Canadian PR

[Hock]

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120219-328820.html

In Canada, she will receive free medical treatment.

 

[googleplexes]

Hi. I have been following this thread.

I am now in Toronto. I have not received my PR yet. I came by the study route. Got myself into a diploma course for 2 academic years. The CIC has granted me 3 years of WP. I need to complete 1 year of employment in Canada under Type 0, A or B jobs to be legible for the CEC program.

So it is 1 year from now that I will get a PR under the CEC program.

Studying in Canada is approximately $6K CAD per semester. You need to be in a program to complete 4 semesters = 2 academic years. This is not physical years. You can be in summer semester while everyone is having fun.

I would like to connect with any Singaporeans in Toronto though after this term in Toronto, I will most likely select to live in Chilliwack. Just love it there.

 

[Hock]

Why Canada?

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/best-place-business-canada-154502953.html

 

[chupacabra]

Hi. I have been following this thread.

I am now in Toronto. I have not received my PR yet. I came by the study route. Got myself into a diploma course for 2 academic years. The CIC has granted me 3 years of WP. I need to complete 1 year of employment in Canada under Type 0, A or B jobs to be legible for the CEC program.

So it is 1 year from now that I will get a PR under the CEC program.

Studying in Canada is approximately $6K CAD per semester. You need to be in a program to complete 4 semesters = 2 academic years. This is not physical years. You can be in summer semester while everyone is having fun.

I would like to connect with any Singaporeans in Toronto though after this term in Toronto, I will most likely select to live in Chilliwack. Just love it there.

What course are you taking? How you get your work permit? Stayed in both Ontario and Alberta back in 04- 05. I'll probably mov to BC after my Perth stint in a few years.

 

[mcdeo]

Hi.... I gotton my Canadian PR 2 years ago and will be leaving for Toronto in a couple of months.

Anyone who has migrated to Toronto, appreciate if you may allow me to connect up with you for advice.

Thanks.

 

[nayr69sg]

Hi.... I gotton my Canadian PR 2 years ago and will be leaving for Toronto in a couple of months.

Anyone who has migrated to Toronto, appreciate if you may allow me to connect up with you for advice.

Thanks.

Hi, I wish you good luck in your move!

But I am curious why did you choose Toronto? Specifically did you choose Toronto for its qualities in helping make your move a success (eg job opportunities, housing costs, living costs etc?) or is it more of a lack of information about other Canadian cities and thus making Toronto a default location?

Seems like many people prefer to move to Vancouver or Toronto.

I'm in Edmonton and I chose Edmonton specifically for the factors I felt it had to make my move a success and I am glad I did not move to Vancouver or Toronto.

 

[starstar]

Hi, I wish you good luck in your move!

But I am curious why did you choose Toronto? Specifically did you choose Toronto for its qualities in helping make your move a success (eg job opportunities, housing costs, living costs etc?) or is it more of a lack of information about other Canadian cities and thus making Toronto a default location?

Seems like many people prefer to move to Vancouver or Toronto.

I'm in Edmonton and I chose Edmonton specifically for the factors I felt it had to make my move a success and I am glad I did not move to Vancouver or Toronto.

Hi nayr69sg, besides avoiding the huge crowds of Asians in big cities, what were the other reasons that made you chose Edmonton?

 

[nayr69sg]

Hi nayr69sg, besides avoiding the huge crowds of Asians in big cities, what were the other reasons that made you chose Edmonton?

Actually not much to do with that.

First choose which province. Which is the richest province and why?

Alberta. Oil and gas.

Which province has the strongest economy?

Which province has the most job creation and lowest unemployment?

Then from there choose which city within the province.

It's a no brainer. But I guess not everyone thinks this way.

It's not like one is going on a holiday. Besides it is also not a case where if you start off in Edmonton, you won't move anywhere else in Canada.

 

[starstar]

Actually not much to do with that.

First choose which province. Which is the richest province and why?

Alberta. Oil and gas.

Which province has the strongest economy?

Which province has the most job creation and lowest unemployment?

Then from there choose which city within the province.

It's a no brainer. But I guess not everyone thinks this way.

It's not like one is going on a holiday. Besides it is also not a case where if you start off in Edmonton, you won't move anywhere else in Canada.

Hi nayr69sg, do you recommend Saskatchewan where she has rich natural resources such as oil, natural gas, uranium, and potash?

 

[nayr69sg]

Hi nayr69sg, do you recommend Saskatchewan where she has rich natural resources such as oil, natural gas, uranium, and potash?

I have read that Saskatchewan's economy is strong. I think their edge is in potash. I work in the land broker industry and from what I've gathered Sask is an interesting place to be if you are looking for a job. Though I don't know exactly what kind of jobs are available there. You can do some search on your own I suppose?

I can't "recommend" Saskatchewan because I have never lived and worked there. My point is that one should do some research and make their choices based on that rather than just going in blind faith.

Alberta's economy is a close second behind Saskatchewan and it is a little nearer to the Rocky Mountains. Calgary seems to have a more white collar type job base and population. Housing costs are higher but they are just 1 hour away from the Rockies. Edmonton is more blue collar and has more entry level type jobs eg general laborer type of work. Mind you even entry level general laborer jobs ARE NOT EASY to get into!

 

[CanuckSG]

As mentioned by nayr69sg, it's not easy gaining entry-level blue-collar jobs too. They do look for relevant experience...but some might take a leap of faith in hiring one if one shows a positive attitude. They may most likely sponsor you for trade-related certification, which is sought after in Alberta. An please reminder to prepare your lists of job/professional references(ex-SG employers) because hiring companies requires at least 3(in some cases just 2). Hope this helps!

Cheers!

P/S: Two reasons why i chose Alberta...1)Education for my child...and 2)less crowded compared to Vancouver or Toronto.

 

[nayr69sg]

As mentioned by nayr69sg, it's not easy gaining entry-level blue-collar jobs too. They do look for relevant experience...but some might take a leap of faith in hiring one if one shows a positive attitude. They may most likely sponsor you for trade-related certification, which is sought after in Alberta. An please reminder to prepare your lists of job/professional references(ex-SG employers) because hiring companies requires at least 3(in some cases just 2). Hope this helps!

Cheers!

P/S: Two reasons why i chose Alberta...1)Education for my child...and 2)less crowded compared to Vancouver or Toronto.

I don't know about the others but Singapore references are useless in my opinion. The employers can't be bothered to make long distance calls to Singapore. What you need are references in Canada , better in the city itself.

Once again it is a chicken or egg problem.

Hence it is better to get a job (any job) first and then build those references.

You get to know more people and more opportunities open for you. For the record, some companies offer their employees a "bonus" for recommending people who get hired eventually by the company, so it is in their interests to recommend good people.

Becoming a doctor here in Canada is not so simple like in Singapore. Have to pass all the relevant exams FIRST before you can smell the residency interviews. And even after that thousands are applying for less than a handful of places across the country. In the meantime what do I do? Place all my eggs and hopes on that? Or move on in whatever I can find first? What happens if I never get to become a doctor in Canada?

Salary wise it is about 1/3 what I used to make in Singapore. But one has to consider that a new Toyota Corolla here costs 1/5 of what it does in Singapore. Same with housing. So overall I am still better off despite the drop in earnings. And this is just the beginning. What happens if I do become a doctor? Or if I progress in my new career?

 

[nayr69sg]

Sounds like career wise you have taken a huge step back. What is the point of training and studying for 6 years, a whopping 10% of your life alone, on medicine if you are not going to pursue a career in it, or at least a career more lucrative than it? And an MBBS does not come cheap as well.

I am sure you can make it in Canada, doctors in Singapore have to compete with the best to get into University as well, have some faith in your abilities.

But it also sounds like you are happier with your lifestyle. Toyota Corolla costs less, yes, but 90% of Singaporeans don't even drive but use public transport. Comparing cars is futile, compare the cost of food, taxes, and maybe housing. How much money are you putting into the bank each month, I don't see it as being more than in SG.

Income Tax in Canada is at least 20% I think, that is for the low-income earners. Higher income earners pay more. GST is around 20% in some provinces I think. And there is capital gains tax as well. So you are being taxed at 40% or so. How much money can one save in such an environment? The social safety net is great for losers and drug addicts but for people who work, it is just sucking their monthly wages and channeling it to the losers. That is why the middle class in socialist countries live shitty lives. The underclass live great lives, they don't work, they get money, they do drugs the whole day. The upper class mostly have long gone to a place where there is no capital gains tax and low corporate tax.

I guess the good points are the people are generally more open minded, the space, the cheap houses, cheap cars, many places you can move to, near the USA, etc.

At the end of the day, do you want to work as a factory worker or admin assistant (what are you working as now and previously?) your entire life? Never mind if people there pretend to be egalitarian (it is all just an act and they are just being polite) and don't mind your jobs, do you derive personal satisfaction from such jobs?

Good luck, I am thinking of buying my dad a house in Thailand or somewhere for him to retire as well.

Best Regards,
Geylang Uncle's Son

Life is not all about earning more and more money. And life is short.

The move was not all about me. It was for my children as well. If they get educated here in Canada, they will be much better off than I am. I accepted the fact that I had to make some sacrifice. The family members who benefited most from the move are the kids. They are so much happier in school and with the lifestyle here.

Personal satisfaction? When I was a doctor so called making more money, I felt far worse on a personal satisfaction level than I am now. Nobody appreciated good work as a doctor. All they wanted were lackeys who would pander to the customer's whims and fancies. It's a problem when you spend 6 years studying and try your best to be a professional and all they want is a customer service oriented front line person to dish out whatever makes the customer happy. And if you don't, you have to contend with numerous complaint letters which even if unfounded add work to the admin staff who then frown on you regardless that you were rightfully standing your ground as a professional. It's part of the KPI anyway. And let's not get into the private sector. I learnt at an early stage of my medical career to give patients what they wanted as much as I could as long as it never hurt them, harmed them and was never illegal. To a large extent it benefited my career. But I felt that it wasn't what I should be doing. But that's the way medicine has become. I hear from Canadian doctors that it's becoming the same here in Canada. Which is another reason why I'm not all that keen and desperate to get back into it.

Life is short. If I didn't move and try I would always be unhappy and wishing for something else and wondering if it would be better.

I always said that migrating wouldn't mean a "better" life, but a different life. It's different. Whether it is better is a question each person has to answer for himself. No need to justify to anyone. Same for those who choose to stay in Singapore. Nothing wrong with that too.

Staying in Singapore has its benefits. Good money, lots of savings. Modern lifestyle. Hustle and bustle "happening" type of society. Downside I won't say, it's been said to death and I have no desire to go there.

Staying in Canada as you mentioned has its upsides and downsides as well. I considered those factors before I moved too.

In the end, life is short and for me to live all my life in Singapore where I wasn't happy, was a bit too much for me.

The thing is I know of many people who complain a lot about life in Singapore. They really know how to complain man. But they won't do anything to change their situation. It's always another complaint eg too difficult, why downgrade, why change, what for, so wasted, cannot be done etc. It's always someone else to make things better for them like it's their right or something. Never about themselves. This is a generalization of course. There are some Singaporeans who are strong and proactive. But I meet with far too many of them in my line of work in Singapore.

The challenge for me is to succeed and improve despite the odds. If I can keep this up, I derive great satisfaction in it and believe that I can just about do anything as long as I really want to. Give me the opportunities and I will make the best of them. Sometimes you can do something but don't see the need. Sometimes you can do something but you are fearful whether you can and then choose not to because of that fear.

It's the latter that I have slowly eliminated from my life since I migrated that has freed my mind and soul. Somehow when I was in Singapore I felt trapped. Stuck in medicine, too afraid to change anything even if I didn't like it, stuck in Singapore, forced to accept that things had to be the way it is for whatever reasons explained.

In Singapore I felt like my future was all planned out for me. No twists or turns. So predictable and boring. You work hard, take exams and become a specialist and earn more and more money. Take holidays to exotic places. Buy property buy nice cars, send kids to overseas good universities. It's not bad but it didn't interest me. Maybe I'm more of an adventurer.

For me now, it's my life to live and accept. The future is a blank page for me to write. Now that's heck of an interesting challenge!

 

[nayr69sg]

Hello Nay,

Just glad you feel happier in Canada.

Don't take it the wrong way, but I remember you wrote that you worked as a factory general labourer and now your work as an office administrator, I just felt that these are dead end jobs, and you do the same thing over and over daily, so personally, I wouldn't feel satisfied with the work. It is not entirely about the money, it is about the challenge and personal growth, being able to take responsibility for things, progressing in the field etc.

I'm a land administrator. I could take courses to become a land agent. So there is a career progression. And it is a profession. All jobs eventually reach that stage of doing the "same" thing over and over daily. When you reach that stage, it means something. As far as challenge and personal growth, I think Canadians have more of that. They change careers quite frequently. While one might say that's not a "good" thing, I actually find it interesting to hear journalist become doctors and office mail boys become lawyers etc. You won't find that in Singapore.

Whether or not you take responsibility for things and progress is more about attitude than being smart. Sometimes thinking you are smart brings its own problems too.

I fully understand your frustrations as a doctor, as I am sure many Singaporeans don't even know what is a common cold and would pester the doctors to say nonsensical things like 'Don't eat oily food/use the AC when you have a cold'. These are just stupid people, and sadly Singapore is filled to the brim with such people.

It's not that bad. I actually believe a lot of frustration comes about because the culture is such that when you pay someone, you feel he is obliged to service you like your maid. It's the maid culture that breeds all this to a certain extent. At least that's my belief.

I just feel that you are a smart guy, and I think you will find a better career in Canada sooner or later. As for the crap about how Canadians don't judge people based on their incomes and jobs, well they are just being polite, and they do care about such things as well obviously, if that wasn't the case, no one would bother to go to university or improve themselves. But I guess they care to a lesser extend, or pretend not to care, with the Tall Poppy Syndrome and all that.

Being too smart and thinking one is too smart is not a good thing if you know what I mean. I've only been in Canada for 1.5 years. I think this is where many people get it muddled. I know some friends and relatives who will not accept a job that pays less than what they have in Singapore. They expect to migrate to Canada and be earning as much or even more in a job almost identical to what they do in Singapore. There are people like that. They worked for MNCs with branches in Canada and were transferred here. But otherwise, good luck to such lines of though!

As for the judging.....I came from a situation where we were treated with disdain, begrudged for the salaries we earned and I constantly had to tell myself "I am a doctor, those are silly people, don't care about them, you are ok". Whereas here it's the other way around. People are polite, and they don't make you feel stupid or small even if they did think that way. So I never have to think about that problem! Not everyone goes to university so that they can have bigger egos.

As for your sons, the education system may not be entirely what you think of it to be. Kids do do drugs in school, it is very very common. If your sons get hooked, that is it. And schools in countries like Canada churn out the scariest little devils. I have seen it myself, how arrogant, spoilt and retarded some of these kids can be. You seldom see such kids in Singapore, at least they don't act so arrogantly and openly. Pros and Cons.

Seldom see such kids in Singapore? You gotta be kidding. Just ask any teacher in Singapore. Granted the drugs problem is an issue, I only hope that as a parent I can teach my kids to make the right choices, rather than rely on a system where they are forced not to have any choice for their own good.

Good luck to you, you are one of only 6000 Singaporeans who managed to emigrate each year.

Being able to migrate is easy. Actually moving and settling in the new country is a different matter.

On balance, I still feel that Canada is slightly better than Singapore. Simply because it is a real country, with many places to go, with a dominant Anglo-French culture, and it is a nation in the truest sense as people share the same religion, language, and ideals. 100 years from now, we know it will still exist.

Regards,
Dragon's Son

You last comment is puzzling. Canada is only slightly better than Singapore but it is a real country, with many places to go, a dominant culture and a nation in the truest sense and will be around 100 years from now.

Slightly better? That probably means that Singapore is just below a real country, has only a little less places to go, has a almost dominant culture and is almost a nation in the truest sense and will be around 99 years from now?

Don't quite see that comparison there.

Just curious, but some people have told me they thought I was on the Indian race. I'm not. I'm Chinese. I wonder if that changes anything though?

For anyone thinking of migrating to Canada, life is tough here in Canada. You have to work hard and be sharp and flexible. For most, if you work on the way things work for you in Singapore, you probably won't make it. The first year or so are the most crucial.

 

[Hock]

There is a backlog of 1 million PR applicants. And, it is getting more difficult and expensive(for investor class) to apply.
Fellow Singaporeans need to "quick leg quick hand", and send in your applications now. Canada is like "heaven on earth".

 

[nayr69sg]

There is a backlog of 1 million PR applicants. And, it is getting more difficult and expensive(for investor class) to apply.
Fellow Singaporeans need to "quick leg quick hand", and send in your applications now. Canada is like "heaven on earth".

"heaven on earth" is too much lah. Actually Singapore is not a bad place. If you like earning lots of money and keeping your money Singapore may be a better place than Canada.

 

[Hock]

Singapore used to be a good place to raise a family many years ago. Not anymore. Now, it is like an airport transit lounge; comes in, makes
some quick bucks, and gets the hell out as fast as possible. During my last visit to S'pore, I felt like I am a "minority" in my own country with
so many foreigners I saw everywhere I turned.

You can earn good money if you are willing to adapt and change in Canada. Canada is like a packaged deal; it is a good deal.

 

[nayr69sg]

Singapore used to be a good place to raise a family many years ago. Not anymore. Now, it is like an airport transit lounge; comes in, makes
some quick bucks, and gets the hell out as fast as possible. During my last visit to S'pore, I felt like I am a "minority" in my own country with
so many foreigners I saw everywhere I turned.

You can earn good money if you are willing to adapt and change in Canada. Canada is like a packaged deal; it is a good deal.

Canada got high tax. I know some people don't like that. They want to pay low taxes and yet have healthcare covered, social net etc. That way better to stay in Singapore.

 

[nayr69sg]

Hi Geylanduncle's son,

It all boils down to .....do you choose to focus at the positive or negative?

As for this thing about "high level" jobs, I think you might be a bit too condescending in your views.

 

[mayliewwan]

Do you think them ang mohs have the same feeling as you. Everywhere they look or turn, they see foreigners... Pinoys, Ah Tiongs, Pakis etc. Watch the CBC news today.??? Up north in Nunavut, it is fast becoming Manila north

Singapore used to be a good place to raise a family many years ago. Not anymore. Now, . During my last visit to S'pore, I felt like I am a "minority" in my own country with
so many foreigners I saw everywhere I turned.

.