changed for me, as I ended up marrying someone (a Canadian citizen) whom I had met before I even started the FSW process. So, while the lawyer is off asking for judicial review of the FSW decision (which frankly seems like a long shot as far as I can tell) I'm starting back down the sponsored spouse path. Given that this is the second time through I'm expecting the process will take at least 3 years just because I cannot imagine anyone at CIC not looking at this application and digging further.

Now I'm dug in - I have a Canadian spouse with no special skills. Going back to the US isn't really an option because US immigration is either family based (and same-sex families don't count) or it's employment based (which is challenging for someone working in the hospitality field, even with a dregree.) At least the US doesn't categorically deny immigration to people because of their results on an HIV test (not anymore, at least.)

I still love living here. I'm proud to contribute more each year in income tax revenue than the numeric threshold for "excessive demand" (which is a TEN year number). I'm not particularly enamoured of the immigration process, but it honestly isn't any worse than the US immigration system. I kick myself every day for procrastinating: I hired my attorney back in 2006 and had I just filed the paperwork and waited the 18-24 months it required at the time I'd currently be looking at applying for citizenship, rather than worrying about obtaining permanent residency.

To answer your question: I came to Canada for social and political reasons.