Canada is not the same anymore as it used to be a couple of years ago and even for students the pathway to PR may not be very straightforward but some of you will definitely be shocked to learn that in Canada,the average salary raise is just another truck.
The first and the foremost thing is that immigration itself has become very difficult. Like I remember I came to Canada in July 2019 and got our ITA in October 2018 at a score of just 450 but now you know that CRS scores are so high they are like even Crossing 500 and even for students earlier there wasn’t any interview that you have to give for the study permit but now you have to and even the Visa rejection rates have increased a lot so yeah if you’re planning to move to Canada thinking that it’s very easy then probably that’s not the case anymore. Infact in 2023 a lot of people may have to rely on PNP programs and as you know PNPs are always a waiting game and there’s no Surety in that and even for students the pathway to PR may not be very straightforward because you might be studying in one Province and then you might have to move to another Province to get your PNP.
Now talking about the rent, then the average rent in the last one year itself has increased by 27 percent in 2019. I am paying 1650 dollars per month for a one bedroom apartment very close to downtown, Toronto but now a very similar apartment in a centralised location may cost you around 2300 dollars per month in Toronto even if you talk about a basement apartment then earlier you could get a basement apartment for around thousand to thirteen hundred dollars per month but now even a basement would cost you around Seventeen hundred dollars per month and even for students a private room may cost you around thousand dollars per month in Toronto but an even bigger problem is that the salaries are not increasing at this rate. I mean, I’m not sure if you know this but some of you will definitely be shocked to learn that in
Canada the average salary raise is just two to three percent.
A lot of people may have to start with a survival job or a minimum wage job. In fact I also started with a minimum wage job when I moved to Canada but back in 2019 by making even a minimum wage we both were still able to save some money on a monthly basis but now that is not possible at all even if
you are making more than a minimum wage even then probably it’s it would be difficult for you to survive on a single job you may have to work a lot harder. You may have to work two jobs or you may have to think about building multiple income streams so if you are ready for that then definitely move to Canada.
As we all know that recession is in the cards and a lot of people are speculating it and in fact we have started seeing some signs of it as well as the big Tech Giants have been doing Mass layoffs worldwide but as a recruiter I can surely tell you this that don’t just look at the layoffs because hiring is also happening equally but yes there would be a lot more candidates applying for a single job so you may have to up skill yourself.
You may have to to do certain relevant certifications beforehand, you may have to be very good at your networking skills you may have to prepare a very well drafted and a customised resume to stand out from others.
I’ve noticed that a lot of international students used to buy expensive cars though I never recommend that because buying maintaining and running a car in itself is a very big expense but probably earlier it might have been possible because interest rates were low, rents were low and other expenses were also low but now because of inflation you’ll have to think about how you can save money how you can live a little conservatively at least during your student life do not get influenced by other International students who are buying expensive cars don’t make that mistake now that we are talking about students so initially you had to pay just the first semester fee plus the ten thousand dollar GSE as your initial payment so if you do the rough calculation assuming that one semester fee is generally somewhere around 7,500 Canadian dollars so you had to pay a total of 17,500 as the initial payment which is roughly around Eight and a half lakh Indian rupees because at that time the exchange rate was 50 rupees for one Canadian dollar but now as a student you have to pay the entire Year’s fee which is somewhere around fifteen thousand Canadian dollars plus the ten thousand dollar GIC which is a total of 25000 Canadian dollars as the initial payment, which is roughly around 15 lakh Indian rupees because now the exchange rate is 60 rupees for one Canadian dollars so if you are planning to come to Canada in 2023 on a study permit then I would request you to please choose a good course which is worth paying this Hefty amount because as a recruiter I have seen a lot of students who had a background in HR, Finance or Law and they came here for a totally irrelevant course say for architecture or some thing and now they are finding it very difficult to get back to their original field.
Now let’s discuss about the crime rate so as we all know that Canada is a very peaceful country and the crime rate is way lower. Other countries but since the pandemic has started we have seen a rise in the crime rate especially in the big cities like Toronto and Vancouver. Pandemic has definitely affected a lot of people financially and mentally and probably that’s the reason for this increasing crime rate in fact recently there have been a lot of gun violence related cases in Toronto but still I would say Canada is still very safe it’s still a very peaceful country but in fact crime rate is increasing in Canada for sure.
Let’s discuss about the last point which is the groceries. I still remember even till the last year a single grocery trip would rarely cross 100 dollars and this is when we had a lot of items in our cart and our cart used to be fully loaded but now even a single grocery trip easily touches 130 dollars so we are noticing that our grocery bill has increased by at least 100 dollars per month.
If you think life in Canada would be glamorous from the very beginning. You would be making ton of money and buying multiple properties within three to five years as you see on YouTube then that’s not the reality for majority of the immigrants, life is not easy here so if you were coming with that mindset then probably you need to reconsider your decision if you’re already making a lakh or two lakh per month in India and either you are living in a small City or you are living in a home where you do not have to pay rent even then I would
suggest you to reconsider your decision and think what exactly is your purpose of moving to Canada before making the final decision and last but not the least for students as I already said that if you are coming to Canada on a study permit just for the sake of PR and then some and then choosing some totally irrelevant course which might not hold any value in the Canadian job market then please don’t do that because you might find it difficult to get a job or you may get stuck in jobs which do not provide a great return on your investment so please choose your course wisely, if you plan to move to Canada in 2023.