Will it be worth migrating to Canada from a decent lifestyle in INDIA?

[mahi2020]

I want to sound negative.

You are making 35 lakhs now and with the years of experience(17) you have you shd have substantial savings.
Plus
Luckily for you your wife is working in a high-demand profession in Canada.

You are more scared than immigrants moving to Canada with 2 kids and hardly any savings, possibly selling their homes to fund this (mis)adventure.
With this kind of diffident personality, plans of moving back-forth in 11.5 months etc, it will be difficult for you.

Pls understand:
Canada is a socialist country with low salaries, small job market, high cost of living.

If you can afford (you shd be able to), then think of this as a 50,000CAD adventure to live 1 year in Canada and rest in your country with no regrets like "I shd have tried to immigrate when I could have"

Best of luck.

PS: Australia has more engineering jobs than Canada. Engineering graduates from USA, not able to secure H1b, prefer moving to Australia.

 

[navinball]

45 lakhs PA? You would be a fool to move to Canada.

 

[santab]

I agree with most of the posts on this thread. I am in a similar age bracket (37), similar salary bracket (both me and my spouse). If someone owns a house in India and family income (combined) above 20/25 lacs, I don't think moving to Canada makes much of a sense from an economic perspective.
You may want to move to Canada if you want o live in a country with better quality of life (cleaner environment, better schools/colleges, ease of living). But all these are very subjective criteria and answers will vary by individual. I have lived in Europe and North America for last 10 years with frequent visits to India for shorter duration and a couple of 4-5 months long visits to India. In some areas, I feel that India is catching up or has inched ahead. For e.g. digital penetration, cost and ease of service delivery is probably better in India than Europe/Canada and even in some cases US. A lot of services such as rental cars that were not available in India before are becoming available. Traffic is probably a major issue still. I dont have much idea on schools as I don't have school going kids, but I hear conflicting accounts from my friends. Some say school education in India is better and some say in US/Canada is better.
Housing in Canada in cities is expensive. And an immigrant will not get a job outside city so mostly you will end up living in city like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary etc. If you want to buy a decent house in Toronto, it will cost at least 600K CAD. You will spend 3 to 4K per month on mortgage. Compared to this, in US barring SFO, LA, NY, you can get a decent house under 500K USD in many cities, even Houston/Chicago. Go to smaller ones like Kansas city, Minneapolis or Phoenix and you will get townhomes even cheaper. But you get a much better salary in say Minneapolis than you can get even in Toronto. For e.g. a salary of 100/120K CAD is considered a good salary in Toronto, but for a similar profile you can get 140K USD even in Midwest in US. So for a salary of 140K USD, you will spend just couple of thousand per month as mortgage in US.

However there are intangibles that are hard to measure in monetary terms. Toronto and all other Canadian cities are much safer than any US cities (in my opinion). I have lived mostly in midwest in US and have traveled extensively for my job in midwest as well as other parts. Increasingly I feel a conspicuous antipathy towards immigrants. I feel the other way here in Canada although I admit I am here just about a year. Toronto is a vibrant city of many cultures, paradise for foodies if you like global cuisine, Canada as a whole offers great landscapes for vacations to nature, it is next door to US if your job demands you to be in North America. If I get paid in USD, I will live in Canada hands down.
For some people, job satisfaction will be more in Canada. If you are in research and say you are getting a better lab in Canada, you may want to move here from other country.
Some get used to a certain lifestyle after living number of years in US or other countries and may want to continue it and hence for them, Canada is preferred destination.
On the other hand, a couple of my friends who moved from India in a situation similar to yours, feel that their lifestyle has come down a little bit. They had house help (maid, driver etc.), home deliveries for many services like groceries, didn't think twice to go to a nice restaurant when they were in India. But in Canada, they spend weekends on household chores (cleaning, groceries), think twice before hitting a restaurant too frequently, have to drive their own car etc.

The only reason I am pursuing Canada PR is that my spouse is still working in US. For our job profile, it makes sense to be in North America. I moved to Canada as I had some issue with my US visa. I am again pursuing my US work visa and may get it soon. If in future we face issue with US visas, we can fall back on Canada PR (if we get it now).

Conclusion: economically it may not make much of a sense to you but there are other intangibles that may trump over economics. Best way to judge is to visit Canada and stay for a couple of months. Try to spend time imitating what you will do if you immigrate. Then you can decide for yourself.

Sorry for this rambling post.

 

[lampbreaker]

@santab and others in the US thinking about Canada, can you add your thoughts in the following thread?
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/h1b-life-vs-moving-to-canada-experience-sharing.617042

 

[thebohemian2001]

I agree with most of the posts on this thread. I am in a similar age bracket (37), similar salary bracket (both me and my spouse). If someone owns a house in India and family income (combined) above 20/25 lacs, I don't think moving to Canada makes much of a sense from an economic perspective.
You may want to move to Canada if you want o live in a country with better quality of life (cleaner environment, better schools/colleges, ease of living). But all these are very subjective criteria and answers will vary by individual. I have lived in Europe and North America for last 10 years with frequent visits to India for shorter duration and a couple of 4-5 months long visits to India. In some areas, I feel that India is catching up or has inched ahead. For e.g. digital penetration, cost and ease of service delivery is probably better in India than Europe/Canada and even in some cases US. A lot of services such as rental cars that were not available in India before are becoming available. Traffic is probably a major issue still. I dont have much idea on schools as I don't have school going kids, but I hear conflicting accounts from my friends. Some say school education in India is better and some say in US/Canada is better.
Housing in Canada in cities is expensive. And an immigrant will not get a job outside city so mostly you will end up living in city like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary etc. If you want to buy a decent house in Toronto, it will cost at least 600K CAD. You will spend 3 to 4K per month on mortgage. Compared to this, in US barring SFO, LA, NY, you can get a decent house under 500K USD in many cities, even Houston/Chicago. Go to smaller ones like Kansas city, Minneapolis or Phoenix and you will get townhomes even cheaper. But you get a much better salary in say Minneapolis than you can get even in Toronto. For e.g. a salary of 100/120K CAD is considered a good salary in Toronto, but for a similar profile you can get 140K USD even in Midwest in US. So for a salary of 140K USD, you will spend just couple of thousand per month as mortgage in US.

However there are intangibles that are hard to measure in monetary terms. Toronto and all other Canadian cities are much safer than any US cities (in my opinion). I have lived mostly in midwest in US and have traveled extensively for my job in midwest as well as other parts. Increasingly I feel a conspicuous antipathy towards immigrants. I feel the other way here in Canada although I admit I am here just about a year. Toronto is a vibrant city of many cultures, paradise for foodies if you like global cuisine, Canada as a whole offers great landscapes for vacations to nature, it is next door to US if your job demands you to be in North America. If I get paid in USD, I will live in Canada hands down.
For some people, job satisfaction will be more in Canada. If you are in research and say you are getting a better lab in Canada, you may want to move here from other country.
Some get used to a certain lifestyle after living number of years in US or other countries and may want to continue it and hence for them, Canada is preferred destination.
On the other hand, a couple of my friends who moved from India in a situation similar to yours, feel that their lifestyle has come down a little bit. They had house help (maid, driver etc.), home deliveries for many services like groceries, didn't think twice to go to a nice restaurant when they were in India. But in Canada, they spend weekends on household chores (cleaning, groceries), think twice before hitting a restaurant too frequently, have to drive their own car etc.

The only reason I am pursuing Canada PR is that my spouse is still working in US. For our job profile, it makes sense to be in North America. I moved to Canada as I had some issue with my US visa. I am again pursuing my US work visa and may get it soon. If in future we face issue with US visas, we can fall back on Canada PR (if we get it now).

Conclusion: economically it may not make much of a sense to you but there are other intangibles that may trump over economics. Best way to judge is to visit Canada and stay for a couple of months. Try to spend time imitating what you will do if you immigrate. Then you can decide for yourself.

Sorry for this rambling post.

@santab Please don't apologise! It was really good to read an honest version . Thanks for this.
I am in a tricky position myself, falls in the same salary package and age. Did my soft landing last month (my luck summer had just started), found Toronto to be a nice cosmo city.
What worries me is whether I will be able to get a job with age catching up fast! . With the savings even if I am able to live for 1-2 years just to experiment, what would I do coming back to India?
Few say I should take a risk, few say don't at this age. And dilemma continues...

 

[GARJ]

One thing to note is that you'll be saying goodbye to your family, friends, and favourite places. And you will miss them terribly. So if you have a descent life in India stay home, close to the people and places you love, It's not worth it.

 

[Ats]

1. I don't think so that there would be much to do before you obtain your COPR and do your landing. Most of the certifications that you would acquire here, would not carry much value in Canada. On the other hand, Canadian certificates and courses will help you to get a job in Canada, not the Indian courses. Because of "Canadian Experience". You should search for what kind of jobs are available in Canada and their requirements, you can use the Job Bank, LinkedIn, Monster Jobs, there are numerous websites with job vacancies, that is something you would need to spend your time on. Also, be prepared to do a job, that would be considered a menial job in India, so that you don't remain idle and earn something once you are in Canada, such as a waiter, or cashier or a teller in a bank or a salesman in a shoe/optical/retail store. Not saying, those who work in this sector should be considered menial, but for some, it may not be acceptable, especially Indians, I don't know you personally, hence, the generalisation. I once worked in a McDonalds, just for the heck of it, and free burger and fries, not because I had to, I wanted to [PS: I was the only "menial" work employee who would come to work in a Sedan ]

2. That is something she needs to decide as soon as possible, because, if she wants to practice dentistry in Canada, she is looking forward to a 2-4 year process, and would need to start studying everything again. I am an India educated Optometrist, and this is advice is from one allied health professional to another. I have decided to not pursue Optometry in Canada and venture into other fields [I am pretty good at mobile app development, so would be sticking to it, plus in IT, they don't really ask for "Canadian Experience"].


Yes, if you accompany her as a dependant, you will also be a PR and will enjoy the same rights as her and other PR's in Canada.

Your COPR is valid as long as your medicals and passports are valid, or which is expiring early. Let's say your got your Medicals on 20th June 2019 and passport expires on 20th June 2025 and you get your PPR ON 20th December 2019, you will have time till 20th June 2020 to do your landing. If the passport let's say is expiring on 20th Feb 2020, you will have time till 20th Feb 2020 to do your landing.

Once you have landed and confirmed your PR and have got your PR card, you are a PR for 5 years, which will automatically be extended if you have stayed on Canadian soil for 2 or more years. Minimum 2 years in recent 5 years on Canadian soil to keep your PR. Those 2 years may not be continuous.

Her CRS of 470 is by applying alone or as a partner? If it is together, give the IELTS, score the highest band possible and go ahead. If it is above 450 or even 450, go ahead and apply.

I have done diploma in optometry 2009-2011 and bachelor in clinical optometry lateral entry third year 2012-2014,my question? is, my degree come under 4 yr bachelor degree under wes EcE,is it better to apply under express entry... Please guide very confusion.

Does my degree come as masters degree in canada
How many points i get crs...

And what about optometry jobs in canada for optometrist
How much pay initially thry pay is,
How to start optometry career in canada initially, plz guide...