PR FSW Ulcerative Colitis + Infliximab (Biosimilar)

[GandiBaat]

There is actual data showing the unemployment rate for newcomers & younger ppl is very high and affordability very low. Very few people have said that it is bad time to move to Canada in the past 30 years. Healthcare also in a much larger crisis than ever.

I am hearing "healthcare is so broken" since the time I landed. Actually much before that. My personal experience has been extremely positive however.

I was able to get a "family doctor" in form of primary and urgent clinic.

When my mother was visiting (in 2022), one day she fell from stairs. We went to Royal Jubilee. They attainded us in less than an hour (she was consicous, having no double vision etc, but since she took blood thinners we wanted to ensure no internal bleeding). In 3 hours we were done. They did X-Ray, CT Scan during this time period. She was fine.

My son was born here and we had a very difficult pregnancy. I had knowingly taken my home next to Lion Gate hospital in north van. My wife started having these spooky bouts of unconciousness for some reason. One day she fell in bathroom. We called ambulance and they were in my apartment in 3 minutes flat. In 5 more minutes she was in the hospital ER. By mid day most of her tests were done. I had to wait for 3 hours for vaginal USG, they wanted to ensure the sac was fine. We were done by 4 PM.

Since then I have come to the conclusion that healthcare in Canada is dependent upon where you live primarily. As immigrants we may have that choice. There is always public health data and personal situations. Both are not always the same.

Same is about unemployment. It is not sector wise and it is not really down to what a person's skills are. One must always make a judgement for his own personal case. This is why I recommend people to find a job before landing here.

 

[brenoalves]

I am hearing "healthcare is so broken" since the time I landed. Actually much before that. My personal experience has been extremely positive however.

I was able to get a "family doctor" in form of primary and urgent clinic.

When my mother was visiting (in 2022), one day she fell from stairs. We went to Royal Jubilee. They attainded us in less than an hour (she was consicous, having no double vision etc, but since she took blood thinners we wanted to ensure no internal bleeding). In 3 hours we were done. They did X-Ray, CT Scan during this time period. She was fine.

My son was born here and we had a very difficult pregnancy. I had knowingly taken my home next to Lion Gate hospital in north van. My wife started having these spooky bouts of unconciousness for some reason. One day she fell in bathroom. We called ambulance and they were in my apartment in 3 minutes flat. In 5 more minutes she was in the hospital ER. By mid day most of her tests were done. I had to wait for 3 hours for vaginal USG, they wanted to ensure the sac was fine. We were done by 4 PM.

Since then I have come to the conclusion that healthcare in Canada is dependent upon where you live primarily. As immigrants we may have that choice. There is always public health data and personal situations. Both are not always the same.

Same is about unemployment. It is not sector wise and it is not really down to what a person's skills are. One must always make a judgement for his own personal case. This is why I recommend people to find a job before landing here.

Thank you guys so much for your time and all the information you provided... I have been hearing a lot of point of views about Canada and I appreciate every piece of information anyone can provide that might help my case.

I thought nobody else had said anything else in the post because I haven't receive any updates on e-mail, so I am very sorry for the delay...

My application was approved... I already take biosimillars so the cost of my treatment isn't very expensive and I did not receive a PFL. Application was quite fast AOR 30 AUG. and PPR OCT 24. IRCC Office in São Paulo already dispatched my passport to VAC.


Thankfully, I will be able to leave Brazil with my current job and a reasonable reserve in case of need. So I am making a solid plan to move to make the transition smooth as possible.

 

[canuck78]

I am hearing "healthcare is so broken" since the time I landed. Actually much before that. My personal experience has been extremely positive however.

I was able to get a "family doctor" in form of primary and urgent clinic.

When my mother was visiting (in 2022), one day she fell from stairs. We went to Royal Jubilee. They attainded us in less than an hour (she was consicous, having no double vision etc, but since she took blood thinners we wanted to ensure no internal bleeding). In 3 hours we were done. They did X-Ray, CT Scan during this time period. She was fine.

My son was born here and we had a very difficult pregnancy. I had knowingly taken my home next to Lion Gate hospital in north van. My wife started having these spooky bouts of unconciousness for some reason. One day she fell in bathroom. We called ambulance and they were in my apartment in 3 minutes flat. In 5 more minutes she was in the hospital ER. By mid day most of her tests were done. I had to wait for 3 hours for vaginal USG, they wanted to ensure the sac was fine. We were done by 4 PM.

Since then I have come to the conclusion that healthcare in Canada is dependent upon where you live primarily. As immigrants we may have that choice. There is always public health data and personal situations. Both are not always the same.

Same is about unemployment. It is not sector wise and it is not really down to what a person's skills are. One must always make a judgement for his own personal case. This is why I recommend people to find a job before landing here.

I’m also not complaining about the care I have received but have I had to wait in many ways to get care. I just waited over 6 months to see a rheumatologist. I had to cancel a GI appointment this summer and had to wait 4 months for the next appointment. I consider myself lucky because another GI called in a favour and got me into a clinic that was not accepting patients. He told me it would be worth the 6+ month wait if he could get me in. I did wait over 6 months and am very lucky that the other GI called in a favour to get me in since they weren’t accepting new patients. I have had to wait in the ED for over 24 hrs to get a bed in hospital this year but got an ICU bed quite quickly a few years back. I am fortunate that I have medical knowledge so can direct my own care, have an healthcare background so know the system very well and have had a GP for the past 20 yrs. I fear for the day she retires which is going to be in years not decades. The strain on the healthcare system has gotten significantly worse over the past few years. In some provinces & areas it is only going to get significantly worse. Alberta is one of the provinces that is a nightmare and will only get worse given Danielle Smith’s war on healthcare workers. As an insider healthcare is going to get quite a lot worse before it may get better. Sadly many governments don’t actually want to address the issues so they can privatize most of the system.

 

[canuck78]

Thank you guys so much for your time and all the information you provided... I have been hearing a lot of point of views about Canada and I appreciate every piece of information anyone can provide that might help my case.

I thought nobody else had said anything else in the post because I haven't receive any updates on e-mail, so I am very sorry for the delay...

My application was approved... I already take biosimillars so the cost of my treatment isn't very expensive and I did not receive a PFL. Application was quite fast AOR 30 AUG. and PPR OCT 24. IRCC Office in São Paulo already dispatched my passport to VAC.


Thankfully, I will be able to leave Brazil with my current job and a reasonable reserve in case of need. So I am making a solid plan to move to make the transition smooth as possible.

Congratulations. Still doesn’t change that this is an awful time time to move to Canada for both economic and healthcare reasons.

 

[GandiBaat]

Thankfully, I will be able to leave Brazil with my current job and a reasonable reserve in case of need. So I am making a solid plan to move to make the transition smooth as possible.

Congrats! Welcome to Canada in advance.

Here are few mistakes that I made that costed me some pretty penny. I hope you may be able to avoid them.

1. Buy a place to live early. Paying massive rent for no equity makes no sense.

2. If you take mortgage, make best use of pre-payment terms to pay off mortgage asap. I used "Rent-to-own" model to comply with the teachings of my faith but thats just me. I did not have to but if you need, learn about First Home Buyer Saving Plan to save downpayment while avoiding tax.

3. Maximize your RRSP and TSFA yearly limits. You can get a lot of refund from CRA due to RRSP. The money you put into RRSP is tax deffered. Also if someone in your family is having a disability, learn about RDSP. I lost some pretty amount of gains on this. Thankfully, I had a bumper income this year so I was able to fully use my RRSP limit and will get a massive refund from CRA (120K+).

4. Investment in rental property is a good idea at times. Canada makes any interest paid on mortgage for an investment property as tax protected. But it is ONLY investment rental property and NOT your primary residence.

5. Get advice on investment. I chose ETFs but there are other equally good ways too.

6. You may want to hold your properties using some kind of holding company. Makes putting them in a trust much easier and if you want to add another partner later on too. That being said, take the advice of a lawyer in this matter and ensure that you are up to date with local laws.

 

[GandiBaat]

I’m also not complaining about the care I have received but have I had to wait in many ways to get care. I just waited over 6 months to see a rheumatologist. I had to cancel a GI appointment this summer and had to wait 4 months for the next appointment. I consider myself lucky because another GI called in a favour and got me into a clinic that was not accepting patients. He told me it would be worth the 6+ month wait if he could get me in. I did wait over 6 months and am very lucky that the other GI called in a favour to get me in since they weren’t accepting new patients. I have had to wait in the ED for over 24 hrs to get a bed in hospital this year but got an ICU bed quite quickly a few years back. I am fortunate that I have medical knowledge so can direct my own care, have an healthcare background so know the system very well and have had a GP for the past 20 yrs. I fear for the day she retires which is going to be in years not decades. The strain on the healthcare system has gotten significantly worse over the past few years. In some provinces & areas it is only going to get significantly worse. Alberta is one of the provinces that is a nightmare and will only get worse given Danielle Smith’s war on healthcare workers. As an insider healthcare is going to get quite a lot worse before it may get better. Sadly many governments don’t actually want to address the issues so they can privatize most of the system.

I believe a lot of the mismanagement is very provincial with Ontario doing somethings really wrong.

BC has been okay till now. Actually more than okay.

May be, just may be, they should include an Australia like model with very very hard managed private insurance industry that can not deny coverage or discriminate anyone but can make you wait for upto an year. That would make private healthcare in Canada work.

 

[iSaidGoodDay]

Thank you guys so much for your time and all the information you provided... I have been hearing a lot of point of views about Canada and I appreciate every piece of information anyone can provide that might help my case.

I thought nobody else had said anything else in the post because I haven't receive any updates on e-mail, so I am very sorry for the delay...

My application was approved... I already take biosimillars so the cost of my treatment isn't very expensive and I did not receive a PFL. Application was quite fast AOR 30 AUG. and PPR OCT 24. IRCC Office in São Paulo already dispatched my passport to VAC.


Thankfully, I will be able to leave Brazil with my current job and a reasonable reserve in case of need. So I am making a solid plan to move to make the transition smooth as possible.

One thing that I'll tell you. Not every immigrant's journey is the same. I moved here a year ago, had a job, bought a house in months, my spouse got a well paying job, etc. I hear the following all the time:
1. Canada is very expensive
2. Housing is hard to find
3. There are no jobs
4. It is a bad time to come here

None of those impacted me at all. But I see people with similar economics to mine who are neck down in debt or struggling to find jobs. The key is for you to do your research and do the leg work that's required. Be clinical and this country would reward you.

Best of luck OP!

 

[najam.mazhar]

may need doctor recomendations

 

[canuck78]

I believe a lot of the mismanagement is very provincial with Ontario doing somethings really wrong.

BC has been okay till now. Actually more than okay.

May be, just may be, they should include an Australia like model with very very hard managed private insurance industry that can not deny coverage or discriminate anyone but can make you wait for upto an year. That would make private healthcare in Canada work.

There are huge issues in healthcare in all provinces including BC. The Australian system is not working in Australia so not sure why we would model a system experiencing significant challenges as well.