SamUnai:
SHOULD I RELOCATE OR STAY
PS: This is a personal View as a PR in Canada
I will do my best to give an honest view . LONG POST
HOW IT STARTED.
January 4th, 2016 I resumed like every other colleague, after the morning prayers and HNY wishes, i realized I could not sign-in into my system. I tried all I could but no way and as a banker with 4 years experience we all know what that means. SACK. As usual my BM called me in and I wrote my resignation letter (reason why bank do this, is what I don’t know). I gather my few things and left before leaving my BM also mentioned to me that it was not because of under performance but rather is due to the fact that I don’t have BSC but HND. I told him no wahala with my eyes filled with tears left his office. What a way to start the year.
Around 5PM that same day a senior colleague called me and asked if I was free (them don sack me what else could I be doing) I told him I was free and he asked me to meet him up at restaurant . I didn’t want to go at first cus I suspected it will be one of those sermon of you know sack is not the end of life but I sha manage to go. Before he started talking to me , he brought out his BB and showed me a picture of his passport with the Canadian VISA. In my mind hope this Benin man doesn’t want to tell me about abroad cus and not interested. Then he asked quietly have you heard about Canada express entry I said no. what of Canadian PR I said no boss. Then he said do you know you are very lucky with this your HND? Me? How?, he went further to explain the whole process to me stage by stage, how I will get more point with this my HND , At this point he has started to arouse my interest , then he went further to tell me the benefit of a Canadian PR , I was still trying to arrange everything he just said in my head when baba showed me his flight details ahh he is traveling next month oo in fact he said he want to do VAL in Canada with his family. You need to see the ginger in my body I drove home.
IELTS
Wrote once and passed LRWS 8877.5(practiced for 4weeks morning afternoon evening and night. No job so that was my work at that time.
OTHER STAGES.
It was very easy from WES-ITA-PCC-MED-AOR-PR-COPR.
It was straight forward. It took 4 months and 2weeks from AOR-PR. (Those days we don’t bother about VO just submit and leave it in the hands of God).
PR -18TH August 2016
CORP-10TH September 2016
D DAY TO TRAVEL.
I arranged my bags, mumsy don pray for me already, I woke up early that morning and prayed my rosary then cab man show as planned and it was straight to the airport.
I started feeling somehow oo while at the airport, all my enthusiasm vanished, fear began to set in if relocating was the right thing to do. But I quickly waved it off and located my gate. I landed in Toronto at exactly 11:40am on the 16th of November 2016 via ET air. Nothing really fascinating about the flight. I watched movies, ate what they gave us and slept majority of the time
ARRIVAL
On the day of arrival, we landed successfully , I asked questions on where to go and peeps over here were ready to assist with a smile (in my mind I said e be like say the place go good oo) did documentation and register for SIN, I was asked if I came with my whole POF , I told her I came with little but will wire the rest once am settled , she said ok and Welcome to Canada(in my mind again so this woman nu even reason weda I dey lie or talk true hmmmm). I got to the Air Canada desk to collect boarding pass only for them to tell me that flight to Calgary where am headed just left( in my mind I screamed MY FATHER MY FATHER) before I could say anything she said calmly ,Don’t worry we will reschedule you for the next flight to YYC.¬(WHICH ONE BE YYC AGAIN) her colleague saw my face and quickly said Calgary . Waited for 3hrs before the next flight. During this period of waiting I started thinking about my life again, the airport is so Big and clean plus free wifi(that is fast ooo). We sha left and we arrived in Calgary around 9 or 10pm can’t remember. That my colleague that told me about the process was waiting for me. We moved straight to his apartment, and the wife gave me a hot sweet pepper jollof rice and chicken . I had my bath and slept. The next day I opened account and did some few things (no big deal with does stuff)
JOB HUNTING.
I applied for all sort of job and opening this was the advice I got from that my boss. After 4days which was on a Tuesday a security firm sent me a mail for an online interview via skype , during the interview(for naija na interrogation we they do nu be interview) the man said he can see from my resume that I did some course in Health Safety and environment ( you know that HSE 1,2 and 3 Course that we did during NYSC na for those of us hoping to get oil job, ehen na that course I dey talk,) I said yes and he asked politely if I will rather like to work as a safety officer (like I get choice) I said I don’t mind and he went further to say that is 3 dollar/hr higher in pay than the security officer but I will have to undergo some training if am chosen ( at this point I know say them don collect me)Gbam the Evening of that day I got a success mail(Na so e dey fast?). From this point I moved to other job, to another job, until my current job which I have done for about a year plus. PS: When coming to Canada ehh please come with every certificate you have I beg you because you don’t know the one that will open that door for you even that SAED for NYSC come with am, those short course/training you did in your office come with the certificate abeg. You might get a lot of blue collar jobs at first please accept the once you can do and hit the ground running. The goal is not to spend more than 20% of your POF and Save the rest.
HEALTH CARE,
I have little to say here as hardly visit the Hospital except for the time my wife gave birth last year, my brother we were treated like VIPs oo had to ask and I was told our insurance covered every,I was also told that’s how everybody is treated . Hospital so Clean like 5 star hotel, smells nice, doctors and nurse smiling, I even met one naija lady self nurse Adaobi . See gifts na, from the hospital to colleagues o to my wife office people. It was amazing. Leave was close to 35weeks or so.
RENT
Cut your coat according to your material and not size. There is also nothing serious about this too, if you are prudent and know where you are coming from , you can pay for your rent and utility monthly and even have some change. We moved into our own apartment (mortgage) early this year before the Covid-19 wahala.
TRANSPORTATION.
There is a large transportation network that encompasses everywhere ranging from Buses to Trains. There is also an app for it, it contains routes and timetable of movement. Plus fare is very cheap. I think is $3 for one way or so. Haven’t uses in a while.
COST OF LIVING IN CANADA (Calgary)
The cost here is relatively fare compare to other province. the rent is also not too expensive , is usually between 1k for a condo to 2500 for a 4bedroom. Shopping is also relatively fare with 200-300 dollar you can shop for everything you need within the month. The basic thing is that irrespective of what you earn as a new comer combine with at least 50% of you POF you should be ready to hit the ground running and in no time you can return that POF back to your saving account. So as a starter as we call them in my office, $1500 should be enough to get u going (min wage in Alberta still ranges from $14-$18/hr)
SOCIAL LIFE.
Here is a bit boring sha if you are already used to the naija Lagos life. But you can make it happen it you choose to and also have the time.
CONCLUSION.
You will need to ask yourself some questions.
Is this what I want, what kind of life do I want my children to have, if am not a VERY RICH man can they attend good schools here? or even have good health care, if I don’t have connection or know people in high places after my BSC or Masters can I at least get a decent job? If for example my parents don’t have money to sent me to college\university will the government give me a grant to go to school?. If I come to work one morning and i have been sacked is there an employment insurance that can cover me before I secure another job?. With this my current job and pay can I at least get a decent car or how many years do I need to save so I can’t get a house of my own(even doh is via mortgage ). If they kidnap any member of my family, will the total money I have saved be enough for the ransom?. If anything happens to me today, what becomes of my wife and children?. If I want to iron your cloths do i need to pray to God for electricity?, If I continue on this job in this country will I ever break even if I don’t steal or go into prostitution (that is self sustainability). Some folks will tell you that you have to work for every penny you spend and I ask them how else do you intend to get a penny if you don’t work, but they fail to tell you that for everything you pay for you get 100% value or won’t you rather want to have a passport/status that allows you travel to other countries without so much fear of Visa denial
Finally it is also true that the main reason is not to come and make money but to live a sane life, Now this is me telling you that if you work diligently, going for what you need instead of what you want, be prudent especially when you just arrive, in no distant time you will drive that nice car you see on TV and move into your own house, you know why? Canada rewards hard working people.
NOTE: You are free to ask me any question and I will answer. Also pardon the typos. Once again this is my OWN experience. This is also my first post although i usually visit here when am less busy at work and I will say I love the commitment and effort you guys put just to get it right
I'm really happy for you as you came through and your story is really inspiring. My question is how do settle down there in terms of accomodations incase you don't have a colleague or relative there and also how do you come across job vacancies since you would be a jjc over there 1 Like |
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: Prospects For Engineering Jobs by titanium1: 12:15pm On Jan 19, 2022 