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quatummm

Full Member
Jun 28, 2021
38
13
Does Netherlands have an immigration program? Or are these friends who ended up there due to internal company transfers?
You just need to find a skilled job. No, it was not internal company transfers. They just found skilled job in the NL. And I'm 100% sure it is easier to find a job in the NL than EE process.

I see lots of software developers and engineers have been spending their time for express entry. Just find a job in the NL or Sweden. I think they have smoother immigration process than Canada, especially the NL and Sweden. No process fees, no need to wait for unpredictable draws, no language exam, no ECA, shorter processing times, less taxes(NL 30% rule), better jobs(35hours per week, 40days vacation), better health care, better weather (no -30C and snow), way better purchasing power...

I can't believe in myself, how I wasted two years for express entry...
 
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iSaidGoodDay

VIP Member
Feb 3, 2023
4,473
2,384
Kaneda
Basic format will be:
How long have you been in Canada?
What industry are you in?
How long did it take you to get your first job? Was it in your area of training or was it a survival job?
How long did it take to get a job in your field?
What was a major shock to you in terms of reality versus expectation?
What advice would you give others who are thinking to move to Canada and?
and so on.

It will be more conversational with the aim of helping others. Feel free to reach out to me privately if you are interested. Thanks !
Camera shy, Youtube shy - so I'd share here instead incase if it helps anyone:

How long have you been in Canada?
- Yet to move, but already have a job.

What industry are you in?
- Worked across multiple industries (fintech, career, HR, healthcare, etc) - I've a job + do a bunch of consulting and advisory roles.

How long did it take you to get your first job? Was it in your area of training or was it a survival job?
- Almost nil. All in my area of expertise.

How long did it take to get a job in your field?
- zero

What was a major shock to you in terms of reality versus expectation?
- Nothing honestly, worked internationally for a while. Everything is the same, except saw a very laid back culture. Contrasting to what I'm usually used to work with.

What advice would you give others who are thinking to move to Canada and?
and so on.
- develop skills over pedigree and apply to jobs without the "spray and pray" method. "Spray and pray" doesn't really work in NA.
 
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quatummm

Full Member
Jun 28, 2021
38
13
Would suggest you wait, alot of manufacturing and investment moving from EU to NA right now due to energy prices and instability.

UK is basically a 2nd world country
UK is basically a 2nd world country?

What about Canada?

Do you remember Roger outage last year? No phone, no internet, no ATM and they couldn't solve it in two days :)

IRCC processing times? 26months... 2years+ :)

Road qualities? infrastructure? health care system?

The chocolate that I bought in UK for 0.5GBP is 5CAD in Canada :)
 

iSaidGoodDay

VIP Member
Feb 3, 2023
4,473
2,384
Kaneda
You just need to find a skilled job. No, it was not internal company transfers. They just found skilled job in the NL. And I'm 100% sure it is easier to find a job in the NL than EE process.

I see lots of software developers and engineers have been spending their time for express entry. Just find a job in the NL or Sweden. I think they have smoother immigration process than Canada, especially the NL and Sweden. No process fees, no need to wait for unpredictable draws, no language exam, no ECA, shorter processing times, less taxes(NL 30% rule), better jobs(35hours per week, 40days vacation), better health care, better weather (no -30C and snow), way better purchasing power...

I can't believe in myself, how I wasted two years for express entry...
I think you missed the step where someone has to go through:
1. Skilled VISA for 5 years
2. Then another 4-5 years on PR
3. Dutch language test
4. Apply for Citizenship

#1 and #2 means 10 years! rofl!
 
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Impatient Dankaroo

VIP Member
Jan 10, 2020
4,382
2,671
UK is basically a 2nd world country?

What about Canada?

Do you remember Roger outage last year? No phone, no internet, no ATM and they couldn't solve it in two days :)

IRCC processing times? 26months... 2years+ :)

Road qualities? infrastructure? health care system?

The chocolate that I bought in UK for 0.5GBP is 5CAD in Canada :)
Many of your points about Canada applies to UK. Healthcare is shit in UK too. Just because you can buy Cadbury in Uk doesn't represent entire basket of goods to compare purchasing prices. Compare gas costs between UK and Canada. Wages are super low in UK.

Anyways when one has hate in one's heart for something, best not to pursue it
 
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quatummm

Full Member
Jun 28, 2021
38
13
I think you missed the step where someone has to go through:
1. Skilled VISA for 5 years
2. Then another 4-5 years on PR
3. Dutch language test
4. Apply for Citizenship

#1 and #2 means 10 years! rofl!
No, there is no step 2. skilled visa for 5 years, ducth language test (dutch language is easy for the one who speaks english) than apply for citizenship.

What about 'immigration friendly' Canada?
1. Work 1 year
2. Wait 1 year for a draw
3. Wait 1-2 years for processing your PR
4. Wait 3 years
 

GandiBaat

VIP Member
Dec 23, 2014
3,711
2,994
NOC Code......
2173
App. Filed.......
26th September 2021
Doc's Request.
Old Medical
Nomination.....
None
AOR Received.
26th September 2021
IELTS Request
Sent with application
File Transfer...
11-01-2022
Med's Request
Not Applicable, Old Meds
Med's Done....
Old Medical
Interview........
Not Applicable
Passport Req..
22-02-2022
VISA ISSUED...
22-02-2022
LANDED..........
24-02-2022
Good day everyone! It's been a minute. I landed in Canada last October and I am still getting settled. No job yet but I am still looking. I feel like things are about to change soon.

I have just begun chronicling my journey to Canada on YouTube, starting from my Express Entry application but I really want to zoom in on life in Canada. I personally have found that things are a bit more difficult than I had anticipated, and no, I wasn't expecting it easy. I wanted to speak with other new immigrants (I am thinking 5 years and under in Canada) just to share the different perspectives as some find it easy, while others not so much. We have all learned things since being here that we can share to help someone have it a little easier than we did.

If you want to share your experience to help others to arrive with eyes wide open, or even to decide whether this is really an upward move for them, feel free to send me a direct message. This would be done over zoom and you can decide if you want to be on camera or off to maintain anonymity.

Basic format will be:
How long have you been in Canada?
What industry are you in?
How long did it take you to get your first job? Was it in your area of training or was it a survival job?
How long did it take to get a job in your field?
What was a major shock to you in terms of reality versus expectation?
What advice would you give others who are thinking to move to Canada and?
and so on.

It will be more conversational with the aim of helping others. Feel free to reach out to me privately if you are interested. Thanks !
NOC 2211 Chemical Technologist and Technician.

My wife has a masters in Chemical Engineering and before she came here, she was a process engineer and used to operate a big distillation plant producing base materials for foods, additives and pharma industry. Here, she tried for LONG time to get a job in that field but nothing. The profession is fully regulated. She got an offer to work as a lab technicial for a resource discovery lab but the work looked hazardous and involved cleaning equipmented treated with inorganic compounds having lead, mercury, chrome and nickel. So I asked her to skip that job.

Now she is she in a university for a Phd in nano technology. Probably she will get a job in government labs monitoring on natural source quality or something similar.

We have been in Canada for now 5 years.
I am in IT industry.
I came with my job and I have since been working in my field only.
I had my job since the day 1 in Canada.
There was no shock. the only shock has been lately in terms of availability of family doctors.
I will say work out your job through an internal transfer before coming to any foreign country. Immigration can be figured out later. First figure out job.

I will pass on a zoom call however and my answers are above.
 

iSaidGoodDay

VIP Member
Feb 3, 2023
4,473
2,384
Kaneda
No, there is no step 2. skilled visa for 5 years, ducth language test (dutch language is easy for the one who speaks english) than apply for citizenship.

What about 'immigration friendly' Canada?
1. Work 1 year
2. Wait 1 year for a draw
3. Wait 1-2 years for processing your PR
4. Wait 3 years
Seems like I misread something and was wrong. I found this on NL's gov website.
> Foreign citizens can apply for Dutch citizenship if they have lived in the Netherlands legally for at least 5 years.

I am not working in Canada, so I'm directly going for #3 and #4 in your case. Way shorter in my case. We are comparing apples to oranges. Canada is an immigrant friendly country, has resources to support a large population. I like it, it has the atmosphere where I can see my kids grow and enjoy. It is a choice at the end.

Personally, I can bear the high cost of living as it is not an issue. So, my #1 choice was Canada. Not US, not UK, not EU and neither AU.

I don't see anything wrong that's done by Canada. I think most people are entitled and underestimate the true cost of a citizenship. It is ~$500k in most cases. If you are getting it for free just by waiting, why complain so much? Be grateful for it :)
 

GandiBaat

VIP Member
Dec 23, 2014
3,711
2,994
NOC Code......
2173
App. Filed.......
26th September 2021
Doc's Request.
Old Medical
Nomination.....
None
AOR Received.
26th September 2021
IELTS Request
Sent with application
File Transfer...
11-01-2022
Med's Request
Not Applicable, Old Meds
Med's Done....
Old Medical
Interview........
Not Applicable
Passport Req..
22-02-2022
VISA ISSUED...
22-02-2022
LANDED..........
24-02-2022
I have friends in the Netherlands, skilled workers pay less income taxes(30% rule) and you can get Dutch citizenship in 5years. No need to wait for a draw, processing time is less than 3months. Lots of high salary job opportunities.

The NL is just an example. There are also UK, Germany, Sweden, Belgium.
Quite a few of my friends are in EU. Problem there is that you need to know the language to make best out of the country. If you can do it, fine otherwise it is a pain. Still a small price.

Second, Most european countries are not set up to handle large immigration programs and oriented towards in-EU immigration. Expect some mess. Exception could be Germany.

Third, Unlike NA, EU folks in certain countries can be overtly discriminatory. Discrimination exists in NA too but it is much more subtle. EU leaving UK and perhaps Germany is not really used to out of europe immigrants. For a lot of EU countries you may be very first interaction with people from your country. It can get really hairy really fast. Especially if you do not know the language properly.

Third think of long term. Are you planning to raise a family in that country? Life for your kids can be really really hard. You think ABCD was bad? Try SBCD (Sweden Born Confused Desi).

In a nutshell, If you are non EU, rethink. If you are from EU then you should not even been reading this post!
 

imransyed

Hero Member
Feb 26, 2020
261
243
Category........
FSW
Update: PR card came in the mail today. Very happy about that as it can mark an official end to this long journey! I saw somebody else's PR card was also delivered today so I am not a one off case, which is extremely good.
Processing times are actually down. Very surprising.

@GandiBaat about EU's racial discrimination, I can only quote the one line after the start of Ukraine-Russia conflict: "Blue eyes and blonde hair."
Italy has elected a (ultra)right wing politician as leader, Hungary, we all know about. Canada is far far more tolerant in that area.
 

cansha

VIP Member
Aug 1, 2018
6,676
5,855
You just need to find a skilled job. No, it was not internal company transfers. They just found skilled job in the NL. And I'm 100% sure it is easier to find a job in the NL than EE process.

I see lots of software developers and engineers have been spending their time for express entry. Just find a job in the NL or Sweden. I think they have smoother immigration process than Canada, especially the NL and Sweden. No process fees, no need to wait for unpredictable draws, no language exam, no ECA, shorter processing times, less taxes(NL 30% rule), better jobs(35hours per week, 40days vacation), better health care, better weather (no -30C and snow), way better purchasing power...

I can't believe in myself, how I wasted two years for express entry...
Seems like tech workers have other better options then.
 
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